Correction Fluid

Brian caught Ronan putting White Out on this broken piece of the Reindeer's head. When he asked what he was doing, Ronan replied :"I'm correcting the reindeer with this correction fluid."
I LOVE IT!

Diaper Heads

This is what you get when you have a silly dad who got bored while changing diapers! (They are clean diapers on their heads :) )

We love our fun dad!

The Festival of Lights

The Washington D.C. Temple

Every year we go see the Festival of Lights at the D.C. Temple. They do a great job and have some half a million lights around the grounds. This year we waited to go 3 days after Christmas, because there was a Harp Ensemble performing that night that we wanted to see as well. We went fully prepared that one or all of us might have to leave partway through the performance, as we weren't sure how entertained our kids would be by this. We sat near the back, and the kids did great! It was a wonderful performance, and I only left 5 min. before the end with the little girls! Considering the fact that it was past their bedtime, I counted this as a success!!
Brian, Hayden, Ronan, Duncan, Morgan, & Madelyn (where's Ashlyn?) by the lights.

Some of the lights on the grounds.

Morgan & Duncan

Morgan with the visitors center in the background

Morgan wanted a photo of her in front of the Temple. If you look closely, you can see that she is there!
This is a fun tradition that I enjoy doing at Christmas time. I'm grateful to live so close to the temple!

A Merry Mahaffey Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Here's some of it.... Christmas Dinner (we have ours Christmas Eve), and Aunt Missy came to share it with us.

The kids always get to open 1 gift Christmas Eve, which is always from me, and is always new pajamas! This year I found all matching for boys and girls, I was so excited! Hayden....not so excited..Duncan enjoyed the Santa hat more I think, and Ashlyn loved her kerchief! I had envisioned this cute picture of my matching 6 children in their new jammies on Christmas Eve.....this was as good as it got!

The 3 girls together (they were much more willing to pose for a photo).

Looks like Santa filled the stockings!

The tree all ready to be assaulted in the morning!
Ashlyn's so happy to have her stocking filled!
Duncan, Ashlyn & Ronan sifting through the stocking loot. We open stockings first, then head into the living room for the gift when we are done.
Missy opening a gift from Brian he snuck in her stocking.

My mom sent a few things for Missy's stocking as well!
Madelyn and Sara opening stockings.

Madelyn likes her new baby

Santa got Taylor Swift tickets-Morgan is SOOOO excited!
Hayden is opening his Taylor Swift concert ticket-we got good screams for those gifts!

This is an "I'm so excited about this gift' face!

Ronan & Hayden

Hayden

Duncan was happily passing out gifts!

A happy Ashlyn!

Madelyn in "THE HAT". This is a hat that Brian's mom got for Duncan, that everyone LOVED! Hayden has fought him for it several times! It is warm and fuzzy and has ear flaps, what's not to love?!
We opened gifts, Brian made us egg/ham McMuffins, and we hung out at home all day long! Everyone went to bed in the same pajamas they woke up in-a very relaxing time! It was a great Christmas day!
Merry Christmas!!!

6 Months

I've been really behind lately, and forgot to post some pictures of Madelyn at 6 months old. She turned 6 months on Dec. 8th, and I can't believe it. She is my last baby, and I want this to last, but she just keeps growing so fast! At her check-up she weighed in at 19lbs. (only 5 pounds lighter than her 2 year old sister), they wear the same size diaper, and Ashlyn just looks so little to me next to Madelyn! Shouldn't it be the other way around! Madelyn is a cutie, and I love her to pieces! Her giggle stops me in my tracks, and I could spend forever watching her!

SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!

This past weekend we had 23 in. of snow fall in Columbia...although Brian feels slighted, as we only measured 18 in. at our house. We had fun none the less. Here's a few photos of our snow fun!

Backyard

Sara on the deck measuring the snow fall

Front yard

Morgan and I took a walk around the neighborhood the morning after the snow, and snapped a few photos of the neighbor hood. Here's a covered car.

Morgan on our walk.

Our street

Door from the Family room out to the deck

The bridge and tunnel the kids built between our house and the neighbors while it was still snowing.

Morgan jumping into the snow on the tramp.

Ronan

Rosy cheeked Ashlyn

14 Years

Today my sweet husband and I celebrate 14 years of marriage! I am grateful to of found my companion early in life, and had the blessing of enjoying so many adventures together. I had countless people 'caution' me about getting married young (I was 18 and Brian 21), but in my opinion it's the best thing ever! We have enjoyed so many adventures together, and look forward to many more.
Brian is a very passionate person, and it comes out in everything he does..he's not one to half do something. I am thankful for the fun and spontaneity he brings to our marriage. We are good at balancing each other out, but have so many similarities as well.
We both share a passion for travel, and have done as much of it as our circumstances have allowed. We have always traveled with the kids and said that it wouldn't slow us down. Well....the logistics of traveling with 6 kids has in fact slowed us down a bit-we now stick to places with in a days drive if we can!
We both LOVE babies, and just can't get enough of our little ones. While we are excited for the new things the kids are doing, we secretly have therapy sessions with each other at night about how sad we are that they are growing up!
We enjoy being outdoors, especially as a family. Walking in the woods is a family favorite.
Brian is such a wonderful husband, who makes me feel like the most important thing in the world. I am grateful for his love and support, and all that we share together!
Here's to many more wonderful years ahead......

Inocent

Tonight Brian knocked on Morgan's door and she yelled out "I'm not innocent!"
"What?" he asked.
"What's that word that means your not dressed?"
"Decent."
"Oh, I'm not decent then."
I thought it was cute.

One more cute things from the Ashlyn....
As I was turning around in the van near a neighbors driveway, after stopping to get the mail, Ashlyn calls out "Not THIS house Mommy! Not this house!" then points to our house..."That house Mommy! That our house!" I always wonder what's she thinking...that her mother has lost her mind and no longer remembers where we live?? So fun.

Crabs

After 11 years of putting my foot down on my position of pets in our house, they broke me! Brian and I have both been very admit about NOT having pets (I'm taking care of enough living creators as it is-I mean, I don't even do plants!), but somehow Morgan easily broke that wall down. She had a friend who was saving her money to get a Hermit Crab, & asked if she could do the same. I talked with Brian about it, and we decided that IF by chance she did save enough money up to get one, it would be a caged animal that was easy enough for her to take care of, and we would allow it. But, I really didn't think she'd stay focused long enough on this one goal to earn the money (her friend after all, lost interest and never got a crab). Well, Morgan is a very determined girl, who saved up the $30 that we had decided she needed to get set up with the crab. I took her to the mall to buy the little creature, and was shocked to learn that it would cost $70 to completely outfit this crab. Well, she had done so well in saving, that I decided to spot her the $40. We came home with crab, cage, sand, sponge, food, cave, & toys for crab in hand. Everyone was SO excited about this little crab (poor thing was probably shocked to see what he came home to), and they all quickly wanted one. Well....Nana & Papa had sent money for Christmas gifts, and we decided that this would be part of their gift. So, now Morgan, Ronan, Duncan, & Ashlyn all have a crab. Morgan was refunded her money (by Nana & Papa), so that it was a 'gift' to them all, and now she has $30 burning a hole in her pocket!
Here are some photos of our new pets courtesy of Ronan:

Two -Years-Old

Ashlyn is 2, and boy does she have being 2 down! Today while I was making lunches for the school kids, Ashlyn took her chocolate milk into the Family Room and shook it all over both pale green couches! It was EVERYWHERE! Not a single cushion or pillow was spared! Of course I just lent my sister my steam cleaner 4 days ago. It never fails that the steam cleaner will sit in the garage for months and I won't NEED it, but as soon as I lend it out-disaster happens! Oh well, the cushion covers come off, so I threw those in the wash, and scrubbed the arms by hand.
Then we come home from taking the kids to school, and play 'kitchen' for a few minutes when I steal off to the computer to send my mom a family photo she requested. I'm gone maybe 5 minutes when I hear the toilet lid slam shut (seeing as how she is NOT potty trained, this is concerning to me so I run to see what is happening). I find Ashlyn in the nude in the bathroom reeking of Pine scent! I had a pine scented oil thing in the living room which she got to and spilled all over her and a table in the L.R. I run to go wipe up the oil off the table, as I know from past experience it can rip off the varnish. While I'm doing that Ashly snuck upstairs (still in the nude), went into my room, woke up Madelyn and opened up the presents that I just finished wrapping last night, but was too tired to put up high (BIG mistake on my part). AHHH! I love my 2 year old, I love my 2 year old..... It's only 10:00am & I'm already exhausted...and I have a friend coming over for a playdate in 30 minutes!

Beauty Shop

I came home from conferences to find Brian's hair beautifully done by Morgan & Ashlyn:

He said they had fun, and so did he. He got to lay there with his sleeping baby and have a head massage, what could be better?