Goin' to the Zoo

Thursday was Lexie's last day of school in the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo Kindergarten Class. I was snapping pictures like crazy, so you will get the full experience! I just had to save it for Lexie when she is older. She requested a special hairdo, "piggie-buns," and chose her favorite pink dress for the occasion. To culminate the last school day, a graduation program was held at an auditorium there at the zoo.
I had to throw in a picture of the thank you gift Lexie made her teacher and assistant teacher. It is a "forget-me-not pot." Lexie mod-podged pictures onto a flower pot of her with her teachers and the class, a message, and drawing she created for each of them. We included some potting soil, forget-me-not flower seeds, and the poem that explains everything. I found the idea last year on Family Fun, and I think I may use it every year for teacher thank you gifts! (The backdrop is also a sneak peak at the fabric I am using for my next quilting project, a patriotic quilt.)
Every Thursday I have volunteered teaching music in Lexie's class this schoolyear. It has honestly been the highlight of my week. I have really enjoyed walking down to Lexie's classroom with her and doing all the fun songs with the kids. I was able to have one last class with them this day, I will really miss being there every week.

Here are all the kids doing our "La La Song" with puppets. And if you laugh at my expression, yes, I get pretty cheesy when I teach kids!After our music class, we went up to the auditorium to practice the kindergarten graduation program. I had taught the kids a song called, "You're an Elephant," and went with to practice. On the way up, I had to snap a picture of Lexie with her two friends Zoe and Savannah. They were all holding hands and being so cute, just sweet little girls.

Here are the kids singing the song. They did super cute on it! They really put their hearts into it and did all the fun actions that Savannah's mommy made up to go with the song.

Here is Lexie getting her diploma. She also got an award for perfect attendance this last quarter. Wow, I have a 1st Grader now. When did all this happen?!

Mrs. Callahan had a special gift for me for doing the music all year. That was very nice.
We had quite a group of kids from our townhouse community that were all in the Zoo Kindergarten this year. We are missing Hazel on the last day of school, she had moved the week before when her dad graduated from Creighton. But here are the other five buddies, what fun it has been: (L to R) Mason, Savannah, Taggart, Lexie, and Alex.

Again, we are missing Hazel in this picture! But these three girls are so cute and have had so much fun together this year: (Top to Bottom) Savannah, Lexie, and Zoe.

And the best part of all is that Daddy could be there for Lexie's graduation! I picked him up from the airport an hour before the graduation. We have sure missed him for the last two weeks while he has been in Maryland. Here is our happy family enjoying Lexie's program, the zoo, and last day of school (and Omaha for a while!)What a monkey! Lexie can tell me so many fabulous facts about animals and will give you a personal tour of the zoo, if you'd like. She has had so much fun and made some great friends this year. Her teacher is incredible, and I couldn't have asked for a better Kindergarten experience for her. We will always remember this once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Lexie and Gavin are glad Daddy is back and ready to play. Thursday was a great day to to sum up our year, and then Friday we were getting on the road to go to Maryland for the summer!