6th grade graduation

Well, today my oldest child graduated from 6th grade. I remember the students, in California, arriving at their 6th grade graduations in Limos and all dressed up. There was NO WAY that I was doing that for K. After all, if you do that now, then what would you do when they graduated from High School? Save the parties for a real BIG graduation!! Anyway, I didn't skimp on the pictures of this bittersweet moment... no sir!

(click pics to enlarge...then you can click again to zoom in!)

Mrs. Hill is the principal at Orchard. She has been here for 5 years and this is her last year. She is being transferred to another school. She was a little emotional as she announced the 6th graders. I think that she's known many of these kids since they were in first grade- she's watched them grow into young men and women. Mr. Unger is K's 6th grade teacher. This is his 30th year of teaching and he was WONDERFUL!! I loved him and I know that K did too. She learned a lot and he held her accountable - something that other teachers have never done.

During the festivities, I kept L entertained with an array of suckers!! He really liked that! After the presentation of certificates, the students performed dances for their parents. (This is about the time that Tim arrived. He was in court this morning, so he missed the presentation of certificates, but he got there in time to see his little girl shake her booty!) The students have been working on these dances for about 6 weeks. This afternoon they will have a 6th grade dance that parents aren't invited to attend, so this was sort of our preview of what they will be doing! We (as parents) were invited to embarrass them with our cameras as much as we wanted, and I DID!! Mid way through the dance, L started getting frustrated and he wanted to get going.

On the last dance, the students were encouraged to ask a parent to dance. K walked over and asked her dad. I was ok until that moment. Then I could feel the tears welling up. I think that Tim made goofy faces for me for the same reason - he was trying to be a man and hold it in! It was fun to watch them dance together. After the dance K got with the kids in our neighborhood for a picture and then with her friend Sami. (I made K a candy lei - thanks TIFF for the idea!)

Finally, at then end of all of that, it was time for the orchestra to play a few songs to say farewell to all those that came and to each other. K's orchestra teacher also teaches the young lady that is giving K private lessons at this time. Mrs. Thompson made sure to tell K, "see ya next year" and K smiled and said "for sure!".

So, overall, it's been a good year for K. She learned a little more about who she is and how she functions in the school setting. She made new friends, and learned what real friends are. She had (and still has) her first crush. (whose father, by the way, took a picture of them together and is going to send it to me and then invited K to go boating with them this summer). She's grown a lot this year and in 6 more years she'll be done with school. You never think, looking at your newborn baby that the time will go by so fast, but then you have a day like this and you wonder if the LITTLE time you've had - you've spent wisely. She's growing up folks... and it has gone by fast!