Days with the Dorans

If this is the only blog of mine that you read, you may remember me writing something a while back about my amazing Nan- and the wonderful shape she is in. I wrote about how she broke her hip, but was doing well in her recovery. If you read my 'other' blog- you know that this journey with her has not been so simple. Whether it was the surgery, or being out of her 'normal' environment for so long, it has been very difficult for her- Her memory that is. While she has always had a touch of dementia , and would sometimes ask us the same questions over and over- she did remember things and continued to have the same amazing sense of humor and contagious laugh- even when it was directed at herself. She had some scary days (the worst of which I chronicled on my other blog) and I am thrilled that she is doing much better and will be going home in just a few short days. I know that her recovery at home will be difficult, and I know that my mom has spent many sleepless nights t...

Had a wonderful night tonight with some wonderful ladies and since I sometimes blog about things I LOVE- seemed only right to write about Arbonne ! So I must first say that I am super cheap when it comes to ANYTHING! But when I find something I really like I will pay the money -hence my shark mop... cricut expression... new mini-van... and now I would like to add ARBONNE to that list! So I am pretty much a make-up virgin- really only learned how to put on 'real' make-up when I was in my 30s- but still I am a lady for a bargain- so other than Bare Minerals and some other little items- I was all about the drug store stuff! My fabulous friend Kelly had a party where I met Dana who did an AMAZING job selling her product to me- What a fun girl she is- and GORGEOUS! So if I can get my face looking like her's ... I'll be in business! So tonight we had the wine and munchies and started with a clean palette (see small pic below) and Dana taught us how to make ourselves look ...

Jeff and I met at WMU so it was such fun to go back there for the Stewart wedding and bring our kids with us to see the sights. My parents came too so they could watch our kids and my brother's daughter during the wedding. The kids had a great time in the pool! I was shocked that after a while even Ali Jane got in with just her water wings to swim. (I just signed them up for swim lessons so hopefully they'll be fish before no time!) The pool was a little cold so the kids (especially Zach) had fun going back to the hot tub to get warm before going into the big pool. Of course their little cousin didn't go swimming but Zach was never far from her to make sure she was o.k. I know that he is going to be an amazing big brother! He LOVES babies! After the wedding we went to campus hoping to hit some book stores for some gear. Unfortunately (or fortunately for my bank account) the stores were all closed. (We didn't ' think about that or probably would have gone earlier...

Jason was my roommate my junior and senior years of college- he is an amazing guy, and I always wondered what type of lady he'd meet to compliment his... uh... humor. Jason kept me grounded while at school and his laid back attitude and my well... uh... high strung attitude complimented each other perfectly and I consider him one of my dearest friends. The kind you can go for a while without talking to and then when you get together it's like no time has passed... His wife, Courtney, is the perfect compliment to Jason and I have never seen him like this in my life! They made it 'official' and had a beautiful and perfect wedding. As I write this, they are probably boarding a plane off to new adventures an ocean away! (I am so jealous!- hopefully they'll start a blog so I can keep up with their adventures and weigh in my two cents...) I was asked to read at their wedding and despite a little weepy moments, managed to keep it together... (I'll blame my hormones.....

My camera was accidentally on 'movie' mode when I tried to snap this picture, but I had to post it anyway as it seems whenever I grab my camera to capture this, the moment leaves- or Zach or a dog do... Zach is known as a Dog Whisperer. He is drawn to animals- loves them- and they seem to love him, even the ones that don't care for kids... especially two-year- olds . He has this effect not on just our dogs- but ALL dogs it seems. Don't worry- I'm careful with him. He doesn't seem to go to the dogs, they seem to come to him- and they love him. Perhaps he'll be a future vet- He could have saved us a lot of money with Pele'. (Seen above) (AKA our million dollar mutt...)

It's been a very busy week! On the fourth of July, my Nana (now referred to as Great-Nan) fell while going down to the lake to watch the kids play ball. She stepped off the side of the stairs which resulted in a broken hip. On the 6 th she had surgery to replace it. The surgery went well and everyone is amazed at how well this (almost 91 year old) woman is doing. I've been spending a ton of time at the hospital visiting her (and relieving my mom who also seems to have taken up residence up there). She is now in this amazing place for rehab of her hip and is in the best of spirits. Everyone seems so nice. Ali Jane had an eye appointment today so we went and visited Great-Nan and had a wonderful time! She amazes us all, so hopefully will be out of there and back to walking the track and playing on the floor with the great grand kids in no time!

With the cooler weather, we got a lot of work done around the house... Yes (as some of you know too well)- I am constantly weeding- and did actually get the mulch down- but prior to that we had a great time going on a worm hunt! We found about a dozen worms. Ali Jane named ALL of her worms "Polk-a-dot Nail Polish " (I know- only Ali Jane...) and Joe named his one worm (he only wanted one- Rocko ) Zach carried this poor little guy around for about 15 minutes as you can see from the video. I felt a little bad for him- but it will probably be material for my writing lessons next school year- writing from the perspective of a worm in the hand of a two year old... (YIKES!) We also were able to replace some old boards in the deck- (Which is now stained and looks MUCH better.) Joe had a blast helping Papa and Daddy fix the deck. Maybe next year we'll have a new kitchen to support our expanding family and we'll need a whole new deck altogether- no doubt Joe will be ready!