Big Weekend

(picture above, my brother Mitchell's 19th birthday, yes that's me in curlers)

This weekend was a big weekend for our family. We left for Wisconsin on Friday. Saturday is when all the festivities began. My mom Jenny, graduated magna cum laude from University of Wisconsin Eau Claire with an art degree. All of her six children and three grandchildren got to see her walk across the stage and cheer her on, we are so proud of her.
Right after her graduation we ended up taking Lydia to the ER after a rash spread all over her face, turns out she has dermatitis. It's common and they treated it with hydrocortisone cream. I guess we are "those" parents. Oh well better safe than sorry.
On Sunday morning we all had a huge breakfast cooked up by my dad and then had a 19th birthday party for my brother Mitchell. The real excitement happened after church. We had to spin all kinds of lies to get my dad to leave church right away and then get him back there an hour later for his huge surprise retirement party. His students past and present, parents, friends and family worked for months to put on the surprise. And boy did we get him! He was shocked, humbled and overwhelmed by the 400 plus people that showed up! He's retiring from teaching Russian and Algebra for years at my Alma Mater Chippewa Falls Senior High School. When he retires the Russian program will also be ending. The paper and TV stations all did stories on him and the program ending.

So it was a really fun, eventful weekend and by the time we got back on Tuesday afternoon we were beat!

Rachel Pierce
(Picture above, my mom walking to her seat, picture below my dad getting a quilt with pictures of some of his students.)


(Picture above, folks gathering right before they surprised my dad, below is my brother Mitchell holding my daughter Lydia.)