one of the happiest places on earth...

... is at Auntie Jill's, Uncle Mike's, Dane's {and Tierney's}.

In the backyard, I can feed the fish (and the turtle when he's not hibernating); hop from one side of the stream to the other on a stone bridge; swing on their hammock swings.





Then, at the bottom of their street is Victoria Beach. That evening, we not only saw dolphins and a beautiful sunset,



but also a big cliff in the sand that the waves made. Uncle Mike and Auntie Jill went up and down the cliff with me....again and again and again.





Not only is their house one of the happiest places on earth, but they make me the happiest girl on earth when I'm with them!

{lack of } warmth.

Here what we look like when our heater isn't working and ....



the temp


inside the house


barely breaks 60.


Today was 59.

Rain, rain {don't} go away...

... we've been having too much fun.

casting spells.

I couldn't quite hear what she was "casting" upon us, but amongst her soft mumbling of spells I heard the word "magic." Looking forward to some magic around here.

Doran Family Photos 2011

Some of our favorites from this year.














And, thank you to Shannon, the most incredibly creative, talented and down-to-earth photographer!

a new hobby.

Happy Water Coloring!

Uncle Timmy.

There is no one outside of our immediate family that Avery talks about more than Uncle Timmy.

She sings about him even when he not around. (Cue "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" tune) "Uncle Timmy, where are you? Uncle Timmy, where are you? Uncle Timmy, where are you?......" Those are the only lyrics.



When I tell her we are going to _______'s house to play, usually her next question is, "Will Uncle Timmy be there?"

When she didn't crawl out of her crib one day at nap, I told her that Daddy would be so proud and asked if she wanted to call him and tell him. She asked, "Call Uncle Timmy?"

Every time Uncle Timmy walks into the room, Avery breaks into a little dance and jumps up and down.

When Uncle Timmy is sitting on the couch, Avery is usually right next to him, getting ready to jump on him or playing a game.



Thank you, Uncle Timmy for loving Avery so much!

saying nigh-night.

There are so many perks to being married to a firefighter and then there are those things we have to make the best of. One of those things we have to make the best of is not always getting to say good night in person and getting a nigh-night kiss. For a long time our "nigh-nights" were on speaker phone, but lately we have been able to see daddy on the phone when we say good night. It was so sweet to watch the other night. I just had to capture and share.

It starts out with a recap of the day.






And ends with good-night hugs and kisses...





It's a toss up who's more excited for this- Sean or Avery.

Mary.

Ok, so those of you who read this know that Avery loved playing with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in our nativity. She pushed them in strollers, brought them on errands, pushed them down her slide and jumped with them on her trampoline. She even put her beloved "green blanket" over her head numerous times and said, "I'm Mary."



I was worried about the goodbye when the new year rolled around, but she seemed ok. She has asked for them a couple of times and I just explained that Christmas time is over, so we had to put those decorations away.

Well, "Mary" made an appearance at the grocery store today. We were walking in the produce department and I hear Avery saying something about Mary. She said it again, "Mommy, I see Mary." I respond with, "Yes, honey" only half paying attention. "Mommy, there's Mary. I see her." Finally, I look over to my left and there she was, walking towards us ... a middle eastern woman wearing a head scarf.

I smiled really big at the woman as I responded to Avery, "Yes, honey. I see her. Now, let's pick out some avocados together. Be mommy's big helper."

Oh, how I love the innocence of a child!