Days with the Dorans

 I actually slept in a bit on Easter Sunday (Jeff turned off my alarm which I shouldn't complain about) so I skipped the treadmill and just hung out with the kids (and enjoyed those last moments of Zzzzzzs).  The Easter Bunny had come and he must be in cahoots with Santa because those colors have been assigned to those kids since Joe first asked for a 'blue present' back when it was just he and Al.  He didn't care WHAT was in the present.  Just that it was blue.  So a blue present he left~ and the rest as they say, is history!  The Easter Bunny Also left a note that said to find 28 eggs so the Bigs were off looking for Eggs filled with 'beans' (jelly beans).  I think Sean found one which he was very happy with.  The Bigs found all the rest quite quickly.  He'll have to get better at hiding them next year! The kids each got a few things as well~ Some books and Al got a new cross necklace and cross earrings.  They were very pret...

 So we did things a bit different when it came to coloring eggs this year... First I BAKED the hard boiled eggs (can they be called 'hard boiled' when you don't actually boil them?).  I put them in muffin tins and baked them and then cooled them in ice water like you normally do.  I think I may go back to boiling... It was nice not having to fish them out of hot water, but it did take longer...  Secondly, I didn't use one of those coloring kits this year.  We actually used Kool-Aid!  It was a lot cheaper and we didn't need that awful smelling vinagar!  I just put a packet of Kool-Aid in with a cup of water and mixed.  Simple as that!  It worked out great except purple and yellow weren't great (I found some tips for those colors for next year... though I also found some old color kits when I went looking for old plastic eggs later that night~ oh well!). It was fun coloring eggs.  Seany doesn't have the patience the Bigs do, ...

 If we are in the state, we always go to Grandma Doran's for Easter... except this year!  Jeff had to lead both Easter services for church and then tear down the stage.  Saturday was also out because Al had a scrimmage, so we went up on Good Friday!  I remember Grandma's Egg hunts from before our kids were even born!  JD, Mary and Abby would have to wait inside while we went out and hid all the eggs.  It was so much fun! This year WE were the ones who stayed inside while THEY went out and hid eggs.  The Bigs were mad because they thought that Sean peeked a few times, but I don't think Sean even really knew what was going on.  When it was time to hunt for eggs, he would find one, open it up to see what was inside, put the trinket or candy back into the egg, put the egg back in his bag and then look for another (I think he'll understand a bit better next year...). Once the eggs were all collected, we headed back inside to s...

I can't believe my Z is already 7!  Seems like yesterday that I (yes, me) watched him being born!  I was so surprised he was a boy!  So surprised that we didn't have a boy name.  Zach Johnson won the master's that year.  He seemed like a nice guy so Zach it was!  It was also the day the Virginia Tech shootings happened.  I always think of those families on Z's birthday.  I probably always will. Life was slower 7 years ago... now poor Z's birthday falls right in the midst of baseball season!  On his birthday, I rushed home from work so we could all watch him open his presents (2 skylanders) and eat his dinner of choice (pizza~ yeah for convenience!).  After presents, both Bigs were off to practice and Goose and Sean were with me running errands! We went to the store to pick out presents for Papa and get a cake for Z's birthday.  The boys were fun and I enjoyed the time with just the three of us.  It seemed like foreve...

 We had such a wonderful vacation.  I do wish Joe and my dad were healthy for the entire thing, but overall it was WONDERFUL!  Packing up was quick and painless.  Of course Sean insisted on pressing the buttons in the elevator.  He was the elevator man for many during our week!  My favorite elevator experience was when a couple said they thought I was their sister!  God bless them!! :-) Though Joe was sick, thankfully he didn't have it as bad as Al did that last week.  He slept a lot and it worked its way out of his system.  The trip home was easy and not bad (since trips home usually feel so long and painful).  I drove more on this trip and we were so excited to get Pele' from Carol.  To save us time, she brought him to a stop on our way home (so we didn't have to go out of our way).  For me, this was the vacation that Carol saved!  I made a movie of pictures and videos of all our memories!  Thanks mom...

 What fun it was when I learned that one of my high school friends was down in Myrtle Beach with her son while we were!  Z had been asking to go to Alligator Adventure again (we went the last time we were in MB) and so I asked my friend Julie and her son, Ben, if they'd like to join us!  The place was not nearly as crowded ad the last time we were there and we missed the alligator feeding time, but they were still everywhere and we saw one of Morty's (BIGGER) relatives!  Jeff stayed back with my dad, and my mom and I took the kids. Though I had hoped that Sean would stay behind, he came with us.  He wasn't horrible, but he was "Sean." We did get to see a show and saw some cool animals.  Z is still obsessed with all things turtles and tortoises and I had hoped there would be a tortoise in the gift shop to get my nephew (since he was watching Morty), but they didn't have a single one!!  I ended up getting one from my favorite store~ Amazon!! ...