Days with the Dorans

Of all blogs, this is the one that I have been waiting for... my last blog of 2010! The reason I blog is to remember the little moments, the precious moments, the moments that I know I would forget if I didn't write them down. I have been going back through my blog to remember some of those moments that stood out to me in 2010. Jeff put in his two cents as well and these were some of the highlights (or just strange moments) of 2010 for us (in no particular order). And as soon as I press "Publish Post", I will be turning my blog into a hard-bound book. It is a treasure to preserve memories for our family in this way. If you haven't blogged before, 2011 is the year to start- but first, a look back at our top 10 in 2010. 1. Tiger Games We became Detroit Tiger Season Ticket holders! My brother and dad have had tix for years and it was fun to join them and be able to take the fam to the ballpark more than once in a season. It was worth the money and this frugal family l...

What better way to ring in a new year than with old friends! We were excited that our friends Dr. Jason (my old college roommate), Mrs. Courtney and Zoe could come over for a sleepover. When they arrived, Ali Jane didn't waste any time recruiting people to play games. She's getting better at checkers and we also played some 'Trouble' before another old roommate , Aaron, came over with his (expecting) wife. Jason, Aaron and I lived in a house together our Junior year of college (with 5 or 6 others depending on the time of year...) and though I have kept in good touch with Jason, it had been at least 8 years since I had seen Aaron. Sean fell asleep in my arms right before Aaron and his wife, Jessica, arrived. It was a little after 9:30 and he was the first of the Dorans to lose the battle with sleep. Zoe stayed up a bit later but not much and then it was just the six grown-ups and the three Bigs . We had a great time just having some drinks and munchies and laughs! ...

This was a big year for our six year old! It was her first (non-family) party. The place that she had hoped to have her party was closed from the 23rd of December to the 8 th of January, so I was on a mad-dash to find a new place (having so many kids at our house with two crazy dogs with all of my Christmas decorations sounded like an accident waiting to happen). Some of my friends suggested a place called, "Pump It Up" and I am so glad that they did! Pump It Up is a place with loads of inflatable toys. Ali Jane had 11 kids at her party (not including Sean) and they started the party by watching a safety video that showed them how to play on all of the equipment. After the video, they were let loose in a party room. They jumped and slid and jumped some more! All their little faces were red and many of the pictures I took were too blurry because eveyone was moving so fast. I loved that many of the girls slid down a huge inflatable slide hand-in-hand, but I couldn't get a ...

Our Ali Jane is six! Her birthday began lovely! Much like mine a few days before, I heard her waking to the sounds of her brothers telling her it was her birthday. We all sang to her throughout the morning including the phone calls she got from her Nana and Papa. One of the nice things about having a birthday when you will NEVER have school is the whole day is YOURS! We had nothing planned, but as the day unfolded it held a lot of fun! Ali Jane opened her presents from the fam after her dad cooked her chocolate chip pancakes. I found that she was sweet as pie all day, probably because it was her birthday and she knew that she wasn't just the princess, but the queen for the day! Ali Jane decided she wanted to have a party on her big day- even if her REAL party was the next day- and so her dad went out to get an extra cake and decorations for Al's impromptu party (a request of the birthday queen). She wanted dinner at the restaurant we frequent as a family (which also hap...