colleen writes: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2014!!

We put up our Christmas tree a week before Thanksgiving, so by the time December came around; we were already in full-on Christmas mode at our house. It is such a festive and wonderful time of the year; we all enjoy it immensely! As I sit here and type on December 31^st, our house looks a little different now, as we just put away the last of all the Christmas decorations. Always a sad day!!

This month started out with the first visit of our elf, Budget. This is the third Christmas that Budget has been with us, and it is super fun to see where Budget will turn up on a daily basis! Budget was pretty clever this year…he roasted marshmallows on the fire, hid Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus from the nativity, cut out snowflakes, colored pictures, made Santa hats and beards on the kids pictures, took a bath in Barbie’s bathtub, and baked cookies.

Carter learned how to climb out of his crib finally. I was waiting for this to happen! He was not very graceful at first. He sort of would plop out of his crib, and we could all hear the loud thunk. I ran up there to find him rubbing his head. “I banged my head, Mama!” Now he is very graceful, and we don’t hear him. I was afraid that he would get out of bed at night and fall the stairs or escape into the night, so I put a child-proof lock on his door. HA! That lasted about a week. He rips those right off. We have them on the basement door, the laundry room door, and the pantry door, and they are pretty much worthless if he is really determined. Just a small deterrent is what I would call those locks!

Gabrielle and Carter went to a Christmas party at Castaway. Always a fun time! They also spent one of the days that I had a professional development day with Grandma-they went to Kensington to play and feed the birds out of their hands at the nature center. We had Gabrielle and Carter’s cousins, Cadyn and Aili, over to bake and decorate Christmas cookies. They turned out great! We made a trip to the mall to see Santa too. Carter was not too happy with seeing Santa this year. The highlight of the day for him was his discovery of the automatic hand-sanitizer machines in the mall. Let’s just say his hands were very clean and sanitized. He was much more interested in playing with the one in the Santa line, so when it was his turn to see Santa, his tears were from being pulled away from the machine rather than seeing Santa! HA!

Grandma got to volunteer in Gabrielle’s classroom for the Christmas party, which was really nice because it would have been difficult for Adam or I to make it in. (I did the Halloween party and Adam did the Thanksgiving party, so it’s a whole family affair!) On the last day before Christmas vacation, we had a SNOW DAY(!!!) which is always very exciting and very welcomed, however, Gabrielle didn’t get to have her Gingerbread decorating party or wear her pj’s to school. I actually had to make a trip into my building to straighten up a little and pick up my papers to correct, as well as my school bag, and my shoes that I left there the day before!

We celebrated Christmas a few times this year. On the 21^st, we had the Sulkowski Family Christmas. On the 24^th, we hosted a small Christmas Eve gathering at our home with a traditional Polish dinner. Christmas morning was really fun this year as this was Carter’s first year that he figured things out. Both kids tore into their gifts from Santa. Gabrielle got the Barbie Dream house and the dolls from the movie Frozen, which she was thrilled about, and Carter loved his Jake and the Neverland Pirate Ship. Later on the 25^th, we ventured to the big family Christmas party at Aunt Tui’s, and on the 26^th we went to a Boxing Day party with the same crew! It was all very nice, but the kids and I were beat!!! I am, after all, 27 weeks pregnant, and now in my third trimester! Wowie!

On December 30^th, Gabrielle lost her first tooth!! I was not ready for this, so her tooth hung on by a thread for a few days so I could wrap my head around the fact that my baby girl was now about ready to lose her first tooth. She wanted me to pull it out, so I finally mustered up the courage and reached in with a tissue, but totally could not do it. I turned the job over to Adam, but no sooner than I turned the job over the Adam, Gabrielle pulled it out herself! She’s a tough kid—and brave—much tougher and braver than I was at her age! The tooth fairy brought her a glittery dollar and a little certificate for her first tooth with a message on what a beautiful little tooth it is. She has another one that is about ready to come out too. I would expect that one in the next week or so!

Gabrielle and I are making a sugar cookie clock in honor of New Year’s Eve today. That is our big plan. We are not night owls over here, so we will all be lucky if we get to see the ball drop tonight!!

Here’s to a wonderful, happy, healthy 2014 to you and your family with lots of love from all of us! Sheesh-this was a long entry, please feel free to scroll down next time and just look at the pics!

North Pole breakfast to welcome Budget

There's Budget in the middle of the table!

Bat Boy with a binky. Carter is all of a sudden really into Super heroes!

The kids love riding their Strider bikes in the basement. Carter took to his bike like pro.

Playing outside at G/G Sexton's house

Our tree!

The Dream House! (Not so dreamy to put together, however. A word of advice, DO NOT attempt on Christmas Eve should you ever buy this house in the future! It took Adam 3 hours and he ain't a novice when it comes to putting parts together!)