Days with the Dorans

I don't know how it happened, or when, but my baby is growing up!  To say he is a sponge is an understatement and thankfully he's one of those kids who talks about every aspect of his day (so I know EXACTLY what happens each day) and is constantly wanting to write, read and play math type games (so glad we didn't push him as I see the other side in my own classroom).  He's turning into quite a creative kid and even made his own "sight word" game tonight (where does he come up with this stuff?).  Sean was so excited to be six and has spent the last month (yes... I am behind in documenting things) talking about that.  Everything he does he will say, "This is the first time I've gone to the library... when I was six."  "This is the first time I've read this book... when I was six."  It's really quite funny and has us all laughing but he, of course, is quite serious because six IS serious!  He tells us now that he is six...

I can hardly believe that it's been 6 years since I had Zach! There is so much that I want to say but seeing that it is April (and poor Z is learning that it is our busiest month ever), I feel like I should write something before I forget. I was looking back on my blog at Z's old birthdays and I love that I have them documented back since his first ONEderful birthday.  I realized though that I never wrote about the story of his birth so I'm going to write some highlights... A cliff-note version if you will... 1. I was scared (that was my normal after losing Andrew) but my dad being LATE to come and watch the Bigs so we could get to the hospital for my c-section made me MAD (which was probably a good thing... not as much time to be scared). I wanted to kill him though. I called to see if he was on his way and AFTER I hung up the phone with him he jumped in the shower! Grrrr... 2. I was certain that Z was going to be a girl~ mostly because if he was, Jeff told me...

Our Ali Jane is six! Her birthday began lovely! Much like mine a few days before, I heard her waking to the sounds of her brothers telling her it was her birthday. We all sang to her throughout the morning including the phone calls she got from her Nana and Papa. One of the nice things about having a birthday when you will NEVER have school is the whole day is YOURS! We had nothing planned, but as the day unfolded it held a lot of fun! Ali Jane opened her presents from the fam after her dad cooked her chocolate chip pancakes. I found that she was sweet as pie all day, probably because it was her birthday and she knew that she wasn't just the princess, but the queen for the day! Ali Jane decided she wanted to have a party on her big day- even if her REAL party was the next day- and so her dad went out to get an extra cake and decorations for Al's impromptu party (a request of the birthday queen). She wanted dinner at the restaurant we frequent as a family (which also hap...

So with a blog about Joey's birthday party, you may be wondering why I would begin with a picture of Zach... Well... Zach is the reason that the guest list was changed. The poor little man was sick for over a week and so we uninvited everyone and had a more 'intimate' party of just us. There were no games, but Daddy did rent a Scooby Doo movie for the kids to watch while Joe wore his 'birthday crown' from school. And we did have a few presents we didn't give him on his 'real' birthday- so he did get to open some gifts. Nana and Papa came by for about a half hour too to drop off some gifts, sing and have some cake. And though this certainly was the "year of the Transformers," Jonasen is a lover of books and was excited to get this book about Super Why one of his favorite shows on PBS (and as a teacher, I love it too!) I didn't make the cake this year, instead I bought it from Hillers and Jonasen was so excited to see the...