Let the Holiday fun begin !!

So Christmas will be all done in another week (well sort of since we're spreading it out over the weekend too)... but the girls are starting to get excited and I am looking forward to a 2 day work week next week and a 3 day work week the following week !! Here are a few pics to start off all the holiday festivities...

Maddy & Mia chilling in the new Christmas PJs after getting baths Monday night. We attempted the cute pictures by the tree, but cooperation past the 7 PM hour does not work in our house, instead we got Mia half asleep with Maddy, Maddy strangling Mia and a cute picture of each girl- all things considered- not too bad !

Getting ready for some holiday fun on Mommy's random PTO day.

Maddy & Old St. Nick hit it off. They chatted for a good ten minutes since there were no other kids interested in seeing Santa the week before Christmas at Cincinnati Mills (since there are like no stores open there). But we were glad there was no wait !!

This is the classic 18 month visiting Santa picture for Mia- WAAHHHH !!

We "treated" the girls to Old Spaghetti Factory (more like treated Daddy to his favorite health conscious dish, brown butter & mizthrah cheese) & Mia was obsessed with eating Daddy's salad- quite funny...

But she didn't mind the spaghetti either- too cute !

Great picture of Mommy & Maddy, except the piece of pepper on my tooth.We picked a great night for Festival of Lights, not too cold and not too crowded.

Maddy & Rudolph take time to cheese.

Mia all bundled up at Festival of Lights. This one was on the extra long train ride we were treated to (not sure why, but we got stuck on the tracks while we were up high over the canyon where the zebras usually hang out, they reversed us after a few minutes and then we were able to finish the trip to the station uneventfully)...

Maddy thought she was hot stuff walking around with hand warmers... She'd probably think that was a cool gift from Santa if it ended up in her stocking- ha ha ha ha !!

We stopped at Great Grandma & Grandpa Rose's on the way home and as always the girls loved seeing their Great Ma & Pa. They have so much fun with them !

Humana Baby !!!

It's official, Brandon has accepted a job offer with Humana. He starts on 1/5. We are so elated to have this burden lifted from us in time to celebrate Christmas. God has truly blessed our family these 8 1/2 months. He is a mighty Savior !!

Happy Thanksgiving

I trust everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We only made 2 holiday stops, which is MUCH more manageable than the 3 or 4 we usually squeeze in. After having Brandon's mom & dad up for breakfast & watching the parade (after they were at Meijer at 4 AM- crazy...), we headed west. We spent the early afternoon with Brandon's dad's family where we had all the fixins of Thanksgiving. We than had a dinner a little after 6 at my Dad's house in Mt. Healthy. I was impressed the bachelor pulled off such a great meal & clean house (Thanks Carolyn- it was great !!) We thought Maddy was getting sick, but no, she just suckered us into basically eating Cool Whip for Thanksgiving dinner at both places. Mia wasn't much into the turkey either, she thought it looked better on Aunt Gail's floor & we didn't even bother with it at dad's... We had 2 great visits with our families. Here are a few pics from the day !

As close as it gets to 2 smiles... Mia (18 mos) & Maddy ( 4 1/2)

Thanks for getting out the toys Aunt Gail, but the box was just as much fun as the toys !

Well at least someone didn't want Uncle Josh to leave.

Mia was very content on Great Grandma's lap, as long as she was feeding her chocolate...

Maddy loves her Aunt Gail !

The girls love their personal shopper, Christina

Da Bairds- not sure why this is blury...

Cute cousins, Sammy & Maddy !

Shhh, don't tell Grandpa we're jumping on his couch !

Maddy, Sammy & Nick watching Movies at Grandpa Teufel's !

Saying Night Night to Great Grandma T !

We are looking forward to celebrating Brandon's 33rd birthday this weekend and we are optimistic that 1 of the 3 pending job opportunities will work out for him. He has a 3rd interview at Fifth Third Thursday, an interview in Louisville at Humana's headquarters next Tuesday and is waiting to hear back from Ortho Clinical Diagnostics this week. I have faith that God will lead him to the right company ! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas and we wish you a Very Merry Christmas as you beging to celebrate with family & friends !

Holiday Pictures

Winter is here in Cincinnati. Thanksgiving is a week away and the rush of the season will be upon us. We had our family pictures taken last weekend to beat the holiday rush and the pictures are quite adorable if I do say so myself. Today Mia turned 18 months, which is hard to believe. She is growing so much and looks like her daddy !! Maddy is still a spitting image of me. As the girls get older it is so cute to watch the interact. However, the past few weeks we have been experiencing the "joy" that goes along with interacting and they have started fighting. I am amazed at how an 18 month old can plan a sneak attack on her big sister's prized posessions (folding brush, Pez candy dispenser, and whatever happens to be the item of the day) and how she can hold her own in defending her stolen loot.

Halloween

Halloween seems like decades ago... We had so much fun getting ready for fall and Maddy was really into trick or treating this year, but sad news the morning after, has made this week seem like years.

Dr. Madelyn & Nurse Mia went trick or treating with Mom & Grandma and our neighbor Kylie and her mom, while Dad & Grandpa passed out candy and got the fire pit ready. Last year we only were out about 40 minutes before calling it a night. This year, houses were running out of candy at 7:30 as we made it back to the house. We came back and had yummy smores, they were sooo good !! We had to shower when we got in, because we stunk of smoke.

Little did I know that at the same time as our Halloween festivities, my close cousin Michael, was spending the last few minutes of his life. He was found dead at 8:40 PM in his apartment in NY. Toxicology results won't be in for another month, but they are thinking it could have been a reaction of medicines he took or a heart attack (brought on by a medication he was on). My sisters and I loaded in the car Sunday for a five hour visitation on Monday, Mass on Tuesday and left at 9PM Tuesday night, arriving home around 7 AM. Just enough time for me to sleep 3 hours and get to work around 11 to get everything done for the end of the month & our business unit presentation. Talk about an exhausting week and a tough time for the Gulla family.

Michael was the tough man, he was invincible. He fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming a cop (despite many people along the way telling him he never would). He was the cousin closest in age to me and we loved each other like siblings, which meant we had our share of fights, but we really understood each other. While we did not get to see each other but once a year or so, we shared many fun times together. Vacations at Old Forge, Tupper Lake, & Watts Bar Lake. But whenever we would talk to each other it was like we had just spoken last week, not last year. We both stood up to the smokers in the family to not smoke in our faces. We both had kiddos in 2004 and David looks like Michael and Maddy is my twin. Mike made us all laugh, sometimes we were the butt of his jokes and sometimes he was laughing at himself. But most of all, Mike cared about people. He loved his family, his country, his music, his life. He lived life the way it was meant to be lived.

It is so surreal that Mike is gone from this Earth. Rome, NY will never be the same without Mike. It is a comfort to know that Mike is in heaven and no longer suffering from his pain on Earth. The priest let us know that instead he was causing pains/resting the peacefulness of those who went before him. I look forward to seeing Mike again in heaven, but will wait for God's time to decide when. We are certainly not promised tomorrow, so love today like there is no tomorrow. I miss you Mike !!


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More Fall Fun

The Girls were dressed in their new cute fall clothes for church one Sunday, and we were actually running ahead of schedule, so I decided to take a few pictures:

We've made it a fall tradition to visit a pumpkin farm with our friends each year. We went back to Hidden Valley Fruit Farm on 48 where Maddy enjoyed the bouncy, train ride, pony ride and we all took a hayride on the property which ended up in the "baby pumpkin" patch. It was so hot that day and I wanted the girls in their Halloween longsleeve shirts- weird October weather we have here in Cincinnati...
Above: Mia & Daddy; Below: Luke & Maddy




The cute sister photo in the pile of pumpkins quickly turned ugly

when Mia did not get a piece of popcorn...
The kiddos and the daddies: Brandon, Mia, Luke, Chris, Katelyn, Maddy, Matt & Mitchell



Emily & Kevin said "I do" on Saturday 10/18. It was a beautiful fall day and everything worked out just great for them. We wish you all the best Mr. & Mrs. Kevin Burke !!!

Mia in her sister's handy-me-down Gap Sweatshirt. I have the exact same pics of Maddy at the fall display when she was Mia's age...

I took the day off work and took Maddy to the zoo with Mary & Joshua Darst (my future son in law). On the way home Joshua asks, "Maddy, will you marry me." Maddy responds, "Not now, but when I get big I can." It was quite funny. We had a great time at the zoo ! We got to feed the giraffes, ride the carousel and take a train ride.