Updates for July!

July Updates

We started the first 8 days of July at our cottage, which is our favorite place to be in the summer! Personally, the Fourth of July ranks in my top three as far as holidays are concerned. I am always on summer vacation, the family is always on vacation, and there is never a care, worry, or stress on that day. So it’s pretty great!

The cottage brings all of the usual fun. Boating, swimming, jet-skiing on Adam’s new Wave Runners, throwing the anchor out at the sand bar, daily walks and bike rides, trips to the Four Seasons, and just generally playing around the cottage. During the first week in July, we had lots of company, including Grandma & Grandpa Sexton, Grandpops Sulkowski, and cousins Cadyn and Aili and Auntie Laura. We really love having guests up as we are more likely to pull out all of the fun toys! The kids enjoyed boating and jet-skiing, and tubing of course. We set off fireworks and lanterns, and BBQed and ate pizza from the Four Seasons. The weather was awesome, too! We spent a grand total of 14 nights at the cottage.

During the weeks while Adam was working, the kids and I kept ourselves only a little bit busy with various play dates and outings. We were pretty content at home especially knowing that we would be back at our cottage for the weekend. There was one week of ridiculously hot weather in which we went to Jammie and Grandpop’s pool every day to beat the heat. It worked! The pool was PERFECT. We had a great time. Gabrielle even learned to swim without her floatie. She did a great job! She also learned how to ride her two-wheeler bike without training wheels. It took about 5 minutes for her to figure it out due to the fact that her previous bike was a Strider. (Strider bikes have no pedals, so kids learn how to balance by gliding around and using their feet as brakes.) Gabrielle continued gymnastics but opted out of princess camp! She did, however, love going to vacation bible school at St. Mary Magdalen. We took our next door neighbor, Lilliana, with us.

During the end of the third week of July, I was feeling kind of funny… I took a pregnancy test, and sure enough, much to our surprise, it was positive!! What the what?!?! Baby #3 Sulkowski was/is on the way. This befuddled my brain a little bit, but only for the reason that I was going back to work at the beginning of September after a 2 year leave of absence, so I really had to wrap my mind around that. If work weren't a factor, I think I would have done a happy little jig everywhere I went. I got over it . I found a great long-term sub who will cover my classes for the 4^th quarter. J More importantly however, we are SO EXCITED to welcome a new member to our family. There is lots of love to be shared and lots of fun to be had, so let’s bring it on!!!

What a wonderful month!! Now onto August....

 Happy 4th of July!!

Nifty idea-use a cup when holding sparlkers...

Adam's New Toys

Nice Job, Gabs!

The "Triangle Pie"

Look at these cute cousins!

Carter is in heaven...He loves tanks.

Carter playing "Fireman Sam"

What a teacher's kid does in the summer;)

Sibs

Fun times on Houghton Lake (at one of the sand bars)

Fun times with Gabrielle's favorite neighbor, Lily!

  

@Jammie & Grandpop's pool

Look! No floatie!

 Look! No training wheels!!!

Crazy hair day at VBS

June Updates

June Highlights!

Gabrielle's first dance recital-She did a great job up on stage and got to wear a sparkly dress with a tiara. She looked just like a princess. She had many, many family members in the audience which was a real treat!

Carter's 2nd Birthday Party-For several days leading up to Carter's Mickey Mouse party, I explained to him that lots of people would be coming over to wish him and happy birthday and give him a present. We also practiced singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out a candle. I must say, he was quite prepared for his birthday. He didn't get stage fright with all the guests, and he nailed the blowing out the candle part which can be tricky. He had too much fun opening gifts and wanted play with everything and not open anything else. Totally understandable!

We spent 4 weekends at the cottage and got new carpet and flooring in the kitchen. We also got rid of some dusty, old furniture and brought up our leather couches from the basement. The place looks totally different! We were very happy to say goodbye to the orange shag!

Gabrielle spent a week at VBS at the First United Methodist Church in Howell and loved it! She also spent a lot of time playing with our neighbor, Lilliana, and kept busy with gymnastics, too.  Mom got to have a fun visit with her good friends Kim, who was in from Florida, and Beth.  June is always my very favorite month!

 (It was the best I could get!)

I had to take a picture. Adam read a book while at the cottage!! It's a rare sight.

May Highlights!

May was a busy month as most months tend to be, however, there is something about spring that makes the calendar fill up!  Here are a few highlights from the month:

May 4th- Carter's first hair cut at Great Clips in Howell! Carter has pretty thick hair and was in dire need of a trim. However, he wanted absolutely nothing to do with getting his hair cut. He wouldn't sit on the booster or the chair and he would not wear a cape. So....that meant he had to sit on my lap without a cape. I left the salon looking like a golden retriever!! There was so much hair everywhere, including on Carter's lollipop that he would not give up! I will not be taking Carter to his next appointment. Adam gets that pleasure!

Before

After!

May 9th- Mother's Day Celebration at Gabrielle's Preschool! I was cordially invited to Gabrielle's preschool for a lovely celebration filled with song and dance and tasty sundaes. Gabrielle made me a T-shirt with her hand prints, a bird feeder, and a corsage made out of a styrofoam cup! It was sweet.

 May 16th-Field Trip with Gabrielle's preschool to the Howell Nature Center. We had a lot of fun on a tour of the nature center and saw many animals. Most of the animals were out and about and ready for a visit.

May 23rd-Gabrielle's Preschool Graduation!!!!  It was so sweet. The kids walked out with their mortar board hats with their rainbow colored '13 tassels to the song "Skiddamarinky-Dinky-Dink". It was the cutest thing ever. I can't believe my baby graduated from preschool. I was so proud!! She is so ready for  kindergarten, so it makes it easier to accept!

Gabrielle's teacher, Ms. Jayme

Having fun on the tire swing!

Carter and Gabbers both love old-school Scooby Doo!

15 Little Princesses...1 Little Prince

The highlight of the month was Gabrielle's 5th birthday party which was themed after her favorite princess, Aurora, from Sleeping Beauty. After considering all of the birthday party venues around town, we figured it was easiest to have it at our home. (Not really!!) However, it was the only place  where we could do whatever we wanted!! Gabrielle had 14 girls on the guest list, and every single one came! I had a feeling we would have 100% attendance! Thinking of 15 girls in our basement was almost enough to throw MOM over the edge, but I stayed strong. The key to a lot of kids is to keep them ultra busy the entire time. We ran out of time for the gifts, which was fine, because 14 little girls would have a hard time sitting through all that madness, so it was nice that parents arrived as Gabrielle started opening her gifts.

Gabrielle wanted all of her friends to wear a princess dress. I wish I got group photo, but I didn't. We bedazzled tiaras, decorated tiara-shaped cookies, got manicures, and colored Aurora coloring pages. They feasted on macaroni and cheese and tiara-shaped jam sandwiches. (Gabrielle's two favorites.) Gabrielle wanted an Aurora cake, so I managed to find one of those too. We also had pink ice cream and pink lemonade! They played pin the tiara on Aurora, musical chairs, hot tiara (think hot potato), and a lovely game of toss-a-marshmallow-into-a-bucket. There were no tears and lots of smiles, so all-in-all it was a great success and Gabrielle felt like a super special 5-year-old!! See the pics below!

Let's see, what else? Carter is continuing to be a charmer. He loves to take Gabrielle to preschool and wreak a little havoc. Gabrielle and her brother give each other a hug and walk down the hall to her room. On the way down, Carter likes to stop in the 3 year old classroom to look at the aquarium, and then he loves to play in the 4 year old room. He likes to look at the "pig" named Walter, who is actually a guinea pig. He also heads to the pretend kitchen and to the little couch. If I left, he wouldn't care whatsoever. I can't believe my 1 year old is ready for preschool!!

Happy Birthday, Gabrielle!

Bedazzling Tiaras-- Station #1

Aurora Coloring Pages-- Station #2

Cookie Decorating-- Station #3

Manicures--Station #4

Gabrielle's Bday Morning

Gabrielle's Real Bday-- April 12th

Carter loves this construction hat, and he loves getting in Gabrielle's toy pack-n-play! What a silly kid!

Somebody needs a haircut!!

Look at these cuties! Gabrielle and Carter with their cousin, Aili!