Grace the Great

Today we celebrated Grandma Grace's life.  She was a strong, faithful and independent woman and passed away at the age of 97.  She was a tough cookie, and sometimes I channel her "get-it-done" attitude when I feel overwhelmed.  The funeral was very small due to COVID, and I think we were all disappointed that we could not really gather and pay tribute properly.  I am glad that she is at peace!

Grace the Great!
(several years ago when we were more vivacious!)

We are all very excited for Christmas this year.  Jamie and I love seeing the kids' excitement, it really is such a special time.  On Sundays we light our advent wreath and have a candlelight dinner.  Ben is very freaked out by the darkness, but the girls enjoy the special dinner.

Sitting still-ish

Jamie and the kids are done with school for now.  I'm trying to finish up some pressing things at work, but should be able to take several days off which I'm really looking forward to!

The girls made some pretty great snowman at a local park
(couldn't get enough snow from our own yard)

Not a big fan of snow so far

Jamie's Zoom setup for school... his students seem to enjoy it

Kiss audition

Maggie is obsessed wit her new furry vest
from Grandma... she's worn it like 4 times in a week

Should I be concerned with how model-y Maggie acts?

Arting with Daddy in a really uncomfortable spot

This is how Ben winks

This rocker has served us well over the years

Maggie likes to do some of the art lessons that Jamie teaches his students, and Maggie really enjoyed this one (a thaumatrope):

Evie can make a really funny yodeling sound and no one else in our family can seem to match it.  Try it, you'll see!

Ben still climbs everything.  We tried get rid of the kid chairs, but then he just starting using the taller kitchen chairs and getting into more trouble!  One day he climbed a kitchen chair and grabbed the stovetop a few minutes after I took a boiling pot off... he was fine, but I felt terrible.  Hopefully he learned that lesson.  So we continue to monitor as best we can...

I can't believe I forgot to post this last time!  For Maggie's birthday, all the Donoghues got together and bought a Cameo from Maggie's favorite actress (Willa from Zombies).  She was so thrilled to see this video, and the actress really took a lot of time to make a specialized greeting.  Gotta save this!

The girls could not have their normal Christmas concert this year, so they were required to do a sing-a-long at home and send a video to their teacher.  I loved watching them sing Silent Night together, so sweet: