June 19, 2009

Preschool Graduation

Last Thursday was my sons' end of the year preschool program/graduation ceremony. I left the house an hour early to drop off the graduates and secure a seat closest to the nearest exit. My husband, my sister Amy, and my eighty-eight-year-old friend Delsa stayed behind to wait for my contribution to the post-graduation reception (a very special homemade chocolate cake) to come out of the oven.

Five minutes before showtime, my family showed up. As my husband and Delsa took their seats, my husband leaned over to me and whispered, "Your presence is requested in the reception room."

I found my sister next to a buffet table piled high with homemade treats. She was holding a plate covered with aluminum foil.

"What do you want me to do with this?" she asked in way that suggested that my cake didn't belong with the rest of the food.

Before I could answer, she continued, "Do you want my advice?"

The tone of her voice told me that I probably did not, in fact, want to hear her pearls of wisdom, but as all good sisters do, she gave it to me anyway. "This thing," she said, refusing to acknowledge my creation by its proper given name, "needs to be put back into your car right now."

Normally, I would have vigorously defended the merits of my cooking by critiquing the other offerings on the table, but the pianist had already begun playing "Pomp and Circumstance" and I didn't want to miss the processional march. The sacrifices we make for our children.

The program itself was excellent. Cortlen stood in the back row and belted out Christian fan favorites like "This Little Light of Mine" and "Kum-bay-ah." Kellen sat in the middle row between the boy who sang too loud and the girl who flashed her underpants the whole time and wouldn't sing at all. Kellen complimented the dynamic duo by 'accidentally' falling out of his chair seven times.

At the end of the program, my offspring received public recognition for being the only two graduates to have successfully completed the same pre-K program two years in a row (I held my boys back to put a little distance between them and my daughter). At one point during the reception, Cortlen put his paper graduation cap on Cameron and I snapped a quick picture. We all thought it was cute until we realized that our eight-month-old has the same head circumference as our soon-to-be kindergartner.


"Where's your cake?" Kellen asked, licking his lips, as we approached the buffet table. A million different possible answers flashed before me, including accepting responsibility for failing to add two essential ingredients to the cake batter and neglecting to grease and flour the cake pan. In the end, however, I chose the road less taken.

"Aunt Amy ruined it," I told him.

****
Any good preschool graduation stories out there?

43 comments

Lindy said...

"the road less taken" - lol...you've got to pave the blame for the rest of us!

WILLIAM said...

Blame it is what siblings are for.

Mommymel said...

Nothing profound to say, just wanted to say what a doll Cameron is! I'm sure you know that already, though.

mama rose said...

Made some chocolate shortbread,mistakenly used unsweetened chocolate. Ouch

Have K grad for the princess nex week. Should be a blast.

come and visit us http://www.madjaqsworld.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Ha ha...this is one of my favorite posts! ha ha

mintifresh said...

Why does Amy have to ruin everything?? Gosh!! I would've eaten the cake anyway!

Seth and Natalie said...

That little guy is so cute! My 6 month old has a ginormous head, also. I never went to pre-school, and our school never had graduations until we were seniors. Do kids have an every class graduation now?

Lisa Page Rosenberg said...

Brilliant! I love when well place blame saves the day.

Anonymous said...

Very cute picture of your youngest. Glad it went well, and way to blame the cake disaster on your sister. ;)

KB said...

Comment made just last night:

"[Your son]'s head is so much bigger than [her daughter]'s head. The are only a few months a part!"

Ha- more brains for my kid! :-)

Cameron is a doll! (Sorry, no preschool stories... yet)

Connie said...

Taught preschool in a daycare when my youngest was 3. During graduation, I was giving my little schpeel about how the kids have grown up, they have learned so much, they no longer cry when things go wrong, blah, blah, at that point, my own son, tipped his little plastic chair over backwards, hit his head on the wall, and I held him the rest of the time while he cried. So much for growing up and being able to control the tears!
Darling baby! Fun post.

megan said...

I would have loved to see a picture of this cake!

Miranda said...

Well, it wasnt preschool graduation, but at my daughter's kindergarten program, I had my younger sister with me. This sister is 21, and is really close with my kids. I guess as the program was going, she was sticking her tongue out at my kindergarten daughter, who would then stop singing and stick her tongue back. I guess she got in trouble by the teacher because after the 3rd time, she had a really guilty look on her face as she finished the songs. Afterwards when I asked what happened, she said "Aunt Missa made me do it!" LOL

Nicole said...

Great idea to blame it on someone else! lol

Amalie said...

i'm actually glad that my son's preschool does not have a graduation. Sitting through my hubby's grad school one was basically torture with two little kids.

canadianmom said...

Cute pics of the little one!
My son had a pre-school grad party instead of a ceremony. They were studying pirates at the time and the last day they went to the Fishpond and had a treasure hunt hike and the "ceremony" was pirate hats, pictures with scowly faces with a treasure bag "diploma". A memory book with projects done and pictures of the year was presented to them.
My son was loved preschool and wasn't consoled with the thought that kindergarten will be just as fun and wailed the fact that he would never see his teachers again.... we live in a small town where it's not hard to bump into everyone once in a while!

Sara said...

Excellent answer to a valid question.

Danielle said...

Reading your blog brings back so many memories. Though my children are 19, 18, 15, & 13, I should've done better with journaling their days/weeks/months/years, beside just the old age VHS & photos. This is so awesome; I enjoy and admire what you're doing! My kids still cause me to laugh in histerics, when I'm not (according to them) being "unfair, mean, or unwavering." Sidebar: I became privy to your site today via June/July '09 issue of Parent & Child. I am an Inspirational writer interested in blogging. Do you have any add'l suggestions? jsmithfam@yahoo.com

Danielle said...

Ooopsies, duh, my correct email is jdsmithfam@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

What? No picture of the cake?
jeesh.

Kiki said...

Adorable picture. Love the hat. I didn't know the kids get all dressed up in Grad gear at that age. Something to look forward to. I only wore it when I graduated HS and college. I guess times change. But that was also when only one soccer team got the trophy, not all teams in the league. If you get a chance hop over to my blog and check out my most recent A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood post. I am sure you will have some great answers to my question. Have a great weekend and take care.
-Kiki

Susan said...

Oh yes, they graduate everything now. I have a 4th grader that "graduated" elementary school this year, a Kindergartner that "graduated" to first grade and next year, it will be my last "graduating" preschool. I won't even mention I have 3 more that will "graduate" 4th grade eventually...

Ironically though, my K kid was sick the night of graduation and we had to miss it this year. Darn...

Sheila said...

Congratulations to the graduates!! Your baby has the cutest little face.

Crystal said...

haha thats funny! I would have done the same!

Erin said...

I was waiting for a different outcome or even picture of the cake and I laughed so hard at your response! I think I would have done the same thing!!

gabersgamma said...

When the kids got up for the recessional, one seat in the front row had a large puddle on it.
Guess what it was!!

My youngest grandson was born with a really large head and not much hair. He has been called punkin head ever since, but at one year old he is finally growing into his head.

Cameron is adorable!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the laughs as usual. On a totally separate note, I met a woman from Philly while visiting a National Park earlier this week and I came SO close to asking her if she knew you.

Foursons said...

HA! I love your stories. For some reason neither of my kids had a preschool graduation. Humpfh.

Yvette said...

Your baby does have the cutest face!
As for the preschool program it all sounds too familiar. I think theres always a little girl showing her underwear, your one token loud singer and of course a little boy falling out of his chair or off the bleachers. Love preschool graduation so entertaining sort of like the primary program. Gives me joy for the rest of the week!

The Damsel In Dis Dress said...

the silver lining is: there is chocolate cake in the car.

Yeah baby.

http://damselindisdress.wordpress.com

Bugs said...

I agree with cosette.

I would have said that he was so special and smart we decided to keep the whole cake for us because the stupid kids didn't deserve it.

Cameron is a cutie.

Angi Snyder said...

My middle child is the only one to actually complete pre-school all the way to graduation. So for the big event, they class was asked to wear their "sunday best". I tried, but the best we could do was flip-flops, shiny, bright green basketball shorts that hung mid-calf, and a black t-shirt with a large skull and cross-bones on it. As for the program, are you kidding me? He didn't make eye contact with anyone the whole time, much less participate.

Unknown said...

All I have to say is preschool graduations are alot more entertaining that high school ones not to mention much much shorter...Savor the moment. lol

Kyle, Carrie, Jenna, and Emily said...

I was hoping for a picture of the masterpiece cake! I love your BLOG!!

Jen said...

Yeah on the PrK graduation--I love the paper hats...betcha didn't have to pay for those. I on the other hand am a proud owner of a 25 dollar cap and gown in the brilliant color of red. You can see said 25 dollar cap at http://twokidsandamap.com. I think the 25 dollars helped pay for the sheet cake we all had...they didn't trust us to bring the snacks.

Rocket Ma'am said...

Jana- do you know or did you deliberately allow the giant condom ad on the side? Not that I have a problem with them, but they're not exactly something I want to explain to my kids if they see it over my shoulder. Esp when they are excited about free samples of anything- yikes! :o)

cindy baldwin said...

Jana... I don't have any good preschool graduation stories, but I have to say that Jared also always had a huge head! As a toddler it was hard to get t-shirts on and off of him because they'd get stuck on his head.

Mocha Dad said...

I recently posted about my son's preschool graduation on my blog. You can read the post at http://www.mochadad.com/2009/05/28/the-graduate

Maisieharrison said...

I can empathize with the "larger than average" head. My youngest boy has always had a "big" head. And while he is finally beginning to grow into it, at age 5 his head is still larger than his brothers' and they are ages 6-1/2 and 8. We have to be really careful about the necks on the shirts we buy him, because what goes ON easily, does not always come OFF easily! But he has a good attitude about it. Once, after playing "tug of way" trying to get a shirt off, he laughed and said, "It's 'cause I got a big head!"

Diane J. said...

Good preschool stories? Only if you count my twins arguing back and forth over the teacher "No Guy!" "Yeah Guy!" No Guy!" Guy, Yeah!" I guess it's good my children never looked at me, the death look may have disintegrated them.

Unknown said...

louis vuitton has their own market orientation, they emphasized on louis vuitton bag fashion design and top quality. They don’t want to win the market by sales promotion or set up many “outlets” in the world, even lots of women hope that Louis vuitton bags can have an outlet , but also lots women don’t think it is a good piece of news for them to hear that lv have outlets.

Anonymous said...

http://luxuryjewellery.casinoblogsonline.com/
http://luxuryjewellery.centerblog.net/
http://www.flixya.com/blog/luxuryjewellery
http://tiffany1.blog.friendster.com/
http://lujewellery.insanejournal.com/
http://luxuryjewellery.lah.cc/
http://tiffanyjewellery1985.spaces.live.com/
http://tiffanyuk.livejournal.com/
http://luxuryjewellery.microbloghost.com/
http://www.mtaafm.com/luxuryjewellery//

Unknown said...

http://onlytoywatch.21classes.com/
http://onlytoywatch.3steps.com/
http://onlytoywatch.3xblog.ro/
http://blog.bbs-haarentor.de/wp-admin/
http://www.blogamat.com/wp-admin/
http://www.azcentral.com/members/User/onlytoywatch
http://onlytoywatch.livesexbook.com/
http://www.blog-gratuit.com/manager/view_entries.php
http://onlytoywatch.blogstreet.co.uk/
http://www.blogtoowoomba.com/?w=onlytoywatch
&_&