Christmas 2017

It was a busy Christmas and New Year, but absolutely wonderful!  I have far too many photos... but going to post them anyways!  Here's a few professional photos from Aunt Amy's boutique:

Sisters fo life

Donoghue cousins

Per tradition we went to Frankenmuth for Christmas Eve!  Aunt Amy, Uncle Rex and Will came with us!  We stayed at Bavarian Inn the night before and the kids had a really great time in the pools and arcade.  We had a little dance session and then Jamie and I spent the night getting kicked by our restless daughters.  Went to Bronner's to see Santa on Christmas Eve and then headed home for Christmas mass with the girls, and then I played piano for midnight mass - whirlwind!

The Donoghues

Posing in the castle

Dolphin rider

Evie was obsessed with every car ride in the arcade

Proud daddy

First Santa visit without tears 

Asking for a balance beam

  

Cousins love to pose

Christmas morning was wonderful.  The girls slept until 7am, which I was pretty happy with!  We opened presents and then had daddy's french toast / bread pudding hybrid for breakfast.

Gift time

Evie was very excited about her sleeping bag and
troll pillow, and spent a long time cuddling alone
in the chair 

Maggie's excitement was palpable.

In the afternoon we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's to celebrate!

Trying to get 3 kids to focus...

Donoghues 2017

 

Evie being a sweetheart

We went to my cousin's house that evening for dessert to see the Rabine side of the family... I was pretty tired and forgot to take photos...

Got one with Grammer though!

The day after Christmas, we all stayed home, played with gifts and did nothing else!  It was glorious!

Craft girls

Making a treasure map

Jamie took his dad to the new arena
for a Pistons game!

We celebrated with my immediate family the following day at Grammer and Pops.  It was relaxed and super fun - so great to see most of the family together.

Annual Peg-Leg foosball competition

Aunt Jody and Sarah

I got my mom a coconut bra for her upcoming Hawaii trip....
did not think she would actually wear it... immediately

These three little girls are a team

Trying to get five kids to focus...

Next day we celebrated Uncle Justin's birthday.  It was also Aunt Allison's birthday, which really thrilled Maggie - she's very into "double birthdays"?  That's a thing?

Happy birthday, Uncle Justin!

 Friday we decided to have a little friends get-together at our house since we haven't seen most of our friends in months!  It was really fun, and our kids are now old enough to entertain themselves and leave us alone!  Seriously, they stayed up until 10pm, and that's a big deal!

Friends!

I missed the grey sweater memo

Plaid and cardigans - old boys club

Every room that had toys in it was trashed...
worth it!

We celebrated New Years Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's.  Had a delicious dinner and then did a fake countdown at 9pm before heading home to put the girls to bed... it is going to be a rough week getting back to their usual bedtime and wake-up times this coming week.

Party girl

Maggie being fierce

Hanging with her godfather

Happy New Year!

 Here's a few other random pics:

Making a Christmas tree handprint...

...and then continuing to paint her hand nonstop

Dino hat and swearter...

The girls love to walk around in undershirts
and flex their muscles

Gingerbread housing

This girl....

Daddy multi-tasking

Tree Hunters

This past weekend we went with Grandpa, Uncle Jason and the Odglens to help them pick out Christmas trees.  It had just snowed the night before, so the girls had fun frolicking in the snow.  Grandpa helped them make good snowballs, and taught Maggie what to look for in a good tree (after which Maggie walked to every tree, brushed off the snow, said "hmm", and then "I think this is the perfect tree!"). 

Daddy and Evie

Tree inspector

A girl in the wild

Snowball man

Santa was there too, so we had a little visit with him.  Maggie told him she wants a balance beam (which my crafty man is handling), and Evie sat there avoiding all eye contact (as expected).

Getting ready for Christmas

We had a really great time walking around the tree farm... but I'm still a believer in my good old fake tree!  No mess, no work, and all the Christmas spirit!

Maggie's buddy had a birthday party at a bounce house this weekend.  Both girls had a great time running around, and the staff was so helpful - they played with the kids, and helped them climb the tougher stuff. 

PIZZA

Busy bee

The girls didn't know I was taking this video, but I was proud to see Maggie happily sharing her ice cream with Evie instead of whining - little moments.

Last night we had our first huge snow of the year.  The girls had a great time playing around while Daddy did most of the snow-blowing.

Kiss fans

Maggie's 5th Birthday

As Maggie will tell you without prompting, she is now a big 5-year old!  Her birthday was this past Sunday, and she had a pretty special day! 

She woke up ready to party!

Maggie is really into horses, and so we were able to find an equestrian facility that had an indoor arena and was willing to take 10 young kids!  Most of the kids were into the horses, and seemed to have a good time.  I was worried because the major rules of the barn included no running and no yelling (so that the horses didn’t get spooked) – 10 kids, mostly under 5… well, they did a pretty good job, and everything went great!  

All the kiddos

Riding on Pixie

The kids learned how to groom a horse, and also how to be safe around them.  They all got a chance for a couple rides around the arena.  Maggie was in her glory… but somewhat surprisingly, so was Evie!  I thought she would be nervous/scared, but she proudly mounted and rode around the arena like she owned the place!

Piece of cake

Free labor!

Getting the saddle and reins ready

It takes 3 giggling girls to carry a saddle

We had Jamie’s former student make a cake again; this girl is moving up in the pastry world!  She made a beautiful horse cake, perhaps a bit large for our little gathering, but just incredible workmanship.  I felt bad cutting into it!  

If I ever find this in my bed, I will take it as a gift, not a threat

Here's several other pictures from the day:

That face

My nephew could be a model

Hanging with Grammer

Tiny, no fear

Maggie's best buds from school

So curious

Make a wish!

Luke did a great job, helped lead the kids

Giggles with Grandma

 

Birthday love

Here's Maggie's recap of her time as a four-year-old: