The MacKillop Family: Crazy May

The end of the school year is officially the busiest time of year. And funny enough, the exact time I got behind on my blog last year. Since I'm so far behind, I am going to wrap up the end of the school year festivities in one post.

But first, I have to say how much I enjoyed watching Ella learn and grow this past year. My baby is just not my little baby anymore, and barely even seems like my little girl anymore. I feel like I fight every day to keep her little. Maybe even to a fault sometimes; but I think every child deserves to be just that and enjoy all that comes with it. It just doesn't last very long. So you all know how much I am against the idea of full day kindergarten. If my baby was going to be there that much every day (which I was not ready for), then I was going to make every effort to be there as much as possible. And I did. I signed up to be room mom (which was more frustrating than I ever would have imagined, but nonetheless will probably do it again). And I went to the school once a week to help out in her classroom and do things for her teacher. Sometimes I went more than once a week. I made sure to be there for all the parades (100th day, book character day, cowgirl day) and can't even count how many times I had lunch with her. I am so glad I made the effort. When I was younger and imagined having kids, I never imagined having babies. That may seem wierd, but I always dreamed about the school years and the fun things we could do together. So I love that I am getting to live that dream right now. I loved that the kids called me "Ella's mom" and not Mrs. MacKillop! I love that I got to know her teacher really well; but mostly I love that Ella was always excited to see me there. So here's to my big girl...and to first grade!

Our end of the year party was an all day splash day. The kids got to come in swim suits and play water games all day long.

Do you remember Field Day when you were in school?! I remember it always being something I looked forward to. Ella LOVED it!

The yellow team rocked it!

Victory!!

And because I am usually so busy being the one to take pictures, I had to post this; see, I was really there!

And finally...kindergarten graduation. Yes, I cried. But it was the teachers' fault for reading this poem about sending our babies to them and trusting them in their care, and them now leaving them as much bigger, smarter kids.

Ella and Mrs. Lake

Mary, Emilee, Daisy, Ella

Cora, Ella, Lillian

We were so excited for school to be out!! On the last day of school, we picked Ella up and had our own little family celebration. We headed to Rainforest Cafe and then played at the mall for a couple of hours. Then we went for our first summer swim. We grabbed dinner and a movie, went home, and enjoyed the rest of the evening together. It was such a fun day/night!