Happy Holidays From Our Family

Love To All!

Sweetie Pie

"Well, hello there! Where did you come from?"

This is my new favorite picture of Evan... he's growing too fast.

This one below is another favorite too... just trying to get some burpies out of Evan, we call this the "monkey boy". Just love his little head, you just want to rub all over it and "suck up the fountain of youth" as Erick would say!

Merry Christmas

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

Well I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone. It was extra fast this year!

It was a little different I have to say because all of our decorations are in storage and even our stockings are packed away - so Santa couldn't fill them! But honestly, those are just small things... it was still a wonderful time and an awesome feeling to celebrate with our two healthy, amazing boys.

Every year we spend Christmas Eve with my family over at my Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob's house. It's an all day affair of eating, presents, playing, games and more eating! We get there around lunch time and hang out all day. There is always way too much food and way too many presents (you can see the way too many presents a few pictures below)! My Aunt Linda does a stocking for every single person there - all 25 of us. And of course, our boys were showered with wonderful gifts and love. We all love spending time with my family... Preston loves playing with his cousins and being quite the comedian around the family. Preston got all kinds of Star Wars stuff and Legos. And Evan got clothes and some neat toys he'll play with soon. I got a beautiful necklace from my Dad - a surprise, thank you Dad.

Here are some pictures of the whole family... can you tell we're a feisty bunch!?! We always take one good picture and one goofy picture... can you see Preston showing you his backside - nice... oh, we've taught him well.









After presents the boys were found outside playing a game of football and Preston was enjoying playing Nerf Dart Tag outside with his cousins. The weather was absolutely beautiful... we had to take off Preston's nice Christmas shirt because it was so warm! A Texas Christmas for sure! As some of the boys were outside, the rest of us were inside playing games as my family loves to do! We are all pretty competitive and love a good game - there's not a quiet moment in the house... good thing Evan has learned to sleep through it all.







This picture is Evan with his Popee (my Dad).

Christmas Eve night we came home and read a few of our favorite Christmas stories, left cookies for Santa and then it was off to bed!



As I'm sure everyone with young kids did... we woke up EARLY Christmas morning, and to a Star Wars Christmas! That is all Preston asked for from Santa and that is all Santa left... everything Star Wars - light sabers, characters, books, puzzles, toys... all Star Wars. And for Evan he left some books and a talking parrot for his pirate nursery!



After Santa, we spent a lazy morning playing games and hanging out in our pajamas. Then after lunch we got ready to go to the Bradleys for our traditional Christmas dinner with them. For several years now we have spent Christmas afternoon and evening with them and we all really look forward to just hanging out. The boys ran wild, we ate a yummy steak dinner and then the boys watched movies while the grown-ups played games and visited. Thank you Tasha for hosting Christmas for us again. The Bradleys are really like family to us and it's nice to just hang out and relax with no worries.





We hope that everyone had a blessed and memorable Christmas. We wish you a safe and prosperous 2008!

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." Luke 2:14

Baby's First Christmas

He is our sweetest and definitely best gift from God this Christmas - Evan. And our best gift from this newest addition - definitely the 7-9 hours of sleep every night - whoo hoo!

These are a few pictures from a photo session earlier this month... our Santa Baby, newest Aggie and All-American baby!

Our Dedication

"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." 1 Samuel 1:27-28 (This is the verse that we put on Evan's announcement, and it was the first verse that came to mind today.)

Today was a very special day. We dedicated Evan at our church today. Our sweet and wonderful pastor, Wayne, prayed over him as we promised to raise him according to God's word in front of our congregation. Evan's Godparents and Preston were there too and along with the congregation promised to help lead Evan to God in His time. Our friends, the Bradleys, also had their youngest son dedicated today. It was special to have them on stage and to pray for each other's children. Our oldest boys are so close... now we've just got a couple new boys to add a little extra joy (and noise!).

We pray that Evan will know Jesus at an early age and that he will grow into an inspiring man of God. We will do everything that we can to teach him and lead him.

We are so thankful and honored to be raising this beautiful boy.

Christmas Fun

Just wanted to share some of our pre-Christmas fun!

First, Preston sang in the children's choir at our church. They put on a really sweet Christmas program and we were so proud of Preston for learning the words and hand movements and having so much fun making a joyful noise! And just one week later Dad sang in the adult choir for a beautiful Christmas performance.



We are pretty involved in our church and are especially grateful for our church LifeGroup. There are 10 families in the group and we get together every other Sunday and study the bible and fellowship. It was hard to get a good picture (below)... but there are 20 adults and about 21 kids I believe - yea, it's crazy, but awesome. We have all become really close and we are a great support to one another. And the kids love playing together during our get togethers - they are all great friends. So for Christmas we had two "parties" for our LifeGroup. The first one was for the grown ups... we all found sitters and got together for a potluck and White Elephant game. It was such a fun time and I got to get rid of some of my old maternity pants for the White Elephant game! Ha ha! Sorry Darren! Then a couple weeks later we all got together again with the kids and sang Christmas carols, ate together and heard the story of the Christmas candy cane - very interesting by the way. These are very special memories for our family - and they really helped get us into the Christmas spirit.



Another tradition is getting the kids together from my MOMs group... there are 3 of us that have stayed really close... me, Sue and Kim - and together we have 7 kiddos that have all literally grown up together and are great friends. Us moms get together every month for our monthly moms' night, but with school and sports, work and everything else - the kids just don't get to see each other as much as we'd like! But for Christmas we are always sure to make time... so of course, they ran around like maniacs, opened their gifts... and we even had time to make a gingerbread house! I love these two families and couldn't imagine our lives without them. We have all made a pact to never move away!







So, we got season passes to Six Flags this year and we thought - let's go to Holiday In The Park! So we made plans and met the Bradleys out there for a fun evening at Six Flags.... well, I guess everyone else had the same idea because it was the most crowded that we had EVER seen Six Flags! It took us 45 minutes just to get in the park, and then once you were in you could barely navigate a stroller... craziness! So unfortunately, we left as quickly as we came and settled for a yummy nice dinner out. Maybe next year!



Another fun tradition every year is our "mall tour"... we try to make it around to all the malls to see the Christmas decorations! Stonebriar, Willow Bend, and especially the big tree and ice skating rink at The Galleria. They are all so beautiful during Christmas!

And even though he's not in all the pictures... Evan was definitely there for it all (just hanging out in the background sometimes.)

Thanks everyone for celebrating with us! Merry Christmas!

Who's Here?

WE would love to hear from anyone and everyone who is tuned in to our blog!! Please post us a comment so we know who's so kindly reading this exciting, flying by the seat of your pants blog! Oh, the suspense... what will happen next in the Cutler house?!? Stay tuned...

Okay, so I'm pretty sure your seat is still in your pants... so at the end of each blog you'll see " COMMENTS... and all you do is click on that and it will pull up a box for you to post a comment. It used to make you register with Blogger.com to post a comment, but I think I disabled that feature, so you should be able to just put a quick comment without registering. If you don't have a Google ID, just post your comment as a "nickname" or "anonymous" comment.

We'd love to hear what you have to say! Much love to any and all who are reading!

Our Little Picasso

First of all - please know that I did not create this blog to "brag" on my kiddos or my family. I really just wanted a fun place to journal, tell sometimes humorous stories and provide updates and new pics for the two or three people that might be interested! Hee hee! Seriously, I do not mean to brag about Preston, but he has truly become a talented artist and I just had to share a few of our favorite drawings from the past couple of months.





When Preston wakes up in the morning, as soon as he gets home from school, right up until it's time for bed - he is at the table drawing. It is his absolute favorite thing to do at home. He talks in the car about what he's going to draw next when we get home. He plans it out to the tiniest detail. Don't get me wrong - he is a boy and loves to play with his Star Wars toys, his cars, he loves to watch movies and of course play outside... but drawing is something that he is passionate about and will sit and do for hours.





He definitely got his talent for drawing from his Dad. I consider myself a pretty creative person, but can't draw to save my life... once Preston had his third birthday, he surpassed my drawing ability. But Erick is a pretty good artist. Preston loves to sit down with Erick and draw together. Like today when the weather was kind of yucky, that was what they did - all day.

Preston will have "phases" or "themes" for periods of time. He'll go where all he draws are forest animals, then he'll do ocean scenes and then snakes or Star Wars pictures. He'll get out books and try to copy pictures. He's even drawn me a picture of what he wants his room to look like in the new house! And he loves drawing pictures for his friends and family.



This picture above is one of my favorites. Preston loves Jesus and loves going to church to learn about His life. He knows more bible stories and facts than I do - I learn so much from him. This picture is of the crucifixion of course and the storm that God sent. He'll just sit down and start drawing stuff like this... pictures that tell a story. During Easter, he sat down and drew the story of Easter... he drew Jesus on a donkey with people holding palm branches, he drew the Last Supper, he drew Jesus praying in the garden, he drew the crucifixion and then finally he drew and tomb with a big boulder placed in front. He is a perfectionist and loves the details of life.



And of course, he loves SpongeBob - his inspiration here!

During Vacation Bible School this year the kids were asked to try to earn money around the house or put out a lemonade stand or something to earn money for our missions outreach project. Well, since we are in the apartment we couldn't do a lemonade stand - so Preston wanted to sell his artwork and began putting prices on his drawings so that he could sell them and raise money for the kids in Africa. This picture of the owl is a mere $10.00. Any takers? Just kidding!



This last picture is his latest "project". He taped together eight pieces of paper and created the Star Wars "Death Star". This one was too big to scan!

Thanks for letting me brag just a little bit on our budding artist!

Evan - 2 Months Old

"Don't you just want to kiss all over me?"

Well, we just can't complain about this new little boy - he is just the sweetest and best little baby you could ever ask for... just like his big brother. He is so happy and content and just melts your heart.

He is sleeping pretty good through the night - he'll do a 6-hour stretch and then another 2-3 hours after that. He still loves being tucked/swaddled really tightly in the blankets and being really warm and cozy. And he still loves his "Sleep Sheep" ocean sounds and the vibrating motion of his bassinet. Funny story... we actually try to put him down to sleep while he's still awake so he'll learn to put himself to sleep - but on occasion he'll of course fall to sleep right after a bottle and be completely OUT and SOUND asleep... (or so you'd think). Then as soon as you place him gently in his bassinet those eyes open wide up and the arms and feet kick out straight! He's playing a trick on us.... he's not really asleep, just faking it! It's hilarious, Erick will just go "D'oh", you were totally asleep - NOT!

Another thing he does when he's falling asleep is just grin and grin... his eyes will start rolling back (freaks Dad out!) and he'll just pass out, mouth gaping open and everything! So full, and warm, and happy. Oh, what a rough life.

He's a great eater and moved up to 6 oz. bottles a couple of weeks ago. At his two month check-up he was 11 lbs. and 13 oz. What a big boy! He is doing really great... and is always a big hit at the doctor's office. We've got another "Ladies Man" on our hands! Hee hee!

Well, as you can see he is really smiling all the time now. And he is making the cutest little "coo" and "gaa" noises too. When he gets really happy he starts wiggling his hands and feet out in front of him and just starts kicking like crazy and clapping his fingers together. It's really cute - you'd have to see it. (And his brother used to do the same thing too, which makes it really special.) I tried to get a picture of it below.



He's also pretty hilarious when he's "finished" with his bottle. So, he'll just be drinking away like nobody's business and he'll just have this look on his face like, "this is the best bottle, EVER"... Then, of course, we'll stop to burp him and then start to feed him again... well, you'll put that "best ever" bottle to his mouth and he'll give you the most horrible face - like saying, "that is disgusting, why would you try to feed me that?" And that means he's done! Ha!

Things that make him smile... changing his diaper if you can believe it! I think he likes being naked - hee hee! He also loves it when you kiss all over him.... he'll open his mouth when you kiss his cheek just like he's trying to kiss you back. Oh, sweetness.

Okay, you all know that Erick and I love quoting movies and TV... so here's another. There was this skit on Saturday Night Live years ago when Chris Kataan was on... he played Anotonio Banderas... a "sexy" Spanish man. Anyway, he would start to unbutton his shirt and they would tell him, "No, Antonio", "It's too sexy, too sexy." So, now when we change Evan's outfit we like to tell him - "No, Evan - too sexy, too sexy". It gets a pretty big smile from him! Yep, he's stuck with us and our crazy shenanigans.

And I can't forget to say how much Preston is still adoring his baby brother. He helps me out so much and calls Evan his "sweet little Angel". Thanks big brother, Preston!

Love to All.

Tucker The Diva

Yes, Tucker is a boy - but he is definitely our Diva of the family.

As you can see, he is laying on our pillows on the couch - which yes, we let him do... why, you say? Because he wouldn't dare be caught laying just on the nice soft, leather couch - oh, no. The couch isn't good enough - it's apparently not soft enough. It would hurt his delicate skin. So he will knock the pillows down to lay on them and then push them around and circle until they are in the perfect resting position for him. And if a blanket is around he will move it to where he wants it and use it too! And when he's on the bed with you... if you even think about getting up he is immediately on your pillow... again, the bed itself is not suitable.

Oh, and don't even think of taking him outside when it's raining... this tooshie doesn't touch wet grass. I mean, when it's dry grass we've got to circle an area for an hour to find the best place to go... don't expect him to do his "private business" when the grass is wet! We wouldn't think of it, Diva Tucker!

Kisses from Tuckie - Tuck!

Getting So Big

Evan is getting so big, so quick. We are officially in #1 diapers now (no more newborn) and we're starting to outgrow our Newborn clothes too... sniffle, sniffle. I'm trying to take a picture of him once a month in his carseat to show how much he has grown... looking at this picture above compared to the day he was brought home in this car seat - he looks huge!

Here are some new pics of the growing little man! He is 2 months old today!

Please excuse my little captions under the photos, just my silly thoughts on what Evan must be thinking...



"Did you say something?"



"Ain't life good?"



My three boys... little, not so little anymore, and all grown-up!



"I Love My Daddy."



"You're so funny, Daddy."



"Oh, I love Mommy and Daddy's BIG bed!"



"Do you mind, I'm sleeping?" When Evan is really asleep, he's OUT. A tornado could come through the room and he wouldn't budge.



"Hmmm..... I'm not so sure about that, Daddy."