Days with the Dorans

Sean LOVES to read and retell stories!  His current favorites are the "Ricky Ricotta & the Mighty Robot" books but apparently he's also been listening to "Miss Nelson is Missing" at his school. "Miss Nelson is Missing" is a classic.  I remember reading it and how it felt when I figured out the twist at the end (if you're not familiar with it, I won't give it away). I was surprised that Sean would read that book since his age-group probably wouldn't get that twist at the end.  I asked him about it and of course, I was right... Sean is convinced that Miss Nelson and Miss Viola Swamp live in the same house and Miss Nelson lets Miss Viola Swamp hang her "Ugly black dress" in her closet because she's so nice. Oh, the joys of being 5~ And since I don't remember 5 and I know I'm going to blink and he'l be ten, I got his reading on video which you can see by clicking HERE .

Five Friends for Five Years (Ali is in the middle)  So Ali will dance six numbers this recital and can you believe that on picture day I only took two pictures and they were in the SAME costume (granted I LOVE this costume but...). It was a busy day but a fun one.  Ali opted to buy only ONE picture (an individual of her in tap~ her favorite) and said I could snap pictures later with my nice camera (good thinking... this girl is taking after my frugal ways!). Ali is the one looking up Between pictures we had a little break for lunch so Julia, Amber, Al and I went to Subway and Yogurt Blast where I ran into my friend Dale which was cool! It was a long day for us girls.  Jeff had a busy day with two soccer games and pictures- but mine was longer... (yes- I'm going to go there). This was the Saturday before Mother's Day and I knew that Jeff was going to get me a bead or two for my beloved Pandora bracelet.  I forgot though that I needed to get one for ...

To say Ali is in love with dance is an understatement... She really has been so excited about her dance classes this year even her turns class and cecchetti (which are pretty much technique type classes- stretching- lots of repetition and form).  She talks about her posture and other things and is working more than I've ever seen her in the past. Sadly, Ali lost her dance jacket before her last competition.  To say this was a blow was an understatement... We looked EVERYWHERE (the studio, her school, the high school where her talent show was) and couldn't find it.  Obviously she needed a team jacket for awards so the owner (and one of Al's favorite teachers), Miss Lauren, let her borrow her jacket.  Most girls would be over the moon about this but Ali was embarrassed.  She kept trying to cover it up since the jacket said "Classy Dancer" and "Director" on it (and she was neither).  I assured her that all the girls would KNOW this (duh) and knew a...

Mrs. Doran, Miss Doran & some Fabulous First Graders So every Friday in my classroom, I have a Mystery Reader come in to read to my class. Usually it is a relative of one of my students... this time it was a relative of MINE!  I found out pretty last minute that my Mystery Reader wasn't going to be able to make it so my dad got Ali out of school a little bit early and brought her to my classroom! They were actually quite late so I had to change the book Ali was planning to read to a shorter one!  She did great though and didn't miss a beat.  Although she never read the book before, she read with great inflection.  Sad to say, this girl may be a teacher one day... (uh oh!).  Mystery Readers are my favorite time of the week (after Thoughtful Thursdays ) but it is safe to say that THIS Mystery Reader was the best I've had so far...

I've always felt badly that Z's birthday is in April... Spring is SUCH a crazy time of year for us!  First- I am JUST now writing about his 'family' party and May will be over soon and Second- we haven't even discussed a friend party (no time!!  Bad mom alert!!!) Despite being so busy, we threw together a last minute gathering the Sunday after Z's birthday. Sadly Grandma was sick so the Doran side couldn't make it and Auntie Jodi was sick too! The Drapal families and the Gearys were able to make it though so we did still have a full house full of good food, friends and fun times!  Z got lots of cool stuff~ including a new bike!  (He couldn't find his bike helmet- so threw on an old batting helmet to test it out.)  Our house was full of kids!!  It was especially fun to see this guy though!  This is Ang and Ty's youngest and I take credit for his existence (I introduced them).  It seems like yesterday he was born and I am reminded of how ...

 We have a pretty tight schedule (which is why I am ridiculously late catching up on this blog...). I was so excited when my friend Julia told me that she had four free tickets to the Harlem Globetrotters game!  I had never been and it sounded like so much fun.  This meant we only had to buy two to cover our family which is a cheap night out for us!  Julia is Amber's mom (and Amber is one of Al's great dance friends).  So after a full day of soccer, we went home, changed and were back out to go to the game.  Joe cool wasn't too excited about it.  We had to split up too (with the free tix) so Jeff and Z took the tickets they bought and Al, Joe, Sean and I sat with Julia's family.  We had great seats!!  Joe was thinking it was going to be so dumb, but I managed to catch him laughing too!  At the end of the night he did admit that it was a good time. They had us all laughing and it was definitely worth going!!  I was tex...