Last day of school

It's been a crazy year: Will starting Kindergarten, Maggie aging out of Early Intervention and moving to Pre-K and Jake turning one...plus those three things happened within about a month of each other. At the beginning of the school year I really made an effort to get to Will's class as often as possible to help- I never made it once a week like I wanted, but I went several times. I helped with Johnny Appleseed Day, making turkey shirts for Thanksgiving and going to the class parties. The time between the holidays and spring break/our second trip to Canada just flew by. Not that the time before was slow. When I returned home from Canada I realized Will only had about a month left of Kindergarten, gasp! I tried to visit class and see him in action as much as I could that last little bit. But despite my best efforts to hold on, the last day of Kindergarten still came. Far too quickly. At least I had lunch with him several times throughout the year and did that as much the last month as possible. Looking back at the first day back in August it really is crazy how fleeting the passage of time is.

Anyway, the last day of school was half a day, same as the first. Because Pre-K dismisses an hour before the other grades, Maggie finished at 10:30. I know it seems silly to some...why bother with just a few hours, but to me, the last week of school, including the last day is often the most fun, why miss out on that? Since there was only an hour until school dismissal, I went to Will's class with Maggie. They were watching Toy Story 3. I helped Mrs. Chitwood take down a few things, took some pictures, teared up at the ending of the movie and when Mrs. Chitwood read Mrs. Bindergarten's Last Day of Kindergarten and walked outside with Maggie just a little before Will's class so I wasn't caught up in the rush. I still can't decide which was harder: Will's first day of Kindergarten or his last. Daniel couldn't understand why I was so upset but Kindergarten is a big milestone in a person's life, there's something so special about that grade and as such, it's ending is very sad. Plus I'm very sentimental about beginnings and endings.

Maggie's last day wasn't as hard for me. I'm sure mostly because she'll be in Pre-K next year as well, same class, it's not as epic as Kindergarten. I fully expect to be emotional on her last day of Pre-K as she heads into Kinder, but we'll see. I may be so used to her in a classroom setting by then it may not be as hard. Some firsts and lasts:

My littles have grown so much! It's been a great school year, here's to a great summer!