Days with the Dorans

Ali Doran- Hi! My name is Ali Doran. I am 14 years old and in 8th grade. I play the role of Cinderella. This is only my second show here at Smart. In Mary Poppins, I played Neleus, helped choreograph the dance numbers, and also played a featured chimney sweep. In my free time, I enjoy playing soccer, reading, hanging out with friends, and playing card games with my family. I would like to thank my parents and brothers for supporting me and encouraging me to do what I love. I would like to give a special thanks to Mrs. Connell for all of her hard work on this show and allowing everyone to participate in such an amazing program. I hope you enjoy the show! Zach Doran- Hi, my name is Zach Doran. I am 12 years old and in 6th grade and I play the trombone. This is my 4th show at CHS and I love to do the shows and do all kinds of things. My favorite animal is a tortoise and my favorite color is yellow. One fact about me is that I have a pet tortoise named Mortoise the Tortoise or ...

I showed Sean my socks and told him it was silly sock day. He put his feet up on the island, threw his hands behind his head and said,  "Mom, for me EVERY day is sill sock day." BWHAHAAHAHA!

Just because I know I will forget these little moments. Sean is in need of deodorant now and does have his own (oddly enough, Zach doesn't stink yet but we got him some anyway). Sean stopped me and said that next year for his birthday he wanted some Old Spice deodorant. I of course got it on tape. I'm sure we can make that happen! Tee hee hee. Love that kid!

I miss our church family! Sean was excited to get a card from his Godfather Mike and Joyce with an Amazon gift card in it. He was so excited! I suggested he make a card to thank him and he got right to it. I found it the next morning on the island and it made me smile... Dear Mike, Thank you so munch. I loved the card so munch. And I wish you a sweet life and I love you. As much as a child can. "Love Sean." P.S. XOXOXOXOXO

So I'm a bit embarrassed to write about this but we all make mistakes and Sean did. I was at school for a half-day PD when I got a call that Sean was really upset because he got a "Think Sheet" because he had said the "F-word" (yup- the real one) on the soccer field at recess. I was SHOCKED because in all honesty, Jeff and I don't swear. We can't because we work with children and if we make that a regular part of our vocabs, we'll slip. I was bound and determined to find out where Sean had heard it and learned that he heard it in videos the big boys had watched (Gabe, Joe and Ryan) AND he heard it a lot at his lunch (but he didn't tell on the boys like some kid told on him). If there's one thing I truly love and adore about Seany it's that he's honest to a fault- even when he makes mistakes. He also knows you don't have to tattle on someone if no one is getting hurt. Poor Joe felt bad and I felt bad too. It's hard ha...

Nothing is more heartbreaking when one of your loves is sick... On Sunday, Sean was complaining that his cheek hurt. I kind of thought perhaps he had a canker sore or something but when he started crying pretty hard later in the evening, I knew it had to be something more. I went out and got some pain reliever (our kids are rarely sick so we didn't have anything on hand) and after he took it, he felt a little better. We were looking at this blog together (specifically his birthdays) and we came across THIS video that I made of his 3rd birthday. We were watching it and I noticed he was crying. When I asked him if he was hurting again he said, "No mom. I just love you so much. I just love this whole family so so much." My heart was so full and I felt like crying too. He's such a sensitive, sweet kid. When we prayed that night for God to help him feel better, he added at the end a thank you for his brothers and sister and his family and how he's the luckiest ...

Sean has been SO excited to have his music concert at the High School! I knew when he was practicing that he didn't quite remember ALL the words so I told him to move his mouth a little even when he didn't know the words so it would look like he did (You know... the old "watermelon" trick...?). Well... he did some BIG watermelons, and yawns and other dramatic moves that had me dying! I took a video of the whole show HERE and the longer it went, the more animated the boy became! There were so many awesome pics, I put them all together in a collage. Al was at dance and Joe was at piano but Dad, Zach, Nana and Papa and I were all there to cheer on Sean. To be fair, Z didn't read his book during the show (it was too dark) but I do love his latest obsession with the Harry Potter books! Jeff left to get Joe before I remembered to snap a few fan photos so this was all I got. After the show, I hit McDonald's for ice cream for everyone and Sean wa...

If there's one thing I admire about Seany, it's his honesty. Like every kid, he makes his share of mistakes but unlike many kids he tells me regularly what those mistakes are. From telling me during the fire drill that he would give himself a thumbs down for acting up, to having to talk to the principal (don't worry... when I followed up on this - he was fine), Sean will tell me when he messes up. He tells me of all the little mistakes and then tells me what he's going to do next time (and yes- he gave himself two thumbs up for the next fire drill). On Friday when I asked Sean about his day, he said it was good and then told me that he also got in trouble. He said he was waiting in the hallway and there was an instrument there and he touched it and he got in trouble with the sub. I said, "Really?! A sub! Their job is so hard. I can't believe you would make it harder." He felt bad and we decided he should write an apology letter to his music teache...

It's been an interesting soccer season. In a nutshell~ Al is frustrated because she feels like a lot of her teammates don't care (and is considering trying out for a travel team next year), Zach is doing AMAZING and has a coach that puts us in awe. He's 72 years old and runs around the field like he's a teen- and he's so knowledgable and great with the boys. And then there's Sean... So we decided to bump Seany up a bit to get some good coaching. Unfortunately being the youngest birthday in the year is not a great thing always and he's on a team with third graders who seem to have played with each other for a while. They're GOOD and it was a big jump for him. He looks the youngest on the team and certainly is maturity wise. We had a big talk about "no dancing" after the first game. That being said, when he's playing he's ON! He is aggressive and knows more about the game than I thought he did. Last year the teams had no goal...

 It's hard to believe that Joe's been playing the piano for 3 years. He played three songs at recital and one was called, "Wake me Up When September Ends."  That was his choice. I love that song~ since it really applies to me though I had forgotten about it.  Joe also played a song with his friend and neighbor, Trevor.  They did Rockin' Robin and did great! I think the two only practiced this together twice but they did a great job! I put all Joe's songs on a video HERE so I can go back and watch it again. As for those who were watching... it was my folks and all us Dorans (minus Al). I had to take her to dance pictures prior to the concert so she just watched the video. Sean was good and played a video game during some of the recital since it was long for a 6 year old. Thankfully his video game was made of paper and he put it on mute. After we left, he told me in the car he needed to charge it so he could play it again.  Such an awesome ima...

The following is much cuter if you SEE it by clicking HERE . Still, I wanted it in my book as a fun memory.

So you'd never know it, but this boy is into his cards!!  Sean won a gift card to Tim Horton's at church a couple weeks ago and you'd have thought he'd won a million dollars!!  He was SO proud of his card.  He has kept it in his pocket for days (and I'm serious) and couldn't wait to buy donuts for all of us! Our lives are crazy busy (choosing to have so many children can do that to a person). Between games a week (or maybe two... did I mention I've been busy) ago, Sean REALLY wanted to buy us donuts and it was time so we hit Tim Horton's.  It was so much fun watching him place his order (Jeff had to lift him up so he could see what he wanted) and slide his "card" through the card reader!  I think the donut he bought me was the best I've ever had because he was SO proud of it! He kept his card and told me we can go again soon... I don't want to be the one to break it to him that there is no more money on that card.  I'm ...