This is the color guard and school band at the memorial day parade. Kristine is in the second row of the clarinets. A double click on the photo should get you a better look.
Can you believe this is Aunt Mary. It is a bad picture of her with her mouth open, but the only one I have of the day. She does not look old enough to be Robert's baby sister. She was the first female of her family born on this continent. Sharon is doing grandma duty for my niece and her friends in the band by holding extra music and purses.
It's hard to believe Gen has been gone 15 years. She showed all who knew her what it meant to be a Christian woman. For this I am grateful.
Robert at 92. Larry at 50. Robert translated code during WWII in the Pacific. This is one of the things that I embraced with Larry's family. The times I came of age in were anti-everything. Here is a family that quietly understands what patriotism is. Aunt Mary puts flags out for the veterans who have passed, with the ladies of the axillary. Her husband fought in the war so she can help. She buys 'poseys' at the dollar store for the graves. Any grave without someone to put 'poseys' on it gets them anyway.

The last Spring orchestra concert.

High school band buds after their last full orchestra concert. Cassie, Derek and Monica
Lauren standing and Paula in the forefront at the orchestra Spring concert.Katie and an unknown violinist at the concert.
The orchestra mistress, Ester, before the concert.

Megan's solo at the concert.

Regionals at Hale

This is Cassie and Matthew before her 3200 meter and after his 1600 meter.This is the line up from behind the starting line. Cassie is the last runner to the right.

Happy, happy Cassie. 2 miles in 14 minutes and 35 seconds. It is a new personal best for her. I missed the cartwheel and the happy dance with the camera.

The trampoline

My sister has a trampoline in front of the house that enjoys much use. On Sunday Cassie decided to bounce.

She was having so much fun that Phil decided to join her.

Kaitlyn's graduation celebration

Happy graduation Kaitlyn!!! One more Badger on the planet.
The day was great and the company was fun. Who would believe that we were dodging hail 3 days earlier.
Aunt Carol gets better all the time.
Larry started perfect.

Eisenhower Prom

This is Cassie almost done. Cathy helped her up to this point and I finished the job when I got home from work. We put flowers from the Hale Prom in her hair for this prom. Notice the sheet over the chair? We learned about glitter last week.
The prom committee requires all participants to travel on the bus to the prom site. They hired 7 buses this year. All were underwritten through community donations.
Here are Cassie and Matthew ready for their second prom. There was a program in the auditorium that had all who were going to prom walk across the stage with their dates while being introduced.
Cassie and Matthew walking on stage. Below is his best friend Sean and Megan as the couple just after Cassie and Matthew.
Today, May 18, was warm and sunny. My beloved Wisconsin weather.

May 17 softball game

This is me on the bench, on May 17, in the cold, watching Larry play softball. This is a Tom, a friend of ours who is new to the team. These are other bench warming softball fans.
This is Larry coaching 1st base.
This is Larry playing catcher.

Phil and Larry in the kitchen

Larry spent his day sorting food donations at a post office. He posed for me when he came home. Phil is baking for the hospitality at church for tomorrow. It is Mother's day. Infact, he is still baking. The menu is sandwich cookies with ground coffee beans, cardanom streusel and a macadamian nut bar.

The Piasini Sisters

It has been a busy day. Kathy's grandma was ill and all the women of her family have come to town to make sure she is on the mend. She brought along the two Piasini sisters. Jenny is almost as tall as Lorelei. Kristine is still shorter than me, for now. All 3 girl cousins have Gen's sweet nature even though Kristine never met her and the other two don't remember her. I hope to get better pics Memorial day.

Hale Prom 2007

Perfect day for prom. The upside is in the pics. The down side is the glitter from the dress leaves a trail that takes a bit to remove. I thought it would be a good idea to add spray on glitter to her hair and skin. Bad idea. If our goal is to improve the generation we raise beyond what we have accomplised... I anticipate the joy the next generation will bring to our world.

May 4, 2007

We went to a high school track meet today. Cassie did a personal best for 2 miles at 14:50. She was so happy when she found out that she did a cart wheel on the infield and did a few swing dance moves with Matthew. It is almost 10:00 and she is still bouncy. You will need to double click on the pics because I am not competent enough with photo shop to crop without Phil at my side. Cassie is in Hale green with white. Matthew is in mostly purple. This is one of the few meets they shared. They are in two different athletic conferences.

Busy Week

It has been a week of lasts.

Cassie got together with her old girl scout troop. It was designed as the last time before they went separate ways as adults. Some of the girls are going into the job market. Some are going to 2 and 4 year colleges. This is a great time of change and hope for the future.

Larry went to Newberry MI to say goodbye to Uncle George. Robert was not able to understand death and told the body in the casket to 'wake up'! George would have been 91 this month. Robert will be 92.

I sat in the auditorium one last time to listen to a Spring band concert. No pics. The camera was in Newberry. The freshman band members looked so young compared to my adult daughter in the advanced band. It is beyond my understanding how this talented musician on the oboe abused the violin.

This morning I made out my calendar for the next few months, and became teary eyed. There is one more concert with the orchestra. There are the proms. Of course, the graduation and a week and a half later she will be off to Louisiana for her last mission trip. Then in a blink she will be away at college. Ohhhh, here come the tears.

Larry came back today and he played the first church softball game of the season.