Days with the Dorans

 So I am finally trying to play catch up with my blog.  Sadly, Sean spilled some water on my mac (SOB) and so it is at the hospital (aka Apple Store) where they are building it a new mother board.  Thankfully I have an amazing friend (and photographer Nan) who takes lots of pictures so I was able to take her pictures for this post.  The bottom two pictures came from Sarah's mom. This year Al wasn't able to go to VBS at our church because it happened to fall on the week of her first dance workshop so it was a boys week!  Joey and Z both had friends come with them and this year SEAN GOT TO GO!!  Jeff did the transportation for VBS while I took care of Ali so I felt a little out of the loop.  I did go with him one day to pick up the boys.  It was interesting.  Sean has this thing with putting things in his pockets.  I mean he ALWAYS has to have things in his pockets and they're usually Lego's.  We learned that some of the Lego...

Joe had a lot of fun playing ball this year, but it was also very frustrating.  Last year, Joey got hit by a ball pretty hard (in the head) and that got into his head and caused him to be scared of the ball.  He flinched at every pitch and ducked often.  He did hit the ball but he also GOT HIT by the ball at least four times that we can remember THIS season!  We overheard the coach telling another coach how well Joe hit in practice.  The thing is, he doesn't trust kid pitchers (based on experience).  Because of this, he's decided to hang up his baseball cleats- and put back on his soccer cleats (he had a great soccer season the last time he played).  The thing is, it's hard to get that out of your head when you've been hit by a ball so we'll just enjoy having catches in the yard- and of course we'll be playing a mean game of wiffle ball (I don't think I've ever mentioned it- but Jeff's super serious about wiffle ball!!).  Game on! On a si...

Zach had a great ball season!  He really grew and we saw much improvement from him as the season went on.  He also had some memorable moments which I hope not to forget, but since I do have a horrid memory will write them down now.    I will never forget how excited he was when he caught his first ball in a game!  He talked about it for days and asked me if I will always remember it, which I will (because of the constant talk about it)!  His smile was the BEST!  We laughed when he was upset after one at bat because he thought the umpire made a wrong call.  He thought that foul balls weren't strikes- meaning he fouled off a couple and then watched a strike and was called out to which he said, "I mean... I just don't get it!!  Didn't he see that I fouled those balls!!!  He just doesn't make sense!"  We helped explain the rules and slowly he understood (though he didn't like it).  It was pretty funny.  So he learned not ...

I'm so lucky!  My kids have the best dad around!! I mean~ he plays sports with them, cooks for them, folds their laundry, helps with homework, reads with them, laughs with them... He's the Best. Dad. Ever. which is why I got him that shirt that he wore on Father's Day when we went to celebrate at the lake.  My kids also have the Best. Papa. Ever. (and yes, he got a shirt too).  My dad is not only an amazing dad but he's an amazing Papa.  He comes to ALL of their games (even when it's crummy out), he has catches with them, serves them breakfast in "The Drapal Kitchen" (at our house) before the bus comes on days when he comes over to help. Now that summer is here, he pulls them tubing and has just has fun.  He's a very hands-on Papa and my Z's "Best Buddy." On Father's day we spent much of the day on the lake and having fun.  They ate well, drank well and got to spend time with their favorite little people. And my favorite li...

As I write this, Al's recital is long over and she's already attended one (of two) dance camp workshop(s).  She is fascinated with dance~ watching SYTYCD (repeatedly) and practicing combinations. She was in three recitals this year and I worked two of them~ one as an usher (which is awesome because I get to watch the show) and the other as a line-up mom -getting the girls/boys ready (which is fun because I get to see their excitement just before and after they dance).  I even got to see our little neighbor Morgan, who was adorable.  The last show, I got to sit back and relax and watch the show.  This is pretty amazing considering the fact that Sean came to the recital.  This was not planned originally... Z wanted to come but we were going to leave Sean with my brother.  Long story short- that didn't happen so he came with us.  We agreed that this was one of the Dance Shoppe's best shows!  The story-line (Alice in Wonderland) tied everythin...

 Ali's softball season ended much better than it started.  I say that mainly because this year the league changed over to fast pitch which meant LOTS of walks which meant it wasn't very fun to watch.  In the regular season Al walked all but three times!!!  It was frustrating and sad.  In the field, the only time she touched the ball was when she backed up the pitcher if she missed a ball the catcher threw! Still her practices were fun and she loved hanging with the girls and had fun coaches!  Her team ended in third place but she missed the trophy presentation because she had a dance recital.  She was so excited because her trophy had a 'pink diamond' on it!! Playoffs were much more fun to watch.  It seemed like all of the pitchers were throwing better and there was actually some action! Al got some hits and even got to field two balls (she played short stop usually)!  They ended up winning the championship which was really exciting....

I feel like we are finally about to start summer so it is time for me to play catch-up on my blog.  Jeff was done with school first and the rest of us finished up the following day.   I am really going to miss Sean's school and teacher!  He did so well and I loved that there were days that he wasn't scheduled to go that he WANTED to go.  They offer drop-in days over the summer but we opted to just keep him home with us.  Thankfully there is no holding fee (his old school had one) so we are saving a lot this summer which is good because as I write, this has been an expensive week... (new car AND flooded basement that needs to be fixed.... sigh) But back to Sean... His school uses this thing called Life-Cubby where I get emailed updates of how he's doing and pictures of him during his day (I LOVE IT!!).  I was glad that someone sent me the picture of Sean and Miss Kim.  She had Sean's last day off but came in special just to say goodbye to h...