February Ketchup

Lots to update here since I've been slacking this year!  Ben just turned six and had a very special birthday!

Happy Birthday, Ben!

The day beforehand, I coordinated with our DPS operations manager to give Ben the grand tour of all the DPS equipment before school.  Ben was super annoyed at first because he thought I forcing him to go to a museum... he was pleasantly surprised to see all the snow plows, excavator, loader, grader, fire engine and police car!  The DPS guys were so cool, and even let him move the loader and excavator buckets around (with supervision!).  

Six = size of a loader bucket

Tiny Operator

Up in the bucket truck

Pushing all the buttons, lights, horns on the 
fire engine

He was very into the police car!

So happy

Here's Ben operating the excavator:

On Ben's birthday we opened presents and had pancakes for breakfast, then headed to the bowling alley to celebrate with family!  He had a really lovely time and was a grateful little boy.  We love him so much!

Ben got to have a couple buddies there too!

Powerhouse!

Make a wish

Let me tell you something

Three generations for Euchre

Not to be outdone by me, Jamie had a special day taking Ben to the Pistons game along with Grandpa.  Ben had a really great time and wants to go back asap.

Let's go Pistons!

Ready for fun

Is this kid ever not happy?

Aunt Amy and Uncle Rex took Ben on a very special birthday date to Dino Land and to Target - this kid is way too spoiled!

Hanging with his cousins

Spoiled rotten!

Jamie surprised me with tickets to Vegas for Christmas this year.  We went to see the Killers in late January, and also had a lot of fun together.  The concert was amazing, I'm obsessed!  We went to Red Rock Canyon and wow, it exceeded expectations!

Stayed at the Flamingo - with flamingos!

Give me a shot at the night!

Brandon Flowers - I have a crush on you

Jamie made me stop at the fountains

An awesome tiki bar with dangerous drinks!

My favorite photo from the trip.  Poor Minnie
looks like she's on the wrong side of the tracks.

Too cute

Ugh, the view!

Almost had a panic attack during this photo

Lucky wife

Evie soccer team had a fun outing at an ice tubing spot, so the whole family went.  Cold, but a cool experience!

Donoghue family night

Evie's team all bundled up

Sister sister

Ben was very brave, did everything himself!

We had a very sporty January - our friend Mike was able to invite Jamie and the kids to a Red Wings game at his company suite, so it was a very special experience for the them!  First hockey game too!  (Jamie and I also went to the last Lions game... don't want to talk about it)

Let's go Red Wings!

Baller

Very into the game!

Maggie looks so cool as a hockey player!

Before our souls were crushed

The Rabine clan got together after New Years this year for some fun family time.  The foosball tournament continued! 

Ben loved seeing Jody's guinea pigs!

I failed to get a picture of Katy and her NEW
ENGAGEMENT RING! So as a sad substitute,
here is my sister trying to not drop champagne!

Ben's finally tall enough to see

Cuties

We may all have back problems one day

Solid competition right here

Shocker, Zach was the top scorer this year... His name is on
the Peg-Leg Trophy AGAIN

Just imagining what it would be like if we won

Some others:

Cutest little Lego set

Officer on his beat

Sledding with friends!

Every now and then, all three work together and it's so sweet

Christmas 2024

It was a very merry Christmas season for the Donoghues!

Celebrating an epic season so far for the Lions!

We continued our tradition of visiting Frankenmuth on Christmas Eve-Eve.  We had an early dinner at Bavarian with the Odglens and then spent the rest of the evening at the Bavarian Inn.  

I plan to recreate this in 15 years

The kids enjoyed the pools for a little while, and then we checked out the new climbing walls and high-ropes course.  I figured it would be obnoxiously expensive, but it was actually pretty reasonable and they let us stay in the area as long as we wanted.  Ben was too short to go alone, so I had to be his shadow... which turned out to be awesome!  I've never done one of these courses before, so I had such a fun time doing everything, and was so impressed with how brave Ben was!  Two hours flew by, we shut the place down!

Maggie and Will went down the slide sooo many times

Can't hold still enough to get a good photo!

Tried the climbing walls first

Suited up, ready to go!

Brave Ben

Evie and Will

Violet joined in too! "I wasn't scared at all"

Amy made "Merry Swift-mas" sweatshirts for our Swifties

The next day we did the arcade and our annual trip to Bronner's for a few ornaments.  We love our tradition!

Still a favorite

Skee-ball!

Obligatory photo

Meeting Willy

When you didn't get enough sleep and emotions
are running high

Meeting Santa

Telling Santa he wants a popcorn machine...
which I've told him 100 times we already have!

Family

Twinsies

We decided to attend the children's mass at our church on Christmas Eve... even though we were pretty early, we just barely got seats in the gathering area.  We couldn't really hear anything except a bunch of screaming kids - Note to self: DO NOT MAKE THIS ROOKIE MISTAKE NEXT YEAR!

Ready for church

The kids were up at 8am (mostly because Ben couldn't wait any longer) and we had a really fun time opening gifts.  It was a very sweet morning, all good attitudes and gratitude.  Jamie really surprised me with a trip to see The Killers in Vegas next month - I'm excited! My parents joined us later for a relaxing breakfast, lovely and low-key as always.  We went over to the Donoghues later in the afternoon to see the whole family.

We're so blessed

Maggie got a Taylor guitar from Santa, one that
is her size and should make lessons a lot easier for her

Evie's favorite gift this year was an Apple Watch, but
her new beanbag was a close second.

Ben got a new iPad, but he looks way cuter with
his new punching bag from Grammer and Pops!

Maple seriously enjoying one of her gifts

Bobby thankfully made the traditional Friendship Cake,
so I very much enjoyed it with coffee this week

The Donoghues!

Maggie and Will just being themselves

Bonding over screens

Working hard

Cuddles with Grandma

Jamie and I made homemade ornaments as is tradition.  These probably don't make much sense to anyone but us, but capturing for posterity:

Jamie made this ceramic ornament of Raygun,
perhaps one of my favorite events from this year

Very clearly made by me - most nights I make
a mixed fruit bowl and nag Jamie at the end of dinner
to "have some fruit, it's good for you."