Days with the Dorans

What a treat that Halloween fell on a weekend this year (though it was a Sunday). It was so nice not to have to rush home from work, feed everyone, change into costumes... We did find ourselves ordering pizza as Jeff said it is now our "Tradition". The extra time also allowed the Bigs to create a "Pumpkin Patch" for the Great Pumpkin and all the trick-or- treaters to enjoy! We didn't have to ask the Bigs to get their costumes on. They pretty much jumped into them the moment we got home from church. Sean on the other hand was a different story. Because his ' Riddler ' costume would have been covered up by a giant coat, I decided to dress him up as a cute little duck. Clearly he was not too happy about putting on this costume, and would have preferred to stay in theme with his sibs . I have to admit the theme thing was very cool and I am hoping the kids will agree to a theme Halloween again next year! Once the duck could walk around, he was fi...

The kids were so excited to learn that it was FINALLY time to carve the pumpkins and I was too. Now that they are a bit older, I figured they may do most of the 'gutting' and I'd be able to sit back and snap some pics. I got out some plastic bags to lay down on the floor and was so excited about all the pumpkin seeds that we would be able to eat later in the night. When I 'opened' each pumpkin the kids each had different reactions. Z had no desire to touch his pumpkin guts and pretty much would just lift the top of his pumpkin and put it back down (repeat... a lot). It wasn't long until I took over the task of 'gutting' Z's pumpkin and had to put my camera down. Ali Jane lasted a little longer... maybe three minutes, but she was soon running through the house with Z and I saw yet another pumpkin that I was going to have to 'gut'. Joe surprised me... I remembered that he wasn't too interested in touching pumpkins last year. This...

Friday was the day of halloween parties for elementary schools! I was busy with my first grade students so was unable to be with my favorite first grader (and kindergartner). Thankfully, my mom was able to go to the school with her camera to give me a glimpse into the festivities. When she was telling me about the day, she suggested that I find a long sleeve shirt for under Ali Jane's costume. The funny thing is, I dressed Ali Jane in a black turtle neck and leggings and told BOTH Bigs to put their costumes on OVER their clothes (Joe has a tendency to wear his costume without the bulkiness of jeans and sweatshirts). Thankfully Joe listened to his mother, his sister... not so much. Batman looked great! There was another batman in his class but according to my Batman, "It was not the real batman, it was the batman with muscles!" Joe went old school when it came to choosing his super-hero costume. Jeff had shown the Bigs some of the old Batman TV shows, so that was what he w...

Today was the Halloween party for the Littles . I was supposed to bring four dozen plain donuts ( which was much easier than when I made play dough in years past ) but it was nearly impossible to find them (who wants plain donuts?). Jeff finally found them moments before the party started. I was glad to not have to worry about the donuts because I was busy making a costume for our Riddler . Green pajamas, black adhesive vinyl sheets and the cricut and voila- Riddler costume! The only problem was this bad guy discovered his question marks could be removed and he went to work causing mischief! Poor Zach had a bad tummy and when we were half-way there, he said he needed to use the bathroom, so I bolted back home. When we got home, he realized he really didn't have to go and so we were back in the car and on our way. We finally made it to the party, albeit a half hour late, but we did make it in time for some games. Zach played a game where he won some purple playdough , and lat...

While the Bigs were eating breakfast this morning, the phone rang. It was an automated call from our school district letting us know that school was closed for the day (for the Bigs, of course, not for me) due to a power outage. My mom was en-route to our house already because she (or my dad) gets the Bigs on the school bus every day. I was so thrilled that she let the Bigs tag along with her while she ran her errands. Well, to be honest, most of the errands ended up being for the Bigs . And my wonderful mother of course documented the day with her camera... (who do you think I get this from?) After some shopping and creating a list of 'to-dos' with their Nana, the Bigs showed up at MY school to eat lunch with me and meet my students. I had fun giving my students clues about the 'Mystery Guests' that were coming and they were SO excited when the subjects of so many of my writing lessons showed up in the flesh! The Bigs were a bit overwhelmed when all these ...

Jeff and I were talking tonight, and we don't know if it's because we are not big television watchers around here, but whatever the reason we have never heard our children speak the words, "I'm bored." This is certainly something to be celebrated because I know as they grow older, those words will most certainly enter their vocabulary. For now, we feel very blessed and sit back and watch their imaginations and creativity run wild. Tonight, most of the action took place in the Bat Cave. Actually, the action really began before I left for school. Joe was up early, dressed and cleaning his room (and for the record my kids are NOT NEAT! So seeing Joe clean his room AND his closet this morning certainly threw me for a loop)! He didn't even throw things under his bed like he usually does! When I asked him what he was doing, he said getting the Bat Cave ready! When I got home from work, poor Ali Jane was sleeping in her room (I think exhausted by kindergarten and t...

If you were to ask Jeff and me what books drove us crazy because we had to read them over and over and OVER to our kids- we would give you the same titles without skipping a beat. With Joe, it was Dinosaurumpus . We read it so much that it was literally held together with yards of tape and though one of the pages was gone, we still were able to read it because we had the entire book memorized. It's been years since I've read it, and I can still recite the entire book. Sadly (?) that book is no longer in the Doran family library. With Ali Jane, it was Pinkalicious . Al's book was (and is still) kept in marvelous shape. She still has it and reads it regularly. You would be in awe listening to her read it. She knows every word and reads with correct dramatic pauses, and intonation- of course this is because she has the entire book down to the "pink peonies" memorized from hours (perhaps days if added up together) of reading it. For Zach, his favorite book...