The McNulty Family!!!: Live, Learn and Laugh

Those three words pretty much sum up our lives! We are livin’, learnin’ and laughin’ all the while!! October was a GREAT month. Maggie turned 10 months old on the 31st!! And Max is 3.5 years old!! I just can’t believe it!

We had Kelly’s 10 year reunion in October. It was lots of fun. Max stayed the night at my dad’s house without us for the first time. I think he had lots of fun. And Maggie got lots of quality time with Joe and Gayle. It was a CRAZY busy weekend but luckily we got to see lots of family on Sunday at church (and Howard’s donuts – I randomly ran into Carolyn and Delaney while getting “breakfast”)

We went to visit Memaw and Papaw a couple of times during October. We LOVE visiting with them. We even got to see Aunt Toochie! Here are pawpaw and Maggie enjoying some snacks! Maggie even shared! So sweet!!

Maggie also got some good quality time with Pop! Maggie just stares at Ted whenever she is around him.

I know I’ve said it before but Max and Ted are so funny together. It always makes me laugh to watch them interact. Now when we go to Ted and Linda’s Max ALWAYS wants to go “help” Pop in his shop. I think it’s so sweet watching him run over to the shop to help.

We went on a play date to paint/decorate pumpkins this October. Maggie LOVED “driving” around in the car. I think I may have to find her one of these. She LOVED it!!

Our travels also took us to Stuttgart. Sweet John David was baptized on his mommy’s birthday. We were so proud to be there to welcome our newest Catholic into the church!

Here is Maggie, John David and Beckett hanging out!

I don’t have pictures but Maggie went to her first Razorback game in Fayetteville. She did GREAT!!!! We left Trey’s house around 9. Maggie and I went to play with Bridget and Kate. We went for a little jog and hung out until about noon. She slept during lunch at the restaurant but woke up in time to tailgate. We got to campus around 1 and stayed until after the game (which was around 10:30)!!! She cried when the fireworks woke her up during the game but that was about it. I mean I cannot believe how GREAT she did. She was super cute to boot! I think we are going to take them both to the Tennessee game – we’ll see! Her bad momma forgot to take pictures.

We’ve been doing lots of learning too this month. When we were in Pine Bluff we went to see the replicas of the Nina and Pinta. It was really neat. Max had lots of fun. He called them Pirate ships. We bought a little map souvenir and he used it as his telescope.

The quarters for the captain and crew are in the bottom of the boat. In the below picture Max was just yelling – HELLO – over and over and over again. Well I didn’t think anyone was down there – we were wrong. All of the sudden the captain pop his head up! Max’s face was PRICELESS. He was so surprised!!

HELLO!!

Max loves doing “hard work” with Kelly. They are my yard boys. Well, Papaw taught him how to rake. Max was so proud of himself. He has this little smirk that he gets on his face when he is really impressed or proud about something but is either too embarrassed to show it or just doesn’t want to show it – and he had that look when he was showing of his raking “skills.”

He also learned to drive a house boat!? Well one on a trailer parked in Sherrill. When we got to Sherrill, Kelly took Max on the house boat. Well, Ted asked Max if he wanted to go on a ride in the house boat. Ted was obviously talking about a ride in the future. Max thought he meant that night but Ted explained that they could ride the boat until they had water to put it in. After this conversation, Max asked Ted for a glass of water. Ted helped him out. Then Max said, “Ok, Pop let’s go ride the boat, I got the water.” We all got a good laugh that Max thought the glass of water would allow them to ride the boat.

Max also learned to be a cowboy!! We went to Mitchell Stone’s 2nd Birthday party and he rode a little pony. He was SO proud – he got his little smirk on his face and was SO serious. It was so sweet! I don’t think he ever changed his expression!

Maggie was busy learning too. She is NOW learning to take formula at school. I think she is going to need me less and less. In fact, she just took 3 oz. of formula just today! She is still crawling all over the place. She’s REALLY fast. She can walk along furniture. She is really starting to eat, but she likes eating what we are eating. She eats three really big meals a day (usually) with some snacks and milk sprinkled in. She’s a precious little girl. She is definitely learning to be a diva. She still screams at you when you take something from her. So, she’s “learning” to be a good girl! Winking smile She is also perfecting her art of making a mess. See:

Max and Maggie also learned to carve Pumpkins. We had Chris, Shannon, Owen, AG, Shugah and Rob and Amy over for a pumpkin carving party. We had LOTS of fun!!

My precious babies!

Maggie and Mrs. Amy – we love the Byfords

Sweet Cousins!

We’ve also had lots of laughing!! Halloween was SO much fun. Max wanted to be Max from Where the Wild Things Are. Maggie was a Wild Thing monster so they would coordinate. Max was SO excited about his costume. He would jump up and down screaming “I LOVE MY COSTUME, Thank you so much Mommy.” And ALWAYS wanted to wear it. In fact we had to exchange it and EVERY day he asked if the mail man brought his costume. (As a side because of this he thinks you just ask the mail man for whatever you want and he brings it to you – kind of like Santa Clause I guess. He wanted to get Kelly a costume and he said, “It’s ok Daddy, we’ll just ask the mail man and he’ll bring it to you.” If it were only that easy!)

Well the night of Halloween was SO hectic. I had my car serviced and on the way home we had a blow out on the interstate. Luckily (or may not so lucky) I was able to make it down the off ramp. However it was a TERRIBLE part of town. So much so that I was nervous to have my back to turned while changing the tire. Lucky for us a street sweeper stopped and helped. He was such a nice man. We made it home just in time to dress and leave for Owen and Shannon’s. I got the kids dressed. Max was so excited. Just running around. Then we told him it was time to go and he insisted on taking his costume off and would NOT put it back on. So he trick or treated in shorts and a pumpkin t-shirt. CRAZY kid!!

Here is my Wild Thing Maggie (Notice I accessorized her Monster costume with a Halloween bow!)

So we went to Owen and Shannon’s for dinner and fun. It was GREAT!! Then we (about 10 adults, 5 three year olds, 2 babies, a 5 year old, and a dog) ALL went trick or treating. It was SO much fun. The kids would take off running as fast as their little legs would go and just descend upon each house yelling. They would immediately begin ringing the door bell or knocking and yelling, “anybody home.” Of course, as soon as someone answered they would yell Trick or Treat. It was SOOOO funny!!! We told Max to only take one piece and say thank you. So after each house he would return to us and say, I only took one piece and I said thank you. At one house the man gave Max a handful of candy. Max immediately started handing the candy back to the man saying, “I can only have one.” When the man told Max it was ok because he gave him the candy, Max responded, “No, Momma say 1.” That kid cracks me up!!

Here they all are squeezed into the back of my car leaving Sugah and Pop’s – raise your hand if you think I need a new (bigger) car!?

Max makes us laugh – A LOT! He saw a crucifix the other day and Kelly asked Max, do you know who that is and Max responded, “Yes, that’s Jesus.” Kelly asked Max do you know who Jesus is and Max answered, “Yes, Jesus saved us and he wrestles.” Really?! His Godmother (Christina) and cousin Bridget both explain that Max was correct because Jesus wrestles sin! Smile

One weekend, Linda, Ted and company cleaned out their entire attic. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I was at John David’s baptism. She sent us home with LOTS of sweet hand-me-downs that were Kelly’s!!!! Think Max loves them as much as I do: