A Kindergarten Graduate

     Mikayla has graduated from Kindergarten!  I am extremely proud of her.  Although she tends to rush through everything {which frustrated both her teacher and I}, she passed the required letters and numbers.  There were some points in the year where I'm sure her teacher just wanted to grab her and say "what is this?"  We knew she could do so much better than the majority of things that were coming home, it was just a matter of getting her to sit down and take the time to do it.  And man do they cram a lot of stuff into Kindergarten now.  I don't remember doing anything but writing a few letters and cutting, but she did way more than that.  She wrote all her letters, knows 100 site words {+ others}, worked on adding and subtracting, telling time, cutting, and of course reading {which she is already above what they require for the end of first grade.  Yay!}.  And like I said she knows her stuff, it is just a matter of getting her to sit down and take her time to do it.  Below is the same information I gathered at the beginning of the year.  Man did she really grow 2 1/2 inches?  I'm sure I just didn't notice because I see her all the time, but it sure does explain why her shorts seemed so short this year. 

First Day of Kindergarten
Height:  42"
Weight:  37 lbs.
Hair Color:  Dark Blonde
Favorite Color:  Purple
Favorite Book:  Fancy Nancy:  Ooh La La!  It's Beauty Day!
Favorite Activity:  Visit Friends
Favorite Food:  Mac & Cheese
Best Friend:  Flora
Looking forward to most in Kindergarten:  Reading books

End of Kindergarten
Height:  44.5"
Weight:  {our scale is broken so I will have to update later}
Hair Color:  Dark Blonde
Favorite Color:  Purple and Pink
Favorite Book:  Any Biscuit book
Favorite Activity:  Visit Friends
Favorite Food:  Mac & Cheese
Best Friend:  Flora
Best Thing About Kindergarten:  Centers

Fashion Diva

     It's hard to believe that my little girl begins kindergarten tomorrow.  Sigh...Tear...  I was reading some blogs on ideas for annual traditions that parents use to make the back-to-school mayhem fun.  One idea that I liked was doing a fashion show with all Mikayla's new school clothes.  It served a dual purpose in that I was able to have her try on all her clothes to make sure they fit and she had fun strutting herself.  Next year I'm thinking more of a production.  Who knows maybe by then I can get some "real" smiles out of her.

What is that thing in the sky? Oh yes, I remember it's the sun.

     Okay so I know I keep talking about the weather, but when we have had a winter like this there is not much else to talk about.  Today the weather was on the upside.  We finally saw the sun...and gasp, I was even able to take the kids outside.  Yep, that's right it was in the 40s and the snow from over a week ago was melted enough that I was able to take the daycare kids outside.  I knew they needed the outside time, but sometimes I think I need it even more just to have the change of venue.  And it could go without saying, but the kids really enjoyed the time outside and were sad when we had to come back inside.  To say the least, we can hardly wait for Spring!
     Tonight we had a "Transition to Kindergarten" event at Mikayla's elementary school.  It gave us our first look at the school and Mikayla a little taste of what Kindergarten will be like.  Next month we will do Kindergarten Roundup and put in for full-day kindergarten and rank our school preferences.  After that she will be pretty much all set to go to school next year.  It is still hard to believe she will be going to school in the fall, but I think we are all ready for it.