Seasons greetings from all of us here at The Rectory!  It's been a fabulous '04 for us and we received our Christmas wish from last year, which was less drama in 2004!  We've all got a clean bill of health and are ready for a great holiday season!  As usual, you better grab the egg nog now, spice it up, then sit back and enjoy the yearly run-down of the haps round Priest house this year!

Ashley is 7 now and halfway through first grade.  She is doing great and just loves school (yeah, we're enjoying that while it lasts!).  Ashley started Brownies this year and has started the YMCA Indian Princess program with Mark.  She loves doing things with her classmates and sometimes even enjoys Dad hanging around (yeah, we'll enjoying that while it lasts too!).  Ashley shed her training wheels on her bike in September and has been serving as a pace-setter for Mark on his neighborhood runs.  Ashley joined the Jay-Rays swim team this year.  She learned lot and really had a blast at the swim meets!  She's also trying her hand at basketball this year and is really enjoying it too.  She's not shattered any backboards with any monster dunks yet, but she says she's waiting til the second half of the season for that! 

Allison is 5 now, and is halfway through kindergarten.  She's doing great and enjoys school and all her friends as well.  Allison took tennis lessons this summer and really enjoyed herself.  We've started calling her Anna K. :)  She has also started Daisies this year (which precedes Brownies).  Laura is her Daisy troop leader so they've had a big time together!  She's been practicing with Daddy, and will also be saying goodbye to her training wheels on her bike soon!

Andrew will be 2 in March and is doing great!  He's received a clean bill of health from his docs, and if you've seen him lately, you can tell he's not been missing any meals!!!  He loves pressing buttons!  He understands there is a set of things that are called "no-no's".  However, he hasn't quite made the connection that we don't want him to touch the "no-no's".  Thus, we keep our remote controls on our mantle, and keep all other electronic devices that we do not want "stress-tested" out of reach.  He likes to play with balls and throw them around the house...we just have to be careful when he gets a hold of the pool and golf balls!

Laura had such a great time while in the hospital pregnant with Andrew, that's she's decided to begin pursuing a nursing degree.  She started her first class (Chemistry) this fall and is nothing short of a curve-buster, much to the dismay of her classmates!  The process will take about 3 years to complete at the rate she'll be taking classes, but that will work out great for when Andrew starts up school.

Amazingly, Mark's managed to just sit back and enjoy the good life again this year.  Much of his time is focused on just observing how busy Laura seems to be all the time.  Occasionally he'll get snookered into making some headway on the ever present honey-do list.

A big family-first this year was our first camping trip we took in October with the Conrad family.  We camped in the NC mountains, enjoyed the Fall colors, and got real lucky catching a warm weekend!  Pics and more below. We can't wait for the next trip!

Ok, that's this year's executive summary!  Below are some additional highlights and links to pics from our busy and fun-filled year:

We spent Christmas 2003 at our home, and then afterwards, headed to Missouri to visit Grandma Sue, Grandpa Don & the rest of the Priest clan. 
Andrew turned ONE in March and we helped him celebrate with a Rubber Ducky party.  He had a big time and really enjoyed the cake Mommy made for him to wear...I mean eat!
In April the Easter Bunny came hopping our way again this year, leaving behind many eggs that needed finding.

Also in April, we headed out for a one day excursion to the NC Zoo in Asheboro!  It seems every time we go, the family tries to leave without me.  But luckily I managed to dangle from the bumper all the way back to Raleigh.

We managed to do a little fishing in May.  I took the girls to a local lake to catch a few bluegills with our magic hotdog bait.  Well, we were sporting what I like to call "light tackle"...that's code-talk meaning we were using the girl's miniature Barbie fishing poles.  Well, Ashley hooked a big "fat-cat" that pushed the "light-tackle" to its limits.  Great fun!  Also in May I scooted out for a nice weekend of trout fishing in the NC mountains with my main man Mr. Charlie, which is always a great time!

In June we took our yearly vacation to Panama City.  Once again it was a great break full of fun, sun, rest and relaxation!  Just what the doctor ordered!
July brought the annual Independence Day celebrations including fireworks and a festive flag waving bike parade through our subdivision. 

In July, Laura and the kids traveled to see Great Grandma, Auntie Linda and the whole gang in Ohio.  Laura's family had a big family reunion and of course did a lot of shopping!  Though Laura's still kind of a trainee in that department, compared to crafty veteran's like Great Grandma.  By the time I got there, Laura and the credit card were worn out! :)  So I had to take her and the kids on a Lazy canoe ride with Tonya & Isaac.
Allison turned 5 in late July.  This year she had a Strawberry Shortcake party with all her friends!  Apple Dumplin, Orange Blossom, Angel Cake and Ginger Snap even stopped by!
In August, Ashley turned 7.  She had a Kim Possible party at Paint Your Pot.  Look out for that mole rat!  Her and her friends having a good time...it was practically Ron Stoppable!  BooooYa!!!
In September, Little John arrived on the scene!  "Labor Day" took on a whole new meaning this year at the Sulzen household!

In October, I played with my famous neighbor, Andrew Tibbetts (appearing in the Dec. 13 issue of People Magazine), and his dad Larry in a local golf tournament to benefit Make-A-Wish.  We had a great time and I even got Andrew to give me some pointers on my putting!

October in NC means one thing...The NC State Fair!  We missed it last year, so we had to eat twice as much food this year.  The kids had their first corndog ever and gave it three big thumbs up!

As I mentioned in the executive summary above, we went on our first family camping trip at the end of October.  We camped at Bear Den Family Camp Ground with the Conrad Family.  We roasted marshmellows, talked things over by the campfire, went on a hike, did some gem-stone mining and more.  Even Laura had a blast, so hopefully we'll start going on spring and fall yearly trips!
For Halloween this year, Ashley, Allison, and Andrew were 3 little Indians!  They all went out on the warpath to try to drum up as much candy for Daddy as they could!

For even more eye-popping footage of our every move this year, feel free to browse around The Rectory's Complete Photo Archives.

We've had the pleasure of catching up with a lot of our friends this past year, and look forward to doing more of that next year as well! 

We hope you have a happy and blessed holiday season and prosperous 2005!