Any day now...

Grandma and Amy threw us a baby sprinkle last weekend to celebrate our little guy.  We had a delicious lunch and got some great gifts!  It was really nice to catch up with some family members we rarely get to see.  I hate how giant I am, but posting for the memories...

Delicious!

Grandma made this beautiful blanket

Really excited to be here

Group photo

An attempt at a family photo...

Girlfriends

The polar vortex was super fun last week.  The girls had Monday, Wednesday and Thursday off school (and so did Jamie).  Jamie taught the girls about several methods to ensure a day off from school... I had not heard of these before...

PJs must be inside-out

Put a white crayon on the windowsill and a spoon under your pillow

Ice cubes in the toilet...

Jamie took the girls to the zoo last week - I think it was the day before we had the crazy windchills.  Shockingly no one was there.  The poor girls came home with very chapped lips, but had a great time!

All the snow gear

Stopping at all the heated buildings in the zoo

Apparently she's not impressed 

I'm at 39 weeks now, and ready to go!  I thought we were having the baby this past Friday, was up all night with contractions, but then they disappeared once I got up and showered.  Sigh, it was pretty disappointing.  Jamie took the day off school for me... I felt pretty dumb when nothing happened.

Here's a few others:

Maggie was very excited to finally switch into more girly earrings...
we're on the lookout for horse and pizza earrings

Evie and I share similar morning dispositions

This girl just loves art

Donut Sunday to kick off Catholic Schools Week - thrilled to see
our buddy Brooklyn!

Evie's "best fwend"

It takes great focus to pop bubble wrap, she requires silence

Holding up the house?

Snowy Days

We got a big dose of snow on Saturday, and the girls were very pleased!

Shoveling our lawn, so helpful

Love those rosy cheeks

Building an igloo with Daddy's help

Evie had her second-first dentist appointment on Saturday.  We tried when she turned 3, and couldn't even get her to open her mouth for the hygenist.  This time Daddy took her while I was getting my teeth cleaned, and she did great!  She was not exactly happy, perhaps a bit traumatized afterward - but she did it!

Too freaked to smile for real

Maggie enertaining herself

Last weekend a bunch of the girl cousins from my mom's side of the family got together for dinner at D'Marcos in Rochester (my cousin's new restaurant) - it was delicious and a great night of laughs!

Girl's night!

Jamie and I had an impromptu date night this past weekend... we decided to try eating at Marrow in Detroit, and it. was. amazing.  Instead of ordering entrees we did the chef's tasting menu, perhaps the best decision I've ever made.  I think I have a new favorite place.

A little charcuterie to start things off...

The following day Grandma took the cousins to Chuck-E-Cheese and then came over for a little visit afterward.  It was a fabulous day for the kids!

Ridin' dirty

Violet is all about noses

I am feeling very ready for baby boy to make his entrance - about 2.5 weeks to go.  We have everything washed, folded (mostly thanks to my mom!) and organized.  Maggie is so similar to Jamie in looks and personality, and Evie is so much like me... very curious to see what this little guy is like!

Getting pizza to celebrate Friday!

Some others:

All the unicorns

Strawberry stuffed pancakes... there's a lot of food talk in the post...

Rob was in town for a visit - and turned Jamie Russian?

The girls wanted to sleep in their tent (inside) on the weekend...
Maggie enjoyed it for a bit, but ended up in her own bed.  Evie stayed for the night!

Happy to see that she actually wore her sweater after whining about it all morning

Tough Chick

As part of Maggie's birthday gift, Aunt Amy and Uncle Rex took her to get her ears pierced!  We went to a tattoo parlor which was way more legit than the teenagers with piercing guns at the mall!  I kind of expected Maggie to panic, especially since they did one ear at a time, but she was completely cool through the whole thing.  I could see a little bit of fear in her eyes, but she never let on.  Told us she didn't want to freak out and scare Evie, so that she won't be scared when it's her turn in the future.  This girl...

Thanks, Aunt Amy!

So glad she wasn't able to see this giant needle in her ear...

Proud mama!

The hoops with a ball look a little tougher than I wanted
on my little girl, but apparently they have less infection issues,
so Maggie is now a skater chick

Jamie enjoyed being off from work last week with the girls.  Maggie had a playdate at her friend's house one day, so he and Evie got some one-on-one time at the zoo, and she was soooo happy.

Roaring lion

Cutie pie bundled up

Not a real giraffe... I was disappointed when I found that out

Jamie also worked his tail off to get the nursery ready for our baby boy.  I had a hard time taking down all the girls' things and re-painting the room.  My babies are growing up!

Goodbye girl nursery

Hello dinosaurs!

This room will be a lot cuter once I get the bedding and some
more decor, but you get the idea

Some beautiful singing clips from Evie:

A few others from the week:

Jamie saw Spiderman with Will!

Pink pants hat...the girls liked it

Celebrating on New Years Eve!

Merry Christmas!

What a fun Christmas season we had!  We managed to squeeze a lot of things into a few days!

Our happy family

On the girls' last day of school, Jamie helped out with Maggie's class party, and we both got to see Evie's preschool concert.  Cute stuff!

Maggie's kindergarten class

Loved seeing our shy girl participating!

We went to Frankenmuth right before Christmas as always.  We decided to do dinner at Bavarian Inn on the 23rd instead of lunch on Christmas Eve... and learned that it takes about twice as long!  I think we'll go back to our usual schedule next year.  I was pretty proud of the kiddos though, they made it through a vvvvery long dinner without much whining.  It was great to have the entire Donoghue clan together.

The Donoghues

Proud grandparents

Going for a stroll across the bridge

My love

Our little family and Odglens stayed at Bavarian Inn for the night (also known as "the castle" to our kids), and had a really fun time swimming in the pool!  I was so proud of Evie - as soon as her water wings were on, she just swam all around the big kid pool without any help!  Did not expect that.  Afterward we hit the arcade and then a little dancing in the lounge... I think we were all pooped by the end of the night!

Relaxing by the hot tub

Evie was not into this - just let me go!

On Christmas Eve we went to Bronner's with my side of the family, and the girls got to sit with Santa.  Maggie asked for a fidget spinner and a special surprise (?), Evie shyly asked for a unicorn pillow and a toy house.

The big man

Very fidgety while asking for her toys

Trying to charm Santa

Maggie loved "taking care" of Sarah

The best we could do with five young kids

We drove home and then got ready for the children's mass at church.  The girls were very well behaved, and the homily was mercifully short.

Wearing their "fancy coats"

Really wanted a picture by the unicorn

Christmas morning was just wonderful!  So wonderful that we both failed to take photos of anything except the girls at the top of the stairs...

Can we go down now???

Jamie and I continued our tradition of homemade ornaments from one of our favorite shows of the year:

Holly's masterpiece - from Better Call Saul

Jamie's infinitely better and highly detailed masterpiece -
the mail cart from The Americans

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's around lunch time and had fun celebrating with everyone.

Baby V was a big fan of wrapping paper... specifically the taste

The cousins opening their big gift - ipads!

Later in the day we went to my cousin's house to visit with the Rabine family.  All the cousins had a great time hanging together... Evie had reached her limit by the end of the night though and went into full meltdown mode.

Playing Pass the Parcel

We had the day after Christmas to recuperate, and boy did we need it! 

The next day we went to my parents' house for our Christmas gathering.  Proud to say that my name is finally on the back of the Foosball trophy thanks to my partner Bobby!  Big day for us!

Peg-Leg Champions!

Eyeing the desserts

Singing happy birthday to Jesus and everyone else!

More singing

Luke preparing for his Calvin Klein add one day

Evie was super geeked about her unicorn PJs!

Yup, I'm related to these cool kids

The stand-up recliner chairs were a big hit as always

The pink pants club

All in all, a pretty successful Christmas week!