The last month of preschool was upon us.
Since Mikey has his birthday in the summer, his "Special Day" was in May.
Teacher Dorothy made this awesome poster.
He got to sit in front of class and tell them about himself.
Then everyone sang Happy Birthday.
He was a happy boy.
Next up on the preschool agenda was a trip for the "graduating" kids to the Bus Barn.
Partway through the ride, he got quiet as if thinking about what riding a bus really meant.
Preschool was ending. Kindergarten to begin in just a few months.
Hmmmmmm.
"I wonder if Mom will let me wear my superhero pajama tops to kindergarten?"
After the Bus Barn trip, we went back to the preschool for a really nice Mother's Day Tea Party.
Mother's Day weekend was spent in Seattle for the Color Run.
We caught an IMAX 3D showing about Lemurs at the PAC SCI Center.
Katie and Mikey both thought the lemurs were cute.
But, really, when you got right down to it, Katie was more excited about eating movie theatre popcorn that was determined to be allergy safe.
It's all about the "special treats".
Speaking of special treats....
The kids enjoyed homemade banana chocolate chip muffins at the hotel.
(We had them eat in the shower to try to contain the mess)
Huzbend and I enjoyed a dozen cannoli.
You can't find cannoli around here.
At all.
But, they're in Seattle!!
Mmmmmmm, cannoli.
Rise and shine!!!
Mikey had a rough nights sleep.
He coughed a lot.
But they were both ready and raring to go after another banana chocolate chip muffin for breakfast!
Me taking a picture of Huzbend taking a picture of me.
And we're off!!!
This year they sprayed liquid color at you while on course.
It was COLD.
By the end, Mikey was a bit cold and just a tad bit grumpy.
He was also coughing still.
Katie, on the other hand, was loving life.
Then it was time for the color explosion!
Katie was lovin' life even more!
Check out the blue teeth.
Hey! Look! I was there too!
And, O.M.CHEESE! A picture of the whole family!
That NEVER happens!
And since we were at Seattle Center, Katie could not resist hitting the International Fountain.
So, then, she was literally dripping with color.
It was a great beginning to Mothers Day.
I stress beginning because when we got home, Mikey's health steadily declined.
By late afternoon, he ended up on the bathroom floor vomiting everything he ate or drank and breathing rapidly.
We visited the Urgent Care that evening where he was diagnosed with symptoms associated with pneumonia.
Yay for us. What great parents we are to drag our sick son to a cold, morning 5K run where they squirt you with frigid liquid color and then release huge corn starch color clouds.
We are awesome.
He was put on antibiotics and was back to his old self in a few days time.
And then, gulp, it was the LAST day of preschool.
Ever.
He chose this day to finally ride a tricycle on the track by himself.
Something he had not done in his four years there.
I wonder what he's thinking in this picture.....
"I'm so totally going to kick kindergarten's butt!"
One last all-class photo.
I couldn't have asked for a better preschool experience for both my kids.
Not only did they learn a bit about ABC's and 123's and some other academicky stuff,
they learned how to make friends, share, play with and care about others.
They learned to respect and be able to listen to other kids mom & dads.
They learned to question and explore.
But, mostly, they learned to be themselves.
The preschool and fantastic teachers allowed them to do that.
It also gave ME a place to make friends and pretend that I was an adult every once in a while.
I know my kids will miss this place.
But, I think I might miss it most of all.
The evening of Mikey's last day of preschool was his
"Graduation" or "Moving On" ceremony.
So handsome....
The kids performed for the crowd.
It was great that Mikey got to stand next to his bestest pals from preschool.
All of them born within months of each other.
From left to right:
Mikey, Sienna (blonde girl/pink dress), Isabela (dark curly hair/pink dress), and Benny (blue plaid shirt).
After the songs and such, Mikey was able to come sit with us until his name was called to officially "graduate."
And here he is.
Walking over the bridge from preschool to kindergarten.
Sigh.
Such a mix of happy and sad for me.
He was SO excited to get his diploma.
And, then, preschool was over.
I stayed late that night to help with the post-grad clean up.
At the end of the evening, it ended up being myself, my two pals named Kerri and Teacher Dorothy.
We chilled out and watched some old slideshows of our kids at the school.
We ate pizza and drank some Cokes.
We laughed. A lot. As always.
It was a good way to end.
I'll miss it. I really will.
That brings us to this Saturday.
We went to visit the puppies!
All twelve of them.
They are 4 weeks old and getting just a little rambunctious.
Katie fell in love with every puppy. Immediately.
She could not stop giggling.
Especially when a wiggly puppy was on her lap.
I believe she held almost all of them.
To say they were cute would be an understatement.
They were UBER-cute.
Even Mikey got to hold a puppy or two.
He liked the puppies.
He was unsure about the grown up dogs.
We were able to not only visit with the puppies, but meet Mommy Dog, Daddy Dog, and brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and even grandparents!
I met the biggest boy labs I have ever met in my life.
The puppies Daddy is a solid 96 pounds of powerful and ultra-friendly dog.
We've been prepping the house for puppy arrival by moving all the Legos upstairs into the kids rooms. Huzbend also built a dog kennel outside for bathroom needs.
Now we just have to select a vet, get a crate, get an x-pen, a collar, a leash, some tags, some food, some treats, a million plus one toys.....CHA-CHING!
We won't know what puppy we'll get until they are ready to come home at the end of June.
We have third pick of the litter.
Katie is excited and states just about every hour of every day that she wishes the puppy was here right now.
Mikey talks about the puppy, but I think he could take it or leave it.
Huzbend and I bounce back and forth between being excited and wondering if we're ready to go back to sleepless nights and constant supervision.
Sigh.
Changes are hard.
