We brought home our new puppy about a month ago, and are smitten! Maple Dip Donoghue is a really sweet dog and all three kids are doing great with her. She is a mini labradoodle and will grow to about 35 lbs within a year.
Welcome home, Maple!
Maggie and Evie went with Dad to pick her up in Ohio
Our first day home together... before she fell in the pool... but now she stays away from the water, so it wasn't the worst thing!
I expected Maggie to be the most involved with Maple, but Ben is actually the most obsessed and they are becoming best friends. He loves to give her hugs and play outside, even gets excited about picking up poop! Maggie is doing great with the responsibility side; Evie loves Maple, but is not quite as into her as the other kids - she has a love/ambivalent relationship.
Happy kids
All his love
Drying off the morning dew
I love you
Maple is doing really well with commands to sit and lay down, and has learned how to walk on a leash without pulling like 50% of the time. She's mostly potty trained, but we still have some accidents in the house if we forget to let her out enough - still working on that! We can only leave her alone for about 3 hours right now - so our days are a bit chaotic, but slowly progressing towards a new normal.
One of her favorite spots to play
Sometimes she looks so wise (she isn't)
The kids and Jamie had a great back-to-school experience this year - no tears, no stress, we just sort of fell back into the usual routine. Maggie is in 5th grade, Evie is in 3rd and Ben is in his last year of preschool.
First day of 5th Grade, rocking her Taylor Swift shirt!
The girls are very into this pose - but you have to say "slay!" when you do it
First day of 3rd Grade! Still will only wear black or white, our little emo kid.
Thrilled to have some of her besties in class!
Buddies
First day of last year of preschool!
We had some fun times with friends towards the end of summer! Andy and Katie were in town with their kiddos, so we got to see them for about a week. Maggie loved "babysitting" and made a special bond with Henry. We went to a few concerts (including The National), celebrated our 13th anniversary, and had lots of fun by the pool! Jamie also spent a few days in New York with the Sandovals so he could see The National... again...
Fun at the zoo!
Maggie's newest fan
So fun to see this little smush ball!
Partners in crime
Waiting for the Detroit show to start - so many friends came!
Got to meet the drummer after the show!
I was actually pretty excited to meet Aaron Dessner (guitarist for the National and helped produce Taylor's latest albums!)
Madison Square Garden!
New York friends!
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Anniversary date in Detroit!
Phoenix/Beck show at Pine Knob
LED glow balls make for a fabulous night swim
We celebrated my Dad's birthday a little early on Labor Day weekend. He had back surgery recently, so it was good to see him moving around - still recovering, but on the mend!
Happy birthday, Pops!
I invented the best game ever: How well to you know your Pops? Blind taste test to see how many pops they could name; so much backwash
This might have been from a different pool day?
Lots of random photos:
Jamie starts them young... I wonder how much money we've given to Lego?
Maggie was excited for the Super Moon! (I was not, full moons = crankier residents)
Went camping with her friend!
Loving my soccer team - after a really clutch win!
Slay
Got tickets to the sneak premier of the Ninja Turtles movie!
Saturday morning fun
Cutie patootie - dressed up as Olaf for his camp song
Wow, this summer is speeding along so quickly! We have had a lot of fun, and I've had a hard time getting this blog updated... my bad!
Our little unit took a vacation to the east coast to visit with Erin's family at their beach house in New Hampshire. On the way there, we stopped in Ithaca, NY to sleep and got to explore some really beautiful waterfalls.
A beautiful waterfall from the lookout point
These two are such buddies lately
Hiking to get a closer look
We made it
Sisters tolerating each other
So wrapped around his finger
Team Donoghue
We had a lot of fun at the beach in NH, and all three kids were really into the ocean waves and sandcastles! We also did some little outings for the kids and hit a couple breweries.
Good friends, good brews at Bissell Brewery
Beach playground
We spent a day in Boston
Erin and sleepy James on our little boat ride through the park
This was so peaceful, one of my favorite spots on the trip!
Evie girl
Boston aquarium was incredible!
So many beautiful fish!
Cute little penguins!
Got a little date night together
For a guy that hates sand, he seems pretty happy
Erin taught the kids the dribble-castle art form
Arcade isn't just for kids
Skee-ball!
Putt-putt
They survived the pirate course
Maggie conquered these slipper and scary rocks - victorious!
Found a beached mermaid
Beach day!
Really digging this sand
Bowling was a huge hit
The Cryptozoology Museum was a bit of a hilarious letdown
All the bigfoot stuff
Maggie thought she was sooo cool drinking her rootbeer
Stayed at Drury Inn on the way home - best hotels ever for family trips
On the way home we had a big surprise for the kids. Jamie and I have been planning to get a puppy for several months, but were keeping it a secret in case we got cold feet! Maggie wrote us a really impressive persuasive essay at the end of the school year about why we should get a bird, and one of her points was that she knew we were NEVER going to agree to get a dog. It kind of broke my heart, and I didn't want to wait much longer since she's already 10! We are getting a mini labradoodle, and went to visit all the puppies in the litter on our trip home (they were 6 weeks old). We picked out a little girl puppy and have been preparing for her ever since. We finally agreed to call her Maple (full name Maple Dip Donut-hue), and Jamie will be driving to Ohio to pick her up this Thursday!
Puppy cuddles - such an awesome way to end our trip!
I don't know if Maggie's ever been so happy
It took a little while, but Ben finally got the courage to pick one up
I'm pretty sure this was the one we picked... so many puppies!
Maple's headshot at 8 weeks - swoon
We celebrated Violet's 5th birthday with an amazing Barbie-themed party! I love a good theme!
Having fun with the birthday girl!
Snagged my very own Ken
Jane and Ben had lots of fun playing
Pink shirts for the win!
We had a fun 4th of July with beautiful weather and swimming with the Rabines. We went to the top of the parking deck to continue our fireworks tradition!
Ah, this is the life
Plotting their next movie
Dinner on the diving board
Triple trouble
Pool yoga
Watching all the fireworks around Oakland County
Cuddles with dad
We also celebrated my mom at her surprise birthday party (that she planned for herself, ha ha!). Luke created a zombie movie that was pretty great (and the reason the kids have really weird makeup in the photos).
Happy Birthday, Grammer!
Ben is ready to shoot the cake if necessary
Is the bag really big or is Mom really short?
Luke creating his movie gameplan
Zombies:
Mid-year height checks!
We took the girls to see the Counting Crows along with Grandpa at Freedom Hill. It was Evie's first concert, and we had a pretty great time! Bobby and Allison watched Ben for us that night, and he had a great time... but kept repeating that he was NOT spending the night there to make sure everyone in the world understood his position.
Evie being Evie while waiting to go in
Concert vibes
Family
Chill session
Not really a "head banging" kind of band, but that didn't stop Maggie!
Happy first concert!
We finally got around to updating our TV room, which was super dark and dungeon-ish. We hired a drywaller, electrician and painter, and then Jamie figured out how to do crown molding and faux built-in cabinets for us. We'd like to get some new furniture eventually, but figure we should probably wait until our doggy is trained!
Before (shudder) - I really hated this room
After!
Top secret messages before the drywall went up
Still work on getting him to write Ben instead of Bem
Some others:
Ben loved vacuuming Daddy's classroom at the end of the day at camp
Muscles
Cuddles before bed
Concert with his buddies at work + a rainbow!
Great minds think alike
So happy to have his nails painted like his sisters
Last day of camp, and they actually look like they love each other!
