Eli's Last Day of Preschool

Eli's last day of preschool came so quickly! The year just flew by :) It's hard to believe that my little man is going to be a kindergarten student next year! That's just craziness! On the morning of May 21st, I sent Eli to school as a preschooler for the last time. Sniff, sniff. For the past three years-he did two years of PreK-3-we've been very blessed to have fabulous teachers and assistants who have loved and cared for Eli as if he were one of their very own. We don't know who his teacher is going to be next year, but I know he's going to have so much fun! Looking back at the picture of Eli on his very last day of PreK-3 that first year, it's crazy to how little he was when he started. He was a baby! Then I look at his first day picture in PreK-4 and compare it to his last day and it's clear to see just how much he's grown this year alone! I'm very excited for the future ahead of him and everything God is going to do in his life. 

Eli's progression through PreK-3 and PreK-4

Top left-Last day of PreK-3 (2011)

Bottom Left-Last day of PreK-3 (2012)

Right-Last day of PreK-4 (2013)

1st Day of PreK-4 and Last Day of PreK-4

 For their end of the year program, Eli's preschool group at school always does a cute mash-up performance of lots of songs. This year's theme was all about having fun and being happy. They picked songs like "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini", "Splish, Splash, I Was Taking a Bath", "Let It Go", "Happy", and a lot of other cute songs. Eli was in the "Happy" group and he had to dress up like a minion. This is currently one of his absolute favorite songs ever so he was very excited about the chance to be a minion. I borrowed some overalls from a friend, found a yellow hoodie and stuck black pipe cleaners through the hood for hair, and used a pair of leftover glasses from our 1st grade play BUGZ for his goggles. His costume was complete! It was pretty authentic looking too :)

The day of the performance was going to be Eli's last day of school. (Technically, they were going to have school the next day but it was only until 10 o'clock. I saw no point in him going for just two hours so he was going to stay with his Mammy. ) He had to go to school in his uniform and then they'd change into their costumes right before their performance. I left my school a little early so I could get a good seat in the audience and also to help Eli get dressed as a minion. He looked so cute! I snapped one quick picture before taking my seat. 

I tried to get some good pictures of him during the performance, but Santa needs to bring me an external flash and a new zoom lens. For some reason, my zoom lens will not auto-focus at all and I have to manually focus every single shot. I don't mind it when my subjects are still, but fast moving subjects are another story altogether. Just take my word that their performance was super cute! 

After their performance was over, the parents met the kids back in the classroom to pick them up and then go home. I took some pictures of Eli with his buddies Hannah, Logan, and Charlie. These kiddos are so fun and so sweet! I hope they all get to be in the same class again next year.

Eli and Charlie (goggles on)

Eli and Charlie (goggles off)

My little minion

Eli and Hannah

Eli and Logan

Mammy and Zue-Zue came to watch Eli do his "Happy" dance :)

Eli with Mrs. Pahnka (his teacher's assistant)

It was such a fun year in PreK-4. Eli learned so much :) We still have a lot that we're going to work on and practice this summer-in between all our FUN-before Kindergarten (reading more, tying our shoes, counting to 100, writing to 100, writing our letters in upper and lowercase, and much more) but I'm very proud of how much Eli accomplished this year! Way to go!

Eli's PreK-4 Easter Egg Hunt

The Thursday before school got out for Easter break, Eli's class had their annual Easter egg hunt. I had to work that day, but I was able to sneak away for a couple of hours to go watch Eli and his friends hunt for eggs. I couldn't leave work until 10:30 that day so I was a little late getting to the house where they were hunting eggs. I got there right after they snapped the group picture of both of the PreK-4 classes. Eli was so excited to see me (always makes me so happy as a Mommy when I hear that). Then he told me that I had gotten there at the "puh-fect" (still working on those r's in speech..haha) time because they were just walking down to go hunt for all the Easter eggs. I snapped a quick picture of him and one of his best friends, Charlie, and then they took off!

People tell me all the time that Eli has such a sweet, giving heart towards other children. That always makes me so proud as a Mommy. I love that he is always thinking of others and how he can help them. During the Easter egg hunt, I got to witness this firsthand. Eli found a golden egg and he was so excited. Then he found another one right after finding the first one. Instead of putting it in his basket and searching for more, he immediately said, "I've got to go give this golden egg to Logan because he doesn't have one." He went and found his best friend and gave him his second golden egg. Sweet boys!

After all the eggs had been found, I took a few pictures of Eli with all his school friends. These kids are all so super sweet! 

I was trying to get a picture of me and Eli by the pretty azaleas when one of his classmates came up to me and got in our picture. He started cheesing at the camera and then looked at me and said, "On the count of three, say Cowabunga!" I cracked up laughing! So this is our picture with Michael and we're saying "Cowabunga!" 

All the kids went to the front porch and ate a quick lunch together. I was able to get another picture of Eli with his two best friends, Hannah and Logan. Makes my heart smile when I see these precious kiddos. 

Of course, Diane and I had to get one of us with our sweeties too. 

It was such a fun Easter egg hunt. The weather was beautiful, the house was gorgeous, and the kids had a blast! All in all, it was a perfect day :)