I think it has always seemed a bit ridiculous to put little kids in caps and gowns and parade them to “Pomp and Circumstance”, BUT when my own kid does it…. WELL it’s just the most adorable thing in the whole world!!!
This past week was big for Zoe. She brought in cupcakes to celebrate her birthday since it’s later in the summer. She had her final day of school on Thursday. And Thursday evening was the graduation ceremony. We brought teacher gifts that Zoe chose especially. A little fuzzy pink plant she thought each teacher would love, and a gift card to her favorite ice cream place. I also wrote a note in the cards. These teachers and her school have been so great, so kind, and so understanding through all our family trials and travels. I will truly miss FUMC Preschool.
She gave Mrs. Amanda her gift first, and a big hug! Then we found Mrs. Sarah who loved the plant as well. It was nice to chat and thank them for all they’ve done for my kiddo. Bryan dropped off Avi in the nursery and then headed to the church sanctuary to snag a seat for the ceremony. I left Zoe up in her classroom and joined him in the packed church. Not soon after they began an adorable slide show of all the kids throughout the school year. I was tearing up already…not a good outlook for the rest of the night. Oh well, let the tears flow. The ceremony started with a few of her classmates reciting a welcome message followed by the national anthem and then the two 4 year old classes sang a couple songs together. Zoe has been so excited to sing her songs and practiced a long time in the car. Once on stage, though, she seemed obsessed with the fact that she was being projected up on the big screens behind her. After getting over that, she got into singing the Graduation Song! ” Graduation Day… Graduation Day… Graduation Day is finally here…” It was adorable. After that each of the younger classes did a couple of songs. It is fairly hysterical to watch 20 two year olds dance and sing on stage. There are classes from 2 years to 4 years.
Then, the tears flowed freely as they did a slide show of each 4 year old graduate; a baby picture, a picture at school, and a picture of them in the cap and gown. Oh man. I know all these kids! They are her friends…we love them! Of course they played some slow sappy country song about letting them be kids. ugh. I wasn’t the only sniffing mommy in the audience that night. Zoe was the final picture and then the graduation march started. When it was her turn I got out of my seat to take a video, but she had already walked down the aisle! I almost missed her going across the stage. She rushed across, but paused in the middle to smile, then grabbed her certificate and was done. It was too fast! Thank goodness the school puts together a DVD we pre-bought.
Once all her classmates walked across, she joined a small group to say a cute little fairwell message. “Thank you for joining us at our graduation. We hope you enjoyed it, and see you at the pool” or something like that. Tomorrow is the big school pool party! After a couple announcements, the ceremony was over and the parents flooded up front for mad pictures and hugs. Zoe was in true form posing and leaping from the stage. Once we turned in the cap and gown Zoe and I went on a wild chase looking for her teachers from last year. She had picked a card for each, which I wrote in and she colored. Finally found them in their classroom! We finished the night with a late dinner at Chik-fil-a…where else?
