The Doran Family website, Mike, Amy, Ethan, Katie and Maggie - what we are up to!

Updates on Mike, Amy, Ethan, Katie, & Maggie - what we're up to...

Saturday, November 27, 2004

YUKON!... Not quite...

SUBURBAN!

Yippee!

We are now the proud owners (aka: up to our a$$e$$) of a Chevy Suburban that seats 8. It was almost a steal (either on our part or the dealership's - we're quite sure yet) ;o)

Anyway, it's charcoal (gray) with light gray interior. Low miles, practically new!

We're VERY excited!!!!


Tuesday, November 23, 2004

The Turkey Assignment

Ethan wrote this for a Language Arts assignment. We thought it was pretty funny.

Turkey Assignment

Dear Son,

I have made it to my final destination. It has been a wild couple of days.

You know, I have always lived a quiet life, especially since your mother ran off with that gentleman in the white apron and tall white hat… I’ll never figure out what “BAM!” meant, but he sure did say that a lot.

Anyway, it all started earlier this week when a black suburban pulled up in front of the farm. The car door opened and a few men dressed in black suits walked up and talked to Joe the owner of the farm. I heard one of the men say, “we will take that one,” as he pointed at me.

Next thing I know, I am being put in a metal frame cage and carried to the black vehicle. They started up the suburban and we whisked down the highway. We arrived at some strange place that I have never seen before. They pulled me out of the SUV and carried me up towards a very large house that was all white with large pillars and many windows.

Then I met Tom, he was a Turkey from a farm down south. He wasn’t very talkative. I’m sure it’s hard to have a decent conversation when you are that fat anyway. I couldn’t figure out what was going on with him, he kept muttering to himself something about how there was no way out of this now that I was here. He said that they could have at least picked another bird with meat on his bones. I found that a little offensive.

Later that afternoon Tom and I were brought out to a lovely garden, I’ve never seen such roses before. I can tell you, son, they didn’t grow them like that back on the farm. There were all of these people standing out talking and taking pictures of us. I really had no idea what I had done to deserve this.

Then this nice gentleman stepped out into the garden with more of those men in dark suits. All of the sudden the people with cameras started shouting, “Mr. President, Mr. President! Do you have any comments?”

I thought to myself that this person must be very important. He was dressed in a light blue suit and had a strange accent. He mispronounced a lot of words, but hey, nobody’s perfect. He squinted up his eyes, smiled at me and said, “Hey, Turkey-Turkey, how’re you doing there, lil’ fella?” Then he looked over at a lady in a pink suit and said, “Laura, I don’t think this scrawny fella will do, do you?” She said, “No, George, I like that fat one over there much better.” My new friend Tom groaned when he heard that.

Then George or Mr. President, whatever his name was, looked over at me and said, “Well, Turkey, I pardon you.” I thought that was pretty strange, because he hadn’t offended me one little bit. We hadn’t even had much of a chance to talk. Maybe he was talking about the whole cage thing, but that didn’t bother me much, it was a nice drive after all.

Then they put me back in the cage and said I was a real lucky bird. Last time I saw Tom he was being hauled off the same guy your mom left with a couple of years ago. And, I still don’t understand why he keeps saying, “BAM!”

Anyway, I’m at a lovely retirement home called, “Kiddy Farms” with a lovely group of animals. They have all of these little children that come through and love to pet us. Life is looking pretty good now. Sure hope you’ll come up and visit soon.

Love,

Dad

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Fog Delays... Blech!

It's that season... and no, for once we don't mean Christmas!

Mike says we have two seasons around here hot and fog.

That's a bit of an exaggeration on his part, but he's not too far off. Ok, well, Mike is off every day but that's another story...

99% of the schools had a fog delay today. Our district had a 3 hour delay, which is nice. Everyone hangs around in their PJs. We watched the Today show because we love Matt, Katie, Al and Ann. And, apparently, we aren't afraid to admit it. Although, if we ever traveled to New York you would NOT find us outside screaming or holding signs while Al did the weather... just in case you were wondering.

Anyway, a three hour delay means school starts at 10:55am for Ethan and 11:10am for Kate. Which isn't so bad... until you realize that Ethan only gets 30 minutes for lunch. Which isn't even that bad either. Where they get you in the beeehind is when you find out that the kids don't get OUT of school until 3pm and 3:30pm. And, as silly as it may sound - that extra 30 minutes is a killer for some of us.

Ok, maybe just me.




Monday, November 15, 2004

Parent / Teacher Conferences

Had a conference with Kate's teacher today... she's really nice. But then she was saying great things about Kate... so how could I not like her? Actually, it's pretty great to be able to have such predictable conferences every year. No problem areas, Kate's a well-rounded student and seems to be good at everything. She's doing REALLY well! Her grades are AWESOME!!!

One thing her teacher pointed out (as if we didn't know this about Kate) - Katie won't take a guess at anything, if she's not sure, she doesn't assume - she asks. We think that's a pretty great quality. Along with her ability to go with the flow and take things as they come, Kate just doesn't get stressed about much of anything.

We spent the evening working on her report for school. She's doing a research report on the San Luis Obispo de Tolosa mission. This is Kate's first big report and she seems to be pretty excited about it. It's due the Wednesday before Thanksgiving...

Keep your fingers crossed for us...

Yukon!

(a little Christmas Cartoon joke... sorta)


We spent last Saturday doing a little pre-purchase car browsing. You know Mike, he likes to get a good deal - and even if he has a good one sitting there he likes to make sure there isn't a better one lurking about somewhere.

Anyway, we found a really nice 2002 Yukon, white, seats 9, with under 30K miles. Mike thinks he might be able to get a really good deal on it. Well... let's just say, that's the only way anyone will get him to buy it - if it's a really good deal. LOL



Monday, November 08, 2004

The Latest... Busy Busy Busy...

Katie had a piano recital yesterday. We love that her teacher sets up recitals at local retirement communities. Kate performed well, it was a concert in honor of Veteran's Day and she played "This Land Is Your Land" and "Daydreams" which is a light, pretty piece that has a classical sound to it. She's now practicing a couple of seasonal pieces; "Frosty The Snowman" and "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" which sound better every time she plays them.

Mike spent Saturday doing appraisals with his soon-to-be boss. He really likes it... and after everything we've done to get him here - we're all glad!
In all seriousness, this is really his bag Baby!

Mike is a born self-starter and has always been highly organized and efficient. He's one of those people that other people (like me) envy.

Ethan and I are self-starters with a healthy dose of procrastination thrown in for good measure. It may not look like it - but we DO know where OUR things are... most of the time. Although, last minute searches for our keys and sunglasses often frustrate Mike and Kate to no end.

Maggie is working on her fourth tooth. She loves to give kisses, often finishing them up with a nice little bite, usually on a sensitive part of your cheek or chin. It's cute, so we all endure it. The kids swear they've seen her stand on her own without support from walls, furniture, or toys. Thankfully, she doesn't seem very interested in hoofing it on her own two feet just yet.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Doran Domain

The Doran Family domain is up and live!

www.thedoranfamily.com

Yippee!