The Graduate: Kindergarten Edition.

 Marley's last day of kindergarten was over a month ago, but for crying out loud, it is still worth commemorating.  Here are some things that I remember about June 11th.

First, Marley continued last year's tradition of wearing her outfit from the first day of school (above) on the last day of school (below).  Look!  Now I can see her knees!

And I continued last year's tradition of meeting my accomplished scholar on her last day with a happy bouquet of balloons.  I was so proud of myself walking to the bus stop for pick-up, thinking that the rainbow colors were classic and cheerful, and I had thought ahead to ask for extra pink and to make sure that I had enough for all the kids at Marley's bus stop in addition to any siblings who might be there, too.

Of course, everyone wanted the pink and I didn't have enough, and then Marley couldn't handle sharing with Rudy, and in an angry fantasy, I popped the whole bunch and handed the damp, limp scraps to Marley in a fit of you're-never-satisfied-exasperation.

In the end, I gave Marley and Rudy each a balloon to bring into the house for later, and I tied the rest to one of the Adirondack chairs on our side patio, announcing to the rest of the neighborhood that we were celebrating something great, and that we were a happy family that would never disagree about or lose control over something as innately joyful as a balloon.