A day full of a little bit of everything...

Today Colin got his braces on! He's super excited. Hopefully that will continue 😉. He is such a good patient. Alexa and I went on a date to The Greene today. She had fun doing splits in the car, got some clip on earings, and we ate at EO burgers! My favorite! I even went to the dentist today and we all went to the pool too!

The Creative Days of Summer

Posting this makes me feel like we are having that kind of summer that all parents dream of…but don't be fooled, amongst the fun and goodness of each day, there is bickering, fighting, punching, and  annoyances.  And that's just the half of it.

Creativity has been the name of the game around here the last few very rainy days. Analiese has been busy making all kinds of" real life hacks". She gets them from a website. She made a stress ball out of rice and layered balloons, a jump rope out of recycled plastic bags, a soccer field out of a box lid and I don't know what else, tap shoes using coins, and some crystals out of Epson salt and some other items. She and Alexa also made a cake for our life group tonight… They thought it would be great to celebrate Alexa's birthday which is next week. I too, have exercised some creative muscle. In between going to Target to return a watch with Colin, helping Brandon get an amp for his electric guitar, hunkering down in the closet with bike helmets on when the storm was extra threatening (yes we really did this), and managing the household, I got a few projects done that I have wanted to do for a while.

Colin's 9th Birthday

Colin's only request for his birthday, was to go to Sky Zone with Nate and have crab legs for dinner!  We also went to McDonald's for lunch after Sky Zone. The gifts, Colin got were a fishing pole, which he couldn't wait to use, new rollerblades and some water guns. He really wants an electric guitar but we need to wait and see if he can be committed to something first. He is really looking forward to it when that happens someday. Hopefully soon!

All kinds of things

So many different things we've done lately. The girls did a plastic bag fashion show. Very creative. Colin got to use his new fishing pole and caught some fish. Alexa's gymnastics commitment hason up this summer. She is now doing 12 to 14 hours of gymnastics. In the fall it will go back down to 10 hours. Here she is with teammate Jadalyn. She is making very sweet friends on her gymnastics team.

Fourth of July 2015

Fourth of July with the Warner's is a family tradition! The girls had a great time playing cheetah girls, Cody and Collin were fighting buddies, and we did sparklers, a bonfire and a movie in the shed. Such fun time we have with them every time.

Hotel Adventure

We went for a little adventure around town. First, we grabbed lunch. Then we were off to The Greene for Cheryl's cookies.  Analiese had a little mishap with her flip-flop. So, we went to Old Navy and got some two dollar flip-flops. She was so happy! She could run wild and free. Our next stop was Laser Web. I had to go to the ice rink to teach, and then we went to a nearby hotel. We went swimming, had free hot cocoa and coffee, had free cookies, and slept over. The next day with a free breakfast, the kids made the most of it. We even got to go in the pool before it officially opened. After that, we were off to the rink again for some more teaching, and then we headed home. We had a great time and made lots of memories.

Time with Addy

Addy and Alexa spent some time together at the Kettering waterpark. Unfortunately, Alexa injured her toe. We weren't sure if it was broke, but it sure did hurt. It was during their gymnastics break so she had lots of time to recover. She and Abby then went to Addie's house after that. They had a great time! 

Funness!

We have spent a good bit of time at the Kettering water park. There have been many rainy days, but on nice ones we get to the pool. Here is Colin sliding down the slide. The girls made breakfast for everyone, one of the days. Here is Alexa with all the names of the people in our family. Good job, Alexa!

This summer has also been devoted to my home projects. I am painting many things. Here is the pantry redone. I love it! I painted every shelf and put repositionable wallpaper on the back of the wall.  I also painted this end table. 

More Baseball

We changed leagues this year and went with the EKRC.  Except for Brandon's knee problem, they both had a great time. Well, Colin sort of had a great time; it depended on the day.  In the his team won the championship. It was exciting, but probably didn't mean very much to Colin. We'll see if he plays again next year. He continues to search for what he really loves. We'll see what time will tell!

 

HORSE CAMP!

Analiese enjoyed her time at the camp. Hopefully she'll be able to take more lessons.

Baseball 2015

The boys both play baseball this year. Brandon's team did fairly well, but weren't quite on top of their game all the time. Brandon injured his knee this season while pitching before the season began. He dislocated his knee cap and had to go thru physical therapy. He could hardly stand having to wait until he was cleared.

Spring 2015

Colin played soccer this spring for the first time. He did really well. I am not sure he will Play again in the fall, but I think that he could really excel at it. Also some school work to finish up the year and Brandon's boredom doodles on his arm. Somethings never change.

Doeringer Family Vacation 2015

At the fair and at the grill. Avalei wearing some big shoes.

At the fair. Alexa got her face painted, Brandon won an alien for the youth group, and we found sugar waffles!! It was hilarious to see a lot of the kids come down the slide. Avalei had the look of terror on her face.

This was a Doeringer classic. We got it all arranged so that we could all be by the barrel train together and get a picture. Then all the kids stayed on the train and rode up and down the street. Even the teenagers! It was quite a moment.

Mom brought minute to Win it games and our team won! That was super fun! And the youngest girls had matching sweatshirts just by chance. So cute!

Ash Cave the last day.

More Ash Cave.

Minute to Win it action.

Old Man Cave

Swimming in a waterfall… Look at the lifeguards!

Little girls throwing little rocks.

More of Old Man Cave

The girls (and Scott)

Even more Old Man's Cave.

AMANDA 😀

Sweet Amanda and some pics with Alexa! Love them both!

Brandon's 14th birthday

Brandon had a really fun birthday celebration with his friends from school. First we went to Dairy Queen and got blizzards, and then went to see Jurassic World at the theater. There was a cool jeep like the one in the movie that we could get in and get a picture.  They also played arcade games and Brandon won Oh from the movie Home in the claw machine for Alexa. Very sweet.

Kalahari trip 2015

This year Beth Hawkey joined us for the first part of the week and then we had Logan join us for the last two days. Such a fun time!

Growing up so Fast

Me and my big girl!

Spring 2015

Things ended with Cru and we had a great last meeting at our house. The seniors shared testimonies and we had an awesome worship time.

Analiese and I went to Secret Keeper Girl in Dublin, Ohio. It was a great time hearing more about modesty and being a good friend.

We finally got a bird's nest in the bush and after the birds hatched, we found them on the ground. They had been attacked, but not eaten. It was a sad day. The kids had a fun night with the Thelanders here. Amanda made it extra fun with a bubble wrap Nerf gun war. she tops the kid's list as favorite babysitter. It is easy to see why! I loved the staff team I got to work with this year with Cru. Caleb, Will, Maddie, and Meghan. Four amazing people!  Alex and Tyler have their final musical, Into the Woods. It was so good and they did such a great job! Tyler's last musical now that he's done with high school!

Easter 2015

For Easter this year, we had Grandma and Grandpa, Mima and Papa Cheech, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Chip and the Columbus cousins. We had an amazing meal and so much fun together. This was Analiese's last year for the Easter Egg Hunt. She is soon headed to youth group.  Colin is with his buddies Owen and Jameson. Analiese enjoyed the hunt with Hannah and Josie.

Comic Con

Brandon started school this year at the STEM school. With such a big change, we were all a little nervous. However, he has come through with flying colors. I am amazed at how well he is handled the transition. He has made great friends, done very well in his classes, and just really matured overall. He even ended up with a 4.0! One of the highlights of the year was getting the top score on his American History comic book. He was chosen to present his comic book at Comic Con.  He did amazingly well speaking, and presenting himself.

Here is Brandon with his friend Jordan. They worked together on their comic book. We also bought Five Nights at Freddy's prints. It was pretty cool to see all the artists there.