Merry Christmas! We had a lovely Christmas celebrating our traditions and spending time with family!
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| Our Lego-Themed Christmas card with a model of our kitchen |
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| Our Lego family |
We are "fake tree" people, but we got to tag along with Jamie's family to pick out trees at Blake's. The kids had a blast tromping around the snowy fields and judging the trees, definitely put us in the Christmas spirit. We enjoyed some donuts and hot chocolate afterward... until Ben spilled his entire cup everywhere and soaked his clothes - then we went home.
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| Hayride out to the fields |
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| On a mission to find the best tree |
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| Chilly day perfect for cuddling |
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| Taking a respite by the bonfire |
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| Evie "helping" Uncle Justin saw the tree |
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| Staying warm with Daddy |
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| Cuddles with Aunt Amy |
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Jane and I understand priorities.
Donuts. Always donuts. |
We continued our annual tradition of going to Frankenmuth right before Christmas. We normally stay for one night, but with the terrible storm forecast, we decided to head up early and stayed for two nights. We were able to squeeze into Bronner's on the 22nd before they closed due to the storm, so while were kind of messy and not in our Christmas best, the kids got to visit with Santa. Everything was basically shutdown for the weekend, but it didn't matter to us because we spent all our time inside the hotel at the arcade, swimming pools and putt-putt course. We also took the kids for the famous chicken dinner - they were unimpressed, but Jamie and I enjoyed it!
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| Waiting to see Santa |
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| Too nervous to say much! |
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| Laying on the charm extra thick |
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Ben was very curious about Santa...
didn't want to sit with him though! |
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| Jane also did not want to sit with Santa! |
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| "everyone smile" = this |
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| Annual photo on the throne |
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| Taking the car out for a spin |
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| Really loves all the shooting/laser games |
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Teamwork!
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Big winner! He rolled the 1,000 ticket, and then
got an extra spin which won us 5,000 tickets!
The kids were psyched! |
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Super proud of this girl - conquered her fears
and went down both of the giant twisty slides!
No pics of Maggie because she was constantly running
up the stairs to get back on the slide! |
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| Ben thoroughly enjoyed the kiddy pool |
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| Relaxing in the hot tub |
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| Putt putt fun |
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| On our way to dinner |
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| All smiles after dessert |
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| Had a beautiful white Christmas! |
On Christmas Eve we had a simple dinner, went to church and got the kids tucked in tight. Maggie continued to listen and look for Santa from the top of the stairs until about 1am, but wasn't too tired to enjoy Christmas the next day!
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Ready for church
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| Looking good, kids |
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| Happy Birthday to Jesus |
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| PJs and hot chocolate before bedtime |
On Christmas morning the kids enjoyed opening their gifts. Some highlights were razor scooters for the girls, a basketball hoop for Ben, laser tag for all the kids, and of course the big item - Taylor Swift tickets for the girls (Ben was not concerned). My parents came over for breakfast and relaxing in the morning. My mom got the memo and wore her pajamas, but my dad couldn't handle it!
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Christmas morning smiles
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| Christmas is better with your mom and dad |
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| The struggle to get these tickets is worth noting |
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| Yummy breakfast with family! |
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| Our bouncer |
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| The gift of giving |
Later in the afternoon we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's to see all the Donoghues. We exchanged gifts, visited and had a delicious dinner! The kids had a great time with their cousins and were sad to leave - then they remembered they had all sorts of new things to play with at home!
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| Thanks to Grandma for making us all cozy and matchy! |
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| Playing hot potato with Grandpa |
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| Evie's favorite gift - her little live pet chameleon |
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| Violet was kind enough to give me a makeover |
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| Grandkid photos are always a challenge! |
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The boys had fun doing a hot sauce challenge,
trying 10 flavors of pain |
Earlier this month we celebrated Jane's first birthday! She is such an adorable baby, and is moving around on a mission. She even started walking unassisted recently!
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| Happy birthday, Jane! |
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| She understood the assignment |
Evie was "Star of the Week" at school earlier this month, and did a great job filling out her poster. She came home at the end of the week with a book from her classmates, each saying what they loved about Evie. She got lots of "great at soccer," "kind heart," and "stylish" compliments from her peers.
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| In case I lose the original... |
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| Some nice words from her classmates |
Some others:
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Went to say goodnight to Evie and found Maggie
reading to her little sister - love these moments |
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| Playing in the first snow - soooo cold |
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| Focusing on Playdough... or possibly Plato? |
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As Jamie says, find someone to look at you the
way Ben looks at yogurt |
