Graduation & Last Day of School

My biggest boy graduated from PreK Tuesday night! Talk about bittersweet. It may have been the most bittersweet thing I've experienced since my high school graduation. Seriously. Oh the emotions. Especially since Garrison cried just a little on the way to graduation because he was sad him and Austin won't be at the same school next year and because he's going to miss him so much. Oh my heart! Gracious.

While I am so thankful my baby is ready to move on to Kindergarten and oh so proud of him and his PreK year, I am also really sad to see our "preschool only" era come to an end.  Moving on and letting go is hard to do. Where we go from here will lead to big school through age 18. Gulp. (That probably sounds dramatic but I know for a fact that it will go by FAST. Want to how I know this? I know this because I have memories of several graduating seniors' at my home church baby dedications.)

How I MUST soak it up and try my best to live in the moment. Especially this summer. I want to especially savor this summer before big changes like Kindergarten come our way. Waaaahhh!

Anyway. This graduation was totally precious. I just loved every second of it. And I know this is picture overload but believe it or not I weeded through what I had for the best... besides, you only graduate from PreK once.

Garrison's class... all lined up behind their self portraits (a PreK tradition at our school). I was so proud of my biggest for leading in his class. He did awesome. 

They performed some of their favorite songs of the year plus some special graduation songs...

 

Receiving his diploma and giving Ms. Vicki and Ms. Pauline hugs

This was the "declaring of future occupation" part of the program. He said, "I want to be a baseball player." He loves baseball, the Braves, and Freddie Freeman so this came as no surprise to us. =)

One of my very favorite parts was at the end of the program when they sang "Big School, Big School" to the tune of New York, New York.

Start spreading the news, We're leaving today,

We want to be a part of it, Big School, Big School!

We've worked very hard, We're ready to go

We want to be a part of it, Big School, Big School!

 

This was the chorus and at the end they kicked their legs up and everything. It was SO adorable. I smiled the whole time and Garrison sang right to me almost the entire program.

They had a slideshow at the very end and that's when I teared up and really had to fight from crying. Pictures to music.... ahhhh.

My graduate with his self portrait that we will keep forever.

 

Some of his best buds from this year... 

Family shot!

My parents and Terrell's parents were both able to come and that made things even more special. Plus I'm so grateful they took care of Layton and Austin so I could totally focus on the graduation.

Afterwards we went out to eat at Garrison's favorite place... Stevi B's. It was a fun time of celebration for our biggest boy. Huge thanks to the best grandparents ever for coming over for Garrison's special night!!

Then yesterday was our last day of school. This is what I was really dreading. The end of an era. Not going back. Leaving a wonderful school, experience, and preschool year. I honestly think the build up to it was worse than the actual experience of the last day and leaving there yesterday. It was a little emotional but it was also fun and busy and distracting. Plus I was trying to get 3 boys out of there who were all going separate directions (well maybe not Layton since he was in the stroller being pushed by me, but still) there was little time for a mama meltdown. The real meltdown is coming after our summer vacation when we're officially on Kindergarten countdown. That's not gonna be pretty.

My big boys on their very last day. (Here they are the first day of school.) They've grown so much.

 

Austin with his sweet teachers, Ms. Maria and Ms. Brittney

 

Garrison with his amazing teachers, Ms. Vicki and Ms. Pauline

Words can't express how grateful we are for the wonderful 2 years we had at FPELC. And Garrison's PreK year exceeded our expectations by leaps and bounds. The dedication and hard work of all the teachers is above and beyond. We will definitely miss our school and are so thankful for God providing the job opportunity for me there because of what it meant for our children! He knew all along we needed that school for more than just extra income. It truly is a GREAT place to grow.

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened ~ Dr. Seuss.