End of Preschool year

It is so exciting to have finished the preschool year. I always loved planning and seeing the kids and there were always fun teaching moments, but it was challenging at times and took a lot of preparation and mental effort. Baby Max is getting to need more attention and help as he gets older and its been difficult trying to juggle it all.   I've learned so much about myself, about having a regular 'job' for the school year and I've had SO. MUCH. FUN making art, cooking, dancing, singing, reading, exploring and playing.  I compiled an end of the year book from all of the Instagram posts I did that documented each preschool day for the whole year. It's really interesting to look through and Freddy LOVES for me to read it to him.  Frederick has been an amazing preschool helper this whole year.  He's shared his toys, his mom, his house with an extraordinary lack of complaint. He listens well, gets excited about learning new things and is a sweet friend and imaginative playmate.  

My older kids all wanted to stay home from school and help with preschool at various times during the year and I told them they could each choose one day to do just that! Charlie did it early in March and Gwen and Alec helped during our last week.  The preschool kids loved having big kids to play with and I'm pretty sure one little girl fell in love with Charlie. 

And I'm done! I did it!  I started my own preschool, taught for a whole year despite having a baby in the middle! I had a few kids drop out at random times without notice and some people say they couldn't pay for a month or two but I kept going and had so so much fun. Frederick absolutely loved it and asked almost every morning with hope in his voice, "Is it preschool today?"  Most kids cried when their parents came to pick them up and more than one kid told their parents they wanted to live at preschool. I'm going to call it a successful venture. But I am SO glad I decided to do something a little different for next year. It was a VERY difficult decision and it took a long time to decide but I feel good about it.  I'm going to do a playschool session, once a week, for only 2 hours, without collecting payments so I can maintain a sense of low-keyness (since I tend to easily get ambitious and try to do too much!) and give me the freedom to cancel whenever I feel I need to.

To celebrate, Chris and I had some sparkling cider and homemade popcorn and a movie night... on a THURSDAY! 

Then on Saturday we invited all the preschool families over for a BBQ 'swim' party. (Then I was really officially done) Whew! Sweet Sweet Freedom!