College Graduation

I was quite overwhelmed on the day of Matt's graduation. It's the day that every parent dreams of. All the hard work (by both parent and student) has finally paid off. It seems like when the kids are young things take forever. In looking back time just flew by. It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating his high school graduation, and here we are marking yet another milestone. I feel like Dan and I have done our jobs and raised a fine upstanding young man.
The weather was a concern all day. Luckily it held off for the outdoor ceremony. I have to say Tom Izzo, the guest speaker, was awesome. His message was perfect for not only the graduates but all present.
There is a bit of a sad note though. One of the graduates was wheeled into the proceedings by his father. When we asked Matt about that, he said that the young man had developed cancer. When he got his diploma the entire graduating class gave him a standing ovation. It was quite touching to witness. Sadly we found out he lost his battle with cancer 6 short days after graduation.

Family gathering

We were lucky enough to have almost the entire Roden Family -less June and Gwen :( in Michigan to help celebrate Matt's graduation and Paige's first communion. We had a wonderful time. As always we had way too much food.
The high point of the night came when Sarah and Patty pranked Matt. Matt had already left for the night. It was around 10 pm or so when they decided to call Matt and pretend Patty was from the Registrars Office informing him that he had a balance on his account and would not be able to participate in Sunday's festivities.

Needless to say the first thing Matt did when he hung up was dial Mom. I let him rant and rave for a minute or two before handing the phone to Patty who proceeded to say, "You've been Punked." I only wish we had video taped it. Not only did we all get a good laugh, all of Matt's friends at Adrian got a laugh as well.

Grade 16

We went down to Adrian today with the truck to get some of Matt's bigger things to bring home. He is done with all his classes and officially graduates on Sunday Summa Cum Laude. I had to look up the spelling for this posting and found out that Summa Cum Laude translates to with highest honors or with highest praise. Dan and I are both very proud of what Matt has accomplished.





We took Daisy with us to get a couple pictures of the two of them with the Adrian College mascot - the bulldog. You may notice that Daisy and the AC mascot share the same overbite. Got to love it.

Order in the court

A few months ago, Matt got a questionnaire in the mail from US Federal District Court. He filled out the forms and sent it back. We hadn't heard anything, so we assumed he wasn't picked for jury duty. Yesterday he got his notice. He needs to report to District Federal Court in Kalamazoo in May (around the 17th).

He's very excited. I don't know if he's excited about being a part of the judiciary process or the $40.00 a day they pay.

Driving Miss Daisy

Daisy absolutely LOVES to be in Dan's truck. She usually sits in the passenger seat straining her neck to see over the dashboard. Whenever Dan gets home she refuses to come out. She sometimes will stay in their for hours laying down soaking up the sun. I took this picture when the boys were working on the new deck. The weather was gorgeous and Daisy spend the entire afternoon lounging in the truck while the men toiled away.

Spring Break project

Dan and I are off this week and Dan has started his first outdoor project of the season. We are bumping out our back porch and turning it into a huge deck. The reasons are two fold. First, the porch in its present state is too small to enjoy. Second, the addition will encase the hot tub from the neighbor's view.

Matt and Nate were home this weekend, and the three English men enjoyed some male bonding while working with power tools. Two favorites were the power post hole digger and the sod cutter. Both saved tons of time.

Happy Easter

We celebrated Easter in Hillsdale. We had lamb, potatoes, asparagus, corn, rolls, that kielbasa and egg dish (I'm not even going to try to spell it), tons of appetizers and way too many desserts.

The weather was great. I can't remember the last time we did the egg hunt outside. Megan and Paige thought it was SO cool that they were able to go in the hot tub and run around the yard in their bathing suits. Sarah even took a dip.

It's always nice getting together with the family-everything is always so relaxed. I think that this day can be classified as a success.