Marx Family Musings: School

On May 13, 2010, we gathered up our tissues and headed out to share a big milestone, the Preschool graduation of our first born. After a two year tour of duty, Sir Hayden was ready to get gussied up and celebrate his Kindergarten readiness. I just love how his preschool covered all of the little details, the tassels made for lovely momentos of their big day. The kids all started out in their classrooms to get dressed up and ready to make their grownups weepy. I recall cracking up during the preparations because everytime we got memos about the ceremony there were bold all caps reminders for the parents of girls not to give them fancy hairdo's and enormous hairbows. Hayden spent lots of time practicing his music at home and showing me how they had to be careful when doing their hand motions to avoid knocking eachother's "special hats" off.

Here's a quick shot of H with his classmates. He is the second from the right in the picture above.

It wasn't long before the processional music began and our favorite scholar appeared with his signature grin. He was so excited for the big day but had also been feeling a bit sad. He really adored his teachers and had a great experience in preschool and didn't want to say farewell. He talked about this alot during the last few weeks of school and it got me feeling badly enough for his little aching heart that we ended up adopting the class fish who now calls our mantle home.

Here's a photo of the graduates all lined up on the risers. Hayden is in the front row and is second from the right.

One of the big questions for the day was how Miss Bailey would do during the program. For a gal that is anything but into containment, she ended up doing pretty well in the confines of our pew - after all she had lots of adults and a grab bag of quiet toys with which to amuse herself.

Soon enough it was H's turn to commence! Here he is with our favorite music teacher, Miss Betsy. She took care of the graduates in Hayden's class because his teacher had just given birth to her second baby the day before. I was so glad Miss Betsy was the one who stepped in to help since Hayden had just adored going to Music class and having time with her.

What a proud Papa and what an joyful boy!

Each new alumnus received a Preschool Bible, I love this sweet moment we captured of Hayden perusing his graduation gift from the school. I later noticed that he was holding it upside down! The good news is we have made some great strides in print awareness since then, but you can't blame a kid for being distracted on such a big day. Both of Hayden's teachers wrote him sweet notes in the front of his Bible which has been quite a treasure for him.

As the program began to wrap up , we snuck out for a few family pics.

Hayden has always been our snuggle bug and promises that he will never be too old for hugs. But someday he may grow too old or too cool for the details that are so endearing such as his little hand on my chin - how that will be missed!

If Hayden is our snugglebug it could easily be said that Miss Bailey is our firecracker. She had done all the cooperating she cared to do by staying in the pew for the program and had other ideas when it came time for photos. Hayden was ready to throw down but fortunately we were able to pull it together and get a decent shot!

We even managed to get a few pics with other VIP's in H's fanclub. Grandma Joyce usually visits in May which happily coincided with Graduation timing.

My folks are just an hour and a half away and were able to scoot over for the morning as well.

Although it was bittersweet to have this first leg of Hayden's education draw to an end, the morning was a wonderful celebration of the accomplishments made by each child as they prepared to head off to the wide world of Elementary School. And of course, we were consoled by the fact that we were headed back for one more round when Fall came and it was time to drop Bailey off for her first day!