My Little Preschool Graduate

Last week was Emmaline's final week of preschool. The school year went fast that's for sure. Wednesday was her last "official" day at Miss Shirley's, and then on Thursday they had a preschool graduation. It was held at a park near school and there was a potluck lunch along with it. The weather was absolutely beautiful! A perfect day to be at the park! Miss Shirley goes all out for graduation and each of the kids got to wear a graduation cap and walk to get their "diploma." It was very very cute. Here's my little girl "graduating" from preschool.

 
Once all the kids walked to get their "diplomas," the teachers handed out their end of the year gifts.   Here's the whole class of graduates with their teachers.

After graduation we had the potluck lunch. Then the kids got to play for awhile. Here's Emmaline with a few of her friends- Chloe, Addison, and Sophia.

It's weird this week not having to go to Miss Shirley's. It was a fantastic year for Emmaline in preschool, and she's grown so much in her learning. She really is going to miss going to preschool, but is looking forward to kindergarten in the fall. I'm so glad we ended up sending her to Miss Shirley's. She loved it, and she had some wonderful teachers. Here's my little graduate with her three teachers- Miss Shirley, Miss Brie, and Miss Gail. Miss Brie came in the middle of the year and Miss Sallie (not pictured) left. We really missed Sallie the second half of the year.

Mother's Day Weekend!

Here I am again! Doesn't seem like almost a month since I've blogged, but just goes to show how busy I've been. I've got a few things I want to write about, but first I need to catch up on Mother's Day weekend. That week prior to Mother's Day, I spent getting ready for a garage sale, finishing up the last week of dance class, and the start of t-ball and baseball practice. It was a non-stop week! I always forget how much work setting up for a garage sale is. Not to mention I'm a little anal when it comes to organizing things on the table. I had my sale on that Thursday and Friday. My mom came to help me with the sale which was much appreciated. We had a pretty successful Thursday. Friday was really slow in the morning and we ended up doing most of our sales in an hour and a half time frame in the afternoon. We ended up closing early since it was slow. Plus I had to get the kids ready for our big busy weekend!

Mother's Day weekend also meant the end of dance. The kids had their big dance recital on that Saturday. Friday night they both had rehearsal and had to go in full costume and hair done. Evan was fast to get ready, he can do it all himself. Emmaline on the other hand had to have her hair in a bun, make up on, and help with her tights and costume. For rehearsal each class just did one run through. Both kids did a good job with their songs. The rehearsal ended up not taking as long as we expected which was nice after a two long days doing the garage sale. We anticipated a long evening, but got home at a decent time.

Saturday was the big day with dance recital. There were two shows, one at noon and another at 6pm. Of course the kids had to be there a little early for both. I ended up helping as a backstage mom for the first show. I got to hang out in the back with Em's class and some of the other little girls. I was able to watch both kids perform from the side of the stage for the first show. Emmaline's ballet class performed to "Beauty and the Beast." Evan's hip hop class performed to "Where The Girls At." Both kids did a great job! They brought tears to my eyes. So proud! I give them a lot of credit for getting on that stage for the first time in front of 500+ people and dancing their hearts out! While I was at recital, Greg went to Menards and bought some wood and built me a raised garden that I've been asking for. More on that to come!

After the first show we got to come home for awhile before heading back for the 6pm show. This was the show we got to watch from the audience. My mom, sister, Kaite, and Greg's mom, went with us to the show. I was so excited to get to watch it the second time around from the audience instead of the side of the stage. I was a little nervous leaving Emmaline in the back for so long, but I knew she would be in good hands with other mom's and classmates. Evan I knew would be fine hanging with the boys. Both did good of course and I got to go check on them at intermission. The performances we ten times better from the audience versus watching backstage. Emmaline performed first and then Evan was a few songs after her. Both kids did a fantastic job! It was so great to see all their hard work throughout the year of dance turn into such wonderful performances. They both melted my heart, and I was so so so proud of them once again! It was so awesome to see! The whole recital was great. All the classes did a good job! It was a long day for all of us, especially the kids. They made it through though and loved it! Here's my little dancers! So cute!

We ended the long busy week with a nice Mother's Day. We did a late breakfast at Hannah's with my mom, sister, and Kaite. Then they all headed home early afternoon, and we took it easy for the most part. Later on we went to dinner with Greg's mom. It was a busy few days, but well worth it to see the kiddos perform. I'm a little sad dance is over, but sort of glad since now we are in full swing with t-ball for Em and baseball for Evan. We're on the go once again with not much of a break until the end of June. Yes, I said the end of JUNE! Looking forward to the long weekend ahead!