Samantha's Last Day of Preschool

Samantha's last day of preschool was May 17th, the day that Jack was born.  While there was always the possibility that I could go into labor on my own, earlier than my scheduled c-section date (Memorial Day), I just secretly hoped that it would be after May 17th; I wanted to finish out the school year and then focus on our little one's arrival. 

It has been shown, over and over again, that I am not in control of these things.  And while I was initially upset that I would be missing Sam's last day of preschool, I eventually looked at it from a different perspective: I had the forethought to prepare the teacher gifts early, and we delivered them on the second-to last day of school.  I also managed to take a picture of Sam that same day in front of the preschool sign (like I did on the first day of school) and I took a picture of her with her amazing teachers. 

On the day that my little girl grew into a kindergartner, we welcomed our new baby into the world ... and I will always remember that.

I saw this idea online and LOVED it.  I had some clay pots just laying around in the garage, so I cleaned them up and painted them.  The rim was made to look like a tape measure, and the bottom portion of the pot was made to look like a chalkboard.  I wrote on them, "Thanks for helping me grow," and put Samantha's name and date on the back.  Then, we planted some flowers in them and I stuck a small thank you gift card to Target in the top.

The girls were so proud of them and posed with the pots before we headed to school:

In front of the Teddy Bear Den sign (never mind the big pregnant momma's shadow on the ground!):

Samantha and her teachers, Mrs. Hicks (blue) and Mrs. Alyce (pink):

Samantha has grown so much this year, both academically and socially.  I am amazed daily just how much knowledge she has absorbed and is able to apply on a regular basis.  She has known all of her letters, numbers and colors for a while, but she is now capable of putting letter sounds together to sound out words and can count by 5s and 10s all the way to a hundred.  Her penmanship is improving (she is still in the throes of deciding if she is right- or left-handed), and we are currently working with her to learn to tell time.  I am in love with this learning stage that she is in.

In the Fall, she will attend a local private school for kindergarten.  She will be going there all five mornings a week (as opposed to just three mornings a week like she did for preschool).  I am excited about her going half-days because I just wasn't sure that she would be ready to jump in, full force, for all-day kindergarten five days a week.  She has been to her new school already and eagerly points it out to me every time we drive by!