Days with the Dorans

  Nothing like doing things at the last minute... We carved our pumpkins on Halloween before the festivities. I have to say, I LOVE having Halloween on a weekend! Marty REALLY wanted to lick all the pumpkins but he refrained and listened to his mom. Such a good boy! I have to say, Joey's pumpkin was AMAZING!  He's such a natural artist. just eyeballed this and went with it! Then it was time to get into costume for our annual family costume! This year... THE SIMPSONS! I think that Zach and Sean especially have seen every episode ever made so this was a fun one for us! Ali, Ellie and Stella were going to go as the girls from Mama Mia but there was a bit of a mix-up and so Stella didn't come and then Ellie just wore her Diary of a Wimpy Kid Stuff. Al went with the original play because she put a lot of work into it and bought those shoes herself! I hope she can wear them again someday! They were fun. Nana and I passed out the candy and this year we did it right, avoiding the d...

Well, Ali had probably her last season with the Sharknados. It has been quite the ride for sure. I didn't take many pictures (it's hard on that big field) but it has been great seeing her play with these girls and coaches! Most of the team is graduating and the spring gets a bit nutty. Yay to Nana who snapped this picture. Similarly I was awful at taking pictures of Sean. I can't even tell you which kid he is in the picture! I just remember sitting up on the hill watching him and texting the others since Jeff was on Ali duty and I was with Seany. He is a blast to watch though! I think Covid has had an effect on my picture taking. I need to do better! I also need to add that Zach opted not to try out for soccer at WLN and his coaches didn't take a team in the fall because of the high school soccer season.

Joey always tends to turn it on at the end of the season but what happened at regionals was still more than we could have ever imagined. It was a rainy cruddy day- so bad that they even had to change the course slightly. Regardless we were all there thinking that this was to be Joey's last race. Last year, he made regionals but wasn't allowed to run because dad had covid so this run felt extra special. There were a lot of runners and I kind of knew where to go because the girls ran first and I had seen where to go because I was watching Maddy with Jodie. Joe took off kind of where he usually does and then I ran to the first place where I could see him and I got my camera ready. I saw Will, our number one runner, and started my video and shockingly RIGHT after number two, there was our Joe! He's usually 5 or 6! I wanted to cry I was so excited. That's not an exaggeration... My lip trembled, my eyes watered and I started talking to God, Christie, Andrew, all of them prayi...

Concerts are back! It was great to hear my boys playing music again on the stage. Of course with Covid everyone is SUPPOSED to wear a mask. I was shocked by how many jerks in the audience blatantly sat with no mask in sight. It's sad how little people care about their fellow human- and gosh it made me mad but... I exhaled, into my mask, and focused on the good. While we were waiting, my budding author shared a teaser for his latest book. I had to include this in here because, well, Sean's a great writer and it's how we pass time while waiting for the show to begin. There were four bands that played. Zach was in the freshman band and they played first and sounded great! Zach loves playing that trombone and it was fun to see him all dressed up in his tux. Then there were two symphony bands and then wind ensemble, which was Joey's band. It was a good thing there was space between Joe and Z because Joe somehow lost his tie and had to borrow Zach's. Sigh, and he's su...

We made it home from Chicago in time to see Joe run!! WLN came in third and Joe was 20th overall (top 18 got medals... grrrr..) So proud of him. I could seriously watch this kid run all day every day! I love it so much! HERE is a video from the day! Love that JD and Abby came down to cheer on their cuz- of course Nana and Papa were there to cheer him on as well! I think they love watching him ALMOST as much as I do! Next up.... REGIONALS!!

The fames I got for the boys- with different pictures for them to have/ change out. I don't even know how to title this post but it's been such a huge part of our lives I feel like I'd like to write about it, so here I go... We're all in a pretty big fog over here. It doesn't feel like Chris is gone~ That could be because we weren't used to seeing her every day or it could be because we have so many things to "do" right now that it felt like there hasn't been a whole lot of time to grieve.  Flowers from friends The funeral was nice (as funerals go). Abby has the most AMAZING voice and sang a few songs- Jeff and Joe did a song (Mary was going to but was sick so didn't sing). I think for me hearing all of them is what brought me to tears. We also felt such support- The Drapals (old and young) came and Jodi & Randy, Jojo & Dave and Jodie and Kyle all came too! Mind you it was in Saginaw so they had quite the drive and Jodie and Kyle came j...

A bit bitter sweet to see Joey march for the last time! He decided he doesn't want to march in college. I certainly am going to miss it. It was hat day which meant it was easy to find your Knight. Joey had a Flamingo on his head and Zach was in a Wizard hat though he took off and I couldn't find him later. I got the selfie above from Joe. Ali was there with friends too and Ellie posted this on Instagram so that was two pictures of kids that I got! Someone got this picture of Zach so I felt like the bases were covered! It was a rainy day and we ALWAYS leave right after halftime! It's one of the major perks of having drivers! That was the plan except that the Drapals came to watch the last game. They got their right before half time so they wanted to stay a bit longer which I get... Nana and Papa left after halftime (smart) but the rest of us weathered the storm- quite literally. You can see a a video of the night (and rain) HERE . It's so nice to be able to find them wit...