Continuing the Journey

Carson's Preschool Graduation...

Shame on me...the Little Man graduated from preschool two weeks ago and I never blogged about it! Bad Mommy!!

(For the record, Meggie HIGHLY resents that he has already had a graduation ceremony. She has attended four different schools and has yet to don a mortarboard and file into an auditorium to the sounds of "Pomp and Circumstance." LOL!)

Let's start at the beginning...
...the first day of this school year, with his teacher Peggy Sue. (Remember, he called her "Piggy Suit"? Hysterical!) Thankfully, she wasn't his teacher all year because, while she might be a nice person, she was NOT a good preschool teacher. Bless the Director of his preschool for taking parent complaints seriously.

Carson has accomplished so much this year in preschool...he learned to love books and library time, he can count to twenty-teen (is that a number?!), he learned his colors and shapes, he found his future wife (pictures later in the post), he learned how much fun it is to play hookie with Mommy, the list goes on and on. So, now we're at the end of preschool. Here is the Little Man, trying to look cool on the way to the graduation ceremony...
Hmmmm, it's hard to look super cool in a car seat, isn't it?! When we arrived at the school, I was able to photograph Carson with his teacher, Miss Jenny (the wonderful woman who replaced Peggy Sue)...
...his favorite aide, Miss Paula...
...and, Miss Jeannie, the afternoon aide and Carson's biggest fan.
Those three women worked together to make preschool a wonderful experience for the Little Man. And the obvious love they have for the kids in their classroom made it so easy to leave him there all day without needing to worry how he was doing.

I was trying so hard to get pictures of Carson but was having trouble zooming in because the pictures kept turning out so dark. I took a group shot from afar...
...see him in the front row, directly to the right of the girl with the bow on top of her head? Anyway, they started to sing songs with accompanying hand gestures and I thought it would be cute to get a bit of video. Bear with me, but do you mind watching a few seconds of one of the songs they performed? This is so cute...


He practiced that song constantly at home and it was fun to watch him perform in front of the crowd. We felt so bad for him, though...it is such a struggle for him to lift his arms over his head and every song they performed required it. No wonder he looked so worn out at the end of that song!

I love this video...


Isn't it adorable how big those mortarboards are on those little kids?! So stinkin' cute!! After the graduation ceremony (which included a dance performance by the ballet class and a musical rendition of "First Grade, First Grade" sung by the graduating kindergartners to the tune of "New York, New York"), the kids were all given a balloon and led out to the parking lot.
While waiting for all the kids to come outside, I thought I'd take a few pictures...
...and what could have been a cute picture of Carson, Jacqueline (Meggie's friend), and the Megster turned into a goofy picture with Grandpa B's head stuck in the middle. We love you, Grandpa, but you are such a nerd!
Much better picture, ladies! After all the kids made it outside, it was time...
...for the balloon launch! The kids LOVED seeing all those balloons heading off into the sky! After the launch, I thought I should get a picture of Carson and his future wife. Remember when he told us he was going to marry "Andre"? (Which we later found out was really "Audrey," thank goodness!) Well, here is the beautiful couple...
While I truly do not condone dating in preschool, you gotta admit they are ADORABLE together!! When Audrey's mom and I started talking about the two of them and how cute they are, they started to get a bit shy...
...which was even MORE ADORABLE!!! Ahhhh, childhood...
A manly hug goodbye for his best bud, Cameron (who is not going to the same kindergarten next year, unfortunately) before heading to sit on the curb and dig through the gift bag Miss Jenny gave all the kids.
After a family pic (in front of the handicapped parking sign?!?!)...
...and a picture of Carson with Grandpa and Grandma D and Grandma and Grandpa B...
...we headed off to Carson's favorite restaurant, Red Robin, for dinner and ice cream! After dessert, Daddy let Carson play a couple of video games -- a rare treat --
...and then we headed home. One milestone down, about a million more to go in the Little Man's lifetime. I'd better buy more batteries for the camera!