Caroline's Graduation

Potentially more ridiculous than a kindergarden graduation is a preschool graduation. This ceremony, however, was a lot more sentimental for me. This was Caroline's last day at her school before she is officially a student at my school, and she and Lucy had such good experiences at this place. Her teachers have been so great, and it is really hard for me to believe that we won't be dropping her off in the same classroom next year.

Getting her diploma

Giving a reluctant wave to the crowd

My little graduate

With her awesome teachers

With one of her good friends who we will miss so much next year

Lucy's Graduation

Disclaimer: Kindergarden graduation is a ridiculous concept in my mind. It seems a bit nuts, but we rolled with it.

Lucy's class had a short graduation ceremony complete with singing, diplomas, and cookies and juice afterward. She enjoyed being in the spotlight (clearly) and it was a fun day. It's hard to believe that we will have a first grader next year.

Happy Memorial Day!

For the second year in a row, we headed to our local Memorial Day parade. (I guess this is a tradition now, yes?) It was hot and sticky, I forgot to bring sunscreen, and it was crowded. Everyone handled it in stride and we rewarded ourselves with a trip to the Mister Softee ice cream truck afterward.

This guy was particularly happy with his
ice cream reward.

Grandparents' Day

Cookie and Grumps were nice enough to drive to our house and participate in Grandparents' Day. It was an early morning for everyone, but Cookie and Grumps were good sports and even took Lucy home after the program with a special stop at Stew Leonard's. It doesn't actually get better than that.

Ready to perform

With one of her awesome teachers

Showing Grumps their garden

Showing off on the monkey bars

Everyone loves Stew's

Back in action!

Caroline had a nasty stomach bug this week which kept her out of school on Monday and Tuesday, but she happily returned on Wednesday ready to play with her friends.

I love this picture. They were looking at themselves
in the mirror to draw self portraits. So sweet!

They are learning about butterflies in school. I particularly like
these pictures because both of our girls have always loved Eric Carle books.

Mother's Day 2014

I will keep this post short. My Mother's Day was perfect. There was good food, the weather was beautiful, I got to spend a lot of time outside in the garden, and I spent time with these two who showered me with handmade gifts and lots of enthusiasm for "Mudders Day" as Caroline likes to call it.

It was perfect.

Today's Pictures

Here are today's pictures from the girls' teachers:

Her face is hilarious, but she is working
so hard to figure out the monkey bars.

Having a great day in kindergarten 

Pure Joy

This picture was taken by a classmate's mother at a birthday party. Her face says it all.

School Days

Everyday we get an email from Caroline's school telling us about her day. Some days she is in the picture and other days she is not, but opening that email tends to be the best part of my day.

These two pictures below were taken during a "listening walk" when they carried little clipboards and checked off when they saw something that was on the list. I found these pictures to be insanely cute.

Bikes

While in Marion, Lucy really wanted to show Cookie and Grumps how well she was riding her bike. We headed to a beautiful path along the water to let her show off.

Two Wheeler

Lucy recently learned to ride a two wheeler bike. It went much better than I had anticipated, and her confidence has grown with every ride.

Caroline came along and added comic relief:

The first real ride without Steve holding onto the back of the bike:

This shot is my favorite - look at that smile

And then Caroline insisted on giving it a try. This became a big workout for the adult trying to help her balance.