school's out

We dashed from dance auditions to preschool graduation.  It was held at the library and was such a fun celebration.  Little Butterfly, dressed in her pretty red dress, with her beautiful curls dancing on her shoulders stood on stage with her class.  They sang several songs that they've learned in school and each student have a brief speaking part.  They named many of the things they've learned or projects they've done and Butterfly said "Our future looks bright thanks to parents like you."  Daddy and Grandma helped juggle Ladybug and Lovely in the audience while I filmed the program.  Lovely was rambunctious and wanted to play, but perked up and watched intently every time they sang.  Ladybug happily pointed out her sister to everyone around her in the audience.

My favorite part was the presentation of the children, called forward one by one (while the graduation song played in the background).  They wore a fun graduation cap, flat on top but decorated with a row of paper crayons on the sides.  They each came to the microphone to declare, "when I grow up, I want to be..."  There were doctors and teachers and cowboys and the most applause went to a friend's son who wants to be a soldier for the United States.  But my sweet, precocious, silly little girl, pranced dainty across the stage, primly hold her skirt out in front of her, "when I grow up, I want to be a real princess!" and then swept into a dramatic but graceful curtsy, winning herself bursts of laughter and applause from the audience.  Such a sweet girl, so innocent and adorable.  And I had no idea that's what she was going to say.

After graduation, we hugged, took pictures, looked at her art projects and bid farewell to friends.  We went to dinner to celebrate and tucked our little girls into bed to get a good night's sleep before their last day of school.

As an special treat, Daddy dropped them off at school today (while I taught a class).  And then Daddy, Grandma and I attended the brief end-of-year program at Ladybug's school, (following their class party with cupcakes and outside games).  They sang a few songs that they've been working on and then good bye to friends and their teacher.  Then we picked up Butterfly, who also had a class party today, with pizza and games.

So I brought my happy little girls home, finished with a whole year of preschool and ready for summer fun.