Movin' on up...

Happy Graduation Nattie! Nat had her big day last Wednesday when she graduated from Pre-K at American Heritage.

Natalie's class sang the alphabet while doing the sign language actions and also the songs Days of the Week and the Months of the Year in Spanish and English. I was impressed by how well all the kids sang in Spanish and it was nice that Nat had a head start in that department. I have been bi-lingual since kindergarten (before that I didn't speak a lick of English) and even though it's annoying at times (people sometimes assume you WANT to speak spanish if you look the part) it's always helped me and I really want all my girls to speak it.

My camera was being dumb and so I missed the part where Nat shook Mr. Yorgasen's hand at graduation but I think Dave got it on video. For some reason the Director of the school, who is usually really nice, was on a role that day. She kept telling the audience to "be quiet and show respect" and at one point she said she couldn't go on with the noise level??...at an elementary school graduation that was chuck full of kids and babies in the audience. It was so condescending it was almost funny. I forgive Elsha though, usually she was great but that day she was super crabby.

Grandma Rosa came to watch Nat graduate...and of course her Daddy did too. He doesn't miss any special accomplishment or activity that they are a part of...and I'm SO glad he doesn't because most of the time he's saving seats for the "punctually impaired". I am usually sliding into my seat right before things start (which is awesome given my family history) so we are very grateful for Dave (and Ashley!) in this family.

The thing I loved most about this school was Natalie's teacher Mrs. Amanda - she was the best! Ironically, at the beginning of the year I thought she looked ornery and wasn't sure I was going to like her. Man, was I ever off the mark on that one! Amanda is genuine, sharp, nurturing, and so loving towards the kids...especially Nat who was teacher's pet all year. Amanda knows the secret of how to get through to that kid (I wish she'd teach me) and said that Nat was by far her best student and helper, and that she never once had a meltdown (I had to make sure we were talking about the same kid). We are so proud of Natalie's accomplishments all year and credit Amanda for her crazy, awesome reading skills, spelling, and overall love of school. Mrs. Amanda will be hard to forget and hard to top! Ashley also had a great experience with Mrs. Luck. She is a very intelligent teacher, albeit a little odd at times, she helped Ashley expand her horizons and look at things differently. I appreciate her dedication, and also the attention she gave Ashley...who so far appears to love and excel at every subject. Hopefully she will always have this kind of zeal toward school and life.

Cade (in the pic above) and Ashley had cute little crushes on each other this year and it was so funny to listen to her talk about it. He is so cute and mom approves but she will still get so mad at me when she sees this post...

Overall, this was a fantastic school and I love that my girls had the chance to attend, if only for 1 year. I love the friends they made, several of which we will keep in touch with. I loved the teachers, curriculum, attitude, and atmosphere. It's a shame that it's so expensive, otherwise all my girls would have eventually attended. But such is life, and since we have 4 kids and can't have 2 college grads and 2 working at 7-11...we're off to a new adventure at Early Light Academy, a new charter school that we applied at and miraculously got accepted into. I'm excited for the new opportunity and hope my girls will be just as happy there.