Preschool "Graduation" & Beyond

Here are Leia Rose, Jesse, Daphne, & Greta all ready to graduate from preschool.
Here is Mrs. Schnell showcasing Leia's pretty zebra (note the eyelashes) as Leia makes some comments too. (Actually, Leia Rose made lots of comments through this whole thing. Hmmmm, it made me worry that we just might have an issue with Leia Rose next year going to a traditional school where kids are expected, I'm sure, to raise their hand before speaking. Transition might be hard, . . .)
Leia Rose "graduates." ; )
Then the extended day class put on "The Story of What Animals Eat: A Puppet Play" that they wrote themselves. Leia Rose played a lion. In the first scene the animals are introduced and the other animals are afraid of the tiger, . . . who really only wanted to be friends. In the second scene, Leia (as the Lion) had the job of chasing the other animals to the watering hole, but then she didn't want to eat them because she didn't like the water. In the final scene, the animals had a "food party" and ate lots of foods appropriate to their species. ; )
And after they took a bow . . .
It was time to eat CAKE!!!

Suddenly, I looked around to find Leia Rose in a corner of the room doing a "book on tape" by herself.

And ANNIE chose the abacus as her very first Montessori work!
Then she chose the gold bead bank. (Notice the things she chose all have to do with beads!!!)

Later tonight, Sarah (Mrs. McDowell) and Gabe (her husband) came over for dinner and to watch the girls so Brian and I could go to see Indiana Jones. Everyone had a nice time together and, of course, Leia Rose wanted to sit by Sarah. Well, it seems that this evening, after knowing Sarah McDowell for two full years, Leia Rose finally noticed Sarah's nose ring. ; ) I heard her asking something like, "Mrs. McDowell, why do you have an earring in your nose?" And I heard Sarah say, "Well, I just thought it would look pretty there." Leia still seemed confused. ; ) I always thought that particular choice might be a result of all of Sarah's humanitarian work in Africa to which Gabe replied, "Nope, it was really just a rebellion thing." Ha! I guess we'll have to see if this issue comes up a bit later in Leia's life. ; ) Quite honestly, I'm incredibly surprised she had never noticed it before, but then again, when is a little child ever really sitting closer to her teacher's left side than at a picnic table?