Days with the Dorans

I love this time of year!  The weather is getting cooler (yet still sunny), the leaves are starting to change and that means... WINDOW PAINTING TIME! Since this has become somewhat of a tradition, I don't need to go into how it all started.  I do love that I have captured this every year.  It is fun to click on the "Window Painting" label below to watch how the kids have grown over the years doing this same activity.  The one thing that was different this year is we had FOUR painters... that's right... I let Sean paint (and I was completely sober, I SWEAR!)! Since the paint is washable and we will need to get new carpets one day, I let him paint.  He actually carried the paints around for quite a while until it was his turn.  He watched me do all the black outlines for our pumpkins.  He stacked the paint bottles while he waited.  Thankfully he didn't try to open them. While we waited for the pumpkins to dry, I decided to p...

My wonderful friend, Nan, is an amazing photographer and offered to take our pictures.  It was a bit stressful for many reasons.  One: in this part of the country you never know what the weather is going to be like from minute to minute.  It was sunny all day but of course when we got to the location, sprinkles began to fall and I bet we did this whole shoot in like ten minutes!  The other problem was (of course) our problem child.  He didn't have a nap (except for the few minutes in the car on the way to our destination) and decided that he would NOT cooperate AT ALL!  Oh well, I guess it sort of sums up where we are at this moment in our lives. Still, she did an amazing job (especially with what she had to work with).  She has a wonderful blog that you can see HERE . She really is a talent!! Thanks Nan!  I love you and our friendship!!  I doubly love that I have a talented friend who has a killer camera (and a ton of patience!!! ...

Joe's birthday gift was finally delivered this week, and as you can tell from the picture, he got a pretty sweet gift. We went shopping about a month ago (when Sean decided he was no longer going to stay behind bars) for a new bed for Joe.  He has a pretty small room (and closet which he had set up with a make-shift desk to do his writing).  We went to a 'real' furniture store and found a great loft that Joe fell in love with.  I say, "great" because it had drawers (so we could get rid of his Ikea dresser that was falling apart) and steps (that also had nice sized drawers) which I liked better than a ladder for my sleep-walking kid.  Of course, Joe also needed a desk.  When I came up to put clean sheets on his bed (the biggest downfall of loft living), I was so excited to see him busy at work at his desk working on another Joe Original.  He has three 'published' that he put on his shelf already, which he happily pointed out to me.  I am secre...

For school, the second graders have their parents write something about how their name was chosen.  I did the same thing for Jonasen last year and this year I had to write one for Ali.  The parents are asked to write it, but since the kids are the ones to read it, I thought I'd write it as if she had written it.  Ali's a good little reader and did a wonderful job with my words.   I got her on video as she read and it turned out really cute.  This is what I wrote: Before I was born, my parents didn’t know if I was going to be a boy or a girl so they called me “Sweet C”. When I was born, I was so beautiful that my dad left my mom’s side and couldn’t take his eyes off of me. They had a name chosen for me before I was born and when they looked at me, they knew it was the perfect name: Alicia Jane Doran My mom and dad liked the name Ali.  Ali is usually short for Allison but since my older brother’s name is Jonasen, they didn’t want two children whos...

 Joe's birthday landed on a Saturday this year and it was a busy one.  Between my time going to the garden then off to Joe's and Al's soccer games and then back home to celebrate, we were a busy bunch!  Joe couldn't sleep the night before his birthday (and neither could I), so he came downstairs and we had some good mother-son talks and when he finally did go to bed, I found myself thanking God for that special little (almost) nine year old that He let me raise. I blew up 50 balloons and I think it was after 3am that I finally went upstairs to go to bed. I woke up early to screams of Christmas morning and I knew he saw all the balloons I'd blown for him (and the other decorations) and I smiled.  If there is one thing I always want (all) my kids to know, it's how special they are and how thankful I am for their birthdays (especially Joey's, because it carries some mixed feelings about his brother).  Jeff went out before Joe woke up and got him donuts...

I noticed that in years past I have written about September 15th in two parts and so in keeping with tradition, I thought I'd do that now.  Of course I wrote about this more poetically on my Pause blog that you can read HERE , but to put it in plain English... part one SUCKED! I'm obviously not talking about my sweet Joey but about that first minute (10:35) 9 years ago when my life changed. *Andrew*  I don't write about him much here but clearly he is on my mind still every day. This year was TOUGH!  I say that for a lot of reasons... I knew it would be tough because this year it fell on a Saturday which meant that I wouldn't have my usual time alone to cry and be my crazy self.  I don't think I realized until this year how much I NEED that time to myself.  I felt really rushed with my Andrew time this year and I hated that.  I loved Joey early and then was quick off to the garden.  I wasn't able to spend a lot of time there because we had...

I love asking Z about his day!  I love even more when my phone (camera) is within reach and I can get it in his own words... HERE he is talking about the third grader who helps him (and other kindergartners) on his bus. I tried my best not to laugh but this time it was really hard... I love the Silly Goose!

With all these posts about first days, I couldn't possibly forget my non-public school kiddo! Sean is back at school three days a week with Nana and Papa each taking a day to watch him. His first day of school was a Friday and I wondered how he would do. Shockingly, he was ready to go, waving to Nana and saying "Bye Bigs" long before I was ready to actually get out the door.  I thought for sure that would change as we got closer to school... He is after all two (and quite terrible many days...).  The way to school was awesome.  I thought I'd miss Z's Zachisms (which of course I will) but instead I had Seany singing me "Call me Maybe" (his version) and pointing out all the yellow school busses he saw.  I also heard all about the colors on his lunch box and he pointed out Nana and Papa's house as we drove by their street (and thankfully didn't cry to go there). I thought I would have to pinch myself it was going so well, but then... we di...