Last weekend, the littles and I, joined our fab friends for some corn maze fun! since moving out of the city and with everyone busy with school, jobs and their families, it's hard to get together these days. It was so nice getting the kids together, goofing around and even have the adults join in on the fun as well. From big slides, big bouncy 'pillows' to more big slides and a hamster-like rolling thing, that I think, the adults had way more fun in.

The Calgary Corn Maze did not disappoint. After making our way thru the physical and tiring activities,  we made our way to the animals. They had goats and kids (baby goats), sheep, chicken and ducks. I could tell Declan enjoyed this area very much. I watched him chase a goat for about a minute until the goat had enough. It was pretty entertaining to say the least. And before picking out pumpkins we headed over to the one thing the kids asked (more like begged) to go to since we first stepped onto the grounds - the playground. That area was packed - kids everywhere. There is one area on the playground where it literally had kids on kids on kids. You see, the play structure they have has a second level. Now, in order to get to the second level, you don't have to climb stairs or a ladder but instead, you climb up this curved tube looking thing that is just made out of rope. The opening isn't that big and ya, sure it looks fun to climb - just as long as you don't have 10 other kids trying to get up there with you at the same time. Every time I looked in that direction, you can guarantee, there was a kid or two crying because he/she was stuck, or was being trampled on. The kids learned pretty fast to stay away from that area - thank goodness. To the owners of Calgary Corn Maze - you should add in a set of stairs... or something, please :)

We spent a good chunk of our time at the playground before heading over to the pumpkins.  The kids were able to pick one little pumpkin and decorate it - which they had tons of fun doing.

It was definitely a great day with great friends. And if you are in the area, I definitely recommend checking it out.

Everyone, meet our family clown, Mckenzie Angela Donahue. We are guaranteed a good laugh by either watching her or listening to her. There are times (I'd say, most of the time) where she isn't even trying to be funny, yet Mike and I are always laughing over what she has said or done. Don't get me wrong, we have two other littles who make us smile and laugh until our stomachs hurt and breathing has become scarce . But this girl is definitely our family clown. She is constantly winning us over by her cute little gestures, snotty - yet adorable remarks, copy cat ways, and just not taking anything too serious.

Take this little Cowgirl photoshoot as an example. She asked for her pictures to be taken with Jesse, cowgirl boots and all. I wasn't expecting much. She suggested to take the pictures outside. It was pretty chilly, so I figured I'd take a few pictures of her smiling with Jesse and some poses. Instead, I got this -

 I took a lot of snapshots of her. Most of the pictures were either too blurry because she was constantly  moving or she had her eyes closed and was facing in a different direction. She made it pretty difficult to take pictures of her. Then again, it was HER photoshoot. She did ask for it, she could do whatever she wanted to do. But really - all the blurry pics, the funny faces, the 'I can barely see you' pictures - I love them all. Because these pictures are what shows her personality and who she really is. A carefree little girl with a big heart, who just loves to have fun.

  So guess who got a hair cut and now looks even more like a little man??? Yes - he did...

When Declan was a wee little babe, he was pretty much bald. It took him a while, unlike Mckenzie, to grow out his hair. I mean, not a big deal because he's a boy, right? Wrong. Obviously, Mike and I (without having any discussions over it), both wanted our little boy to have hair just like daddy - long and curly. For the longest time, Mike would always tease, saying, "Declan, when are you going to have hair?". Then his hair finally grew out. I was so happy seeing his curly hair grow out. Both of us were. But his hair grew out very thin and for a while, Mike would always say, "Declan, is your hair ever going to get thick?". Such a tease. But he was right, his cute little curls looked more like he had bed head all. the. time! It was cute, but I could never get it to style a certain way because little wisps of hair would go one way and the other wisps of hair would go which ever way they wanted. It was just so thin to do anything.

Mike and I decided to get his hair cut. We both talked about shaving him bald and letting it grow out thick. And apparently, that's just a myth, that I didn't have to shave his head bald. That was a relief to hear because honestly, as much as Mike and I talked about shaving it, it almost gave me a little heart attack just thinking about him with no hair. Declan's hair dresser said that he could just get a little trim and that way his hair was one length which could now grow out evenly. SO relieved!!!

 So here are some before shots. It was so hard to keep this on-the-go babe still.

She had him sit in a little hot wheels car. So cute. He was so good. His first hair cut and there was no crying. Just a lot of looking back and he was making faces, as if to say, "who keeps touching my hair?". His hairdresser kept saying, "Yeap, I'm still here.", haha. She was so good with him. 

I, on the other hand, had to hold in some tears. I was ready to cry seeing him get his haircut. I don't know why.  I have never been emotional with the girls when they got their haircuts. But with this little guy, I was ready to just ball and my heart was aching. I have never been this emotional about a haircut... ever. It was the weirdest thing but I am so happy with how his hair looks now.

Declan's new-do. He actually sat down nice and stayed that way, so I could take a picture. How handsome does he look??

 And just a few more shots. Just because he looks so handsome. I can't believe this haircut has made him look so much more like a little man. He doesn't look like a little babe anymore and I could cry.

Yes, I'm back - or should I say, we're back! With us being back, I thought I'd share some pictures (of what I was able to take), over the holidays. Enjoy :)

So over the holidays...

these two played together, nicely. *happy mama*

 we played with blocks.

 daddy painted little nails.

 we had this girl fall asleep at 6 pm, NYE,

 while this little guy made it up passed 10 pm. all smiles, cause he's up passed his bedtime.

 and this girl, well she ate with chopsticks for the first time. can I also add, with no one's help.

 and Sushi for mommy and daddy. it's become a NYE tradition.

 this guy took a power nap and was up an hour, just in time to ring in the new year with mommy and daddy. we did have a talk about him being allowed to stay up this late, only because it was the new year. 

he passed out soon after.

this little kindergartener also had her very first school Christmas concert. adorable, right?

So that's that. A little late, but you know what they say, better late than never. From my family to yours, we hope everyone had a great holiday and that you all have an amazing new year filled with love, laughs, family, friends.

  

xo, JM&3

7 months old!

.23 lbs

.sleeps thru the night, 14 hrs is his record

.sitting up on his own

.mastered his rolling

.joined his big sisters, eating his cereal and solids

         favorites being: wheat and mixed fruit (he could eat it all day... and I mean all day!)

                                 sweet potatoes

                                 squash

                                 brown rice and green beans

                                 apples and blueberries

.the amount of drool that comes out of  his mouth a day can fill up the kids mini pool. seriously so much!

.did I mention, he sits up on his own? growing so fast *sad/happy face*

.caught him on his hands and knees/(sometimes feet) the other day and that's all he does now

          (i see crawling in the near future) *another sad/happy face*

.i'm not sure who talks more, him or his oldest sister

          (Sadie still wears the crown for being miss chatty kathy, but Declan is right behind her, 

           but I do love hearing his "bah bah bahs" and "da da ah ahs")

.spitting. it's his thing

.his laugh, it melts my heart

.he smiles all day, up until he wants something, then he makes it known with big cries

.so curious

.he loves his daddy, can't stop staring at daddy once he has walked in the room

.no more random cuddles for mommy, he is always moving and on the go

            mommy sneaks in cuddles before his naps and bedtime tho

.water baby

.loves fart noises, such a boy

.holds his own bottle, my independent boy

.hates shoes, they get in the way of playing with his toes

.refuses to drink water from his sippy cup, just another chew toy for him

.always knows how to put a smile on his mommy's face, blessed

A little girl in our house turned two a few weeks ago. May 21st to be exact. 

 

We do the whole balloon thing every other birthday. It's so funny and exciting seeing their faces light up when they walk into a room full of balloons. Mike and I had fun blowing the balloons up the night before. When we finally ran out of balloons we had a bit of helium left so of course, Mike decides to suck up whatever was left out of the tank and goof off. I have never laughed so hard in my life. Probably the funniest thing I've seen in my life. I wish I had taped him so I could put it up but then again, he'd probably shoot me ha ha.

She loved the balloons. It's the one word she can say that you can understand "balloooooons". That and the word "two". If you ask her how old she is she'll hold up all four fingers (she's really trying to just hold up her two, but she can't) and says "twoooo". Cute enough!

Her birthday cake. I'm happy how it turned out. The last birthday cake I made was for Sadie's 3rd birthday and it was such a disaster! I also made her cake at 2 in the morning (the day of her party, not a good idea). This time I was prepared. Made it the day before and started early afternoon. Even tho I had 3 screaming kids who refused to nap, I was still able to make all the treats. I baked a chocolate cake for the bottom and vanilla cake on top with a vanilla butter cream frosting. I also made fondant for the first time. Thanks to a great friend who came over and helped me finish off the cake with mini paint easels saying "happy birthday Mckenzie". Mike mastered icing the cake. He was watching me try to make the icing on the cake look nice when he said, "that looks just like how I would smooth out cement. Do you want me to do it for you?". Sure enough, he smoothed it all out and made the cake even. I ended up putting finger prints and marks on the cake while I layed the fondant pieces on but it still turned out great.

 

 Mike made a display paint easel for the chocolate cupcakes I baked. So grateful for a handy man with tools. I also made rainbow colored cake pops, rice crispy "paint brushes" and red blue yellow and green chocolate chip cookies.

 Once all the painters arrived, we made our way onto the deck and started making our masterpieces. 

It's been raining here for 2 weeks so I was worried that it would rain on the day of her party. Everyday leading up to her party, I would check the weather. It rained Thursday and Friday. Then Saturday came and it was beautiful!!! I was so happy!! Sun was out, and the weather was warm. You would have never guessed that it was raining the past week or so. The rain came back Sunday and it has been raining on and off all day today. So we were blessed to have such beautiful weather Saturday.

Cake time. She was so excited. The looks on her face were priceless. 

 It took her a few huffs and puffs before blowing her candles out.

We had family from Edmonton drive down for the party. One of my many fave little guys in the batman shirt (Theo). Seriously so cute. 

 Mckenzie had such an amazing time. Thank you to family and friends for sharing this special day with us.