Days with the Dorans

Halloween fell on a Friday this year!!!  I would say nothing could be better than that, but the weather could have been.  It was cold (snow WAS in the air) and windy.  That didn't stop us though.  I was out of school in record time and got Seany home in time to have some fun with the Bigs and get ready together.  I ran out of red hair spray for the Goose so painted his hair orange with tempera paint! The theme this year was "Harry Potter" which was perfect because both Bigs are reading the books and loving them.  Joey's new friend Mika (from Germany) came with us.  They bonded over their love of Harry!  Joe is so creative that he made his own wand (a stick with a light on the end of it).  He's so sweet he also made them for his sibs (including Hedwig, Harry's owl). Ali was thrilled because her best friend was able to come with us too.  Ali was standing in the window staring and waiting for her to arrive.  I believe she...

 So I'm not usually a fan of Halloween School Parties (mostly because they leave me EXHAUSTED), but they are always fun.  Our staff dressed as Minions this year and it was a blast dressing alike!  I'm hoping this will turn into a tradition like our family costumes have.  I wasn't wild about spending additional $$ on another costume, but it was fun and some parts I will wear again.  I'm sure the hat will get use from some of my kids too! As always, I missed MY kids school parties, but my wonderful folks went and of course Nana had her camera in hand ready to snap pics!  Unfortunately the weather was horrible (again) so both the parades at my school and the kids' were indoors.  I suppose this is OK as sometimes Halloween here can be cold. At least there were no coats covering up costumes!  I spray painted the kids hair before school (Joe's black, Ali's kind of brown and Z's orange).  I was steaming Joe's shirt and it was hanging o...

 With our busy week-day schedules, Monday was the best day for us to carve pumpkins (only ONE dance class on that day).  Unfortunately, I was feeling horrible, but when you're a mom... you do what you have to do.  The kids got out some plastic garbage bags for gutting and lugged in the pumpkins. A pretty big, black spider hitched a ride on Joe's, but being a lover of Charlotte, I snatched him up with a kleenex and put him back outside. Joe traditionally has been the one to always gut his pumpkin and this year was no different.  I used my magic drill tool to loosen up the insides of everyone's pumpkin and then they were to gut them.  Usually it's just Joe and I at the end but I was happy that both Z and Al gutted their pumpkins this year! They worked slow but sure (probably because of all the talk they were doing).  They were cracking each other up (always fun for me to hear).  I was so tired though, I pretty much sat back and tried to cl...

What a fun season we had!  Overall (though we had some cold days) the weather wasn't quite as bad as I remember it being in previous years. Zach turned into quite a little scrapper this season and while he scored goals in practice, he didn't have one in a game.  I think that is probably due to the fact that he was more interested in stopping goals than scoring them himself.  Even when he was on offense, he usually dropped to defense.  Z's poor team wasn't very good this season.  They didn't win a game... BUT, I did see him getting better and he and his good friend Paul had a lot of fun (and I enjoyed chatting with Paul's mom).  I know he'll be back.  In fact, as I type this he's out playing some soccer with all the Dorans (and dad) in the yard. Joe's past soccer experiences had been much like Z's. I don't know if these boys won many games in the past (if any at all), but, wow, did this all change this year.  The boys starte...

This Kid. Sean is a funny bird!  He has turned into quite the talker- meaning he talks NONSTOP (or has he always been that way?).  He's also turned into quite the character... and I mean that quite literally! I laugh, because at Seany's school I will get these awesome email updates that include a picture of him. He's always doing something 'acadmic' in the pictures, but I laugh because of what he is wearing.  He always has a cape, or hat or perhaps even a mask on. Sometimes, he can't decide who he wants to be in the morning... So he doesn't decide, he just mixes and matches... I laughed because last week, I took the boys to Joe's piano lesson and instead of just putting on his shoes, Sean also got on an old batman costume (why not?).  It was hard not to laugh and focus on Z reading to me with THIS going on... It's sad to me that one day he'll no longer be batman... or spiderman... or a minion or "Super-Se...

 We went to the Pumpkin Patch on the most perfect day!  The air was crisp but the sun was out.  It was a Sunday, and Jeff was leading worship at church and Joe had a soccer game.  Jeff left church as soon as it was over to help coach the second half of the soccer game and then we were off.  We continue to go out a bit further from home to Three Cedars Farm, but to us it is well worth the drive! It is still cheaper than what our local farm was years ago.  We paid $5/family to take a long hayride out to the pumpkin patch (the 6 of us + my mom who snapped pictures) and the pumpkins were about $6 a piece.  What was fun was when we got to the patch, the kids just went off in search of their perfect pumpkin.  Jeff and I walked hand-in-hand thinking about how lucky we are.  How perfect the day was.  Joe got a big pumpkin (as always) and of course it was far away but he managed to carry it.  Ali got a cute pumpkin and she als...

 I can't believe that Sean is FIVE!!  He turned five on a Thursday which also happens to be "Seanday" (seriously that is what it is called) because it is the day that my dad watches Sean.  My dad brought him up to school so we could have lunch together. My class sang to him which was sweet!  We have SIXTEEN kids in kindergarten who are younger than Sean right now (the world's gone crazy- and it's taking us younger ele teachers with them).  Thankfully, as I write this now, it is down to fifteen as one agreed to go back to preschool.  I feel bad for those K teachers (and I'll feel bad for me next year... but I digress). Our Thursdays are busy (well... all our days are busy) and so Ali missed much of the celebration we had ON Sean's birthday.  I took her to dance while Jeff took the three boys to Z's soccer practice.  After I dropped Al off at dance, I hit Meijer because the gift I bought Sean hadn't arrived from Amazon yet (I'm now saving...