The Graduate

Aunt Kristin drove all the way from Austin for the graduation

Our family of 5 with the graduate

Handsome in his coat and tie

2 Weeks ago, my baby boy graduated from preschool. Seems hard to believe! Just the other day, I was dropping him off for his first day of MDO. When I picked him up at lunch that day, he casually reported to me that, "Those kids have beds in there." He was referring to all of the nap mats being set up for an afternoon nap. The fall of 2008 was the first time he went to school and he's loved it since day 1. What more could you ask?

All of his teachers- his 2 year old class teachers Ms. Missy and Ms. Tobi. His 3 year old teachers- Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Amy... his 4 year old teachers- Ms. Beverly and Ms. Pat... have ALL been incredible and precious to our little boy. They have loved on him, been silly and fun, taught him lots of things that will carry him far, have encouraged his spiritual growth, strengthened his character and just been so sweet and wonderful. He has always begged to go to school more, so I know he has had an incredible experience. I am so grateful!

Off we head to kinder- those of you with little ones take note that it really is a blink of an eye. I feel way to young myself to have a child in kindergarten and much less to be on the PTO Board next year- I mean seriously? Words like carpool, PTO and homework are about to enter into our everyday vocabulary and will be there for many years to come.

We are relishing the days of summer so far. Lots of trips to the pool, the zoo, the train, out to lunch with friends, the library for story time and checking out books, water balloons and slip n slides in the backyard, playtime with friends and neighbors and just lazy, unscheduled days. We are looking forward to a couple of planned activities over the next several weeks but will enjoy our open and free time just as much.

A couple of stories that come to mind when I think of his time at Weekday School:
** I was told he had a conscience of steel. One day on the playground he came running to tell his teachers he had thrown sand and they hadn't even seen him do it. It was all they could do not to laugh.
**His 3 year old teacher, Ms. Amy, loved to call him Jonesey in her cute little accent. Hunter still blushed when he hears someone call him Jonesey!
**Ms. Beverly was very busy one day when Hunter approached her. She replied, "I can't do that right now Hunter. I'm already doing 14 things at once." To which he replied, "Wow, my mom can only do ONE thing at a time!" Ha!!
**Loved to go to Coach Kayla's motor movement! He also loved to come home and play motor movement at home with his whistle.
**Was running one day when my aunt Nancy (also a teacher at school) said, "Why don't you get some water. You are out of breath." Hunter drank from the water fountain and then told her, "I'm in breath now."
**LOVED getting warm fuzzies in the 4 year old class and would report to me which kind he picked out every day. It was a big deal to my little hoarder over here.
**Was Joseph in the school Christmas program and did SO well. We were so proud.
**Told the graduation audience that he wants to be a firefighter when he is older and that his favorite thing about school was getting fuzzies. (See, I told you!)
**Wanted to be dropped off in carpool line from the get-go. Loves to be independent.
**Was meticulous in his work and handwriting. His papers were always colored very neatly and he took lots of pride in his work.

There is so much more to recall about his 3 years there but not enough time.