Devastated.

That's the only word that can completely describe Alyssa's feelings on the last day of school.

Heart-broken might work too.

Alyssa has LOVED preschool from the very beginning. I can only remember two times that she ever had a hard time with me leaving...and those were times when she was just too tired. Besides that, she was always excited to be there. I was so thankful for that, but I was especially grateful that she felt loved and safe there. Her teacher, Mrs. Hannah, said more than once through the year that one of her main goals for them was to let them know that school was a fun place to be...to make it a place that they wanted to go to, so that their first experience with school was a great one. She succeeded big time. God could not have picked out a better teacher for Alyssa's first year of school than Mrs. Hannah. She was very observant to all of the kids needs and met them where they were...what a blessing.

Yesterday, on the last day of school, Alyssa was pretty pouty on the way there. "Mommy, why do we HAVE to have summer break? I don't want it to be the last day of school." She had a great morning...a certificate ceremony, popsicles, cupcakes, shaving cream and lots of playing.

Then, when it was time to leave, this was the scene. Mrs. Hannah took a full 10 minutes, one-on-one, with Alyssa after everyone else was gone. Alyssa cried hard... sweet, heart-broken, devastated tears the whole time. Mrs. Hannah and I were pretty teary-eyed, too.

I am so grateful for a preschool whose main goal is to teach the kids how much God loves them, as well as get them ready for kindergarten. Mrs. Hannah was so mindful of the fact that parents miss out on so much while their kids are at school, so she took TONS of pictures through the year and gave us all a cd so that we could see more of what they were up to day to day. In addition to that, she made a wonderful picture book for each child. It has a page for each month of the school year that includes a picture from that month and a little story to go along with it. For example, August 2008 has a picture of Alyssa on the first day of school and says, " Alyssa, you came to school excited and ready to get busy. You made me smile right off the bat. You seem to like all the centers. You are a very big helper. I could tell right away this would be a fun year. We learned about coming to school this month." I made the mistake of reading it in the car after I dropped her off at school. It was liking watching her grow up right before my eyes. I had a complete meltdown. Hyperventilating. It took a physical effort to make myself yawn so that I could enough oxygen. It was ridiculous, but it brought back some perspective that I think I'd lost sight of. I can't believe Alyssa is finished with her first year of preschool. I am so glad that we decided to do another year of half-day preschool instead of full-time 4K so that I have more time with her before kindergarten. I pray that I treasure it everyday.

Here's a picture of her on the first day of school. I can still see baby in those sweet cheeks.

And here she is on the last day of school...she has grown so much. I am so proud of her.

These are some of the pictures taken by her teacher throughout the year. She had so much fun!

Alyssa,
Mommy and Daddy are so very proud of you. You are so smart, loving and generous. We see the way that you care for and treat others now, and we know that God will use you in big ways. We love you so much, sweet baby.
Mommy and Daddy