Days with the Dorans

The day before I left the country for my fabulous cousin's wedding, Jeff and I decided to take the kids to the movies.  We had never taken them to one (my folks' have taken the three Bigs) and we weren't sure Sean would make it... but he did really well!  There's a reason we don't go to the movies as a family.  We had a $20 gift certificate and STILL spent over $30 for tickets!!!  We saw Despicable Me 2 (we loved the first one as did Seany).  I was so tired so sadly nodded off at parts in the beginning (after Seany stopped talking to me).  He was a bit frustrated by all the commercials and previews before the movie.  He wanted it to START- and was sure to tell us!!  He did watch the whole movie though and we were all clapping by the end.  If I ever get another gift card to the movies, we'll be sure to do this again... We LOVE the Minions!

Zach has been working on his diving...

 It had been too long since we saw Jeff's mom.  Between baseball seasons, dance and busy weekends, it had been months since we made it north.  We were excited that when we called to see if we could come over, Jeff's sister and kiddos were visiting!  They have moved out of state so it's nice when we can see them.  Jeff's sister had some serious health problems so had a portion of her brain removed and is LITERALLY doing AMAZING!  I am so happy for her and she really is a walking miracle.  Her great bill of health made this reunion even more special! We were going to watch the tall ships in Bay City but it was really expensive so we came back and hung out at Grandma's.  We went on 7-11 (July 11th) so we went to 7-11 and got free Slurpees for everyone. This was fitting since Grandma and Grandpa Doran used to own a 7-11 store.  The kids had a great time.  They played Star Wars, Wiffle Ball and when it was time to come inside to eat, ...

There are things about Sean that I just want to bottle up and never forget... ~How when he sleeps he always rubs a tag from his pillow pet (or other object) between his fingers. ~Or when he gets upset that he always tells us he doesn't like (whatever) EMYMORE! ~When he's hurt he comes crying until he gets a kiss. ~And speaking of kisses, he always says, "Mom, give me some sugar" and kisses me over and over saying thank yous and your welcomes after each one. ~But the funniest thing about Sean lately is what he wears... He is able to dress himself (for the most part) and it's always funny to see what he wears~ it's not his actual clothes, but the accessories that get to us. He usually has:  Two different shoes on (that usually don't belong to him), Something on his head (mask, hat, goggles... etc), Something on his hand (garden glove, hulk smash glove, boxing glove, gardening glove...) And other accessories (necklaces, binoculars.....

Picture by Nan Nehls I feel so behind in blogging and writing about how we celebrated the 4th (especially seeing that our first 'show' happened late in June).  Our first show was at my parents lake.  During the day we played at the lake.  We had some friends over, Danny had some friends over and my folks' had some friends over.  It was a fun day (but I didn't take many pictures).  My friend Nan was there and took the picture above. After we ate and it was time for fireworks, we went out on the pontoon boat to get a better view. It was a great time with family and friends. For our next show, our friends Nan & Paul had us over to their place for their lake's annual Tiki Night and firework show.  After a yummy dinner we went to the beach and saw another great firework show.  We were scheduled to go the next day to Auntie Jodi's dad's fireworks.  Of all fireworks I have ever seen, his are the most over the top.  From start to...

 The kids were excited for Vacation Bible School this year.  They had a "knight" theme and the recurring message was to "Stand Strong" and know that God is always with you.  They played games, had fun snacks, made crafts and of course learned about God.  Thankfully my talented friend, Nan, was there taking pictures so I was able to get a window into what the kids days really looked like. I sent out an email a few weeks before VBS inviting some of the kids' friends.  A lot of people go on vacation or start camps right away in the summer so both Joey's and Zach's friends weren't able to come.  Ali's friend Sarah came (she also came last year) and so did her friend Madeline.  I think Al was in heaven having her girlfriends with her (and not having to be surrounded by boys).  Just because Joe's friends from school couldn't come didn't mean he didn't know anyone.  His good friend Ryan (from church) was there and they were ...

So I really didn't think we'd see the day when our home was free of diapers!  After all, it will be ten years in September since we STARTED diapers at the Dorans!  Sean had made it clear that he liked his diapers and at 3 and a half showed no interest in underwear or having "Potty Power" or even any awareness of what was going on with his body!  Ali got Potty Power pretty early, but both Joe and Z got it around 3 so when we were passing the 3 and a half mark I felt like it might as well have been five. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong... We made big deals about our own undies, called Sean to the bathroom to see how the "Bigs" did it... but nothing seemed to work! I should have known that it WOULD happen.  Once summer hit, we told Sean that we were giving TZ all his diapers and bought him some special undies.  After a couple accidents, he realized we weren't putting the diapers back on him so decided to use the potty.  We weren...