Days with the Dorans

Poor Seany. I'm late in posting this and we still haven't done a friend birthday party. I'm thinking it's going to be sometime in December. I may just do a big birthday party for all my kids once a year and call it a day. I'm finding that being a mom (the way I want to be) can be exhausting. I went to bed on the 8th and hadn't decorated for Sean's birthday (like I usually do). He woke up in my bed and said, "Mom! Let's go down and see the decorations." I felt like such a jerk. I had gotten balloons and things but was so tired and thought I would wake up early to decorate. I told him to give me a moment and I'd come get him when I was ready. I rushed downstairs to my WONDERFUL husband who had blown up all my balloons and decorated for our baby! Words cannot express how happy I was! I got Seany who came down in wonder and excitement. It is like heaven to be seven! Nana, Papa, Grandma, Uncle Jim and the Gearys all came over to help us...

 Saturday was finally the day... Zach's FIRST birthday party with FRIENDS!  He had it at a local pool (where unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures) with a water slide and other fun water things.  When we got there, the boys went right for the pool and started playing while my mom and I set up.  We were hardly finished getting table cloths on the tables when we noticed all the boys out of the pool.  Then we found out... someone (we weren't the only people there) pooped in the pool!!  Everyone had to get out and they had to clean it up so suddenly I had all these kiddos coming in to the room off the pool, Jeff out getting pizzas and no idea what to do! So... we opened presents!  To be honest, I had thought this was something we would do at home so they could max their time in the water.  Zach got all sorts of good things, but it happened so fast that I didn't really see who gave him what or really know who each boy was.  Jef...

I can't believe my Z is already 7!  Seems like yesterday that I (yes, me) watched him being born!  I was so surprised he was a boy!  So surprised that we didn't have a boy name.  Zach Johnson won the master's that year.  He seemed like a nice guy so Zach it was!  It was also the day the Virginia Tech shootings happened.  I always think of those families on Z's birthday.  I probably always will. Life was slower 7 years ago... now poor Z's birthday falls right in the midst of baseball season!  On his birthday, I rushed home from work so we could all watch him open his presents (2 skylanders) and eat his dinner of choice (pizza~ yeah for convenience!).  After presents, both Bigs were off to practice and Goose and Sean were with me running errands! We went to the store to pick out presents for Papa and get a cake for Z's birthday.  The boys were fun and I enjoyed the time with just the three of us.  It seemed like foreve...

I remember 7 years ago like it was yesterday~ my dad coming to my house to watch 15 month old Jonasen and Jeff driving me the block or so to the hospital. I cried the whole way there. Poor Jeff was trying to cheer me up, but even then I didn't know why I was crying... I could feel the baby kicking within me. Maybe my tears were for that last time, maybe it was because this time I knew in my heart that it was going to be OK. And it was! Ali Jane's delivery was amazing, everything about it. It was so bright! There was laughter! There were baby cries! There were happy tears. And I finally could say I had "babies" at home. Something I had been dreaming of saying since losing her big brother, Andrew. And now here we are seven years later and it sometimes blows my mind how much she has grown~ the things that she says, the sweetness about her. People have said she is my "mini-me" (my guess is because of the way we look) but our likenesses go far behind our thin, ...

Joe's birthday celebration actually started with blueberry muffins for breakfast complete with songs of "Happy Birthday" and " Sto lat " from his sibs . I had a doctor's appointment around noon and for some reason decided to BAKE cupcakes in cones and bring them in to Joe's class to celebrate his birthday. I don't know what I was thinking! The cupcakes took so long that I literally had to frost the second batch right after they got out of the oven which gave them a 'melting ice-cream cone' look. Thankfully Joe's classmates didn't mind one bit and ate them all up. It was fun going to his classroom and watching him decide 'how' he wanted them to sing to him... (such an actor!) After school, we gave Joe our presents and let him open the cards he received from others. It was such fun to hear him read all of his cards (He's doing so well!) and he was so happy with his gifts. I went right off his 'list' so I knew th...