Days with the Dorans

Let's face it~ I already have a gazillion pictures around my house of my amazing kids but the pics I like on my mantel are traditional school pictures and this was Joe's last one- (the top picture is his school ID after cross- kinda nice not to have to come home and shower before registering). And for those pictures, I wanted a suit and tie. Joe looked so handsome and the photographer went on and on about how photogenic he was and it took all of two seconds to get the pictures because he really is an easy kid to photograph. Of course the dog had to get in there too- I was thinking I should get pictures of him running, in band, in his varsity jacket- but then again, I already have all that (thanks to a mom who takes amazing pictures). So the only pictures I really ordered for my house, were these pictures! Well, one of them. I still can't remember which. I guess I should look on my mantel. I of course took another poll for opinions and the one that "won" was also J...

Joey and I had fun polling people to see what outfit he should wear for senior pictures. The photo session was expensive for us and I'm thinking we may go another route next year for Ali Jane, but it was fun- short and sweet and Joe got some fun shots. After all the posing, Joe and I went and had a yummy lunch and escaped just before the heavens opened into a HUGE rainstorm (which I got to drive home in). I loved having this time with just the two of us. As with everything, I think I'll cherish the memories even more than the pictures!

  This summer seems to be full of thinking about lasts. Joe and I had fun working on his senior band poster. I printed a ton of pictures and we fit a ton on the poster. Only the one with his name will be displayed for band but we have a second one for grad party time! Joe also drew pictures in his name.

  So I am a bit in shock and denial that my baby is ready for college visits. With Ali being so close in age we decided to bring her too so the four of us were off (leaving the littles and pups behind- that felt a bit weird). Joey has been really interested in WMU. We've told him we're cool with him doing community college or really anywhere. The only place he mentioned though was our alma mater (Jeff recently got all his blind stuff from WMU-although we met there he didn't graduate from there at that time...). It was a hot and humid day and we were off for a tour. I don't remember ever doing that but it was really neat. We were paired with a student tour-guide and learned all about WMU. Joe loved it. Campus has changed a ton since we went there (even since we were there last at Stew's wedding). Even Sangren (the education building) was torn down and rebuilt). There was construction going on while we were there. They're building a huge student union building and...