Cassie agreed to let me make her a prom dress. There was nothing in the area that fit the bill so we took a day trip to Vogue and this fabric caught her eye. It turned out well. The gold glitter is wonderful. The house looks great with the excess that flecked off all over. < :-)

The lilac dress at the end of these photos was the prom dress from last year.

April 26 Phil will turn 23. We will celebrate on the weekend when he can have a margarita with his meal. This is a downside of working nights.

The next few weeks will be very busy for Cassandra... and that means the rest of us transporting and attending.

There is an all city band concert at Central High School on the 26th, 7:00pm.

The Hale band concert is on May 2, 7:00pm.

The state solo ensemble is at Concordia College on May 5, sometime in the morning.

She kept asking the band director to chase down the English Horn the district owns to see if she wants to include the horn with her oboe skills. She brought it home today. As I type she is seeing what it can do. The range is that of my beloved viola.

May 11 we will go to a fashion show at Mount Mary College, my alma mater.

Hale prom is the 12th of May.

Eisenhower prom is the 18th of May.

There is a breather for finals and on June 12, 2007 there will be a 6:30 ceremony where Cassandra will graduate from high school.

The last picture of this series is Larry at the end of a running cool down. He is mellow and goofy.

Notice Phil's car.... no snow. Notice the grill.... no snow. The last snow was 12 days ago. Notice the green stuff on the bush and lawn. This proves the statement. 'If you don't like the weather, just stick around a few minutes.'

The first part of April, 2007

To the right is the second quilt top Cassie has designed of rec. department and cross country shirts. The first was made this last Summer.




























We had a snow storm on April 11, 2007. Phil provided the shots of his car and of the street from the upstairs porch. I do love Wisconsin in the Spring. Snow one day. Two days later we were waiting for the last of the snow to melt to cut the grass in the back yard.

Manitowac

Today Cassie and I took a daytrip to Manitowac. She scheduled her placement tests for Plattevile at the Mantowac UW campus. Somehow this makes sense.

I spent the time enjoying the day. There are no pictures. I wish I had taken the camera... but I never considered it. I did some shopping and went back to the campus before the tests were over and took a walk.

The campus is on Lake Michigan. There looks like there is a cross country route designed into the campus along with areas designated for wild flowers and a fenced in bat colony. I used a wheel chair ramp to go down to the lake. The shore is covered with these 1" clam-type shells that cracked and crunched wherever I walked. The lake was a darker and bluer version of the sand near the shore and eventually became it's familiar steel blue before it hit the horizon and the sky took over with it's blues and light spots of clouds.

I was surprised that there were people on the lake in what looked like row boats, fishing. One guy was leaning way over the side of his boat pulling something in. I wondered what would happen if the lake pulled back. I am more comfortable with the lake from the shore.

Today was a crisp Spring day. What a contrast from the blizzard I drove home through on Wednesday. The only signs of saw left of that late Spring surprise was the occasional snow bank and the flattened daffodiles that were in bloom when the storm hit. It was a beautiful day.

Decorating the welcome cake

Cassie co-hosted the hospitality table at church March 11. It was a new member Sunday. This called for a decorated cake. The pics are Cassie decorating her first cake.

It was tasty and we brought none home.

Today she had music competition. We expected a showing less than last year after the ugie care run we made on Wednesday.

Shock and surprise. Her duet class A received a first. Her solo received a first and a star. She is going to state for the second time!!! Wow!!. There are no pictures of this.

Blizzard 2007

Wisconsin Winter arrived, late. Yesterday morning Cassie and I cleared the snow. This morning Larry took care of last night's deposits. Note how efficiently Pick and Save takes care of snow. Note how efficiently West Allis took care of the snow overnight. Friday there was no snow on the ground. The snowbanks are from the last 48 hours. I love Winter in Wisconsin!!
Our 18 year old snow baby cleared what the city plows left behind on the end of the driveway and then began building her annual snow fort. The sleeping beauty is posing on the top of the rampart.
We use a snow removal system without a motor attached to it. See the scoop against the garage? See the husband with shovel in hand. Next year when Phil is graduated and Cassie is away at college we will have the guy who plows the driveway across the way include us on his schedule.

Yesterday was a very busy day. I hit the wall about the time Phil finished helping me post the pics. Now I have rested enough to add a little description to go with the grainy photos.

The day was a logistical challenge. We dropped Cassie off for the first band rehearsal at 8:00 am. They were sent their musical parts ahead of time to practice on their own and the day of the concert was the first time this band had been together. Her day was spent working toward the evening performance.

I went home to do the normal Saturday things.

Larry and I returned for the concert. The overall view of the band is always better from the balcony. We were not disappointed. I do not think there was a bad place in the chapel for hearing. Again, we were not disappointed.

The college band played first.... WOW. They were followed by the band made up of high school students. WOW, again. This was one of those moments when I think back to the first minutes of a tomato colored newborn of 18 years ago and the words from Larry were, "Look at those long delicate fingers. She's going to be a musician." He knew.