School's Out for Summer

Right before Memorial Day, our preschool finished up and the girls are officially on "summer break." I truly can't believe how much they have grown this year. When they started back in September, Ella had just turned four and now she is almost five and such a big girl. And my baby, sweet Maddie Grace started preschool for the very first time and look at her now!

First day and last day collage (where did my babies go?? tear...)

 This was our crew every Tuesday and Thursday. We were so lucky to have good friends that live around the corner from us so we would take Wyatt twice a week and then Catherine would take Ella the other two days when Maddie didn't go. It worked out great and the three of these kiddos cracked me up everyday with their conversation.

 Maddie had the BEST year. Her teachers, Ms Lisa and Ms Julie are truly saints that were amazing with a bunch of 1 and 2 year olds. They had endless patience and each morning, Maddie would literally run into her class and give each of her teachers a huge hug. Then at the end of the day when I would pick her up, she would run and hide from me because she wanted to stay and play more. Not sure what that says about me but at least I know she loved school!

 The final day, they had a pizza party and got "graduation hats". She loved all her little friends in her class, especially the little boy next to her, Loren. He certainly is a cutie and a great first boyfriend!

 MG with her teachers. We love them so much and will miss them next year! (She still asks for them everyday, she doesn't quite understand that school is out yet.)

 Then we quickly ran downstairs to Ella's party for her 4 year old class. I am so glad that we decided to put her in TK (transitional kindergarten) next year so she will have one more year at her preschool before starting real school the following year. 

 Ella had such an amazing year also. She went four days and I am astounded by how much she learned this year. They kept a journal throughout the year and by the end of the year, she was sounding out and spelling words. The spelling wasn't always perfect but very close. Ella loves to learn and is such a good girl in school. I hope she always has this same love of learning that she does now.

 Ella with her best buddy Caroline (above). C and E have been together since they were two and will be together again next year and are as thick as thieves. And below with her sweet boyfriend Lucas. He is the sweetest little boy and they had such a fun little friendship this year. Sadly, he is older and go to kindergarten next year.

 And I said a lot about how wonderful Maddie's teachers were but Ella's were just as amazing. We had the best year for teachers for both of them. Ms Mande and Ms Dempsey were both so loving and kind but also taught the kids so much. Ella adored both of them so much!

It was a fantastic year and one we were all sad to see end but now it is onto summer. We were only off school a week before we went to the beach but now we are back and slowly starting to settle into a routine. I am happy for lazy mornings and no scheduled activities for about a week before I start going crazy so we will continue to stay busy for everyone's sanity. The girls have a couple camps scheduled and a couple more family trips but a lot of the time will be spent at our pool, library story times and probably lots of trips to Target and Harris Teeter. How many more days until school starts again??? Hehehe, happy summer!