Pre-K Graduation... I hope you like pictures!

Last Wednesday, The Son "graduated" from Pre-K. I'd like to start off by saying that I am really not into the caps and gowns for Pre-K or Kindergarten graduation. Personally, I think they should be saved for high school, college and graduate degrees (of which The Son will surely have many ;) ) That being said, his school does the cap and gown thing so I had to embrace it... they do look awfully cute.

I started off with a few pictures on our front step. It was kind of sunny so he's a little bit squinty. The Son has very sensitive eyes. (rolling my eyes)



Here he is on his first day, back in September. See, he was a little squinty there too...


A few more inside pictures before we headed out. This Boy is obsessed with giving the "thumb's up" sign in every. picture. You know I had to get one of these...


The graduation was held outside in the camp pavilion which worked out beautifully. Here's The Son as they entered and sat down. He looks a bit nervous and I could tell he was scared. His teachers, both on separate occasions had told me what a good singer he is and how he was definitely "the leader" with the songs in the class. I came to realize that by "the leader" they really meant, he is the only one who is going to sing at the graduation.

...I guess he felt the pressure.

The Pledge of Allegiance was said...

And numerous songs were sung...

...with great emotion...

Certificates (let's not call them diplomas, shall we?) were handed out...


And much love and proudness (yes, I know that's not a word.) abounded.



The Son was given a few gifts, the most exciting being a Hot Wheels car that changes color with hot or cold water. He's already gotten another one and keeps forgetting that he put them in the freezer to change color. Silly kid...

The families had snacks and chatted and good times were had by all. I was very pleased with The Son's schooling at our YMCA and would recommend the program to anyone. His teachers were wonderful and I'm very glad that we'll still be able to see them since we're at the Y all the time. They would be missed otherwise. It was a great year! He's ready for Kindergarten... I'm not sure I am, but he certainly is.


Let the summer fun begin...

Ready for Broadway...

(Just so you all know, I'm still hanging in there...the giveaway will commence very shortly, maybe even this afternoon, and WOW! I have 13 entries so far just from my "boo hoo" horrible day post.)

Today should be a nice day, it's The Son's holiday pageant at school, he's a shepherd boy. He was a little upset that he didn't get to be Joseph but it turns out that the shepherds have the most "acting" to do according to his teachers. Either way, it's going to be very sweet to see the birth of Christ as reenacted by four and five year olds. It's The Son's first "real" performance and The Husband and I (former thespians ourselves) are very excited.

There's a little party for the parents after and I'll even get to do a little socializing... sounds like it should be fun. I'll let you know how it all turns out.

Isn't that costume cute? I made it all by myself with no pattern... it was like Project Runway goes biblical...I was waiting for Tim Gunn to walk into my kitchen at any moment and tell me to "make it work."

Turkey Cupcakes...

Well, actually, chocolate cupcakes that are decorated like turkeys. The other would be gross now wouldn't it?

The MIL is visiting and we are volunteering in The Son's class today to help with their Thanksgiving Feast. I made cupcakes yesterday afternoon to take in since I signed up to bring the dessert. They came out super cute. I looked on line for various "turkey cupcake" ideas and devised this one after looking through several others. Many of them used Nutter Butter cookies for the turkey head but I found that odd since most schools (The Son's included) don't allow nut products in the classroom. I decided to use "Circus Peanut" candies for the turkey heads which ironically enough, contain NO actual peanuts. In the long run I think they looked cuter too.



I used chocolate and multi-colored Twizzlers for the feathers... just cut them into fourths and stuck them in the cupcake, six per turkey, although five might have worked a little better. I used white frosting to "glue" on the mini chocolate chip eyes, the candy corn beak and the red fruit roll "gobbler" thingy. Stuck the head in the cake and voila' we have a turkey. I hope the kids like them. I think they will, I know I sure do.

America's Next Top (Preschool) Model

I got The Son's preschool portraits the other day and I have to say I am thrilled with them. Sure, they have that certain "school photo/generic portrait studio" cheesiness that most school photos or generic portrait studio photos have but I still like them a lot. The Son is a very photogenic boy and LOVES to get his picture taken. It's funny because evidently when I was a child, I was the same way. My parents have albums and albums of photos of me, my younger sister, not so much. She hated getting her photo taken plus by the time she was born, I think the novelty had worn off for my parents. (Sorry Sis! ha ha!)

So here they are...




Cute huh? I ended up buying the whole package and ordering more photos for gifts. Now that I'm blogging about it, the grandparents will know one of the things they're getting for the holidays but they pretty much know that kind of stuff anyway right?

Lastly, I had to title this post after America's Next Top Model because The Son loves that show. I record it on the DVR every Wednesday night and we watch it together on Thursday mornings. Don't worry, I preview it first to make sure there's not too much scandal. I think tonight's episode might need to be edited for my little man considering what I saw on the previews last week. We'll see... So far, The Son's favorite girl is McKey...both my girls were voted off recently. Bummer.

Someday I'll have to show you the photos I took when The Son was pretending he was on America's Next Top Model. The "fierce" look is hilarious. Stay tuned...

He's crazy!

The Son of course. 

We were just filling out an "All About Me" paper for his Pre-K class that was supposed to be filled out a while ago and I somehow missed. He's giving normal cute answers to all the questions until we get to the question about his favorite book. His answer? 

"Everyone Poops!" 

Can you believe that child? The thing is, it's NOT his favorite book and we rarely ever read it. I think he just wanted to make me laugh and that he did my friends, that he did... he settled on "Stellaluna" because Momma would NOT write down "Everyone Poops!" 

Crazy kid. 

The first day of Pre-K!

The Son had his first day of Pre-K on Wednesday. He's been to pre-school before, for the past two years in fact. He loves pre-school and it's been very good for him. He needs that socialization especially considering that he's an only child. (Who knows if he'll always be? ;) ) Pennsylvania does not have a state Pre-K so he attends three half days at...where else...our local Y. If you read this blog regularly, you know, we do just about everything at the Y. We heart the Y! 

Here's the obligatory first day of school pose on the front step. I just noticed that if you look closely at the second photo, you can see my reflection in the side windows. 

Driving to school, the "thumbs-up" was to signify that he would in fact be a good boy at school today...we can only hope. 

Walking up and going in. It's funny how we do this numerous times a week but on this day, even The Son felt like it was special. He's growing up so fast, it's hard to believe. I know all you parents out there can relate. 

He found his name and placed it on the attendance poster.

Got the nametag on! 

He ended up having a great day and is excited to go back today. When I picked him up, he was so proud to show me what he did...this is a picture of a Giganotasaurus. NOT a T-Rex as I was so quickly chastised for assuming.

A few things I really like about this drawing are that: 

#1 -  it is probably the second drawing he's ever done that actually kind of looks like what he says it is and isn't a bunch of scribbles. The first drawing is here and yes, for the one person who guessed, it is Wall-E, his third favorite obsession just short of his shark obsession and dinosaur obsession. 

#2 - the drawing has a story to go with it. Evidently, the Giganotasaurus, is standing on stilts to avoid the lava that's coming to get him. The reddish color on the side is the lava and the reddish color near his mouth is blood because he's a carnivore you know. 

#3- Last, but by no means least. Miss Sue, The Son's teacher told me that he did this during a "coloring center" they were supposed to color a picture but MY son decided to turn the picture over and make his own picture instead. That's my free-thinking, mismatched shoe wearing guy for ya! Thankfully, Miss Sue wasn't upset that he did that, I would have been really angry if she had since the coloring wasn't for a specific project or anything. 

So all in all, it was a great day for him, he had fun, he was well-behaved (although I'm sure sooner or later we'll have a day or two when he isn't) and he was happy to see me when I picked him up. Let's hope today goes as well. The Husband is picking him up and I "get" to spend my alone time cleaning the house in joyful anticipation of a visit from The MIL! Lucky me. 

(Just to be clear, the visit from the MIL IS actually joyfully anticipated...the cleaning...not so much and I'm not just saying that because she reads this blog on occasion...really, I'm not.)