School's Out For the Summer!

Whew!  Where has this past school year gone?  I do not recall any 9 months flying by so fast in all my life. 

Before we could officially call it quits for the summer we had a few special programs to attend.  First was Cooper's preschool "graduation".  Even though we have decided that Cooper will spend one more year at Crossroads we decided to have him participate in the end of the year program and celebrate moving from the Bumble Bee room to the Dragon Flies. 

We enjoyed a program full of praise songs,  skits and a few funny antics from the kids.  Thankfully none of those were from my kid!

 Cooper received his certificate from his wonderful teacher, Miss Hilary.  This was Hilary's first class and she did such a wonderful job.  

 I love the big smile on his face while he laughs with his friends. 

 Ms. Bev (otherwise known as Ms. Beb) is one of Cooper's favorite teachers.  She has such a sweet heart and is so good to our little guy even though he sometimes forgets to bring a hug for her.

Cooper and Ms. Hilary

If you page back many years to McKenna's preschool graduation you will find two vaguely similar looking children standing in the exact same spot.  My how fast all the years have gone.

A few days before school closed for the year I spent an afternoon in McKenna's classroom serving goodies.  And I do mean "goodies".  The kids in Ms. Madara's class had earned money for various things throughout the year.  As a reward they got to "spend" their money at the end of the year celebration.  There was a menu to order from which included ice cream sundaes or baked goods (or both if you had enough money!).  Or you could opt to spend your money on a small prize like a beach ball or bubbles.  The other nice touch was that kids who had earned over $2.00 were allowed to invite a guest from another class to share in the celebration.  It was such a great way to teach the kids money management and we all had a special afternoon.   McKenna is going to miss Ms. Madara's classroom.

And now for the moment we've all been waiting for (okay, maybe I speak for myself but I love to compare the pictures from the beginning to end of the year.

 Cooper's first day of preschool August 25th, 2011

And the last day....May 31, 2012

 McKenna's first day of second grade.

 And the last day of second grade - June 1, 2012.  Please Lord tell me that she is not going to mature this much every single year!

I can't decide if this is the same kid!

And just in case you forgot...Kinley now....

And Kinley sleeping through the first day of school having been born just over 24 hours before hand.
It has certainly been a growing year for our family in many, many ways.  It was my first school year at home and our first year as a family of 5.  We have enjoyed so many special memories and the kids have all grown and matured beyond words.    We have been blessed but as I've said time and time again - if we could just slow this train down a bit!