Alli's LAST Day of Kindergarten

Was EMOTIONAL for both Mommy and Alli!!!

As a special treat for her very last day of Kindergarten, we surprised Alli with donuts for breakfast.

This was a HUGE hit with all three little fish!

Of course we had to our standard pictures.  It is amazing to see how much Alli has grown and changed.

I don't think we've changed to much though :-)

Alli had a fabulous time at school "NOT doing any school work!" she proudly told us ;-)

Then, last night was graduation, which had me in tears it was so precious!

The Kindergarten kiddos sang the most adorable songs and recited Psalms 23 and 100 perfectly.

Despite there being 32 children, the only sweet voice I heard was Alli.

After the program, and their Vice Principal reading "Oh, the Places You'll Go," it was time to graduate.

The kiddos of Mrs. Otis's 2012-213 Kindergarten Class lined up on stage and prepared to cross the bridge to become 1st Graders . . . 

 Alli was so excited and proud to cross the bridge

and receive her certificate of completion and hug from Mrs. Otis.

Although, I think Alli's biggest joy of the evening was receiving a scrapbook from Mrs. Otis.

 According to Alli (and us too!) "Mrs. Otis is the BEST teacher in the whole, wide world!!!"

How we will miss having her as a teacher next year :*(

Alli had a blast playing with her friends and visiting with her amazing cheering section . . . Ducky Gramma, Papa, Barbie Gramma, Pop Pop, Uncle Danny, Rhonda, Uncle Tony, Aunt Jenee, Uncle Z, Cousin Ashlie, Grant and Baby Sophie!!!

Holding Baby Sophie for the first time was definitely one of the highlights of the evening.

It was such a perfect end to a fabulous first year at LCS!

She had the sweetest class!!!

Alli had such a wonderful day and evening BUT about five minutes before we got home, it hit her that Kindergarten was truly over, her class wouldn't be the same, and Mrs. Otis was no longer going to be her teacher and the tears began ~ I mean full on, gut wrenching sobs :*(
Our hearts were breaking for our sweet girl as she grieved.
We did our best to console her but she still cried herself to sleep.
Thankfully, she woke up much happier this morning, still bummed but ready to face the future.

Our Sweet Little Alli,
We could not be more proud of you and all that you accomplished this year in Kindergarten.
You made so many friends, completely came out of your shell, learned to read, write, spell, add, subtract, speak some Spanish, serve others, encourage and help your friends, memorized many songs and Bible verses and brought joy and laughter to many people this year.  We are so excited to see you blossom even further as you become a 1st Grader.  We love you so much little one!!!
Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Way to go Alli!

Today this sweet girl received a medal for reading 1700 minutes during the 10 weeks of Lighthouse Reads and she was so excited! 

 She has been talking about this for weeks. 

This morning she decided she was scared to go on stage

 because people would be clapping for her - oh the horror of it! ;-). 

But fast forward to this afternoon when it was time for the assembly and she was all smiles. 

It was really neat because all 16 kiddos in her class got a medal for reading 1000 or more minutes. 

  It definitely called for a fun trip to Menchies for some yummy frozen yogurt.

What a great accomplishment! We are so proud of our little reader!!! 

100th Day of Kindergarten!!!

Today is Alli's

100th day of Kindergarten

Alli thought the occasion called for a special dress, and Mommy was happy to oblige :-)

Worked out great since she has had casual dress all week thanks to the auction.

Of course, no photo shoot would be complete without a silly face . . .  

It's hard to believe our baby girl is this far into Kindergarten and will soon be in 1st Grade.

G is for Grandparents . . .

This {short} week was "G" week in Alli's Kindergarten class

and what better way to celebrate the letter G than to have 

Grandparents' Day

 Alli was over the moon excited to have all five of her living grandparents/great grandpa

visit her class today for a presentation and craft time!

Alli's class sang the most precious Grandparent song to the tune of Take Me Out to the Ballgame

{These were a couple shots I took of them practicing before the grandparents arrived}

After singing a number of songs and doing the alphabet in sign language,

the grandparents got to help the kiddos make hand turkeys with ABAB patterned feathers.

Alli was so sad when it was time for her five special guests to leave, and shed a few tears.

Fortunately, Mommy {the class photographer of the day} was able to stick around long enough to get her smiling :-)

What a great opportunity for both Alli and her grandparents.

She loved showing them her classroom and I think they all enjoyed seeing her in action.

What a blessing it is for all of our kiddos to have 

all of their grandparents (AND a great grandpa!) living so close.  

Thank you Ducky Gramma & Papa

 Barbie Gramma & Barbie Pop Pop

and Great Pop!

You all made Alli's day!

Alli's Kindergarten Picture

Here's our big Kindergartener!

Love this sweet girl!!!



Gingerbread Man Hunt

On Monday, Alli's Kindergarten class went on a Gingerbread Man Scavenger Hunt

to explore the school and find all of the important places they needed to know about.

 

Her teacher had asked for a volunteer to make 20 gingerbread man cookies and I said I would,

forgetting that we would be in Pullman last weekend . . . enter Ducky Gramma,

who saved the day by graciously making the cookies, which were way better than I could have.

As Alli says, "Ducky Gramma is the best baker in the world!"

 

According to Mrs. Otis, the cookies were DELICIOUS!!!

 

Mommy is not a total slacker . . . I was in charge of decorating

I think they turned out pretty well and I had a number of people comment on the "LCS cookies"

 

Score one for Mommy and Ducky Gramma ~ we made a great team!!!

Alli's 1st Day of Kindergarten

 Was a success!!! 

I had to wake her up much earlier than she is used to this morning, but the fun surprise was seeing Daddy!

He had to stay and take his baby girl to her first day of Kindergarten :-)

Love this shot as she is doing her "I can't believe I am already in Kindergarten" pose.

She was a bit slow eating breakfast and getting ready but once she was dressed, 

Alli was full of smiles and giggles ~ so excited for her first day of Kindergarten!

We thought she looked so precious in her little uniform holding her lunch bag and backpack!!!

Alli was very excited to be taking lunch and dictated exactly what she wanted . . . 

Sausage, cheese sticks, crackers, craisins, fruit leather, yogurt and a PB&J sandwich.

Needless to say, she didn't come close to finishing this but did eat all of the sausage and sandwich,

finishing the rest of it {with help from Eli} on the drive home.

The whole family had to get a picture with our new Kindergarten gal before heading off to school.

Poor Eli wanted to know why he didn't get to go to school today too.

After the photo shoot, it was off to school.

She was a little apprehensive when we got to school but walked right in to hang her coat and backpack,

before posing for more pictures in her classroom . . . 

She was happily playing by herself when we left.

I stuck around much of the morning in the school helping to organize the curriculum books with some other moms but only peeked in on her once, she was wiggling her tooth at recess when I checked ;-)

2:45 seemed to take forever to get here but I was so excited when we finally got to see her!!!

She said she had a fun day and got to have a cookie for snack ~ very exciting!

Alli was definitely exhausted when we got home, 

so she crafted a bit, did some interviews, ate an early dinner and was in bed by 6 p.m.

I still haven't heard a peep from her!

This new schedule will take some getting used to ;-)

I have to share her "interviews" we did at home . . . 

The one that cracks me up the most is 

When I grow up I want to: still live with Mommy

I cannot wait to show her that in a couple of years!!! ;-)

Twas the night before Kindergarten . . .

Today was a fabulous "last day of summer vacation" for our soon to be Kindergarten girl!

 As a special treat to celebrate our baby girl's "big school" beginning, we took her out for dinner

at Godfather's Pizza ~ her choice!

As you can see in the above video, she had a great time and is excited for the big day tomorrow :-)

The day started out with her getting up early and telling me she now has three loose teeth ~ whoa!

When she went to bed last night, there was only one and now there are three and one feels like it will come out at any moment . . . seriously, what happened to our baby girl?!?!?!

As a fun treat, she got to spend much of the day with her buddies Taylor and Lizzy crafting galore.

She also spent lots of time playing and snuggling with Miss Kaitlyn . . . 

I think the love and joy just oozes in these pictures!!!

We love you Miss Kaitlyn! 

After relaxing a bit, it was off to dinner where Alli (and her brothers!)

thoroughly enjoyed their pizza and dessert, as well as the rides and games . . . 

 

The folks at Godfather's made our kids' night by letting them have free dessert pizza from the buffet.

They each wanted mini pizzas so we didn't get the buffet but didn't want to order a whole dessert pizza.

I asked if we could just pay for Eli to get the buffet so we could get a slice for them and the manager said it was on the house ~ A & E were thrilled!

Once we got home, we played in the yard before getting ready for bed.

We really wanted to get a family picture but had no one to take it so had to settle for an iPhone pic

Not the best quality but we had to document our last night as a family of little tikes (i.e. no big schoolers yet)

So here she is on her last night before joining the world of school-age children . . . 

Allison Nicole Fisher,

We love you so much and are so excited to watch as you begin this new adventure.

We know you will do amazingly well in Kindergarten and look forward to hearing all about your first day.

We love you to the moon and back sweet girl!!!

Love,

Mommy, Daddy, Eli & Lukey