To Honor Your Sacrifice

I'm so far behind in my blogging!  But it's okay.  That just means I have plenty to say for a little while.  On Friday, November 11, 2011, it was Veteran's Day.  A very important day for us.  It's a day to celebrate those who risk their lives every day protecting our nation.  Every year, the fifth graders put on a program for the parents, and any of the veterans in their family.  This year, my oldest child is in fifth grade, so I threw everyone in the car, and we all went to watch Zach shine.  The program was an hour long.  YouTube won't let me put a video on their sight that lasts longer than fifteen minutes, so I did my best to condense what I filmed for you.  I had to cut out a lot!  It was really hard!  I mean, how do you condense American History down to fifteen minutes!? 
Also, I forgot my tripod that night, so I stood in the back, holding that freaking camera for an hour.  Unfortunately, as a result, twenty minutes into filming, my hand started to shake uncontrollably at times.  I tried to steady the camera with my other hand at times, but it didn't work.  I apologize for the shotty camera work.
For the program this year, they asked each child to write a line about one of their ancestors who participated in a big event such as coming overseas to America as a pilgrim, or the pioneers or World War II, or things like that.  They had a whole list.  I had Zach call my mom because my grandfather was in the Navy during World War II.  I didn't really understand what it was for, but during this program some of the children got up and spoke in the first person about their ancestor.  I didn't have enough time to put all of them on this video, but when you see a child talking in first person about someone who participated in a piece of history, that is their ancestor.  I just cut them off before they could say their own name.  The last two are about veterans who are still living, so I left the veteran's name off as well.  I don't know if it will really protect them or not, but I figure most parents would appreciate that.  I didn't ask them before I posted this after all.
Like I said.  This is only fifteen minutes, so if you would like to see the entire hour-long program, let me know and I will burn you a DVD.  Unless you are a stranger and I have no idea who you are.  Then you are just out of luck.  Enjoy!

What a bunch of cuties!  

Oh, and one more thing I almost forgot.  Zach told me his favorite part of the program was when they sang the songs for the branches of service in our armed forces.  The girl asks the veterans to stand when they hear their song, and so I was trying to get them on camera to honor them as well, but most of the time, they sat down too quickly.  That is the one part that did not get cut to shreds.

Hooray for our veterans!  Zachary  got to sing the Navy's song, and it got me all misty-eyed!  We also have a veteran who was in the Air Force who is no longer with us as well.  Kurtis' dad.  We will miss them, and look forward to seeing them again.