FINAL FOUR!!!

Ben and Alex have worn their 2009 Final Four shirts to school Friday and to church and during the game today. It made me very nervous---because I was afraid they were getting a little ahead of our dear Spartans---but, I guess not!
We are all so excited about MSU going to the Final Four! It's a good thing we get a few days to calm down because Friday night and this afternoon took a lot out of everyone!
There is a thought with some Kakelas that Saturdays game will be lucky because it is Lilly's 10th birthday. We shall see ;).
Go Green!

Bye Bye Birdie

The last East Lansing High School play for John to work on crew closed today. He has really enjoyed his work on the tech crew and the friends he met on the various plays he worked on during high school. We are very proud of him and the work he did on each play. This last one was Bye Bye Birdie. He was the "sound tech guy", and I think that was his favorite role ever! Congratulations, John! You did a great job and we all enjoyed coming to the plays you worked on each year!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here are pictures of my various darling shamrocks! We had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day. The kids had a half-day of school (conferences. Jeanine was home from D.C. for Spring Break so she and her family joined us for dinner along with Tonya and Abbie, Ryan and Addison. We had a great day and the weather was beautiful and sunny---more than likely why I think of it a such a wonderful holiday. Any sunny day in March in Michigan is a holiday!

March Madness!

We not only have to watch every basketball game on TV, some of us have to get back to the driveway hoops the minute the snow drifts start to melt! The "outside" basketballs are all pumped up and they are ready to go!
We are all enjoying watching our Spartans---and lots of other teams, too!

Alex & Ben at the First Grade Bake Sale Jane's Play

Alex and Ben and their class had a two day bake sale for their unit on economics. They all had a blast and made lots of money to send to Haiti. Good job guys!

Jane's class performed Hansel and Gretel Learn to Eat Healthy. Jane was the Mother of Hansel and Gretel. She loved being on stage and was happy to have NO lines to remember, but singing together with her friends. She did a great job and we loved watching and listening to her!

Birthday Boy!

I'm just getting around to posting pictures of the Birthday Boy. The sweatshirt he's wearing arrived that day from Jo-Jo and he wasted no time putting it on! I think he had a good birthday---we've seen very little of him since that day --- he's pretty busy.

Happy 18th Birthday, John!

Somehow 18 years just flew by and today John is THAT old. Since I can only partially remember my life without him, I guess that makes sense, but, WOW!
Anyway, enough about ME, even though it is MY blog, Happy, Happy Birthday, my sweet sweet baby boy...you are the love of my life and being your Mom has been a highlight in my life!
I can't wait to see what the next 18 years of your life will bring!

Big Spectator Day!

We had so many sports to watch yesterday that the kids wore their MSU shirts to church! There just wasn't any time to change in between the MSU Women's "senior" day game, getting home to watch the MSU men's game and the Olympic Hockey game at the same time---we were all very exhausted by the end of the day!!!
Both MSU teams won and we were thrilled for the Hockey team and the way they played, but we got nothing else done yesterday!

Crafty Snow Day

Meghan and Matt gave these great piggy banks to the kids for Christmas that came with paint and brushes,etc. I pulled them out last week on our snow day and they had so much fun painting them and sitting together talking about the snow and missing school..it was great! And the banks turned out really cute, too!

Election Day!

Since December, our dear friend, Mrs. Reinmann, has been running in a 4-way special election for county commission in our district in East Lansing. It was a very fun campaign and election for all of us and our family enjoyed many aspects her race. While Lee didn't win the election we are all extremely proud of her run and more importantly, proud to know her and call her friend.
All of our kids were involved in one way or another. Pasha voted for the first time---and I was moved to tears as he signed in and I "illegally" took his picture.
John and Pasha and their friends campaigned at the polls until dark. They also spent time putting out yardsigns on week-ends. It was really fun to see all these 'budding' activists...

Whitehills Science Fair

The Whitehills Science Fair had been postponed twice because of weather and snowdays. It was held last Tuesday night and we all went to see the fabulous projects the fifth and sixth graders have been working on for weeks. The other highlight of the evening was the bake sale in the cafe...Nolan and Alex were VERY happy to go there!!! Great job Abbie, Ryan, Aidan and Nolan! You made us all proud with your projects!