We’ve been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather this past
week, and even went to the park! It
resulted in muddy shoes and pants, but the girls had a really great time
exploring.
Just hanging out in the castle
Found you!
Climbing "mountains"
Running to save the mermaids from the pond
You can carry me now
Evie's loves to do whatever Maggie is doing:
Evie has a little bug right now, but is still her playful
self with a little more cuddling. She is
getting a lot better with her pronunciation of words. This week “milk” and “Maggie” were her new
understandable words. She talks in
sentences all the time, we just have no idea what she is saying.
My stylish girl
This past weekend Grandpa came over to set up our small
aquarium and he picked out a couple guppies and tetra fish with Maggie. Maggie has been feeding them every night and
both girls really like the “fishys”.
Later in the week, we found one of the guppies dead, and ironically the
other guppy had given birth to about 10 teeny-tiny fish. We decided to let Maggie see the dead fish and sat
down to explain what dying means. Maggie
is such a compassionate little girl, and was really upset for a while, lots of tears
and lots of questions. She was so
concerned about her fishy being ok, and promised that she would dream about “Maui”
to help him feel better, and she prayed that Jesus would take care of him. My heart broke about 10 times, but I think we
successfully made it through our first discussion of the topic!
The girls continue to be obsessed with the karaoke machine. They both really enjoy singing into the microphone (which often leads to lectures on sharing). It will keep them entertained for 30 minutes easily! Right now we are singing all the songs from the new Disney movie Moana (which are very bearable!). Here's Maggie singing the theme song with Evie on back-up vocals:
Always dancing
We have a new rule about not choking your sister
Aunt Amy and Uncle Rex took Maggie and Will to see Moana this weekend. Maggie had a really great time with Will, and then we all went out for lunch at McDonald's afterward - basically the best day ever for Maggie!
Ready for the movie!
Looking for Will in the playscape (a.k.a. germ central)
"Up here, Maggie!"
A few others:
Daddy's so strong
Evie really hates having her picture taken
Rabine cousins at Dustin and Meagan's wedding shower this weekend!
2017 started off a little rough for the Donoghues. I’m a bit behind on the blog, but life has
been so hectic that I don’t have many photos to post anyway!
My brother John came for a quick visit earlier this month,
so the family got together for dinner and playtime with the kiddos.
This was a really loud photo moment
More screaming
Little bear in the middle of it all
John with his kids Zach and Katy
Uncle John doesn't like being teased
Tickles with Uncle Bobby
Evie and Claire - climbing buddies
The following week I had really awful cold, possibly the
flu? I had to take a couple days off
work, which I really didn’t want to do with all the projects we are trying to
finalize at work. In the middle of that,
Jamie’s car stopped working… the mechanic told us it need a new head gasket,
and there was a pretty good chance the engine block was cracked and the
transmission was spitting out several error codes. We started freaking out because we owe quite a
bit on the car still, and the repair was going to be at least $4k! Jamie looked around, and ended up finding a
really good lease deal that gave us a great price for the trade-in. In the end, we lost a little money, but it definitely
seemed to work out for the best.
Seriously, 2017?
Evie is going through a phase of screaming and I am about
ready to lose my mind. She’s also been
battling a cold, which makes her less patient to begin with… any perceived
slight results in screams and often tears.
I may have locked myself in the bathroom a few times.
She's also very sweet and happy at times...
Maggie continues to be her sweet self, and her teacher
emailed us this story:
This afternoon, Mr.
Turk brought a little 3 year old girl and her Dad into the room for a tour
because they are looking for a new preschool.
I was explaining the check in procedure, talking about our toys and
activities etc. when Maggie said "and I will be her friend".
I can't say I'm
surprised---she is friendly and kind to everyone but I just wanted you to know
what a sweet girl she is here at school. We are so blessed to have her in our
class, modeling all the behaviors we hope to instill.
We had a really lovely Christmas this year, jam-packed with family, friends and food!
Family time!
Every year we spend Christmas Eve morning/afternoon in Frankenmuth to visit Bronners and have the famous Bavarian Inn chicken dinner (lunch). This year we decided to stay at the Bavarian Inn the night before - best decision ever! We got a really great deal on the room, and I had no idea how much stuff there was to do within the hotel. We had dinner with the Odglens, and then lots of swimming afterward. Evie was pretty tired out, so I snuggled with her in the hotel room while Maggie and Will played in the arcade and danced in the lounge.
Ready to hit the pool
Fun and games
Party girl
The next day we went to Bronners to meet Santa. Maggie did great and was really excited; Evie is still not a fan of Santa.
Waiting to meet Santa... nervous?
Evie has had better days
(Maggie told Santa she wanted a "jumping over the moon unicorn")
Bobby's family and my parents met up with us at Bronners for a little bit of shopping, and then we went back to Bavarian for a delicious lunch with the Donoghues!
Doing a little Christmas shopping
Grandkids love posing for pictures
My little gnome girl
I played piano for midnight mass at St. Michael's that evening... not going to lie, I was running on fumes (and a large Starbucks coffee) by that point. It was really great to play with a full band though!
Christmas morning I went to get Maggie... her eyes popped open when I sat on her bed and she whispered, "did Santa come?" It was precious. Evie didn't really understand, but was pretty excited by all the presents downstairs!
Christmas morning!
Maggie got her special unicorn with a "moon" ornament around it's neck. We call her Moonbeam, or Moonie for short. Evie got several things, but seemed most excited about her new toothbrush (she rrrreally loves brushing her teeth).
I love dental hygiene!
Welcome to the family, Moonbeam
Sooo happy
Jamie gave me an amazing gift - I finally have a wedding photo album! He made us a really beautiful Shutterfly book, and I loved it! We also continued our tradition of making an ornament; we both ended up making an ornament about "Stranger Things" (which you should watch if you haven't!). You can probably guess who did each one.
We went over to the Donoghues late morning for gifts, and Maggie and Evie were in heaven! We all went over in our PJs and had a nice, relaxing time with everyone.
They all showed up with the same pants on, so embarrassing
Woot woot!
"Reading" a story to Uncle Justin
Cuddles with Grandpa
Afterward we went to my parents' house for Christmas dinner. It was really great to see the extended family, and to see all the kids running around together.
Not a great picture, but I just love Evie in this dress
Grace the Great!
Super cool girl cousins
Evie managed to get ice cream from like four different people
Trying to get a picture of us girls... dying of laughter while my dad tries to figure out an iphone
Tell me your life story, Claire
Dinner time at the kids table
Uncle Tom and Eric
Looking a little guilty over there...
Partying down... literally
On Monday, we did nothing but lay around and play with new toys most of the day. I did not have the energy for anything else!
Sometimes you just need to take it easy
Jamie met up with some of his extended family at Java Jungle in the afternoon, and then we all went to dinner together afterward. Jamie's cousin Betsy has two little girls that are a little bit older than ours, and Maggie and Evie absolutely adored them!
Hanging with the big kids
Dinner
Such a dude in Sue's hat
My other dude
We celebrated Christmas with my immediate family the following day, and had a really fun time hanging out.
Sister time
A picture of the girls (taken by a teenager this time)
The anticipation is palpable
You guys look a little worn out
My beautiful, talented, smart nieces and nephew
All but two of the grandkids
No one's looking - go for it!
How we got them all to sit at the same time? Christmas. Miracle.
My sweeties
Pigtail posse. Tough chicks with disarming charm.
It's been nice having this week off work, though I can't seem to sit down and relax, there always something to do! We're attempting to do a little work in our den/guest room/toy room/office this week... not sure if that will actually happen...
Big news - the pacifiers are gone! We stopped giving them to Evie at bedtime a few days ago, and she is doing pretty well. The first couple nights were a little rough, 30-45 minutes of crying, but she's doing okay now. Yay!
