School

Here we are with just a few days away from school starting, and I'm finally posting pics of the kids' last days of school back in June! :)

As mentioned, oh, a few months ago, Riley didn't have a very good last day of school. The poor girl didn't feel well, but the bad parents that we were, we sent her along. J and I planned to have lunch with her on her last day, and while we were waiting at the school for her class to arrive, she comes walking toward the nurse's office. The nurse took her temp, and sure enough, she had a fever. We ended up having to take her home, which made her so upset. She wanted to celebrate with her class. Her teacher was nice enough to send Riley's autograph book from school home with her a few days later, but the look on Riley's face as we had to clean our her desk was so sad. Luckily it was only a 24-hour bug, but of all the days for her to get sick, it had to be the last one!

You can tell she's not 100%.

At least I was able to get the tradition-based picture.

My little man, on the other hand, had a very cool-temp day for his last day. He had a picnic with his preschool friends, and I admit that I got a little emotional. It's so much different with preschool. When the kids are that young, you grow an attachment to the parents and teachers because you see them every day, or every time you take your kid to school. Once your child hits elementary school, you send them on their way via the bus (at least in our case), and you don't interact with other parents (except for those at the bus stop) and rarely with the teachers (unless you volunteer a lot). And I cannot say enough about our dear Miss Betty.


If you're lucky, you have a Miss Betty at least once for your children to experience. Never have I encountered a teacher who not only loves enthusiastically what she does, but makes you laugh and makes the kids feel so special. Both my children were lucky enough to have her as their preschool teacher, and she was one of the reasons why I'm sad to be done with preschool.


The graduation ceremony was rough. My little boy was all done with this phase of his life. Miss Betty and I chatted for a bit, and we both agreed that we didn't want to mention that this was the end. She praised my kids and my parenting, which still means so much. (I'm tearing up as I write this.) But what was harder was my 1-on-1 meeting with her that I had the following week. I walked into the classroom stating that I didn't want to be there. I didn't want this meeting to happen because of what it meant. I spent much of the meeting teary-eyed, which, honestly isn't hard for me to do when it comes to Jeremy! That little guy has learned so much and gained some wonderful friendships for years to come, I hope.

Hunter, Logan, Diego, Ryan and Jeremy.
Hunter and Jeremy are in the same kindy class!

Brady was added to the mix.

Standing with the other preschool class.

Waiting for his name to be called.

Shaking Miss Peg's hand.

Getting a hug from Miss Peg while Miss Betty looks on.

And a hug from Miss Betty.

Me and my guy.

Watching him walk away.

We did get a chance to visit Miss Betty over the summer, but when hockey season starts this fall, it won't be the same. Miss Betty is a big Blackhawks fan, and Jeremy would keep her up-to-date on the Blackhawks results. But she will never be forgotten. I'm just sorry we don't have any more children to send her way. :(