Days with the Dorans

So this is kind of a funny story but also kind of sums up how I do things... It's no secret that I am a lover of all animals. I save the spiders and even though flies are annoying, I'll try to trap them in the window or send them out through the door-wall instead of killing them. Really- mosquitos are the only living thing I feel no guilt about killing.  At a recent staff meeting I learned I was our school's "Teacher of the Year." My new principal (who I really like) read this super nice letter that was written about me and one of the things it said about me was that I had a pet I would bring to school and how special that was (gulp- that would be Little Blue who is flying with unclipped wings in the heavens right now). So I started to feel like I needed to get a class pet again. Mimic and Fredo aren't going anywhere but seem perfectly content at our house.  So I get out google and find that bearded dragons are GREAT class pets. So I research fo...

 After we got home from the race, we showered and were on the road to Grandma's! We Turkey Trotters sported our shirts and medals (tradition) and we had fun seeing the Doran cousins. The Gillespie boys weren't there but we were excited that JD, Mary and Abby were! We haven't seen JD in a while, so it was really good to see him and catch up for a bit. I had to laugh when I saw the boys all on the couch doing this! The good news is they weren't really like that the whole time! Dinner was super yummy as always, but I forgot to get any pictures of the yummy food. Needless to say it was all very delicious and I ate more than I should have (even WITH the run). After dinner, we cleaned up and Grandma had some games planned! She's always got fun games that we play whether they are board games or card games. This year it had a "Minute to Win It" type thing. The kids stacked cups and then later moved them down the table with balloons. That was toug...

This year the Turkey Trot was a bit different. Chrissy hurt her knee and couldn't do it so I decided to run the 10k. Joey did too and Papa and Goose ran the 5k. Our race started before Papa and Z. We got there a bit before the race so didn't have to wait too long though we did find a warm place to wait. Joe was pretty happy that we actually paid for parking this year so we didn't risk being towed. He hadn't run in a while but I knew he'd be much faster than I. Since he's run this race before, I knew I'd find him at the end, plus he had his phone.  I got some new gear for this race. I figured why not since I run it each year anyway. When I found the running gear I also found something called virtual races that I'll have to look into. I did a practice run wearing something similar so knew that I'd be OK temp wise. I had on a tank, under-armor long-sleeve shirt, black jacket, t-shirt, leggings and two pair of socks. That cute hat was super w...

While we were at Joey's XC Banquet, my folks were with our other kids at Z's first band concert! I had to laugh when I got a picture on my phone of Z behind kids with arrows pointing to where he was. I hate the concerts that are at the middle school because they are tough to see but this was pretty bad! Thankfully I had a friend there who spotted Z and managed to snap a picture of him! I was so excited to have this! You never know where the kids are going to sit so I'm glad she was able to snap this and send it to me. After the concert Nana and Papa got some pictures. And well... Sean did whatever it is that Sean does. I swear this kid (as sweet as he is) could be the death of me... I'm just thankful for my parents saving the day... AGAIN! Love you, Nana and Papa!!!! Thank you so much for all you do!

 Joey's Cross-Country Banquet fell on the same day as Z's first band concert. Since we knew there would be more concerts, Jeff and I went with Joe. The banquet was at a local golf course and the food was really good. This was our first "Banquet" for high school and it was really nice. Joe sat with friends and we sat with parents who were very nice. When the coach started talking about the JV runners, I went to the back of the room to film but he never called Joey! Jeff and I looked at each other unsure if he forgot or if Joey actually earned his letter! Not only did he earn his letter he was the third fastest freshman (Number 1 and 2 were our fastest runners on the team!). They'll be really good if they keep getting stronger! Joey also got the most improved runner. It was awarded to two runners. The boy on the right took SEVEN MINUTES off his time which is amazing but the coach said it's harder to peal off time when you're faster and Joe ended ...

Sometimes I just capture those everyday moments that I want to remember.

 This was kind of a neat race because I did it last year and it was the first time I ever ran in a race. This year Joe didn't want to do it but Z ran with Papa. I ran ahead and did really well for me! My watch had me at 8:30 miles which was good especially since there were some uneven patches and slick spots.  Zach ran really well too! He left Papa and ran the entire time. It was fun to see him come in. For his cross-country team he only had to do a 1 mile race and I felt like he missed a bit because of Mary Poppins. Maybe he'll end up being a runner too! Papa didn't run as well as he wanted to, but still did well. I can only hope to be running like this when I'm his age (he ran a lot further and faster when he was my age). I get nervous with him running on slick and rocky places since he can't see down but he didn't fall! YAY! After we ran we took off to get breakfast. I think that this is Z's real motivation to do the race. When I asked h...