Preschool Graduation

Collin's Sand Art Explanation

Collin's Preschool Graduation

The Alligator Song

We celebrated Collin's last day of preschool in Mrs. Heidi's classroom at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie yesterday with a party and graduation ceremony. She called each child to the rocking chair, handed them a "God Loves You" beach ball and praised them for their strengths.

"Collin is my superstar helper...with such a big heart. He loves to do art projects...often multiples."

We were so happy that Collin loved preschool...since VBS was a disaster last summer. On the second day of VBS, I had a voice mail message from Shelly Haaland waiting for me when I returned from a jog with Aaron, saying I should come and get Collin because she was reading him a book in the church library. He just didn't want to be there. We didn't make him attend the rest of the week, but we attended the party on Thursday as a family...in an attempt to demonstrate we don't give up on things.

Mrs. Heidi made all the difference. From the very beginning, he seemed to love this woman...and told me so saying, "I love Mrs. Heidi best." A good teacher is the key to learning...

Almost every Tuesday after school we would pick up Adam from work at Ingenix and drive to Noodles for pesto or mac and cheese. One day, Mrs. Heidi came in to enjoy lunch, too. Collin was surprised to see his teacher outside of the classroom, but seemed pleased that she also enjoyed the venue. For a Thank You gift, we gave Mrs. Heidi a gift certificate to Noodles with a card dictated by Collin that read, "I love you Mrs. Heidi. We are giving you a gift recificate to Noodles. It's my favorite place to eat. Love, Collin."

If Collin's path is blessed with more "Mrs. Heidi's", his education is in good hands.