Riley’s Last Day of PK3

Well, it’s official. Riley is finished with his first year of school.

His last two hours as a PK3 student were last Friday morning. They involved songs and a slideshow, cake and lemonade, excited kids and proud parents, and tears and goodbyes. We packed a lot into those two hours.

Before we left the house that morning, I of course made Riley pose for some pictures, just like I did on his first day of school. Even though Kenny was asking him silly questions behind me to get him to smile, he did pretty good. So he got to eat some jellybeans on the way to school.

 

 

And will you just look at how much he has changed since the beginning of the school year??? Crazy.

Rory and I dropped Riley off at his building, drove around to the main lot to park, met up with Kenny, and went inside to find seats in the cafeteria. The teachers had decorated it the night before, and everything looked so great.

There were boxes of some of the kids’ artwork from throughout the year, a big banner and balloons, refreshments, and pictures of each of the kids taped up around the room with their answers to “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I wanted to take pictures of all of those; the answers were so cute. Alcee’s was one of my favorites (she wants to be Humpty Dumpty but doesn’t want to fall off the wall), as was Ava’s (she wants to be a dragon because they have wings). Riley’s answer was very typical for him.

Kenny and I lucked out and got seats in the front row. The kids filed in from the back, holding hands with their partners. Claire was so funny with Riley: she held onto him so tight and sweetly rubbed his arm as they walked to their places. So freakin’ cute.

 

They performed three songs: an ABC song, a numbers song, and “This Little Light of Mine.” I do have video, and I will post it soon. Again, so freakin’ cute.

 

After the kids were done, the teachers also had a little something planned. They put together a slideshow of pictures they took throughout the year, which was so fun to watch. They told us that they took so many pictures this year that they had a hard time picking and choosing which ones to include in the show, hence the reason it was thirteen minutes long.

I loved seeing all of their pictures from the year, and the three of them (Lisa included) stood off to the side next to us and had a hard time keeping it together. I think they really enjoyed this year’s group of kids.

Once the slideshow ended and all of us wiped our tears away, the kids were turned loose to run around, play, and have cake.

I stopped Riley from chasing Alcee long enough to give the teachers their end of the year gifts and take even more pictures. These are three fantastic ladies!

I also attempted to get a family picture, but Rory was beyond done by this point so that’s why he appears to be melting down. Because he was.

Riley did not want to leave, so we were the last family to finally say goodbye. Kenny went to work and I took the boys home. I put the tired little one down for a nap, and then Riley watched Robots while I did some things around the house. When Rory woke up, we met Kelli and Jack and Diana and Alcee at Chick-Fil-A for a celebratory lunch. We even sprung for ice cream.

And with that, he’s done. He learned so much this year and made so many wonderful friends. In reviewing his final report card, the only things he still needs a little work on are holding his pencil correctly, writing his name, and catching/throwing a ball. Other than that, he’s progressed quite nicely both academically and socially.

Daddy and I are so proud of you, Riley-bean. You had a great PK3 year, you’ll have a great summer, and you’re going to do so great in the big school next year. We love you so much!