Tuesday was a day that will be hard to top for the Tschetter family in Pella.

Seventh grader Hannah and fourth grader Evan each received a big surprise during class on an otherwise regular day of school.

Chief Warrant Officer Jared Tschetter with the U.S. Army just finished a nine-month deployment overseas. Jared stopped by Pella Middle School and Jefferson Intermediate to surprise his children in front of classmates and teachers.

“I just got back in town early this morning,” Jared says. “The fun part was walking in on them with them not expecting me not to be back for another week or two.”

Hannah and Evan were told by their grandparents he wouldn’t be back for a few weeks, but both are glad to have dad home.

“It just really hit me right in the heart and last night I was like ‘oh, I just can’t wait, it’s just going to be a really long few weeks,” Hannah said. “But then you see him and you haven’t seen him for a long time, and it was just…woah.”

“I was just, ‘ok I’m in math class now, gotta get this over with so I can get to lunch,” Evan recalls. “But then I was surprised.”

“I was like ‘dad, you’re here!’”

Officer Tschetter is spending the rest of the day with his family, and he get to will do so for the foreseeable future, as he’s now back in the reserve. Jared’s mother set up the surprise visits at both schools with administrators.