Days with the Dorans

Today was one of those days I have been dreaming about for a LONG time! It was Ali Jane's first softball game and it was on the same fields I played on growing up (though they are much nicer than I recall!). I spent half of my life on those fields and just driving up to them brought back so much emotion! It was a crazy day! With Jeff having P/T Conferences, my lifesaver (aka mom) helped me by taking Joe to practice. My dad is the scorekeeper for my brother's team (he coaches Varsity baseball at his school) and so I was the only one cheering Al on! Well... Z and Sean were there too... I knew early on that I was in trouble with them... Sean wanted to make a dash for the lake (aka huge puddle from the last few days of rain) and Z started to get cold and was whiny and miserable! Somehow I managed to still see my babe play! Her first time up to bat was AWESOME! She walked up tentatively and the ump helped her set up- batting right!!! Ali Jane can actually swing both ways ...

Tonight wasn't Joe's first baseball game, it was his second. I spent all day praying for good weather since thunderstorms were predicted and I was thrilled to look out my classroom window and see sunny skies. What I didn't expect was a message from Ali's coach that her game had been cancelled because of Tornado warnings! The blue skies didn't stop the boys from playing though (and that tornado never hit)! We switched Joe to a new baseball league this year to make it easier on us (this league's fields are in walking distance to the girls' fields and so it would make it easier on days like today when they have games scheduled at the same time). I think that when we switched Joe though, he forgot much of what he learned from last year! This year Joe has kids and coaches pitching to him. His first game he only had kids pitching to him (kids aren't too accurate at pitching in first grade) and he swung at EVERYTHING! And as the game went on his swing g...

The kids were excited to wake up on Easter morning (they were all sleeping in Ali's room- sleepover!). They spied an egg on the table at the bottom of the stairs and they couldn't wait to see what surprises awaited them. Though they had picked up their toys the night before (prior to coloring eggs), they woke to a mess. The Easter Bunny came right through the front door and left a trail of paper mess to where the kids' Easter Bins were! That Bunny must have had a hard time finding the old Easter Baskets- but I like the new bin look and each one had the name of one of our kiddos! I was shocked that the kids didn't dive right in to see what was in their bins. Instead, they were on a hunt for eggs! Even Sean found some eggs at his eye level (he must have been paying closer attention at Grandma's than I thought!). After the jelly bean filled eggs were found, they were off to see what treasures the Easter Bunny brought them! Much of the treats were things that the...

Our lives have gotten very busy lately! It seems like there is never a day that we have NOTHING going on. So, it wasn't until late Saturday night that we finally got around to adding a little color to our hard boiled eggs. Waiting so long wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for the littlest Doran . Sean was already ready for bed, but I thought he should have a little fun too. Fun may not have been the correct adjective to describe what Sean had. He immediately took his hard boiled egg and squashed it! I decided to give him one more shot and put his egg directly into the green egg dye. He would pick it up and put it down and then it looked like he was going to throw it. So rather than losing another egg, Jeff took him to wash up and it was off to bed for him (and trust me- he needed it...). Poor Sean has been a victim of our crazy life schedule as of late and I think that he was as cooked as the hard boiled eggs and didn't really mind leaving the party too ...

I remember when Jeff and I first started dating going over to his folks' and watching his nieces and nephew have an Easter Egg Hunt. It was such fun then and is even more fun now that we have added so many more cousins to the mix! Poor Joe came down with a fever early Thursday morning and hasn't been able to shake it, but when on medicine he's been practically normal. I was happy that he was taking it easy and didn't mind one bit that he was playing his DS (and it was so cute watching him share it with his cousins!). It wasn't long though before he got a burst of energy and was ready to play. Grandma got the grandkids some fun toys to play with outside. The boys loved these little nerf rocket things and I loved watching them all run around together and having fun. I am sometimes amazed at how boys play- the sounds they make- I am beginning to think that it is something they are born with! Even Z held his own and though it took him a little longer to 're...

It has been a week of birthdays! Today my dad turned 66 years! Zach turned four years and 1 day and Timmy Ziggy turned 5 days. As most days of late we had a busy one... We had a wonderful time at church (Palm Sunday) and then Jeff took Joe to practice (I do NOT understand why practices need to be on Sundays!), I dropped the Littles at my folks' (THANK YOU) and then I was off to take A.J. to another birthday party while I did some shopping. Then we were off to get Great-Nan and back to my folks' to meet up with the rest of our family and the Drapals for a birthday celebration. Seeing my sweet nephew again reminded me that I forgot to document him meeting his Doran cousins for the first time! They have been talking about him pretty much non-stop since he's been born. Z especially loves saying "Timmy Ziggy" and talks about him everywhere (including to the wait staff at his birthday dinner). He was also the first of his sibs to hold his new cousin (though I am po...