Christmas was different than usual, but really wonderful!
Merry Christmas!
Posting our Christmas card for posterity
We have had the tradition of going to Bronner's in Frankenmuth every Christmas Eve since Maggie was born. So we went for a brief visit first thing in the morning, and the Sandoval family joined us! We usually have the big Bavarian chicken dinner and stay at the Bavarian Inn - this year we grabbed takeout and drove 20 minutes to eat in Amy and Rex's church dining room. It was pretty darn great and way less hassle compared to keeping 3 kids still at a restaurant!
Trying to get a Santa picture for the year - it was cold!
Ben got a school bus ornament because he is obsessed with Wheels on the Bus right now
This Santa is way less scary than last year, Mom!
After that we had a distanced gift exchange with the Odglens in their gym, and the kids got to run around a bunch! I'm glad we got to see them at least a little bit, especially my sweet niece and nephew.
One of these is not like the others
Henry loved to roam!
We came home, did church from the couch, had a dinner of leftovers, opened our family pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa and then off to bed to wait for Christmas morning. The girls were SO SO excited, Maggie was very concerned that she would not be able to actually fall asleep and then Santa wouldn't come (she made sure to wake up as early as possible on Christmas Eve and ran up and down the stairs 10 times to help ensure she was tired enough for sleep).
Testing out his gift from Aunt Amy and Uncle Rex before bedtime:
Christmas morning was lovely and sweet - all three kids were genuinely excited. Ben didn't care too much about the gifts, but was just happy to be part of the fun. We had french toast, sausage and fruit - yum! After that we "zoomed" with the Donoghues to open presents remotely. It actually worked out pretty good; we cast the zoom to our TV, so it was easy to see and hear everyone. Nowhere near the real thing, but it worked.
Best morning of the year
Santa set up our dolls with an empty cookie plate, we know who ate them!
Great minds think alike - his and hers whiskey?
Got a few things that came with stools to climb on... who could ask for more?
My boys
Here to save the day!
The girls each got a Switch from Grandma and Grandpa - pretty grown-up stuff!
So much focus
Our little climber needed his own stool, painted by Daddy
We went to my parents' for dinner with Bobby's family. We usually gather a couple days after Christmas, so it was kind of nice to see them on the day this year. Dinner was awesome, the kids were so happy, it was a great time! By the end of the night, we were all ready to pass out.
One game of foosball
Allison's name is finally on the Peg-Leg trophy!
Bobby instilling the important virtues of peace and compassion
Ben cuddled with Aunt Allison for like 20 minutes... this is unheard of!
Gotta check those heights!
After that we pretty much just hung out as a family, didn't really do much. I enjoyed some time away from work, which was definitely helpful.
Daddy took the kids sledding one day. Ben really doesn't like the snow and tried his best to just stand still and stay upright.
Sled experts
I'll just be waiting right here!
We have A LOT of Lego sets in the house. I'm doing my best to be patient with the never-ending clutter on the table. I'm really trying...
All three have sets to build!
Evie is starting to follow directions and building things on her own (had some help with this one though)
I took the girls on a hike in the woods one afternoon. We climbed on fallen trees and discovered a really cool fort! They've got big plans to make their own top secret fort next time we're there.
A door and a roof, it's perfect!
It's so cozy in here, Mom! (no it was not)
Exploring
Check me out
Girl date!
Our friend Fr. Brian is home for the holidays, so we got together for a stroll through the zoo one day. Chilly but lovely!
Hangin at the zoo
Old friends
The arctic fox was so so cute!
Daddy and Maggie had a special date to see the Marvel exhibit at Henry Ford. Maggie was over the moon, Jamie said it was a really cool experience.
Somehow she is a girly-girl and a tomboy at the same time, love it!
Black widow
Maggie's favorite Avenger
Peace
We bought Maggie and Easy Bake Oven for Christmas, but I didn't realize that you need special kits to actually use it. So we made "cake" using a DIY recipe... while it was thin as paper and tasted like cocoa powder, they were absolutely thrilled at their accomplishments (thankfully Grammer ordered us some real kits to use):
Chocolate cake with reddi-whip and sprinkles?
So proud
Here are some other randoms:
Whenever I'm cooking, Ben pulls up a chair so he can taste all the ingredients... he likes to grab for knives too. Stressful, but cute
Maggie and Evie used a fort-building kit to create a store for selling their Hamma bead designs. I just love the signs. She originally set the prices starting at $0.01, and Jamie told her that was too low... so she went with 100x markup
Maggie's application to Santa to become an elf.
Evie likes to tap along to songs, looks pretty cool
So cool, so casual
Check out my awesome hat from Aunt Allison (via her mom's skills)
If you can't find Ben, look down the street and he will be cutting the sidewalk
Walking around downtown on a nice day
TV within a TV within a TV within a TV... trippy
Found Ben like this one morning, guess he was feeling toasty
Today we celebrated Grandma Grace's life. She was a strong, faithful and independent woman and passed away at the age of 97. She was a tough cookie, and sometimes I channel her "get-it-done" attitude when I feel overwhelmed. The funeral was very small due to COVID, and I think we were all disappointed that we could not really gather and pay tribute properly. I am glad that she is at peace!
Grace the Great! (several years ago when we were more vivacious!)
We are all very excited for Christmas this year. Jamie and I love seeing the kids' excitement, it really is such a special time. On Sundays we light our advent wreath and have a candlelight dinner. Ben is very freaked out by the darkness, but the girls enjoy the special dinner.
Sitting still-ish
Jamie and the kids are done with school for now. I'm trying to finish up some pressing things at work, but should be able to take several days off which I'm really looking forward to!
The girls made some pretty great snowman at a local park (couldn't get enough snow from our own yard)
Not a big fan of snow so far
Jamie's Zoom setup for school... his students seem to enjoy it
Kiss audition
Maggie is obsessed wit her new furry vest from Grandma... she's worn it like 4 times in a week
Should I be concerned with how model-y Maggie acts?
Arting with Daddy in a really uncomfortable spot
This is how Ben winks
This rocker has served us well over the years
Maggie likes to do some of the art lessons that Jamie teaches his students, and Maggie really enjoyed this one (a thaumatrope):
Evie can make a really funny yodeling sound and no one else in our family can seem to match it. Try it, you'll see!
Ben still climbs everything. We tried get rid of the kid chairs, but then he just starting using the taller kitchen chairs and getting into more trouble! One day he climbed a kitchen chair and grabbed the stovetop a few minutes after I took a boiling pot off... he was fine, but I felt terrible. Hopefully he learned that lesson. So we continue to monitor as best we can...
I can't believe I forgot to post this last time! For Maggie's birthday, all the Donoghues got together and bought a Cameo from Maggie's favorite actress (Willa from Zombies). She was so thrilled to see this video, and the actress really took a lot of time to make a specialized greeting. Gotta save this!
The girls could not have their normal Christmas concert this year, so they were required to do a sing-a-long at home and send a video to their teacher. I loved watching them sing Silent Night together, so sweet:
Maggie celebrated her 8th birthday last Thursday! We didn't get to have the sleepover party Maggie wanted, and she was convinced that this birthday would be totally boring. We worked really hard to give her a special day, and I think we succeeded!
Happy 8th Birthday, Maggie! (she selected her "most fabulous" outfit)
We started the day eating chocolate chip pancakes with sausage, and opening some presents. The girls "went to school" at the table and thankfully cranked through their work during the morning. We had pepperoni pizza for lunch and once Daddy was done teaching, we started an elaborate treasure hunt. Maggie loves to solve clues, so we created clues that led to her family and best friends all over town. In the end, it took about five hours and we were pretty exhausted!
Maggie solved a word puzzle that led us to Andy and Katie's!
She unscrambled letters to learn the "Nora" was our next stop
They put up this awesome homemade sign for Maggie (and probably more for Nora, whose birthday was 2 days later)
Maggie solved a math riddle to take us to 7-11 for slurpees, then found a clue in our trunk which took us to the school's playground
Maggie broke a number/letter code to take us to Tim Horton's for tim-bits, and then we found our way to "Tiny Diamond's" biggest fan
The opposite of "Small" and "Girl" led us to Big Boy. Aunt Amy brought the crew to meet us!
This was the best of like 20 photos...
A little limerick led us to Jordyn's house
Had to make a stop at one of our family faves - Yates!
Maggie solved a tricky word-search with leftover letters directing us to "Luke's House"
Next clue led to the "oldest two in the family" (pretty sure I meant to write "wisest", oops)
Love
Maggie received our garage door opener which led us to our extremely cluttered and cold garage!
Maggie requested an Iron Man cake this year
I was especially proud of Evie throughout the day. She was bummed a couple times that it wasn't her birthday, but she mostly supported and helped Maggie, and was happy to make her day special.
Making brownie's with Mama
Life is going well around here, just trying to get ready for whatever kind of Christmas we'll have this year! The kids keep us running in circles, so there's not much time to dwell on anything! The girls went back to school today, and I am so grateful. It was super stressful and difficult to keep them on track with school while doing our own jobs at home; a little space is good for everyone!
Ben is such a funny guy, he makes me laugh so often! I love his little phrases, he is becoming a really good communicator. My favorite is the way he says "hello" when pretending to talk on the phone:
Maggie got a microscope from Grammer and Pops, and she is psyched. I need to find some new stuff for her to look at.
Here's some other stuff:
This toy was always under our Christmas tree growing up, one of my favorites to play with
Maggie's friend Katie had a virtual movie screening on Zoom for her birthday, dropped off cupcakes and favors ahead of time!
Spreading out the fake branches
This tree does a lot of heavy lifting
Our Fisher Price nativity still gets a lot of attention - 8 years strong!
Evie likes to sleep in braids for wavy hair
Time for a haircut to make it all one length!
Maggie opted to go a bit short this time, and the stylist gave her waves which just tickled her
Why can't I go to a stylist?
We had a small but lovely Thanksgiving gathering at my parents (missed the rest of our families though)
Pops made Christmas Milk for us to toast
Evie's art assignment on monochromatism (shades/tints of green)
