Our Little Horned Frogs: Kindergarten Graduation (aka let's make Mommy cry)

Let's start this post off focusing on our JOY! Sweet KK did it, she made it through her first official year of school: Kindergarten! This is what she did when I asked her how she felt about Kindergarten Graduation Day:

That is the look of pure JOY and EXCITEMENT! She was ready to show us the songs they learned and then walk across the stage (at the high school, which was big time for her) and get her hard earned Kindergarten diploma!

And here is my firstborn... my first baby... our little princess. We fell in love with her the moment she entered our lives. And I can still picture that moment and the moments following like they just happened. And nothing makes you feel how fast the past six years have gone by like Kindergarten graduation. Like the whole year wasn't enough of a reminder of just how big she is getting, just how much she has grown. Her first full day at a real big school... without me beside her. Full days of experiences and fun that I wasn't a part of, after five years of her and me together.

Maybe just maybe as first time Kindergarten parents, we should be celebrating too. Because didn't we just survive? Didn't we just learn? Learn how to live with our babies having their own little life experiences... learn how to let go of them as they walk into the school by themselves with barely a wave back at us?

I mean, I want a diploma. I want it to read: In recognition of learning how to let go of a piece of your heart and allowing it to roam free on its own after five years of loving and putting every piece of your life into said little piece of your heart, we congratulate Mommy for not losing it every single time she really wanted to over the last year. I mean... it could fit on a piece of paper if you used small font. Just saying...

So back to the reason for this post (I digress more and more these days)... My baby girl was ready to CELEBRATE!

But she was dressed to the nines, with her hair spirally curled (at her request so she was extra fancy, sadly she has my hair and humidity made those curls fall out) and her lip gloss on. She was ready to pose for me and the camera before we went to her program.

Wow - she is so big! And just beautiful, inside and out! In the past year she has shown such a hunger for learning and a love for reading and art and math. She has shown compassion for her classmates and made so many new friends. She isn't the quietest girl in her class, but she isn't the loudest either. She is not the girl who will chase boys on the playground (thank you Lord!), rather she has a special group of girls that are a lot like her: quiet, sweet, kind. They play pretend, they do the monkey bars and they make sure to include anyone who wants to play with them. She likes the rules and follows them exactly as requested. She loves order and knowing how the day is going to go, but she also thinks it is awesome when something new pops up like a movie day or a special assembly. Her teacher adored her this year and KK loved her back. She is a little nerd sometimes like her parents, she gets a kick out of homework assignments (while I was inwardly cringing sometimes) and was reading chapter books like Junie B. Jones all by herself before the year was half over. She is one smart, sweet little girl - we couldn't be prouder!

So her class worked really hard to get ready to put on a show for us parents! They sang several songs from "Grease" but changed the words to make it about their bright futures and graduation. In fact, their futures are so bright, they had to wear shades:

KK is in the middle of this picture in her shades!

Wow, there are all our kindergartners!

After some great songs and even a few fun moves, the kids were ready to walk the stage. Each of their teachers had their diplomas ready, along with big hugs.

Standing with our glass waiting for our name

A big hug from our teacher! WE DID IT!

So if that wasn't emotional enough with all the pictures and smiles... our principal decided to make it worse. By worse I mean "make all the mommies in the audience cry". Apparently at every graduation, he reads the book "I'll Love You Forever". He even sings the little song that is on each page of the book:

I'll love you forever

I'll like you for always

As long as I'm living

My baby you'll be

I can neither confirm nor deny that I bawled my eyes out after this... sadly, any evidence of this non-blubbering might be found on our video of the entire experience. YikeS!

KK with her teacher afterwards

Best Friends Forever

AJ was so excited for KK - you can just see it... And no baby Kins did not take this picture. She was enjoying some quiet loving time with a dear friend so we could take in the ceremony with a wiggle pants...