Big Girl Graduation

Yesterday was Lucy's last day of preschool. The teachers organized a picnic graduation party at the ranch for today and we all hoped and prayed the weather would cooperate to allow us to participate. As I was up this morning at 6 with Logan the sun was shining bright and it seemed fairly clear, so the plan was to go. We got up and got ourselves ready and headed to ranch to enjoy some outside time and celebrate with Lucy. The kids were asked to bring a teddy bear with them, so Lucy chose a pink one and Max brought an army beanie baby because he has to do everything she does. The preschool kids headed up on the stage and formed a semi-circle with their bears and sang a couple of 'bear-themed' songs for the parents. Then it was time to hand out certificates of achievement to each of the kids. Lucy's said, "For always doing her best." Other kids' said "for learning their letters", or "learning how to read", etc. I was pretty pleased with Lucy this year and all the progress she has made. I felt a little bit at times that the teachers might not have gotten to know her quite as well as maybe some of the other kids, but she always seemed very excited to attend school. Her report card had very nice things to say about her and praised her accomplishments, but also made Tyler and I aware that the teachers don't really know how much she has learnt over the last year. So I decided to create my own report of my special girl:
For the first few weeks, she was really nervous and even got to the point where she would scream and cry when it was time to drop her off. But that quickly faded away and finally grew into her begging us to go to school and counting down the days until it was time to go again. She has made friends, which hopefully she will continue to play with after school is done. She knew her alphabet and how to count before she entered the class, but now she knows how to write all of her letters and can recognize them all. She can spell a number of words and has begun to read with a lot of success, as we have been working our way through the Book of Mormon. She loves crafts of any sort, but especially loves drawing. She takes a lot of time to ensure that her pictures are accurate and pays special attention to the colors she chooses, trying to make her picture look as realistic as possible. Her favorite things to draw are pictures of her family, and hearts. She can be quite critical of her skills as I believe the picture that she creates in her mind doesn't quite translate to the page yet, but she has improved a great deal. When she colors, she pays special attention to staying within the lines. She does math, without even knowing it - for example, yesterday there were 5 perogies left. She suggested that we have them for dinner, and then she said, "Dad could have two, since there are five perogies and only four of us." I think that's pretty genius, myself. Her teachers commented that she can count to 15 - which we thought was a pretty silly statement, since she has on a number of occasions told to us that she can count all the way to 100 and then proceeds to prove it. Most especially, she has grown more outgoing and confident in herself and yet hasn't changed a lot. She's still shy, she loves being obedient and especially loves it when people acknowledge her obedience. She tells me all the time that she just likes to do what the teacher asks. She's respectful and polite and is heading into kindergarten with a pretty great foundation.Max was pretty bored with the proceedings until his friend Oliver showed up with a soccer ball, and then it was off to the races. They explored around the ranch together, and had a hard time leaving. The graduation was supposed to turn into a picnic, but the gray clouds blew in and it chilled quickly, so most family took off after the ceremony was done. We stopped by A&W for a special lunchtime treat and then were back home in time for Logan's nap. It was a pretty successful outing and something I was grateful to experience with her. Each of the kids got to bring home a loot-bag of sorts with crafts they had made and a few treats from the teachers. Each of the kids were supposed to draw a picture of what they wanted to be when they great up. Lucy said and always says she wants to be a cardiologist. (This came about when her cousin Ashley required a few surgeries on her heart and Lucy wanted to help make her better) I'm sure the teachers don't hear that one too often! So here is a picture of her as a cardiologist, with her doctor's mask on. Notice the patient in the bed is smiling...she must be doing a good job.