Days with the Dorans

There are people in this life who are so thoughtful. Regina (a neighbor growing up) is one of those people. For every occasion, birthday, anniversary, etc... we will go to our mailbox and find a card. Today is Regina's birthday, so the kids and I decided that, in our quest to be more thoughtful, we would make cards for Regina. After we made the cards, we drove to my folks' and took a walk down to Regina's (my niece, Maddy, was also there). When we got there, Regina's car was not there and there was no one home. As we got closer to the house, Joe began to think twice about the card he made for her. He saw a Michigan State flag in front of her house and had second thoughts... (you may remember that he and his sibs have a current love affair with the University of Michigan that I don't quite understand). In the end the Bigs learned that they can still be friends with people who cheer for the other team and put Regina's cards in her mailbox. Since we were there,...

Six months sure does fly by! It seems like it was just yesterday that we were at the dentist but the Bigs and I were off to get another check-up and teeth cleaning. Jeff had a meeting, so I left the L ittles with my folks and we were off. I am so thankful that the Bigs are so well behaved when we go places. They were great during my teeth cleaning. (I could never have taken Z- at least at this stage- and not had an adult there to keep tabs on him and make sure he wasn't getting into trouble.) When it was their turn, Joe volunteered to go first and get his teeth "all shiny" and he did a great job! Ali Jane couldn't wait to get into the dentist chair. When our dentist was checking Joe's teeth she kept whispering to me, "Is it my turn yet?" "When will it be my turn?" "Can I go now?" As soon as the hygienist was done cleaning Joe's teeth, Ali Jane jumped into the chair and sat there just like this waiting for her to clean up from...

Thirteen years ago around this time, I was spending hours setting up my first grade classroom. I was fresh out of college, knew "everything" and had the energy of a young twenty-two-year-old! Thirteen years later, I am spending hours setting up my first grade classroom, brushing up on some of my favorite 'teacher reads', admit that each year I learn perhaps more than my students and have all the energy of a thirty-four-year-old with four kids at home, a husband and two humane society specials... (sigh) It blows my mind that the first graders pictured are beginning a new chapter in their lives, perhaps heading off to college and naive to how fast life is going to suddenly fly by. I am still teaching in the same building but it has certainly changed... we now have carpeting, computers, phones in our room, and AIR-CONDITIONING! I remember that on some days it would get so hot, the PTA would buy Popsicles and we would sit in silence sucking away on the sweet, refreshin...

Today was my first day back in my classroom. It was a mess! Our district privatized our custodians (you get what you pay for...) and at the end of the last school year I pretty much moved all of my stuff to my new classroom and got the heck out of there! (That choice meant lots of work now, but at the time it was what I really needed to do.) One of the things that I found in my organizing/purging/cleaning spree was the sign above. My four at home have benefited from that sign - a sign I put on my door while I would pump the feeding they missed at lunch-time. I think when we had the Bigs , we had no idea what children 'cost', partly because we never had to buy formula (and at the time Jeff was a stay-at-home-dad...). My pump became my best friend and was by far the best investment any nursing mom could make! All but Joe had my milk for the first year of life (I only had to stop nursing Joe because I was pregnant with Ali Jane, but still went longer than I was supposed to...). I...

It was time for the annual Tiger trip with my folks. This year felt a little different because with season tickets, Jeff and I have made it to a lot of games. We've also brought the Bigs quite a few times. This was technically the Littles second game of the season, but they didn't last too long for that first game. This trip was also much better because my mom and dad come, too. Most games we get our water and peanuts (for a buck each) outside the park, get our scorecard inside and sit and enjoy the game. For this family trip we came early, ate and rode all the rides. The first stop was the Merry-Go-Round. Coming early has its advantages... there was virtually no line! We get 'free' ride passes with our season tickets and only use them on the day we take everyone. The kids were able to go on this ride twice before we moved on to the Ferris Wheel. My dad and I took the the Bigs and Z on the Ferris Wheel and left Sean with my mom and Jeff because taking the chance of...

This has been a wonderful summer for reuniting with old friends from high school. I've seen friends who are now living in Canada, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and China. I've also seen some 'locals' I don't see often because of an impromptu 'girls reunion' put together via facebook . My friend Kim contacted me and asked me if I could go to dinner last night with our friend Nevada (who I still talk with). I said sure, but wondered why Nevada hadn't mentioned it to me. I didn't think too much of it though, since Nev has been in the middle of a move and has also been out of town a lot on mini-(much needed) vacays . I figured she was just busy and it had slipped her mind. I picked up Nevada since she was on the way and I wanted to see her new house. I was running late because I had to feed Sean before I left. (Jeff took the kids to the zoo so it was just easier that way) and felt badly thinking that poor Kim was going to be waiting at the restaurant by h...

Thankfully I married a man that can cook! Getting Jeff a new grill for his birthday was perhaps the best gift I've ever gotten... errr ... I mean, given! We've had every meal since his birthday on this grill and today we decided to try yet another 'something new'... we made pizzas! They were way easier than I thought they would be. The prep for them (cutting up all the fixin's ) was what took the longest. The Bigs of course chose just sauce, cheese and pepperoni- where Jeff and I had grilled onions, mushrooms, garlic, tomatoes and ham. The dough was a little sticky and we weren't sure if it would turn out but we figured if it didn't, we could always order take-out. Thankfully not only did they turn out, they were delicious! The Bigs came back for more and Sean LOVED it! I think that Pele' and Cobi were also quite excited by this meal. They didn't quite know where to go because the Bigs wanted to eat at their own table. They played it wise I thin...

One of the fun things about blogging is you get to meet other people. I've 'met' people from around the country and even from around the world. Debby, is one of the amazing people that I have met and I've had such fun following and reading her blog . She has a million followers! (Well not really, but she does have a lot!) I know that people read this blog, but I don't know who they are... well... except for the people that make themselves known by hitting that 'follow' button. I currently have 99 followers on my " Pause " blog- very close to 100! (yeah!) Debby gave me an award for this blog and shared it with her followers. I appreciate all of her comments and posts. It has been such fun getting to know each other through our blogs! I was given an award once before , which was fun and surprisingly got a lot of comments (for me). Now I get to give away this award to some of my favorite bloggers . Many of the bloggers I've met, are ...

It has been a busy August and I feel that, as teachers, we've been trying to squeeze different things to do in left and right before we get back into our classrooms. Today we went to a nearby town and experienced a fair of sorts that they have each year. Though I have lived in the area all my life, this was my FIRST visit to "Milford Memories" and it was a lot of fun. I should start out by saying that it was HOT! We pretty much just walked the booths because there weren't a lot of things going on for kids that we could see. (We must have come at the wrong time or something... because we also missed the live music-) Frozen fruit smoothies and cold lemonades hit the spot for the two Bigs (and the cowboy)while Sean slept in the stroller. We did find a woman who did face painting which the kids were quite excited about. Joe got a 'Batman' picture, Ali Jane chose a butterfly and Zach (to be like his brother) also chose a Batman. You may be wondering then, why in ...

It's amazing how babies grow in that first year. Before I had a blog, I kept baby books and videos (I still do this but not as thoroughly...) that detailed everything that our children were doing each month. It's been fun to see how they are alike, and how they are different. I really was thinking that Sean wouldn't be a crawler at all- but alas! He has figured it out and so now we have put up the baby gate again at the top of the stairs... Though Sean is crawling, he still prefers to stand and 'cruise'. He likes to walk from couch to ottoman to dog to whatever else may be there to support him. (Yes I said dog because I actually saw him use Pele' today as a means to get from couch to coffee table!) I remember when Zach first started walking while holding on to hands and I have to say that Sean is much more eager to go, so perhaps he will walk by his first birthday like Joe did. (Al of course was walking by now!) It was fun looking back on this blog and r...

I started blogging as a fun way to share what my family was doing with far-away friends. Little did I know that it would become so much more. By writing down my thoughts, I feel like I have made my memories somewhat concrete. This is a good thing because I have a HORRIBLE memory and find that things that I DO remember have come mostly from old pictures, diaries and letters that I have replayed in my mind. One of the wonderful blogs out there does something called "Wednesday Walks"- it's really just a set aside day to write something from your memory. I love this idea especially since this blog has taken the place of my diaries and scrapbooks and is now mostly meant as a keepsake for my children, grandchildren and perhaps more- long after I leave this earth. If you have popped over to my "Pause" blog you may have found that I love to write, and that all started with this man- my Grandpa Jonasen . We were pen pals for years and while it may seem odd for a young ...