Days with the Dorans

 We had a fun night at CoPa for WMU night! Though the Tigers were playing, I admit that I was there for the hat and the beer. I don't think I watched any of the game. Our tickets were not my dad's and we were in the very last seats. After the game, we went and got pizza and cheese bread with Dan, Steph and some of their WLC/ WMU friends. It was a fun night and Go Broncos!! (Wish I could say that for the Tigers but they haven't had the best season...)

I have to admit it's nice when you aren't "on" for the Church picnic. A lot of work goes into set up and tear down. I do love worship under the tent though it was a bit cold. Sean even sang!! I made a video of it HERE . After worship we had some yummy food and then Joe was off to hang with his buddy Ryan and I was off to get a sweatshirt!

VBS came fast this year because school went so late. The kids had their last day of school on Friday and started VBS on Monday! I hadn't even closed up my classroom when VBS started! The Bigs both had friends come. Joe and Dom worked with the preschoolers and Al and Sarah worked on snack duty. The girls decided that next year they wanted to work more with kids. Joe LOVED it and had one little preschooler who really loved him and that made his day. I was excited that they all were such great volunteers. The Littles had fun too of course and with VBS raising money for kids in Peru to have clean water, we came up with a way to multiply our money. We got some things to make a lemonade stand and Al's friend, Ava, came over to help! I was so proud of all the kids. They were out there for hours and we even gained some extra workers when Maris and Sarah stopped by for some lemonade! It was great because we got to meet some neighbors too. We made it a free will donatio...

We were so tired on Father's Day! Al and I had a weekend of recitals and Jeff and the boys were out of town for Abby's graduation party. The kiddos gave some gifts and cards to Dad and then we had plans to head to Toledo for the Mudhens game with all the Drapals. We really weren't in the mood but we got in the car and headed south. All the kids slept in the car. Jeff and I stayed awake but we REALLY wanted to sleep too. When we got there it was hard to find parking at first but we got there in the first inning and had GREAT seats. We went with TZ's baseball league which I think is how they got the seats. I've never been so close to the field for a ballgame!  I know my dad had a blast and it meant a lot to him to have everyone there. In the end, both Jeff and I also were so glad we went. We had a lot of fun and even got some energy (must have been the beer and sunflower seeds). After the game, the kids could run the bases but it was late and our kids h...

Dancers, Moms & Main Characters  This year's dance recital was Forever Frozen! Ali danced in all three recitals and I watched two (the first with family and the last with Julia) and worked backstage as a line-up mom for one. Da Cousins! The family loved the show~ even Seany though you couldn't tell by the pictures afterward!  In addition to the family (pictured first in this post), Auntie Jodi was able to come! Grandma was unable to make this year's show because Abby's graduation party was the next day. Backstage was fun and went smoothly. We don't really see our girls anymore now that they're older but I was able to sneak backstage and take some video. I put my rehearsal videos together HERE . I tried to zoom in on Al and it's the only video where I got her ballet. The Senior Classy Dancers always give awards to the younger Classy Dancers and this year Al got "Most Positive" which I thought was nice. She does regularly tal...

I really felt this year that school may never end! We went all the way to June 16th and the way I close down my classroom (slowly), it felt like once my summer started, it was July! Since moving to lower el (and starting my first grade blog), it's been fun watching my students grow! Above is a picture of them as 5th graders and below was back when they were 1st grade. I'm going to miss this group. A few of them still came back and visited me regularly and I hope they continue to keep in touch! I also had two coworkers retire this year and I'm so sad about it~ sad for me- happy for them. Jim was our media specialist and for years put on these fun movies that I had parts in! I'm going to miss his sense of humor and fun stories. Cindy was our secretary and I really can't imagine LLE without her because since I've been there, she's always been the glue! Still~ this is a profession that when it's time, it's time. I'm so happy for them and ...

Al and I were SO excited to go see Maddy dance in her first recital! The boys couldn't go because we had many soccer games (we actually made the last one after the recital- busy day). Maddy was awesome! She was in a hip hop piece and (in my experienced opinion) was the best dancer in her class! We whooped and hollered when she was on stage just like Auntie Steph does for Ali!  We couldn't believe how short the recital was... 45 minutes start to finish and no intermission needed!! Ali's are probably more than double that! Way to go, Maddy! We are so very proud of you!!!

Ali had Cecchetti Exams on a Sunday when we also had a dance recital and a soccer game so this time of year you do what you have to do to get things done... As she was in exams, I hung out in the car working on report card comments and kicked them out! I didn't have as good luck cleaning up her ballet shoes. Glad we got a year out of them. What can I say? Girl loves to dance!

 Ali wasn't going to play spring soccer since she usually played with the 7th graders and they were all trying out for the school team. When Jeff found that out, he decided to take a team (so he could schedule practices around Al's dance schedule). It was an interesting season. Despite not having the time to practice together much (there were a lot of no-shows which was frustrating for Jeff and they usually played with no subs or a man down), the girls played great and even beat a Jags (travel) team! It is so much more physical now and the field was huge which makes it hard to take pictures. Al got hurt a lot and Jeff even got kicked out of the last game. He was calling out the ref who wasn't calling out a member of the other team who took out 5 girls with cheap shots. He was shouting at the ref,  "Someone is going to get hurt and it's going to be on YOU!" After throwing Jeff out, the ref finally gave the girl a card but it was ridiculous. Al was worried...

Zach had a GREAT season! He still played a little defense but was put in offense quite a bit more and made things happen! He had a coach we really liked and we definitely saw him improving! They only lost two games so had a great season! GOAL!!!!