Days with the Dorans

So some of you know that I have two blogs. This blog- which has reflected on my day to day adventures with my living children, things I love and the occasional "Pause" blog where I remember my angels. My other blog (That I refer to as my 'Pause' blog) has been an entire blog about my angels-a therapy to me in a sense- how they've changed me, restored me and helped me. I have met a huge community of mothers who have lost children and have been nominated by two of them for this Honest Scrap award (for my 'Pause' blog) The idea is similar to the last 'award' I wrote about, my new friends stated in their blogs that: The award is about bloggers who post from their heart, who write from the depths of their soul. In order to accept the award I must nominate seven fellow bloggers as recipients, and then list ten honest and interesting things about myself. So- although I was nominated on 'Pause'- I'm writing on 'Days' because I have sh...

Each year we go to one Tiger game with the kids and my parents and every year it has been amazing- we've made it through the entire game... had happy kids and above all (I say this now...) amazing weather. This year, the weather man was predicting rain- and so we still went- but were equipped with ponchos and garbage bags. We got there a little early (in case we did get rained out) and the kids, my dad and Jeff rode the merry-go-ride and ferris wheel. We also ate and made it to our seats by the bottom of the first. (The bigs were anxious to see the game!) The game went well and the kids had a great time. They cheered on all their favorite Tigers, ate peanuts and enjoyed the sunshine. It looked like we may have made it without any hard rains as predicted... It was going to be another perfect day as in years past... And then it happened.. the heavens opened and quite literally dumped rain on us (for at least 15 minutes) sideways. It was raining so hard that we really couldn't ...

The most amazing thing happened to me last Friday. My sweet friend, (of 32 years!) Pam, had asked me earlier in the week if I'd be around Friday morning around 9 to be able to chat. She moved states away and it had been hard for us to have some good conversations with our busy schedules (and loud children)- so to 'plan' a phone call was very 'typical' Pam. Pam and I have remained close over the years and she is Jonasen's God-Mother and writes him sweet letters each year for his birthday documenting the happenings. She is just really an amazing soul! (She also turned me on to the world of blogging...) Shortly before she was scheduled to call at 9, Jeff suggested I get in the shower since we had a busy day- and he knew how long the two of us talked- so I got ready for the day- and he brought me the phone and sure enough I got to hear my sweet friend's voice at 9. She told me she was on her way with her darling son, Jack, to a play date . She was a bit out o...

Ali Jane was over the moon when she heard that we could go to her teacher's wedding. (And I have to admit that I was excited too.) The wedding was at our church and the only other wedding I had attended there was my own. Ali Jane of course had to wear her 'wedding dress' and though we sat in the back (like my students did 8 years ago...) Ali Jane was so well behaved we could have been right up front! Before the wedding Ali Jane went through the wedding dress styles of all the princesses and clearly the most exciting part of the wedding for her was what Ms. Beth would look like- and she looked beautiful! Al was wanting to see them dance at the wedding (just like the princesses do) and was upset that we wouldn't see the dance. It was wonderful watching her experience her first wedding. (She only attended my brother's reception... didn't want to risk my kids misbehaving at his wedding ceremony...) But watching and listening are two different things. I took...

What fun it was to get this little 'award' from a new friend out in 'blogger-land!' To think that just two years ago at this time I had no idea what a blog even was and now- I am literally a little obsessed with blogging- it takes two minutes- and is a great way to scrapbook my kids' lives, (without the mess...) saying what's on my mind, and of course if you've read my 'Pause' blog (and I hope you all do!)- remembering my angels and other angel mom's and hopefully opening someone's eyes somewhere to what moms like me go through and think about. It was such fun to get this. So here is what I need to do... Pass this award on to five 'blogger friends' and then I need to write five of my current 'obsessions'. Perhaps it will get others to check out your blogs since I love them so much and comment ALL THE TIME on them- And those of you who lurk and read... Comment!- We know you have something swimming in your head about what you...

Ever since the last trip to the dentist I have been DREADING going back... Somehow they managed to get Ali Jane's x-rays, but she screamed the entire time and wouldn't let them go near her mouth to clean her teeth. To gear up for this trip, I brought out all the external rewards... that wedding barbie you want, a new back-pack for school and even... McDonald's for lunch!! Even with all the bribing, it didn't look good. She was definitely scared, but somehow we managed to get her in the chair. Even Joe was amazed! I am so happy to report that she did a great job! They counted her teeth- polished them and she even let our dentist near her! I was THRILLED that she didn't need more x-rays this time. For doing such a good job, they loaded her up with goodies- from rings, bracelets, toys and animal cards... not to mention our dentist's DELICIOUS home-made cookies! After watching his sister go, Jonasen had no problem hopping into the chair and opened his mouth imme...

The other day I was upstairs folding clothes when I heard Jeff scream, "LAURA- GET DOWN HERE!" I got down there so fast (Jeff is NOT a yeller ) and what I saw was Zach- playing the piano and singing. I couldn't figure out why Jeff had yelled to me, and Zach turned around and looked just as confused. But then Jeff gestured to my chairs... my NEW chairs that were JUST delivered the night before. I looked at them and my mouth just dropped and I put my hands up to cover it. Immediately Zach came down from the piano and said, "I torry mommy, I torry ." wrapping his arms around me. It was hard to be angry with him after his sweet reaction- and I don't know if 'angry' would be the word to describe how I felt- but thankfully my mom came over with goof off, WD -40 and a print-out of ' Internet advice' to get out such stains. She flipped over the chair and tested out the various remedies... (all of which actually worked) but in the en...

See if you can follow this... We had a great time playing with my dad's friends' daughter's kids! Jen has a three year old and 10 month old triplets! I know that in a few months we will have the same number of kids at home- but watching her- I could NEVER do what she does. Her children are adorable- and I was amazed at how organized she was during feeding time- etc- I guess you have to be! ;-) We spent a wonderful day on the lake- complete with food, boat rides, sand and water... and perhaps the highlight for the (big) kids... ( and Zach gets to be a 'big' kid in this blog) had to be the wave runner . Surprisingly my kids hadn't been out on it yet this year so Papa took all of them for a ride and they had a blast! My dad took all the kids out, but I think Kyle wasn't too sure about his driving... (I wouldn't ' be either Kyle...) so he was happy when he made it safe back to shore and got to go out with his mom. We ended the day on the pontoo...

When I was younger we had 'real' tubes that would flip over when they hit a wave and you hung onto for dear life. If you did go with a friend there wasn't much room and you just prayed to stay on... Not anymore. My folks got this tube last summer (I believe) and I did manage to get out on it last year with the B igs . (Not even close to my childhood tube!) Ali Jane has been bugging Papa to take her on the fast boat so she can go tubing and he finally did! Zach and I spotted in the boat until Z decided that he wanted to go with them too... and since I've done this parenting thing before... little more relaxed... I gave him to his daddy. It was a little nerve-wracking to see my entire family on a tube with MY father behind the wheel ( eeeek !) but he did listen to me when I asked him to slow down and such and the kids had a great time. The first of many perhaps of what we have left of the summer. We only go out on week-days though- This is some tube- but I'm not ready...

This has been a crazy summer with everything going on with my Nan, but we did manage to get the Bigs signed up for swim lessons. While they spend a lot of time at the lake- it usually consists of them getting on their water wings- or life jacket and jumping off the dock- playing in the sand... etc. And with water being around every summer it is VERY important that they learn to really swim . A.J. was not too happy that first day- and wasn't going to go in the pool at all- until I told Joe how proud I was that he was doing what his teacher said and perhaps we'd go to the dollar store after the lesson. (She's so easy...) We did make it through the week and I was really proud of them- They tried their best and by the last day Ali Jane FINALLY jumped in the pool- (though her teacher caught her and her hair didn't even really get wet... This from a girl who jumps off the dock regularly by herself...) They were proud of their accomplishments and even got a certific...

It still amazes me how good Zach is with our dogs. Not that the bigs don't love the dogs, but Z REALLY loves the dogs. These pictures were taken the other night when some neighbors were setting off fireworks. The dogs weren't too happy about that- and I am still wondering how Cobi got himself halfway under our bed/table/chair... Pele' was very brave (very unlike him). Perhaps because he had his best friend by his side. In the picture Zach was whispering in his ear, "It's o.k. Puppy." It was one of the cutest things I've seen. Like I said... Future Vet... or dog whisperer...