Merry Christmas! We had a lovely Christmas celebrating our traditions and spending time with family!
Our Lego-Themed Christmas card with a model of our kitchen
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.
Hayride out to the fields
On a mission to find the best tree
Chilly day perfect for cuddling
Taking a respite by the bonfire
Evie "helping" Uncle Justin saw the tree
Staying warm with Daddy
Cuddles with Aunt Amy
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!
Waiting to see Santa
Too nervous to say much!
Laying on the charm extra thick
Ben was very curious about Santa... didn't want to sit with him though!
Jane also did not want to sit with Santa!
"everyone smile" = this
Annual photo on the throne
Taking the car out for a spin
Really loves all the shooting/laser games
Teamwork!
Big winner! He rolled the 1,000 ticket, and then got an extra spin which won us 5,000 tickets! The kids were psyched!
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!
Ben thoroughly enjoyed the kiddy pool
Relaxing in the hot tub
Putt putt fun
On our way to dinner
All smiles after dessert
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!
Ready for church
Looking good, kids
Happy Birthday to Jesus
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!
Christmas morning smiles
Christmas is better with your mom and dad
The struggle to get these tickets is worth noting
Yummy breakfast with family!
Our bouncer
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!
Thanks to Grandma for making us all cozy and matchy!
Playing hot potato with Grandpa
Evie's favorite gift - her little live pet chameleon
Violet was kind enough to give me a makeover
Grandkid photos are always a challenge!
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!
Happy birthday, Jane!
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.
In case I lose the original...
Some nice words from her classmates
Some others:
Went to say goodnight to Evie and found Maggie reading to her little sister - love these moments
Playing in the first snow - soooo cold
Focusing on Playdough... or possibly Plato?
As Jamie says, find someone to look at you the way Ben looks at yogurt
Our oldest is now in double-digits, wow! Maggie celebrated her birthday this past weekend and had a great time! As requested we did pancakes and donuts in bed for breakfast... and as I predicted the night before, it was too much food and she couldn't handle it, lol.
Happy 10th Birthday, Maggie!
Maggie loves that she's the only one who gets birthday presents under a Christmas tree!
Maggie loves to bake and asked if she could make her own cake... she wanted to make a cake that looked like a giant Oreo! We googled and found a recipe, and she really enjoyed making it. Learned a few things in case we want to make it again, but overall, a success!
Work in progress (yes she washed her hands diligently!)
Rather than have a friend party, Maggie asked if she could do horseback riding. We reserved two spots and asked her if she'd like to take a friend or her sister... she said she had way too many friends to choose from and only one sister, so she chose Evie. I love this girl's heart.
Happy girl
Evie did awesome!
They were able to do some trotting with the horses, and poor Maggie was bouncing all over the place! I could tell it freaked her out a little bit.
Two cutie spectators
I'll take smooches while I can get 'em! (he had to bring some pancakes for the road)
Later in the day we had the family over to celebrate!
Kids table - Chinese chicken for the win!
Cuddles with Grandma
A peek at the chaos
Played a shaving cream / cornball toss game... whipped cream might have been a better option...
She was a good sport!
I also celebrated another year around the sun in November. We did a quick family dinner with our parents and then rushed to see the new Black Panther movie; it was a fun night and the kids really enjoyed it!
Thanks to my mom for this amazing tiramisu cake... best cake ever!
My actual birthday was a couple days later, so Maggie made me her special cookie cake to celebrate - and then Jamie's mom came over with an ice cream cake! So many sweets - no complaints here!
My crew
As class president, I had the annoying job of planning our 20-year high school reunion. Thankfully a few other ladies offered to help with the planning. After lots of zoom meetings and ideas, we ended up renting a party bus and galivanting around Detroit. It turned out really fun and I was super excited that my best bud Erin came in from Maine to join!
Pretty decent turnout!
Completely sober Erin
Wearing our dorky Regina sweatshirts!
Jamie and I went to see the Michigan vs. Indiana game thanks to my big bro! We nearly froze to death, but we stayed for the whole game because it was almost a choke - thankfully Michigan triumphed in the end!
Yay Ann Arbor!
In November, Maggie had to give a speech at school to be on the student senate... it turned out that all the kids made the cut, but she didn't realize that ahead of time! That said, she got the most votes for the class that she's representing, so that was pretty great! I wanted to record this sweet little voice for posterity. Ben also wished to give a speech afterward.
We had a great Halloween this year! The weather was pretty warm, the kids were mostly healthy and they all loved their costumes. Jamie was disappointed that we did not have a family-coordinated costumes (me too, heartbroken), but I'm glad the kids got to pick what they wanted.
Digging for pumpkin seeds
Carving day!
"This is so gross. It's awesome."
Stay-Puft was proudly displayed again
The girls' school held a trunk-or-treat event, so they had some early Halloween fun.
Maggie and her crew... she chose to be a "zombie pop-star"
Our cute little bat
Hair and makeup
Actual Halloween, my crew leaving the house
Really into bats
Mickey Mouse Roadster Racer!
Dropping her new hit, "I love your brain"
Outdoor soccer season is OVER! It was a good time, but I'm glad for a little more free time in our weekend schedule! Maggie decided to take a break for now, and Evie is continuing with indoor soccer. Both girls also signed up for a 6-week basketball rec program, and they are loving it!
They just realized their jersey's say "7-11" when combined, and think that's just hillarious
Girl Talk is done - reinventing themselves as the "Fireballs" next season
A smattering of Unicorns after their last game
We celebrated Sarah's 7th birthday last weekend - these kids are growing!
The blue-est cake in the entire world
Allison snapped this photo - perhaps my favorite photo of Dad, who loves cats as much as I do!
"Protecting" Ben from the cat
Maggie really loves to bake, so Grandma dropped off a cake mix and pumpkin pan for her... she did everything all by herself with a little "help" from Ben.
Read those directions carefully!
So festive
She thought chocolate sprinkles would really elevate this dish... she wasn't wrong!
A few weeks ago we took the kids to Jamie's former stomping grounds to play laser tag. Grandma stayed with Ben in the lobby while the rest of us went inside. Evie (like me) was really uncomfortable and anxious most of the time - turns out we don't like being hunted! Maggie loved it and Jamie was in his glory. We showed the kids where Jamie and I met each other all those years ago, and then went out to China Kitchen next door, which has not changed a bit!
"Look tough, kids" Ben - nope
Dinner selfie!
Jamie took the kids to a Lakeview football game that was a "pink out". They had a great time!
Chilly but fun!
Pump it up!
My people
Some others:
Daddy likes to give the girls Lego challenges: this one was to build a piece of fruit (apple/banana and apple/broccoli?)
Showing some support for Michigan vs. Michigan State!
Evie's friend needed a partner for her tennis match, so Evie got to try it out - loved it!
Shaming Maggie for the amount of beverage containers in her room on cleaning day
Jamie's annual "I didn't die putting up the Christmas lights" photo (we're not crazy, it was just really warm outside and a good time to do it!)
