Drea graduated preschool in the beginning of June. (I have been fighting with this post for a while because the videos wouldn't upload, so I gave up on them. I may post them to YouTube later because they are so cute to watch.)
I was first kind of annoyed about the whole graduation thing because I think there are too many graduations. your kids graduate from preschool, then from kindergarten, sometimes from 4th grade into middle school (depending on what school you go to), some graduate from 6th grade into junior high, 8th graduation and then high school graduation. Oh, and I left out college...oh, do I hope we can include a college graduation. Anyway, so the cynic in me wasn't interested in giving a lot of preparation, time, or emotion to this event besides it's only preschool. I didn't even want to tell my parents about it because I didn't want to make a bigger deal out of it than it was...but I knew I would get in trouble if I didn't tell them.
Once we arrived, the emotions quickly started to change when one of the teachers handed me a little handmade book. The teachers had made a small scrapbook for each graduate detailing things they had made, pictures of them through the years since they began there as babies, things they have said, and how they are doing with certain skills at this stage in the game. I wasn't prepared for this at all. It completely caught me off guard. As I allowed myself to take in the emotion of it all, I realized that it was okay to celebrate these moments. Even if there are more than necessary, I can appreciate every one of them at that moment and realize it provides me a great opportunity to sit back and enjoy my children's milestones. This school/daycare has been a huge part of my child's life. She has been there for 4 years and these teachers have poured time into teaching her and prepping her for big school...and made this moment memorable for me with this wonderful little book about my Drea. I was able to sit there for the rest of the graduation and really enjoy it. I listened to the songs they prepared, watched them sign a song, and enjoyed Drea beaming through a rendition of Country Roads. Then I enjoyed watching her walk across the stage and get her diploma and knew that it meant so much to her and it means so much of a change for fall. I'm grateful that God gave me the opportunity to take that in and enjoy it.
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| Here she is performing a few songs they prepared for the graduation ceremony. |
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| You can't see this...but that is her receiving her "diploma." |
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| Proud Mommy and Daddy |
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| Drea and Pappaw and Grandma |
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| Drea and her teacher, Miss Camilla - she is an amazing teacher. Drea adores her. |
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| Drea with Nunnie and Bob |
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| Charlotte and Drea with Talia, Charlotte's daycare teacher and, fortunatelyfor us, our babysitter. |
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| Drea with her friends, Molly and Abby. |
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| Madison, Drea, Molly, Grace, and Abby - These girls have all gone to daycare together since they were babies. It was pretty sad because Drea won't be going to the same big school as any of them. Fortunately, we go to church with Grace and Molly dances at our studio but we will have to work in some playdates to continue seeing all of them because they love each other. |
