Days with the Dorans

Jeff and I were sitting in our family room sipping some wine while listening to the laughter of our children coming from our basement. We were having a moment- watching Sean lay on the dogs, hearing the laughter, looking at each other and counting our blessings. Of which, we have many. Tomorrow is my parents' anniversary and so I was telling Jeff the story of how my parents met (as I remember them telling it) and he was telling me a bit about his folks. He couldn't recall the story of how they met, which has me eager to talk with his mom... I am a sucker for family history which is why I am recording mine (as it happens) here (for my children). And then Jeff said he thought about writing things down for our children (he nixed the idea of a blog even though I told him he could make it private... turn it into a cool 'advice from dad' book... Hey- I planted a seed anyway). And so I thought I would write the story of how Jeff and I came to know each other and fall in lov...

The other day I was singing at church with the sweetest gal. We were chatting when I learned that she dances at the studio I danced at when I was young (she's a bit younger than I). It brought back all sorts of memories of competitions, recitals, conventions... When she asked when I danced, I thought for a moment and realized it's been nearly 25 years! That seems such a long time for someone so young (wink). I still tap when rehearsing with the band at church, in my kitchen and in the grocery store... I'm seriously contemplating taking a tap class next year (for fun of course- no recitals please) and looking for someone to take the plunge with me so I don't feel quite so foolish (because maybe I'm not as young as I think). The dancing bug was bigger today when we were invited in Ali Jane's class to tape her ballet routine. She has already told me that she would like to take tap next year AND ballet and I can't help but get excited about that. I can...

Today was a big day for Zach! It was his first trip to the dentist (well, as a patient that is...). I shouldn't have been scared. Our kids are pretty mellow and they are easy to take places... that is... except Z. We never know what he'll do, or how he'll act. Usually we are pleasantly surprised, but thinking back to Ali Jane's screaming performance on her first trip to the dentist, well,... let's just say I was holding my breath... Walking into my dentist's office can be like walking back in time. It has hardly changed since I first started going there in the 70s! The same puzzles and games are in the waiting room and you can hear the click of the typewriter (yes... I said TYPEWRITER) as you wait. I enjoyed playing with the Etch-a-sketch while Joe tried his hand at a Rubik's-Cube. The other thing that hasn't changed in the last 30 years are the pictures on the wall. My picture is up there, my brother's, Joe's, Al's... and now ZACH'S! Z c...

I had to laugh this morning when I was awakened by Joe shaking me gently and saying, "Wake up mom! It's President's Day!" We (obviously) had no school and are actually off all week for Mid-winter Break. I think that Joe thought that perhaps this break was solely because of President's Day (like our winter break is based around Christmas) and so he was ready to celebrate George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Barrack Obama! When I think of President's Day, I think of sales at the stores, but while getting my hair cut and colored today I was trying to think of something that Joe could do to, uh,... celebrate... All I could think of was making a log cabin like Lincoln lived in with his folks and sister, but I didn't have enough Popsicle sticks (my first idea) to let him get creative and build. After snacking on pretzels, I thought I'd give the boy the bag, some rubber cement and let him go to work. After all, that Joe is a creative little soul and usuall...

When I first started teaching, I worked at Marshal Field's in their shoe department to earn a few extra bucks. I was saving every penny to buy that first house. I don't think the job helped me move into my house any sooner, but I sure had TONS of cute shoes to move into my closet! It wasn't long after Ali Jane was born that her closet was loaded with the cutest little shoes (and it didn't matter that she wasn't going to be walking anytime soon)- her closet still has loads of shoes (many of the plastic princess variety)! I haven't let my kids wear tie shoes because they couldn't tie them by themselves (and I didn't take the time to show them). One thing that drives me crazy about first graders is when they come to school with tie shoes, but have no idea how to tie them. I half joke at curriculum night about my love of velcro - HALF joke... So when I found these fun shoes for Ali Jane, I knew we would have to get to work. We sat side by side for abo...

It was quite a week at the Dorans ' and one that I hope we never see again! We got a flu bug that wiped us out! If you came to our house you would have thought we were the Napping House because all we did was sleep, sleep and sleep some more. Jeff caught a mild case of the bug, but Joe was the only one who truly escaped its nastiness! I woke one day with Ali Jane sleeping next to me, Zach sleeping at my feet and Joe reading in the other corner of my bed. I think he wanted to be near the 'action' until he realized that there was no "action". Sean slept 16 hours straight one day and Ali would wake to take some water and go right back to bed! I relied so much this week on others and it reminded me how blessed I am to have the amazing family and friends that I do. Jeff stepped up and did things that I normally do, my parents helped above and beyond what they normally do, and friends at work helped get things ready for my substitute teachers. I don't know wh...

Saturday night, Jeff told me he saw a box outside which could mean one thing... GRANDMA'S PACKAGE! Jeff's mom lives over an hour away so sends the cutest care packages to the kids when she is unable to be with them. Because it was late, I suggested he wait until Sunday to give it to them. Unfortunately (for me) I came down with a horrible cold and while (for some stupid reason) I went out to take the three Bigs to Sunday School solo (Jeff was playing guitar), when I got home I put Sean in bed and then myself in bed. When Jeff got home from church he checked on me and I asked him to make sure he took some pics of the kids with Grandma's special package. Well, he took two- Needless to say I could hear the squeals of delight from up in my room and later heard the lovely sound of whistles (and yes that would be a hint of sarcasm in my hoarse voice). I am sad that I missed them opening the package and because I wasn't there, I don't think that the Bigs have actually cal...

With Valentine's Day around the corner... (well as I type this, it's tomorrow)- we've been busy around these parts getting ready! Jeff took the Bigs to the store to pick out some Valentines because this year they decided that they wanted to buy their cards instead of make them. It was fun watching them address their Valentines. They both separated them and chose the perfect Valentine for each student (Ali chuckled thinking what the boys would think of her 'princess' cards. Ali Jane also had to make a box for her party to collect her Valentines. I wrapped the box with wrapping paper for her and cut the slit, but everything else she did herself. She was very excited that I let her touch my beloved Cricut to cut the letters for her name and she loved using the rubber cement. Joe didn't have to make a box for his class this year, but being the creative soul that he is, he made one anyway... (You can kind of see the transformer box he made in the background- I...

Sean has amazing hearing. I can be unloading the dishwasher and he will come running (from anywhere in our house) and join me (but to take OUT the dishes). You may think he's just a curious kid, and perhaps he is, but curiosity almost killed Cobi , and Sean's 'curiosity' is getting on his folks' last nerve. He loves playing with our pots and pans, bowls, colanders and especially all our little plastic containers (and lids... surprisingly we're missing some). When the remote control disappeared the other day, my mom suggested it may be in one of our cupboards (she'd seen Sean put it in there before). Needless to say, Jeff came up with a solution to Seany's curiosity... Don't think he was too happy about it, but we haven't lost the remote since! And yes- he had painted in school that day...

Everyday Sean's personality seems to grow more and more and it has been such fun watching him find his place in this family! One thing that he seems to be doing constantly now is talking! I feel with Zach he was a bit of a mute (why try to compete with the noise of the Bigs ) but Sean wants to get in on the action- not only is he climbing and trying to keep up with his older sibs , he's adding his two cents when appropriate. The funny thing is that he has started to repeat some of the things we say and at times uses them in context (of course it seems these times are rarely captured on video- though I did get some shots- not the best- but shots none-the-less). Not surprisingly, his words all seem to be centered around food and eating... He says "more" (which sounded at first like 'ma' and now sounds more like 'mo') when he wants more milk- or more of anything actually. And we've also caught him saying "Ah don" which to us proud paren...

Today my mom had surgery on her knee. Because my dad usually watches the Littles on Fridays, Jeff stayed home with them (so my dad could be with my mom). This morning I had a staff meeting, so I called my mom early to wish her luck and let her know I'd be praying for her. I had expected to get her voicemail but she was up. I had wished her well the night before, but still wanted to hear her voice and let her know I loved her. I got some texts from my mom prior to surgery- letting me know that the surgeon was behind schedule and the change in times. One of the texts she sent me said, "Still in waiting room. Jeff called. Zach performed a successful 'operation' so this should be a piece of cake." I was really surprised that Jeff thought to call my mom and wish her well. Not that he wasn't thinking of her and praying for her, but he had his hands full with the Littles , he's not a 'phone' talker and he knew that I'd update him with how things were...

The school district where I work (and where my kids attend) is notorious for calling snow days at the last possible moment (or at least I think so...), so I was SHOCKED when -before the final bell rang on Tuesday- we were told that there would be no school on Wednesday! Weathermen were predicting up to a foot of snow (and to be honest- I was very excited about so much snow coming our way). We didn't have to sleep with our pajamas inside out or flush ice cubes down the toilet- but perhaps we should have... the 'blizzard' we were told about wasn't quite the 'blizzard' I had expected. Sure we got some snow (7.6 inches in our city), and the roads on the news this morning looked horrible, but I would have liked to see a few more inches. In the end I don't think the kids minded. Snow is snow and they had a blast just being outside. I had left my snow pants at my folks' (from our last ice-skating adventure) but one of the best things about my kids getting ...