Graduation

The following post does not contain an clever or funny story. But it was a significant moment for me, so I decided that it should be added to the weblog...

Yesterday, LilKat1 graduated from kindergarten. It was only a half day of school and they had a little in-class party at the end. I wasn't planning on going since it was before lunchtime, but at the last minute, I changed my mind and went.

Wow...good call by me! It turned out that the class had their own little graduation ceremony. I got the whole thing (about 5 minutes long) on video. It was small, but special...probably more special for the parents than the kids. All the moms were getting teary eyed when it was their kid's turn to go up to get their certificate.

I must admit, it was a bit strange to see LilKat1 'graduate'. I can still remember that first day of school when I took him to the bus stop and watched him drive off ALL BY HIMSELF (with a busload of kids). It really doesn't seem like that long ago. The year just seemed to fly by, and I think that makes me a tiny bit sad. But at the same time, it was much a 'proud dad' moment for me.

One thing that we were very grateful for this year is LilKat1's teacher. His teacher (we'll just call her Mrs. Fluffernutter) is absolutely fantastic! The kids all love her. She's very nice, doesn't yell too much, and she plays the ukulele. How cool is that? She even made a great slide show movie with pictures of the kids throughout the year. We got to watch the movie after the graduation, and then each kid received their own copy on DVD to watch at home.

She really cares about the kids too. Here was a funny moment. At the start of the graduation ceremony, she started to say something about the kids. She said...

I had a great class this year...

(pause as she tries to keep herself from crying)

And that's all I'm going to say!

Then one of the kids shouted out 'GOODBYE MRS. FLUFFERNUTTER!' She flashed a smile and said 'Excuse me!' Then went to her desk to get some tissues. Kind of a nice touching moment for everyone.

So today is the first day of summer vacation. LilKat1 is a bit sad that school is over. He loves being able to see his friends every day. But Mrs. BigKat is going to try and make it so that he can see all of his school buddies over the summer. VBS is also coming up soon, which he loves. And then soccer will start in August. And then...First Grade!