Last Day of Preschool

I can't believe Tori is finished with preschool and the next step is kindergarten! She absolutely loved every minute of preschool and always wanted to know why she couldn't go everyday. Below are pictures of Tori on their last day of preschool - they do a really fun picnic at the park where the get to release the butterflies that they have watched grow from caterpillars (I know, very symbolic :)).

Above: Tori and Mrs. Tomas

Below: Tori and Mrs. Jensen

Below: Tori and Mrs. Beckler

Tori eating her lunch with Siri.

I love the faces in these pictures - Tori was having so much fun with the parachute and she was giggling so hard.

Tori loved releasing her butterfly, but then spent the rest of her time at the park with her friends trying to recapture the the butterflies that they had just let go.

Preschool Graduation

Here are a few pictures from Tori's preschool "Participation Celebration" (aka graduation). I worried a bit about what preschool to have her go to since some of her friends went to another one across town, but I am so glad that she went to this preschool. The teachers were wonderful and suited her very well. She loved all the friends she made and misses it a ton now that it's summer. They sang some cute songs and did some plays as part of the graduation. Tori was so excited - especially to do her part in the 3 Little Pigs play (she was the narrator).

As all the kids walked out to receive their certificates the teachers read off what they said they wanted to be when they grew up. Tori said astronaut (she changes what she wants to be every so often, but astronaut is what she always comes back to).

Above is a picture of everyone holding their certificates and below is a picture of the cupcakes with all the kids' names on them and Tori smiling with her cupcake.

Below is a short clip of the video of Tori's preschool graduation. I think it was Tori's favorite part of the graduation - she thought it was really fun to sing the song and do the actions. It's called "Rainbow Love" (sounds like anyone of the songs I can vaguely remember singing in elementary school).

Comfy Cozy

Tori and James just looked so cute and cozy before bed in their feety jammies that I had to take some pictures. I sure am thankful for nice, warm and fuzzy pajamas this winter!

This is just a random picture from one of Tori's preschool parties that I forgot to post. From left to right: Tori, Hannah, Siri, Libby L., Libby A. We also just finished a parent-teacher conference with her teachers and they shared some cute projects that she had done at school. They talked about having dreams and goals and asked each kid what their dream was, here is Tori's:

"My dream is: The earth is a clean place." When asked how she can help her dream come true: "I'm going to give everyone a present with a rake in it, and we will rake together."

A couple fun random pictures

Here are just a few pictures that I wanted to hurry and blog before I forgot. Above is a picture of Andrew, Megan, Luke, Tori, Anne, Claire and Riggs at the Par-T-Zone where they all went on Andrew's and Jessica's birthdays. The kids had a blast in all the tunnels and slides. They were having so much fun running all over the place that it was almost impossible to get them all in the same tube for this picture.

Above is a picture of Tori at Hannah's Pinkalicious party (they had the day off preschool so Hannah invited all the girls over for a pink party). Such a fun idea and all the girls had a blast. Tori talked about it for days - before and after. From left to right: Libby, Laila, Hannah, Tori and Abigail. Tori really has made some fun new friends from preschool.

These are just a couple of pictures in Tori in some of her favorite outfits. She is really into what she wears recently and many times wants me to take pictures of her in her outfits.

1st Day of Preschool

So, Tori is officially grown-up (according to her). She now goes to a real preschool with 20 kids in her class at the local community preschool a few blocks away. These are a few pictures of Tori on her first day of school. She goes every MWF mornings and absolutely loves it! She wishes it was everyday. She is always excited to go and is really enjoying making new friends.

Above, Tori is pointing to her cubby where she puts her art projects to come and hangs up her backpack and coat.

Every morning she has to grab her name from the pocket chart and put it in the bin and then she gets to go sit on the green rug to start school.

I forgot to take my camera the first day of school (one of my friends was kind enough to let me use hers, which is how I got these pictures). So, I made Tori go back and pose for the pictures after she had already done everything and she kept saying, "Bye, mom. Bye, mom." Well, she definitely didn't have a hard time leaving me to go to preschool - I guess I should be happy about that. :)

I just had to throw in a picture of Tori and James. He sure idolizes her and I think he already misses her a bit when she's gone in the mornings.

Preschool

On September 4th Tori had her first day of "preschool". She's only two, so it's not real preschool, but we've gotten together with some friends and each take turns teaching at our homes once a week for 1 1/2 hours. There are 4 other little girls in the preschool group. I was the one teaching the first week so I decided to take some pictures of them (one of the girls was sick, so that's why there are only 4 girls in the picture). Tori loves preschool, especially wearing her backpack, which she thinks is really cool (thanks, Aunt Danielle).

From left to right: Tori, Rowan, Hannah & Megan (Abbey was sick).