The Donoghue Family: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Birthdays Galore!

Time keeps on ticking!

Another fun Halloween has passed. Jamie has finally given up trying to make us all coordinate for Halloween - the kids want what they want! Maggie was Sabine Wren from Star Wars, Evie was Wednesday Addams (so fitting), and Ben was a firefighter (after changing his mind 20 times). We did Trunk or Treat with the girls at their school, carved pumpkins and of course went trick-or-treating on Halloween. As soon as they started walking, a snow storm started - thankfully I was in charge of passing out candy from the warmth of our house!

Uncle Justin 3D printed this helmet and Jamie
did all the painting - pretty cool!

Evie's favorite part was her "Thing" hand

Our fireman and some weirdo with bear arms

Cool 5th graders at Trunk or Treat

Wednesday and Ghost Spider were definitely popular costumes

Pumpkin gutting

So sweet

Evie and I both made jail pumpkins this year - skewers for the win!

Just two Wednesdays, having fun

Warming up with some hot cocoa afterward!

I turned 40 this year - woo hoo! So happy to be in the next decade... I swear. I'm pretty darn happy and blessed with where I'm at in life right now, so it was mostly a positive experience (except what the heck is with all the new body aches and pains? Traitor!). Jamie took me to see Pete Davidson and John Mulaney in Windsor the weekend before, and basically spoiled me all weekend. He is boggled that I had no interest in a party... like, does he even know me?

Wearing my Evie-made birthday crown

This guy is totally obsessed with me.
Made me yummy bread pudding!

Mom and Dad treated us to a celebration dinner!

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house. It was my first time making a turkey and I am proud to say I conquered that bird. My carving skills could definitely be improved, but I'm calling it in a win. We were able to fit 20ish people - perhaps a bit tight, but that's tradition anyways, right?

My golden bird

The spread - everyone helped!

Kids table!

Family!

All the Donoghue grandkids

Goofing with Uncle Jason

I gave Jane stickers, did not realize she has
incredible fine motor skills and quickly
stickered everyone (including herself)!

Hard to believe our Maggie is 11 years old! She is such a sweet and intelligent kid, and we are so so proud of her. She is officially a Swifty, and I would say 80% of her birthday gifts revolved around Taylor Swift!

11!

She asked to have a sleepover for her birthday... and then kept needling us until it ended up being 8 friends. I don't totally regret it, but for future me, let's go with 6 next time! We had a mystery puzzle to solve (kind of like an escape room), Taylor Swift karaoke, friendship bracelets, and the Barbie movie to pass the night. Each girl got her own red lipstick in keeping with Swifty theme! Maggie had a really great time, and that made us feel pretty good as parents (although also pretty terrible the next day due to lack of sleep!).

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22

Slaying siblings

Taylor Swift desserts

We are never ever ever getting back together

Sing it!

4 air mattresses, 2 regular mattress, 2 couches - just barely fit

Maggie's actual birthday was a couple days afterward, and we had a more relaxing day at home sleeping in and opening presents. She asked to have the family go roller skating, then we did dinner at Red Robin. The girls did pretty well skating on their own, and Ben actually wasn't too bad for his first time. Towards the end he found another little boy his age, and they just started holding hands and skating together - I love how quickly little kids can just make friends. All in all, I think Maggie had a pretty excellent birthday weekend!