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Tag: preschool

The First Cap and Tassel

Tuesday night Zachary stood up on stage with a huge smile on his face, a blue cap and tassel on his head and officially graduated from preschool.

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Next month he’ll turn five years old. A couple months after that he’ll start kindergarten.

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This all just seems so huge right now. I can’t believe he’s getting so big. Five years goes by in a flash. Before I know it he’ll be graduating from high school and then college (hopefully). It’s just too much to think about right now. At least I don’t have to worry about when he’ll have his first girlfriend.

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He’s already done that.

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Firsts

Evie went on her very first sleepover last week.  She has stayed overnight with Grandma a couple of times, but Zach has always been with her.  This time she went all by herself.  Granted, she was spending the night at my brother’s house, but it was still a pretty big deal.  It was her first overnight with a girlfriend.  From the sounds of things, she got spoiled rotten and had a really great time with her cousin Caitlin.  I was even a little jealous because she got to go to the zoo while I was stuck at work.

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Thursday night was my nephew Ryan’s preschool graduation. I got handed the task of taking photos of the kids as they walked across the stage (which I didn’t mind at all). For some reason I decided to take the plunge and shot the entire thing in manual mode. I’ve played around with manual before, but never felt confident enough to use it when I was shooting anything important. I finally felt like I was ready, shot a bunch of test shots before hand, and just did it. I did end up with some bad shots, but I also ended up with some really good shots, so it was a win in my books. My biggest problem was trying to focus and keep focused when the kids were moving so fast across the stage.

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The best part of the graduation though, was watching my sister. Since she’s my sister, I don’t always think of her as being someone’s teacher, but she is without a doubt the best preschool teacher I’ve ever seen. Her love for the kids she teaches shines through in everything she does. She had a bit of a hard time getting through the ceremony (especially when it was Ryan’s turn to walk across the stage) but I think that just shows how much she cares about those kids. This is what she was meant to do and it shows.

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On Saturday, my mom and I got up bright and early to walk in the Hillcrest Walk for the Homeless. It was my first 5K of the year and I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t thrilled to wake up to rain, but I didn’t let it dampen my spirits! The walk went great, aside from the big blister on my toe. I personally ended up with $215 of pledges and was thrilled with that considering I had less than a week to ask for donations. I want to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who gave. I know money is tight for a lot of people right now, and that just makes me even more appreciative. I was just recently introduced to the Hillcrest program and it is something I definitely want to support in the future.

And now here are some random pics I took of my kids while doing my test shots on graduation night.

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School Days

This is the first year that I’ve had to deal with the whole “Back to School” craze.  Though he’s not officially in school yet, we did decide to put Zach in preschool this year.  Since he’s been at a home daycare for the last year or so, he needed a few supplies.  He already had a backpack, but we bought a brand new cars lunch box and thermos, some new tubs for his cubby spaces, a few new shirts, underwear and socks.  You know, all of the essentials.

Zach's First Day of Preschool - 1

Yesterday was Zach’s first day at his new preschool.  I had a really hard time deciding where to take him.  I wanted a balance of convenience (because he and Evie now have two separate drop-offs/pick-ups), cleanliness, friendly teachers, and a good curriculum.  It doesn’t help that my sister is an amazing preschool teacher, but is too far away to enroll Zach where she teaches.  I ended up enrolling him in a church preschool/day care just down the street from the home day care that Evie attends.  He’ll stay there all day, Monday through Friday so I don’t have to worry about any half-day transportation issues.

Zach has been ready for preschool for a long time.  I’m the one that has been dragging my feet on it.  He really should have been in last year but I liked having both kids at the same place.  Over the last six months or so he has been begging me to let him go to school.  When we went and visited, he jumped right in with the other kids.  He is going to LOVE it, at least until that honeymoon period wears off.

I am just hoping that I picked the right place.  There are things I love about this school and a few that I don’t like about it.  It will take some time to adjust for both of us.  It will take time to make sure that he fits in, that he likes it.  It will take time to see if the concessions I made on curriculum are made up for by the friendly teachers and convenience.  It will take time to get used to the new morning/evening routine, packing lunches, and getting out of bed earlier.

The scary part is knowing that I have to start this process all over again in a few short months to figure out where the kid is going to go for kindergarten.  Unless we are able to move before then, we may be looking at private school which is a whole other world of scary!

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