It's the last day of the year, and what a good year it's been! Time keeps chugging along, and we our best to make the most of it. It's been a busy year with a lot of growth for our kiddos, and we are some proud parents.
It's been a really long time since we had professional photos done, so we finally had some taken this fall:
We had a beautiful Christmas at home this year. Taylor Swift totally took over the world, so we went with a Swifty theme for our Christmas card:
We normally do Frankenmuth right before the holidays, but this year we did it afterward with the Rabine clan. I couldn't stand to break our 13-year tradition of going to Bronner's on Christmas Eve, so I forced the whole family to make a couple drives this year! We got to meet Santa and get some ornaments while the kids grumbled about being bored - as is tradition!
Hi, Santa!
Bronner's has the Christmas spirit
Evie requested this selfie with the snowman
Laughing about how annoying our kids are while shopping
We went to Christmas Eve mass, and then had a beautiful Christmas morning opening presents. My sleepy girls still weren't up by 8:30am, so we nudged them awake for poor Ben. My parents came over for a few more presents and a delicious breakfast (mostly made by them!). I failed to get any photos with them, womp womp. Hard to say what everyone's favorite gifts were, but Maggie was thrilled to get an Apple watch, Evie got a powered scooter and lots of black/white tops, and Ben really loved his kinetic sand and bedroom basketball hoop (and was less impressed with his new bike).
Ready for church
Merry Christmas!
Evie wanted a picture in our matching coats
Didn't want to leave my Maggie girl out (Ben just wanted to go home)
Santa delivered! Maple wasn't a problem with any of the gifts or the trees - the dog is amazing!
Waiting at the top of the stairs for the bells!
Apple watch and a giant bean bag
Looking spiffy
One of my fave gifts - Lego mosaics of the kids Finally, a Lego purchase that I wanted! Jamie also got our family photos printed on canvas, love him
Christmas breakfast Unintentionally in the order of their wall photos
Shooting some hoops
Jamie and I continued our tradition of making ornaments for each other. We both ended up picking the same show - The Righteous Gemstones (highly recommend):
Jamie's Ornament - impressive 3D printed Baby Billie's Bible Bonkers!
The Redeemer monster truck! Pretty decent work by this non-artist, humble brag
Later in the day we went to the Donoghues for presents and dinner. The cousins had a great time together as always, and it was good to celebrate with the family.
Donoghue's unite!
The best of the grandbabies... at least they're all looking in the general direction of the camera!
Surrounded by toys and they just wanted to play in the giant bag
Justin 3D-printed us a Lego toilet paper holder
Sweet Janie
A couple days after Christmas, we spent two nights at Bavarian Inn with the Rabine side - thank you, Mom and Dad! The kids were delighted and so happy to have all that fun time with their cousins. Jody and Ed were able to come into town, and we got to see all of John's big kids too!
Most of the Rabine clan
Family
A couple new well-loved faces
Feel the intensity
Celebrating Allison's birthday, followed by a Euchre tournament
Mmm, hot chocolate sampler
Thanks to Bobby and Al for letting Evie hang in their room constantly!
Next Christmas, he'll be ready for the slide!
Ben singing "Bad Blood" with all the confidence at karaoke!
Trimmed this family karaoke of "Sweet Caroline" to 8 seconds to protect your ears:
Deep talks with Aunt Allison...
The kids end of the table!
Grandkids!
Missing John
Laser Tag with the cousins! Jamie was defeated by Pierce, who has gained a great deal of clout with this accomplishment
Air hockey - Maggie was being very sweet playing with Ben's slower reaction speed
Kill the aliens
Off to the Popcorn Factory for Mom's favorite food!
Obligatory annual photo
Aunt Amy took all the girls to see the Broadway production of Frozen for their Christmas gift. The girls were really impressed by it, had a great time!
Ladies night
Dinner at Coney for the win!
Ready for the show!
A few others:
The girls had a skate night with their school, and they did pretty well!
Rocking the blades
Maggie also tried out ice skating with her buddy, and said it went pretty well!
Had a fun dinner with the Reeds!
Christmas sock day at Ben's school!
Enjoying Pops' split pea soup
3rd Grade music concert - she slayed
Cutie
Playdate after their basketball game - they got to do a Christmas market in Berkley!
Being cute at soccer
This girl knows how to make scrambled eggs!
Jamie's mom found this photo when cleaning the basement - ah to be young again!
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!
Captured this extremely rare moment
Trying to help two youngling at the same time - bonus points
King of the arcade!
Ben's new friend "I don't know his name"
The most mom-photo of all time Sweatshirt around the waist - all the rizz
Uncle Bobby and Sarah stopped by with some birthday wishes!
Make a wish!
Other Randoms:
Us girls went to see Taylor Swift at the theater - turns out it was a bit long for Evie, but Maggie and I loved it!
Our little koala
Not to be outdone by her sister!
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Happy 2nd birthday, Baby Jane!
Happy 8th birthday to Sarah!
Matchy matchy
Sleepover with Claire and Sarah! Maggie got caught taking more syrup?
I agreed to have a family slime-making session. I stand by my opinion that slime is the absolute worst.
The girls started basketball, and Maggie is loving it! (Evie hasn't started games yet)
This is a video of Ben trying pop rocks for the first time. I want to remember this laugh forever, such a great sound!
