Preschool graduation and the zoo!

Toby had his Preschool Graduation last Wednesday. He's attended The Ranches Preschool the past 2 years and loved it. He has learned a lot and grown so much thanks to his fabulous teachers Miss Katie and Miss Jen. :)

The graduation was awesome. All the little songs and awards were just adorable. Toby clammed up again this year, but Miss Jen was nice enough to keep him busy with holding signs while the kids sang so he still felt involved.

 Also, I had a two-year-old with me so getting pictures was just a little challenging.

Whose kid is that running in the alley way?

Yeah, that would be mine.

I've been blessed with super active kids. Every other child around Aspen's age was happy to sit on their parents lap with a sippy or snack or loved playing with the cars and toys just adjacent to the graduation. Yeah, that doesn't work with my kids. As soon as they see an opportunity to explore or escape they will take it. Sometimes I get the "oh that's just the age" vibe from some people which can really irk me. I want to say, "Hey how 'bout you take my kid to the park for an hour and test that claim? I guarantee while the other kids are content with slides, my little one will have you running laps around the neighborhood." Yes, part of the busyness is the age (as Toby is finally happy to play at the park for longer than 10 minutes), but mostly, it's just how my kids are wired. They have an innate love for exploration and a constant need for "what's next?" 
And that isn't a bad thing - it just keeps me on my toes from ages 1-4. :)

Oh yeah, I tried this ^ tactic of confinement. It worked for about a minute.

So that was a tangent. I have a tendency for those in my posts.

When the kids received their diploma, the teachers described one aspect of their personality in one word and then asked them what they wanted to be when they grow up. Toby's award-winning personalty trait and his shy, little answer didn't surprise me one bit (check out video below).

I love that little guy so much.

We had to bolt from the graduation a little early because my parents were taking Toby and my sister and her kids to The Hogle Zoo! It was such a perfect day. In the beginning, we were bumping and dodging all the kids from school field trips. By 2 pm, we almost had the place to ourselves. Not to mention it was a tad overcast and we had a slight breeze to cool us off. 

 

Little, sweet Emery. No pic of Catherine because she kept turning her head when I tried to snap one.

Oh yeah, and almost ALL the animals we saw were up and walking around. We loved it! 

Wild cats: my favorite. :)

 

 

 

 

(If you're wondering why Nick and Aspen are MIA: Aspen has a cold and Nick wanted to take a nap with her so they stayed home). 

It was fun day. I'm grateful to have such wonderful parents who are good at spoiling me and my kids. :)