The Donoghue Family: Christmas 2019

Christmas 2019 was pretty great. The girls are at such a fun age, and Ben was adorable for his first Christmas.

My favorite Christmas card blooper - Ben nailing Evie in the face

Maggie’s Christmas concert at school was cute as usual, and she even had a speaking part beforehand (which is kind of hard to hear with all the background noise):

Evie had a little concert with the preschoolers on the last day of school. She did a great job listening and even scolded the boy next to her for goofing off at one point. The girl loves structure and rules.

We went to Frankenmuth for Christmas Eve-Eve, and had dinner with my parents and Odglens. All the kids went swimming at the hotel afterward. Both Maggie and Evie are independent in the water now, so it was a lot easier to hang out and have fun. Ben enjoyed floating around the pool. Maggie went down the giant water tube-slide by herself this year – she was brave, but definitely did not want to do it again afterward. Jamie and Evie went down on a double-tube… physics was not in their favor, and Jamie ended up launching Evie off the float at the bottom of the slide. It was really scary because I really thought she was about to break her neck – thankfully everyone was ok and we will be avoiding the slide in the future!

Hanging at Bavarian Inn

Buckle up, Buttercup

Bridge selfie

Swim time!

I can't even...

It's important to start ski-ball as young as possible

With us all sleeping in one room, Ben kept us parents awake almost all night. Christmas Eve the next day was pretty rough on us, but we survived! We did our usual trip to Bronner’s before heading home for church. Ben met Santa for the first time - 3 for 3, our kids have all been terrified as babies.

Ben is happy on my lap

...not so much on Santa's

I love Evie's shy excitement

Christmas morning was wonderful. Evie is at the fun age where she rudely asked for more, more more… I remember being really upset when Maggie acted like that, but it seems to be a 4-year old phase that will hopefully improve next year. Big gifts this year were a bike for Maggie and a power-wheel “sled” for Evie. We also installed new wall-mounted desks for each girl, and this was surprisingly a huge favorite of theirs.

Ready to hit the road

Filling this bean bag was incredibly messy, and I won't be doing it ever again!

Into the Unknown:

New desks:

Afterward we spent the day at the Donoghues in our PJs. The cousins had fun together, and little peanut Violet was entertaining strutting around the house.

Matchy matchy

That's a big family!

Show me the light

Day after Christmas was a Donoghue get-together at Betsy’s house. We had a good time!

Aunt Jane is a baby-whisperer

Maggie put together this ensemble in their basement

After that was Christmas at my parents’ house. Lots of delicious food and family. Christmas never quite seems complete until I get to spend some time with Mom and Dad.

Popsicles in the bedroom = bad idea

Presents (and bubble wrap)!

Two peas in a pod

Poor Zachary spent A LOT of time entertaining the kids...
here they are designing their "spooky" decorations to hang in the basement

We did New Years Eve at the Donoghues, had an early countdown with the kids and then headed home. I actually stayed up until midnight this year!

Party at Grandma's

Maggie being cute

Woot.

It’s been a really hectic month, but all my kiddos are doing fantastic. Maggie lost both of her front teeth in December, is reading everything she can, and loves doing art projects on her own desk. Evie goes with the flow, is getting really good at legos and is my little cuddle-bug. Ben is now crawling, yes!! Unfortunately he is a very nosy baby, and requires some serious baby-proofing compared to the girls. He keeps surprising me by showing up at my feet in the kitchen – he’s a mama’s boy!