Days with the Dorans

I was sitting in our room last night, blogging away about Ali Jane, when I thought I smelled skunk. I asked Jeff if he smelled it and he said 'no' and then he sniffed again. We looked at Pele' sitting on his dog pillow and at the same time said, "Where is Cobi ?" Cobi apparently had a rendezvous with Pepe Le Pew! That's right! He had been skunked! I immediately stopped blogging, started googling and Jeff and I were off to give the first two baths of this lovely ordeal. We doused him with tomato juice, baking soda and dish detergent and hoped for the best, but the horrible smell seemed to be everywhere! As I went to bed, I felt that I was tasting skunk. Cobi (after his first two baths) spent the night and the following day locked in our laundry room. The morning was interesting as I couldn't walk through our laundry room to get to our garage. I kept everyone from Cobi , but the coats and backpacks were hanging in our laundry room and so (thoug...

Ali Jane was recently working on a writing assignment for school. She wrote about herself as a baby, at age one... etc. It was such fun to go back and look at those long-ago photos. This picture was taken a day or two after she was born. All of my children have an amazing birth story, and today I feel like sharing a little piece of Ali Jane's. Like all of my pregnancies, we opted to be surprised and not know the gender of our "Sweet C" (aka, Ali Jane). But from the moment I learned of her pending arrival, I had a feeling that our baby would be a 'she'. I don't know why I felt that way. Perhaps because I took that first (of many) pregnancy tests on the day we buried my Great Auntie Irene. I loved her so and felt that it would seem right for God to send a woman into my life since one had recently left. Perhaps it was because I didn't want to have a boy, knowing that one day others may think that babe was Joe's twin brother. But whatever the reason, I dre...

It is hard to believe that in just two weeks, Sean will be one! Like his sibs at this age, he has no hair and no teeth. He has been pretty snotty lately and I wonder if he is coming down with something or perhaps his teeth are getting ready to make an appearance. I have been expecting to see those teeth soon... what I didn't expect to see today was Sean taking his first steps, but he did and this working mom was there to see them! Mondays can feel quite hectic at the Dorans (as most days do). Jeff has his meetings at the church and so I make dinner (I love Costco!), clean up, and then we pretty much play while waiting for him to come home. When Jeff called to say he was on his way, I had some pretty exciting news. Sean had taken FIVE steps! Sean wasn't very happy that I kept scooting backward as he would walk to me, but he walked to me just the same. It finally dawned on me to grab my camera, but of course by then he was a little 'over' performing for me. Also by the...

My kindergartner's mouth is always moving, and lately she has taken to sounding just like her beloved teacher. Ali Jane has always been a pro at 'reading the pictures' in her books. She loves reading and being read too. I know the importance of reading to your kids and her vocab has certainly grown from the amount of books we've read together and our discussions (which is why Ali Jane will never say someone lied, but instead say, they 'fibbed'). There are days it is hard to keep from laughing out loud because her stories are so funny- but so serious! She includes dramatic pauses, emphasis on important words and of course a wonderfully natural flow of 'story'. The other day she was 'reading' to us, (and we can not sit next to her when she reads, she is the teacher and we are the students- she holds the book and we sit below her on the floor just like a class should) when Zach moved a little closer to me and then sat in my lap to enjoy the "t...

We are so blessed that my parents get the Bigs on the bus each morning and that two days a week they also watch the Littles . I love hearing about their day, and one of the stories my mom told me recently was certainly blog worthy and one that I want to remember. This story involves the Goose (aka, the silly Goose, Zach) who has been making me laugh so much lately! The other day when I got home with the Littles and Jeff was out with the Bigs , Zach said to me plain as day, "Hey mom? Where are the Bigs ?" He makes me smile so much and I think it's funny he's caught on to our laziness in addressing our children (I promise you, we do call them by their names too)... I digress... The Littles were at my folks, and my mom was about to bring them back to our house when Z saw one of my parents' neighbors. Z waved 'Hi' to him, but the neighbor didn't see Z. That made Z very sad because he told my mom that he wanted to talk to the man. Well, my mom didn'...

Like most things in our life, we threw Joe's birthday party together pretty last minute. After eating at one of our favorite local restaurants, we passed the bowling alley and Joe said he thought it would be fun to have a party there like Gavin did. He didn't ask for too many people to come to his party, just his cousins, family friends and two boys from school (YEAH JOE!). Watching the kids bowl was such fun and Joe did great! He had a lot of spares and even threw a strike! (Of course it was bumper bowling...) Ali Jane did well too (she insisted on wearing a dress to the party) and Zach... well... his ball took a loooong time to go down the lane. We finally used a little ramp thing that he pushed his ball down and that worked much better. Z's attention span for bowling wasn't the greatest and it didn't help that he did not have a nap... (I'm not counting the five minute snooze he took on the way to the bowling alley.) Everyone had a great time and Sean slept...

Growing up I danced. I took jazz, tap and ballet classes and even competed. I have fond memories of it, and though the dance studio that I once danced with is still open, when Ali Jane said she was ready to take dance classes, I opted for a studio that was a bit closer to our house. Shopping studios was quite fun for me and it has crossed my mind to sign up for a tap class for me. (Right now my 'tapping' has been contained to grocery stores and during 'down time' while practicing with our prayer and praise band at church.) Ali Jane's first class was last Thursday. Last Thursday was also the day of their school's open house AND a Toad the Wet Sprocket concert that Jeff and I were looking forward to going to with my brother and sister-in-law. Though I felt torn, I knew that there will be many more ballet classes and open houses and Toad doesn't always come around... My mom took Al to ballet, while my dad watched the boys. Before we left, Ali Jane put on her le...

Joe's birthday celebration actually started with blueberry muffins for breakfast complete with songs of "Happy Birthday" and " Sto lat " from his sibs . I had a doctor's appointment around noon and for some reason decided to BAKE cupcakes in cones and bring them in to Joe's class to celebrate his birthday. I don't know what I was thinking! The cupcakes took so long that I literally had to frost the second batch right after they got out of the oven which gave them a 'melting ice-cream cone' look. Thankfully Joe's classmates didn't mind one bit and ate them all up. It was fun going to his classroom and watching him decide 'how' he wanted them to sing to him... (such an actor!) After school, we gave Joe our presents and let him open the cards he received from others. It was such fun to hear him read all of his cards (He's doing so well!) and he was so happy with his gifts. I went right off his 'list' so I knew th...

September 15th will always hold two very different emotions for me. In 2003 at 10:35pm, my heart broke when our son Andrew's silence filled the room. A minute later at 10:36, my heart grew with the beautiful sound of Jonasen's screams. Each year on September 15th, I allow myself to grieve what would have been, and to celebrate what is. For this reason I never work on September 15th. My plan was to get the Bigs on the bus, take the Littles to school, remember at the memorial garden , doctor,s appointment with the wonderful woman who brought my boys into this world, make cupcakes for Joe's school friends, and then off to celebrate Joe... Notice I said, "plan". Unfortunately the morning of September 15th brought a sick Z. This threw a major monkey wrench into everything, but thankfully my dad was able to watch him for a while when I went to the garden. (Having Z with me would have been horrible- crying because mom's crying, crying because the balloons went to hea...

On my way to pick up the Littles today, I quickly called Jeff to let him know that I would be a bit late because we had a short meeting after school. Ali Jane was sitting next to him and I could hear her begging to talk to me. Like her brother, she is full of details when it comes to telling me about her school day and I was excited to hear what she had to tell me. The conversation went like this: Ali Jane: Mom, you are going to be so impressed with what I did at school today! Me: (Thinking: I am impressed that you used the word 'impressed...) Really Ali Jane? Tell me about it! Ali Jane: (after a dramatic pause) I used the potty... TWICE! Me: Oh my goodness Ali Jane, I am so proud of you! (Thinking: That is so NOT what I was expecting you to say!) Ali Jane: It wasn't hard at all. I just went to the bathroom, laid down the toilet paper, went potty, flushed, washed my hands, dried them, threw the paper towel in the garbage and was done! It was so easy that when I had to g...

Jeff is a soccer player. He played for years, his dad was an amazing coach and he also played for his college team. Though I know nothing about soccer, I knew the day would come that I would find myself on the sidelines trying to figure everything out. Today was the day. Of course Jeff was leading worship today and so I packed up all the kids (and lunches) and headed off to church before the games. Though our church is contemporary and very casual it was the FIRST time I have ever worn jeans to church. I had the Bigs dressed in their uniforms complete with shin-guards and socks because those things aren't too easy to get on. Everything went perfectly and we enjoyed church, ate in the car and made it to soccer in time for Ali Jane's game. She was a bit tentative but after a while got into it and became a bit more aggressive . Not bad for her first go. The Bigs had their first practice on Friday, but of course they have kicked the ball around a lot with their dad in th...

Well, today was the day! The first day of the first grade (for me and Joe) and the first day of kindergarten for Ali Jane. Joe had a wonderful day, I am purely exhausted (I could write a book on that alone), but it is my dear Ali Jane that I will be focusing on today. (More on that in a bit.) My parents saved the day yet again. My dad took the littles to get Joe on the bus because kindergartners go to school with their parents- or if you are the child of two teachers- their grandparents... Ali Jane was quite excited to ride the bus, but I assured her the night before that she would be riding home on the bus with Joe and that Daddy would be waiting for her to hear all about her day. (A quick side... Zach has decided he wants to go to kindergarten now too and had a mini- or perhaps it was a major- meltdown when he couldn't get on the bus with Joe.) Ali Jane was so excited to get to school and she knew just where to go. She was thrilled to have the same teacher that Joe...