Walker is "Star Student"

While in kindergarten, every student gets one week during the year where they get to share more information about themselves, get special things, and really just feel like a "star."  Walker's week was in November, and each day was something different.  On Monday, he brought in a poster board with pictures about all of the things he loves.

He laid them out and glued them all to the poster board.  Bennett helped him label each picture.  Then he brought it to school to share with his class, and hang it up for the week.

Tuesday, he had a mystery reader....Preston!  He was pleasantly surprised to have Pres come read a couple of books to his class. Walker even got to sit up close.

Wednesday, Walker was supposed to bring in something special to him, but they had a field trip that day.  It was his first field trip where they got to ride on bus.  Though he was looking forward to visiting the McWane Science Center, riding on the bus was definitely part of the excitement.  He was partnered with his buddy, Beckham Wilson, and his grandfather.  The two had a blast!

On Thursday, Steve surprised Walker with Chick-fil-A and they had lunch together.  And the week ended with Walker getting to bring in a movie to share with the class in the afternoon.  He chose the new Lion King movie.  He came home and reported that several of the kids cried (including himself) when Simba's dad died.  I guess he forgot that part from the original movie.

Glad our baby enjoyed his special week!  Kindergarten is such fun!

Veteran's Day at HMS

Every year Homewood Middle School puts on a special Veteran's Day program for local veterans who are friends and family members of students and/or faculty.  Only people who have a veteran present can attend the program.  This year with Bennett singing in the show choir, who performs at the event, we invited Papa to the event.

The school invited every veteran and guest to breakfast, and then to the program.  The 8th grade band, all show choir members, HMS principal and members of all local branches of the military were present.  It was very patriotic, and emotional.  The show choir sang each branch's song, and then introduced each guest individually based on their branch.  They walked forward to accept a flower, and then met up with their student/faculty tie and stood until all people were introduced.

We are so proud of our two veterans (and all the others out there).

Show Choir

After each branch was introduced, some of the officers there (while music was playing and show choir was singing) unfolded a flag, and displayed it.  Then it went quiet, while they showed everyone how to fold a flag, and told us the significance of each fold.  There is a reason for every fold, and it was very educational. and deliberate.

This was a very emotional presentation.

It was Papa's first Veteran's Day program, and I am hoping not his last.  It was a great program, and I loved watching Bennett's group sing, hearing the keynote speaker's story about Pearl Harbor, and learning about the folding of the flag.

Halloween

Todd Gurley, Ninja and VSCO girl

Every year as the children get older, we wonder what will change with the various holidays.  This Halloween, Bennett and Preston made their own plans to trick or treat with their own friends, and Steve and I had Walker all by himself.  It was going to be a cold night, so we all had to layer up.  I was able to get them all together that afternoon for a quick visit to Mimi and Papa's, and then we all went our separate ways.

Bennett was a VSCO girl (based on a app, she is somewhat grungy with Birkenstocks with socks, leggings, oversized sweatshirts, carried her hydroflask and wore lots of scrunchies on her wrists and hair).  She went out with friend, Ada McElroy around the neighborhood and then back to her house to trade candy with her siblings.

Preston was once again an athlete.  He just chooses a football jersey from his closet and pairs it with football pants (easy peasy).  He went out with two friends, Jackson Paulovich and Ty Mayo.  They all went old school and carried pillow cases, and my gosh....Preston just about filled his up!  He had a ball roaming the streets by the park, and was most excited about getting 5 full sized candy bars.

And then there was Walker....our little ninja.  We hit the Mayfair area this year, since it was so cold so we could be closer to home.  We were just getting started when we ran into one of his classmates.  So we trick or treated with him and his father most of the night.  After they peeled off, we hit one last street on our way home.  Walker's pumpkin was overflowing and we were all cold, so we called it.

Another fun night, that led to A LOT of candy!!

Sock Hop at SCE

Kindergarten is so much more fun than when I was a child.  For starters, the kindergarteners now are more advanced than when Steve and I were children.  I remember learning the letters of the alphabet, with different blow-up letters each week.  Nowadays, the children enter kindergarten knowing their letters, some sight words and number skills, some can even read!

Some of kids can already count, but they are teaching those that can't how to count to 100.  Walker can count by 5's, 10's and now 1's to 100.
He also knows all of his letters, their sounds, and about 30 sight words (3 months into the year).

But the highlight to kindergarten is all of the fun stuff, like the sock hop which celebrates the 50th day of school!  Walker was so excited, mainly for milkshakes, but I am proud of him for allowing me to do his hair differently than the typical combover he rocks proudly.

The boys in Walker's class

Cutest 50s boy around!

His gel didn't hold his comb back hair all day! :)

He was nervous what others would think, but was genuinely happy when he got to school and saw classmates dressed similarly to him.  Love my type A little man, and can't wait to see how the rest of this year pans out.

Homewood Witches Ride

Loved my red, white and blue wig!

This year I participated in the 6th annual Homewood Witches Ride with a group of friends.  We chose "Patriotic Witches" as our theme.  We had the Statue of Liberty, an American Flag, and the rest of us were just dressed in red, white and blue.  Like in years past, we hired a makeup artist to do our eye makeup, while the rest of us snacked and had a beverage or two.  We lined up at the beginning, so we could minimize our chances of wrecking with the crowds.  The added benefit of being at the start, is that we finish first so we can get a table at Little Donkey.

As always, I am so proud of friend, Janie Mayer, for her efforts of creating, planning and participating in this wonderful fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.  And cheers to our community for always coming out to support it.  I know our children LOVE the event.  They get to see all of the moms dressed up, riding bikes and they get candy.

Marianne Siegel

Loved seeing Maria - disco witch!

Lauren Tanner and Marianne Siegel

Lauren, Marianne and Janie Mayer

The BIG 90th Celebration!

Turning 90 isn't something that most people get to do, especially gracefully.  So when Steve's father approached his 90th birthday, we knew we needed to celebrate him!  Papa didn't want a big party, so Dan and Myra made plans to have all of the family up for a very nice dinner at The Club.  We had drinks, appetizers, ate dinner and sang happy birthday over a beautiful (and delicious) birthday cake!  It was a great and LATE evening, even on a school night.

The kids loved dressing up for the night!

Walker was pooped and couldn't make it all night.