Kaylen's Preschool Graduation

We had a very nice time with Kaylen on Wednesday morning. We got up early to get showered up and get her hair done - I told her I'd braid her hair for her special day. She was excited about that (at least until her neck started hurting), because I don't do braids very often (although I'll probably have to start doing braids more when they start going to the pool!). She got all dressed up, and found a necklace and shoes to wear with her pretty dress. We got her to her daycare classroom on time, and then headed to the big room where the ceremony was going to take place. No front-row seats remained, but we got pretty good spots.

The ceremony started with the traditional Pomp and Circumstance, with all 40 kids marching down the aisle - some in fancy dresses and suits, and some in their regular play clothes, all with caps and tassels. So cute! They all lined up on the stage to sing two songs - one called "Friendship Song", and another called "Opportunity" - a pretty big word for 4- and 5-year-olds, but they did great! Then they all sat down, and were called up one-by-one by the two preschool-room teachers to get certificates. Then they all lined back up on the stage to sing one more song called "Kids are Beautiful People".

It was about a half-hour, and was great. Then we had cookies, mints and punch, and visited with some other parents. Came to find out that Kaylen's classmate that lives very close to us, will be in her same kindergarten this fall. Our district has re-drawn the elementary boundary lines, so we knew they'd be in the same school unless he was sent to private school. He's going to public, though, and out of 5 kindergarten classes in their elementary school, he's in the same one. I don't think he was nearly as excited about that as Kaylen was though. :)

Anyway, after the ceremony, we had planned to take Kaylen out for lunch, but it wasn't even 11:00 yet, so we had to stall a bit. Kaylen needed some new dressy sandals, so she and I went to a shoe store to pick some out while Daddy stopped in at a game store. When we were done, the restaurant was open. Kaylen chose Chinese, so we went to a Chinese buffet. When we started looking at the food and the decor, she said, "This isn't Chinese!" I think when we asked her where she wanted to eat/what kind of food she wanted, she said the wrong thing - she'd meant Mexican. However, we'd already ordered drinks, and made our first trip to the buffet counters, so it was too late to change her mind then. We don't go eat Chinese very often. She did enjoy it though - especially the pop, lo mein, fruit, jello, and desserts.

That evening, however, Kaylen told Jock (at bedtime) that she'd thrown up at daycare after we took her back for the afternoon - I think maybe something didn't sit well, possibly in combination with her eating a bit too much. She apparently had a good rest-of-the-day, as the teachers didn't even tell me about it - nor did she - she just told me that it was a fun afternoon because she didn't have to lay down for nap/quiet time, because it was almost time for the kids to get up when she got back from lunch. Oh well. All in all, it was a good day. Kaylen was excited to have it be a special day for her.

Kaylen, the Graduate:
Kaylen with two of her teachers:
Kaylen with a few classmates: