School's Out for Summer

Last Tuesday was the final day of Anna Claire and Mallory's first year of playschool. Of course, they were their happy little selves that day while I was a little on the emotional side realizing what a milestone it was for the girls to have come to end of a wonderful first year of "school." It can't get much better than having Mrs. Lori and Mrs. Trista as your very first play school teachers!

To celebrate the end of the year they had a picnic on the playground, and it was sooo crowded. A few weeks ago Mrs. Lori sent home a note that each child needed a parent present because all the Tuesday/Thursday classes would be out here. I asked her if I could just be the one parent for Anna Claire and Mallory and she said sure. Well, let me tell you that next year I will have help! It was so hard keeping track of both of them among all the kids and adults. I don't think we've ever "let them loose" in a crowd that large before that I was exhausted by the time it was over. They had a blast, however!

After running around and playing for a while it was time to sit down and sing some songs of which Mallory was taking no part...which is so not her. That girl loves an audience, but I don't think she was feeling well that morning {and she was already upset with me because I wouldn't let her have a cake pop}. Speaking of which...

One of our contributions to the picnic was cake pops. Mrs. Trista made cake pops for the moms at our Mother's Day tea, but the little ones loved them most, so I decided I'd give them a try. At first I was a little worried when I googled "how to make cake pops" and saw these, but after a little more searching I lowered my expectations and found that cake pops were definitely within my range of baking "expertise." It's a multi-step process you've got to have time for {mom baked the cake for me while I was at work, so that part was already done}, but they were so much easier to make than I thought they'd be, and I will certainly be making these again. {fyi ~ devising a way to display and transport the pops was, without a doubt, the hardest part!}

In addition to the slide show Mrs. Lori gave us for Mother's Day, she made each child their own photo album filled with all the pictures she's taken of them throughout the year. This is such a gift, and I can't wait to scan in some never-before-seen pics of Anna Claire and Mallory to share with you. So. Darn. Cute.