We feel very fortunate and blessed to have Grandpa N aka my father in law in the family. He's a very spry World War II veteran. He spent most of his time in training and mainland defense during the war. He was just out of high school when he enlisted. He was headed to the invasion of Japan when the war ended. Boy are we glad he didn't get there. Had he gone to Japan, I probably would not be married to his son because he would not have a son nor would I have any of the amazing kids I have today because he likely would have been a casualty of war.
He has visited our school before. A couple years ago he spoke in T's kindergarten class. This year he was invited back by the same teacher except it was for S. When T's second grade teacher caught wind he was going to be there she asked him to stop by her class, too. He did a great job with the kids. He brought his dog tags and explained how he came home with two. If he was killed one was removed and one was left with the body. Again, boy are we glad he still has 2 parts to his tags. At almost ninety years old he's quite active and spry albeit very hard of hearing. He worked in artillery and shot of lot of things during his time in the army without much ear protection.
The kids were quite proud of him. He led the kindergarten class to the pledge of allegiance and taught the kids the proper way to salute. He spent some time with the second graders who simply could not grasp why we would be at war with Japan. When Grandpa N was a boy he lived across the street from a Civil War veteran. I think the generation gap between Grandpa N and T's classmates is kind of like that. I cannot even conceive of why we would be fighting our fellow Americans.
What an amazing day at the school! The kindergartners made metals to give him. Such an honor to be with him during such a special day. We are grateful to him and all our other service people who keep our great nation safe.
I had one of the best Halloween's to date. It was just super simple and wonderful.
The kids walked the neighborhood showing off their costumes, my family stopped by with treats for the kids, Grandma and Grandpa N answered the door while we were out, then we went to visit someone special who was home alone (aka our favorite kindergarten teacher).
I dressed up both the day before Halloween participating in a Dr. Who theme being the ultimate villain and then joined my baby daughter being a Cookie Monster the following day. S was a cheetah cat and T was Steve from Mine craft. Glorious day and time!
There are just a ton of photos and not necessarily in the best order. She loves Sesame Street and so that was the theme that I had to go with. We decorated the house in 2s and Rs. I had kiddos color Sesame Street print pages. Ms. K made the Cookie Monster and Elmo cupcakes. Ms. B made the pumpkins. She also made some amazing decorations that I totally spaced and forgot to put up but now they are permanent decorations in her bedroom which is being transformed from Frozen (THANK GOODNESS!!!) to Sesame Street.
All the guests signed her "Just One You" book. We played toss the cookies into Cookie Monster - my sister made this. We also played Sesame Street memory and made Cookie and Elmo puppets. I made some blue punch with duckies to represent Ernie's ducky punch. Food was tacos. Birthday girl wore the same dress she wore on Halloween. Favors were "Cookie's Cookies" and Elmo's crayons and goldfish. The wall coverings of the Sesame Street characters were a big hit with the birthday girl. She now has them hanging in her room.
It was very special for my littlest to be surrounded by her favorite people on her special day.
