Oh, The Places You'll Go... To Infinity & Beyond!

 It's amazing how quickly time flies!  Josiah will be starting Kindergarten in just a few short weeks!  To commemorate his last day of preschool, the school celebrated a "Preschool Graduation" for him and the others who will be moving up to Kindergarten.  Now to be quite honest, it was really interesting, and a little foreign to me, to have such a big ordeal for "graduating" from preschool.  There wasn't anything like that when we grew up and whenever I had a Kindergarten student bring in their "Preschool Graduation" pictures for share time, I always laughed with other teachers about how I couldn't believe they made such a big deal of that with caps and gowns and everything!  However, when the time came for Josiah to "graduate" from preschool, I did get pretty into it and enjoyed the celebration of moving from one stage of his life to the next!  The transition into Kindergarten, starting his academic career, is a big one and the "graduation ceremony" that his preschool put on was just one way to celebrate that!  The more we have talked about Kindergarten coming up, the more questions Josiah has about school.  Recently he asked how many grades he was going to have to be in (after asking what came after Kindergarten and I told him it was 1st grade, then 2nd, and so on).  Of course being the honest one, told him that it would be at least 13 grades/years and then college!  Not the best thing to tell a 5 year old who thinks that 13 is a big number!  He responded that he did not want to go to college... not because it was a lot of grades/years, but because he didn't want to leave us, his Mommy and Daddy!!!  I was touched, but responded that he might change his mind later!  :)  He quickly informed me that he would not change his mind, so I said that if he really still did not want to leave us, he could always stay at home and go to college (though I may change my mind later too... we've got plenty of time to think about that one!).  After some of the excitement at the "Preschool Graduation", I have to wonder how much bigger the celebration at the High School Graduation will have to be to top this; however, it was really sweet how the preschool made a big deal of celebrating each child's strengths, friendships, and lives for this short time they have had with our children... though Josiah was with them the longest!!!  Josiah has been with Harvest Church Preschool for almost 4 years!  He was 15 months old in August of '06 when he started about the time that the preschool opened!  And now he's moving up and out into the big wide world of public school!  We have been so blessed with the wonderful Christian influences through Harvest Church Preschool and have loved the women who have loved and cared for our children!  I am so glad that Rachel is continuing on there with some amazing people!  We are also blessed to have Josiah coming to MY school!  He will be in Kindergarten in the very next room to me with a great teacher, Ms. Lisa Wilson!  Lisa and I have worked together since Josiah was born, so he has known her since then as Miss Lisa!  So our recent experience has been for him to get used to calling her Ms. Wilson!  I have also been able to bring him with me to my classroom while I get some end of the year work done (now that school is out, THANKFULLY!!!), which has helped him get used to doing things in the classroom as a KINDERGARTNER!  The kids have spent many days in my classroom, but have just played and had fun.  It was interesting watching him play in the classroom and seeing him go to the bathroom in the there by himself, wash his hands by himself, clean up by himself, and so on (all stuff he does at home, but doesn't always want to do by himself because he has Mommy and Daddy to do stuff for him or argue with that he doesn't want to do it at all)!  Josiah and Rachel are always transitioning and growing in new ways each day, but the big transition from preschool to Kindergarten has made me really look at the little ways they are changing too!  Rachel is going to be so sad to not be able to come to my school and go to Kindergarten with Josiah!  She is constantly copying him (good and bad), but is actually more of a risk taker than he is and probably ever was.  She desperately wants to ride HIS bike, play HIS games, do HIS puzzles, say the same things as him, and do everything by herself (even if she can't)!  Rachel is definitely enjoying being 2!!!  And she will tell you that!  It is a busy time with both of them, but lots of fun!  Praise God for all that He has blessed us with!

Josiah said a verse during their performance!  He did a great job!

They sang a few really cute songs about friendship and God... I am so glad Dad recorded it!  It sounds adorable!  Sorry I don't have a short video to post here!

Josiah getting his "diploma"!  He couldn't figure out why he was being called up on stage because he'd already been up there once to get his "Best Writer" award!  They had to call his name twice!  The projector to the right of the stage showed a slideshow later in the "ceremony" of pictures of the kids as babies, then throughout their preschool years at Harvest Church along with an inspirational message about following God throughout the rest of their lives as well!  Bring on the tears!  Very sweet!

Lucy, Uncle Chris, and Aunt Melissa came to celebrate the graduation with us, as did Mimi and Opa, Grandma Lynn, and Grandma and Dida!  So much fun!  Josiah had a blast with Lucy!  He even fed her cantaloupe!  Mostly because he just wanted the watermelon, so he was asking me to cut up what he didn't want so he could feed her.  But he did a good job!

 

 Peyton and Josiah, the preschool graduates, loving on their Rachel!  :)

 Rachel on Josiah's bike with Josiah's helmet!

 Rachel even wanted to try on Josiah's cap and gown!

Josiah celebrated his 5th birthday with a Lightning McQueen/Cars theme (his choice), but Buzz Lightyear/Toy Story gifts (also his choice)!  Here is he with his Buzz Lightyear pajamas, wings, and gloves... also sporting his Lighning McQueen knee pads that came with his roller skates that fit on the bottom of his shoes (those brought back memories!).

Rachel, of course, had to try on the same wings, gloves, and kneepads!

At the kids' party, we played "Pin the Wheel on McQueen"...

and "Musical Parking Spaces" (the blue tape on the floor were the parking spaces)!

The Lightning McQueen cake was a hit!

(The crafts at the back of the table were foam stickers and shapes to make road signs, another party activity.)

Another new activity for us this year... strawberry picking with friends!  Josiah picked a few (or actually held the bucket while I picked), then gave up and said it was too hot).  He ended up sitting in the shade with his friend, Emily, eating some of the strawberries from her basket.

Rachel, on the other hand, could have gone on for hours!  Her friend, Nina, showed her the ropes!  They looked for good red strawberries, picked them, and then sometimes put them in the bucket and sometimes ate them!  :)