Days with the Dorans

Ok. So I know I've slacked on the pictures lately but I did REALLY bad for our Christmas in Saginaw- so much so that I didn't realize I didn't take any pictures until AS WE WERE LEAVING!! I guess I should be happy I got one. (ugh) It was a great day and I guess all that means is that we were living in the moment. 

 We had a great Christmas in Saginaw but it wasn't on the 26th as usual. We had it the following Sunday since all the big Doran kids had it off work.  Unfortunately, Mary and her kiddos were sick so they weren't able to make it but the rest of the Dorans were able to be there. It was great seeing Trisha and her mom seems to be doing a bit better and is almost strong enough for chemo! After some yummy food (as always), we opened presents. Al and I got birthday presents too! Grandma got us awesome gifts!! Here are more pics of everyone opening up gifts: For her big gift, we got her tickets to see the Blue Man Group with all of us (plus dinner of course). I can't wait!! She was excited. I feel like the best gift is when we get time together. I wish we lived closer but thankful for the time we have!  With Joey getting his record player, they had a GREAT time going through old records and Joe got a bonus gift of some awesome old record...

 We had a great trip to Grandma's to celebrate Christmas with the Dorans, and JD was there too! YAY!! We had a wonderful visit with fun and food, but my favorite was Grandma's reaction to our gift! We decided this year to give the gift of time (and experiences) so we gave her (and us) tickets to see The Sound of Music at a theatre up there. We're so excited and so was she! Here are some more pictures from our day! We even managed some big group pictures! Loved having everyone together! Merry Christmas!!

The day after Christmas is the day we travel north to see all the Dorans.  We got to see baby Zeke and the crew again but sadly missed JD again because I think he was working. The kiddos really missed him too! The Gillespie boys were with their dad so we didn't see them either. We had a yummy dinner and then it was time to open presents! Seany played Santa and did a great job except for the time he said, "I don't think I can read this! It's in cursive!" He's so funny! Grandma got the kids all things they were excited about and the kids got Grandma special presents too. We gave her an echo dot and a speaker and we even figured out how to hook it up even though she doesn't have a prime account! We were worried for a bit but it worked!! Yeah!! After dinner we played a fun game with Jim, Trish, Mary & Zeke called Codenames. It was fun. We love playing games at Grandma's! Most of the time the kids were running around playing laser tag. ...

 The day after Christmas we headed to Saginaw for Christmas! Sadly, the Gillespie boys weren't there. Cole was sick. It's been so long since we've seen them. Mary also couldn't come since she was working so I didn't get my cousins picture. I should have just taken one with my kids and Grandma but I didn't... Oh well. We were so excited to give Grandma her gift A ROOMBA! She loved it and has texted me a few times thanking me which was awesome! Although our gathering was a little smaller than Christmases past, it was just as sweet. We all enjoyed the company and food. After dinner they played games and Jeff and I tried to put together a robot that Z got. It was IMPOSSIBLE and we felt quite dumb. Thankfully he could play with it without the added parts.

 We had a wonderful trip to Saginaw on the 26th which has been when we've gone up the last few years.  We usually also go up on the 22nd to celebrate Grandma's birthday but this year we couldn't because the kids and I had school on the 22nd and then they had rehearsal for the church Christmas program that night. BOO! We were able to celebrate with Grandma and the Doran family too!  Jeff's sister is still in the midst of a divorce and could not make it back with her boys.  The Doran cousins all had fun though! Grandma got the kids great gifts that they couldn't wait to play with so they didn't.  Z loved his.  He always plays with the army stuff Grandma has and he got all sorts of army stuff including grenades that we kept finding in front of us! (INCOMING!) Joe and Al each got a Lego set and Seany got some fun Paw Patrol guys!  Of course we put Seany's stuff together right away too.  The house was actually quite quiet with everyone pl...