Veterans Day

David and Mary's school has a Veterans Day parade and assembly every year.  Children are encouraged to invite a veteran, and they can march in the parade with "their veteran."  So David and Mary and their cousin Evan all got to march in the parade with Greg.

(Marching in Veterans Day parades is not really Greg's thing.  In fact, I think he was looking forward to not wearing a uniform that day since he didn't have to work.  But he was a super good sport about it--and he was proud to walk with his children and nephew.)

Greg with the First Grade Cousins, Evan and Mary.
(They aren't in the same class, but their classrooms are right next door.)

The cousins with "their veteran."

The Major with his baby.

Time to line up for the parade.

The proud group heads out for the parade.

The halls were lined with students and teachers waving flags and cheering.

After the parade, everyone congregated in the gym for a short assembly.
Social butterfly Mary ditched her dad to sit with her class on the bleachers.  

Sweet Evan stayed and sat with me and Greg and Sara.  

Meanwhile, David had a special reserved front row seat since he was in the program! 

 A student from each grade was chosen to share something at the assembly.

David read a thank you letter he had written to all the veterans.

He did a great job!  (He had no nerves at all--even in front of all those people!) 

Meanwhile, Sara was melting down...so Daddy to the rescue!
 I think that baby has spent half of her life so far sleeping in the crook of her father's arm.

David is very proud of his dad.

Afterwards, Greg visited Mary's classroom to talk about what he does when he deploys as a civil engineer.  (Mary had already told the class that he build toilets, and he confirmed this, to their delight.)

Greg also visited David's class.  David did a great job introducing his dad.

It turned out to be a very special and timely day for our family.  By the time Veterans Day came, David and Mary knew that their dad would be deploying.  The school's celebration gave them the opportunity to feel proud of their dad--and see that lots of people our thankful for our family's sacrifice.  I am thankful David and Mary were able to feel special.

Back to school

Hooray for back to school!  (But I admit that I cried when I put David on the bus.  I believe I did not cry when he started kindergarten. I guess it was the emotion of starting over at a new school.)

David's first day was Tuesday, but we got more pictures on Thursday, which was Mary's first day.  (They are attending the same school--the first graders start a couple of days later.)  David and Mary are excited about riding the bus, and, as you can see, have already made some new friends.  No nerves, lots of confidence.  I have some amazing, resilient kids.

Mary's Awesome Fantastic Show and Other Montessori Mary Awesomeness

Mary's grandparents happened to be in town for this--

What luck!!  Each year Anna's Extended Day class learns a number of songs, dances, and plays which they perform at the end of the school year.  It's an entire hour of entertainment by one class!

(Extended Day is the Montessori equivalent of kindergarten.  The children spend the morning with the 3-4 year-olds.  Before lunch the younger kids go home, and the 5-6 year-olds stay for the whole day.  They solidify their individual reading, writing, and math skills; take on additional responsibilities in the classroom; continue to work on geography, science, music, painting, and sewing; go on outings; undertake class projects like cooking together or preparing for this performance; research various topics together or individually; and build friendships.  It's such an amazing and special year.)

Mary and her friend Nora named this year's performance "Fantastic Show!"  They all worked together on the invitation.  (Mary drew the little scene at the bottom left side--it's of the Jumping Beans play with her as the housekeeper with a kerchief on her head.)

Greg, David, Grammy, and Grandpa Steve attended the show on Friday.  Then Grandma Evie, Grandpa Mike, Sara, and I attended the show (and ice cream social) on Monday.  It was fantastic!!  Really, it was remarkable.  I was stunned.  They performed so many plays and sang so many songs and did a variety of dances from around the world!

I rarely video record much.  A few snippets here and there.  But this I really, really, really wish I had recorded the entire thing, start to finish (with a high quality camera) because it was so amazing and joyful.  Sigh. I do have a video of Mary starring in the Jumping Beans play HERE, "Fried Ham" HERE, a clip from a silly "Singing in the Rain" song HERE, and a clip from "Move to the Groove" HERE.

Best of all (for this momma), was that Mary shone.  She simply shone!  She was entirely in her element performing and serving as a leader of the class.  I was blown away.  I think my jaw was on the floor.  (And tears were definitely in my eyes.)  I knew Mary was happy (very happy) at school.  But I had underestimated the extent to which Mary was excelling and the amount of confidence and leadership she developed.  It was like I was seeing the REAL Mary.  The reserved, uneasy Mary was nowhere to be found.

After Monday's performance, we all celebrated with an ice cream social.  Mary loved being with her friends.  It was a love fest among the kindergarten girls!  Meanwhile, numerous people came up to me and commented on what a great dancer Mary is.  None of the video clips do it justice, but, trust me, that girl can DANCE.  And I had no idea!  Sure, I knew she could follow directions in ballet.  But, like I said earlier, my jaw was on the floor when I saw her really performing.  (Is this bragging?  It's not meant to be.  But when I am blown away by the awesomeness of my offspring, I have to write it down!  Perhaps I should stop being so surprised by their awesomeness.)

I was sure to get pictures of Mary with her teacher and assistant.  Mary was with them for three years.  What a special bond she has with them.

Mary and Kim W the class assistant.  Kim lovingly cared for Mary for three years.

Mary and her teacher Anna.  What a gift for teaching Anna has.  She is amazing.  She saw Mary for who she is, and Mary simply blossomed with Anna's love, experience, and nurturing.

It was an emotional afternoon for me.  I think I cried the whole time.  Call me crazy, but I really believe God led us to that school and that Anna needed to be in Mary's life. It's difficult to see something that has been so amazing for your child coming to an end.   It's especially difficult since we decided not to send Mary to a Montessori school next year.  (I know she will be fine, even excel, in a traditional school.  She will even shine--in that quiet, teacher's-pet, perfection kind of way.  But will she really shine?)

Since we are on this Montessori school subject, and I'm not sure I can emotionally handle revisiting it again in another post, I am going to go ahead and post the pictures from Mary's final Go-to-School-Night.  It happened back at the beginning of May. Greg and I had to split up that night, since we had a busy evening.  But since I had opportunities throughout the year to observe and help in Mary's class, I sent Greg with Mary.  He took these pictures.

Mary works on drawing and labeling a bird.  

Wherever Mary is, her best friend Brooke is too.  Those two are inseparable!
 (Brooke is working on tracing and coloring metal insets.)

Mary works on her cursive. 

Mary works on math with the bead frame.  She is able to work with really large numbers this way.

Anna checks in with Mary.  She gives her a little reminder when Mary gets stuck.

This girl loves her work!

A final word on Mary awesomeness--and, don't worry, this isn't about school.  Most of the weekend was centered on David.  It was David, David, David all weekend long.  But she was a real trooper.  She was definitely a little jealous of the book we made for David.  And, even though she was trying really hard to be strong, she did shed a few tears after David's baptism.  She said she wanted to be baptized now--but they were sweet, sincere tears.  But over all, she really hung in there.  She was excited for David and supportive of him.  She was helpful and happy.  I know she drives him crazy, but he is very blessed to have Mary as his sister.  I also have to give another shout out to all the grandparents for coming!  With everyone here, there was always someone available to make Mary feel special.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to you all for coming.  It might have been Mary who needed you here even more than David.