the last day of pre-school

Today was the last day of pre-school. Since the graduation ceremony is this weekend, they had a mandatory dress rehearsal yesterday. This meant, even though it wasn't his scheduled day, Carl got to go. So did all of his friends who usually only attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays. After their rehearsal, they had a cook-out! No parents invited! Hot dogs, watermelon, potato chips! Ice cream! A pinata!

So, the moms were all gathering around 12:55 like we do for 1:00 pick-up. No kids. We could see them on the playground, but they weren't lining up. Then, one of the teachers came over and said the party was running over and we were welcome to join them. But, none of us did. Several of us had our cameras and were waiting to snap a picture as the class filed out for the very last time. So, for the very last time, we got to stand around and visit, too. We already have play dates planned, but you know how those go - it won't end up being all the kids there.

Since everyone was there, we decided this would be a nice time to give the teachers the gifts that they whole class made for them. We met in the park one afternoon and the kids painted hand prints onto an umbrella with fabric paint. Then, after washing their hands - they got to write their names on the umbrella with a marker! The finished umbrellas were adorable!

Photos from the day we made them:

The teachers loved them - and we had all the kids pile over to take a group photo. It is the only one from the year with all 14 kids in it. When they had their school photos done, they do a class photo, but not a group shot. They do one of those head shot composite things. Nice for older kids, not so much fun for pre-schoolers. I like piles of kids or babies. And I have experience getting 15 kids to at least look up, hopefully all somewhat smile. At the last camera club meeting, a photographer was mentioned who said that children's photography is very similar to wildlife photography. True. Often more like alligator wildlife, not cute fuzzy duckling wildlife.

The shot came out cute! I won't post it here because I did not ask the other parents for permission to put their child's face online. But, hell - I'll show you my kids...

This was earlier in the day. At drop-off. The last pre-school drop-off ever. I will admit, I am more excited about this than sad. I know it has some bittersweet qualities to it, but honestly, my kids are so ready for the next chapter in their lives. They are craving new challenges and I am very confident that kindergarten is going to present them with all the challenges they could ask for!

Why did I pick this location for a photo? (photo below) Well, because pre-school is in a day care that is in a church. Parents have been asked to park behind the church building for drop off because the other side is on street parking and not safe. Not all parents follow the rule, but most do. Now, on this back side of church, most of the spots are marked as handicapped spots, but the signs actually read "Sundays and Wednesdays only". And, we were all informed that the Wednesday portion is a night time prayer group. We were given permission to park in them every day for drop off and pick up. The closets spot's sign reads "loading/unloading" and that is the one they like to park in.

"You are just unloading us, Mom?" "Yes, I am. Now, grab your lunch box."

So, it seemed like a good place for a last day of school photo. Our last unloading at pre-school.

age 5 1/2 years exactly: