THE Last Day!

The last day of school was wonderful and emotional and everything that I knew it would be. We got our donuts as usual and then headed over to class. The kiddos had a movie party and watched "Finding Nemo" with popcorn for everyone! They got to skip naps for this, so it was a very special day. :-) They sent us home with treat bags and all kinds of goodies and frankly, I am still in shock that it is seriously all over. How did this year go by so quickly?!? Colin said his goodbyes and then as we were walking down the hall, he let go of my hand and ran back to his room. He jumped into Miss Gina's arms to give her another hug and I thought I was going to cry my eyes out right there on the spot. I stood in that same spot in the hallway crying on the first day, so worried and upset over my crying baby who didn't want me to leave. I can't believe how far we have come!! I am just overwhelmed with love for those teachers and everything they have done for my little guy. What a perfect last moment!

Colin and Miss Keli

Miss Keli, Colin and Miss Gina!
We are going to miss them SO MUCH!!

School's Out for Summer!

I am working on THREE posts at the moment...they are all works in progress. There is so much to talk about! I have put the other posts to the side for the moment in order to post this VERY IMPORTANT message: Colin made it through his ENTIRE first year of preschool!! He did it!! We did it! We are all still alive!! :-)

This is Colin's last week of school and I just picked up him. He had a little package to give me that included a t-shirt that he made with his hand prints on it and a giant book of all the letters and numbers and drawings that he has worked on all year. On top of that, he got his "Me Book", which is basically a scrapbook filled with pictures and memories for each child that the teachers put together. Colin's is SO CUTE and the whole thing just overwhelmed me. I cannot believe that his first year is over. He has come so far and so much has changed. I knew that going to preschool would be helpful for Colin but I had no idea the leaps and bounds he would progress. He has turned into such a little boy this year and hardly resembles the little guy that I sent off on the first day. He had to be physically removed from me for the first month or so and now he happily runs into school everyday. He loves his teachers so much and they were our gift from God this year, for sure. They have had infinite patience and love for my little man. He is so much more confident now and absolutely loves anything to do with learning. He has made a classroom full of friends and talks about all of them constantly...telling me about what funny things they said to each other and who got in trouble. ;-) When school first started, he refused to tell me anything about his day, but now he talks constantly about it. He has done such a wonderful job this year and I could not be prouder of him!!

This is one of the pages in his book...the whole thing is FULL of pictures from the whole year. I just LOVE IT! Colin is with his best friend Keaton in every picture on this page and the one on the right is my favorite! That is Colin with his arm around Keaton, Presley and McKenna. Those are the 3 kids that he talks the most about and there they are together on the playground. I love that he honestly made a group of real friends! I am sad that they have to say goodbye on Thursday...I think I have 15 more of these "last days of school"...lord help me!

The little bundle we picked up at school: The "Me Book", the book of Colin's school work and his new t-shirt.
We are looking forward to summer now and all the pools and fun in our future! Can you believe that I made it Colin made it through this whole year?! ;-) Here are a few memories that I want to record for my little man:

*You attend school on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-2. Your teachers are Miss Gina and Miss Keli. You have several teachers around the building who know you and call you by name when we pass them in the halls. You seem to have made friends with all of them, despite not being in their classes! Everyone loves you!

*Your best friends are Keaton, McKenna, Presley, Jackson and Caleb. You talk about them all the time.

*Your favorite activities have always been chapel, story time and playing outside. You have chapel every Tuesday and your favorite thing in the world is when all the students chant "AMEN" at the end. You seriously talk about this all the time. :-)

*Your teachers fill out a form that we get at the end of each day and you have NEVER gotten a bad report. Or even a sad or just so-so report. You have gotten a glowing report each and every day. This amazed me so much that I asked about it mid-year, wondering if they were sugar coating things for me. They laughed and assured me that they were totally accurate...you are just a very good and caring boy! I am so proud of this, Colin!

*You love "show and tell" on Thursdays and are always very serious about picking out something good to take for the theme of the week.

*We stop for donuts before school every morning. The donut shop is right around the corner from our house and down the street from school. We leave the house at 8:30am so that we have time to eat together first. The lady who owns the shop knows you very well now and you make silly faces together all the time. You always pick out a juice box when we first walk in the door and then run straight up to the glass to pick your donut. You always get one chocolate covered and one vanilla sprinkled, although you make a big show of "picking". :-) You only eat the toppings and literally leave the rest of the donut. In the last few months, you have added kolaches to the mix, but you make me throw out the wrapping and only eat the sausage. The high school is down the street and you love to watch all the teenagers come in for donuts while we eat. Our school mornings are such a wonderful memory for me!