The 100th Day of School!

Molly,

You've experienced so many special days and milestones this year as a Kindergartner... but one that I did not realize was such a big, momentous, special day was the 100th Day of School.  (I kept asking people, "I didn't know the 100th Day was a thing?  When did it become a thing?)

Sidenote: the night we got the letter from your teacher about all the 100th Day festivities, I was at a bookstore and saw the book Fancy Nancy: The 100th Day of School.  Ok, if Fancy Nancy says it's a big deal, then it must be!

Your (read: Mommy's) assignment was three-fold:

     1) Bring in a collection of 100 things to display in the 100 museum
     2) Create a t-shirt to wear to the 100th Day celebration
     3) Bring in a canned good to help us collect and donate 100 cans of food to people in need

Number three was easy.  Number one we debated about -- Daddy wanted to send you to school with 100 baseballs.  (He said this while giggling.)  You finally decided on taking 100 seashells from our trip to Ft. Myers Beach.  So we counted them out, sorting them into groups of 10.  Conveniently, they all fit into a baseball cube for easy transportation and a fun little display.

Number two was the toughest.  You couldn't decide what you wanted on your shirt.  One-hundred elephants?  The number 100 written 100 times?  A drawing of your entire class and Mrs. C. and Dr. P (the principal) and Mrs. W. (the librarian) standing and waving in front of your school?  (Yes - this was your idea, which Mommy promptly nixed.)  Daddy wanted to put your face on a $100 bill and write "In Mrs. C. We Trust."  I thought that would be funny... but you didn't want that.  So, we finally settled on your name in a heart (Daddy's part) and sewing on 100 buttons (Mommy's part).

Sewing on the buttons seemed like a good idea at the time... meaning before I started sewing.  But I didn't want to hot glue them on and have all the buttons fall off during the day.  So I sewed every last button on.  Luckily, this was your reaction:

I learned that the 100th Day of School is a big deal.  It's a great big number - and you can now count and write to 100!  You're halfway through Kindergarten.  And for you, you're halfway to six.  You've learned and grown so much in your first 100 days... I can only imagine how much MORE you'll know at the end of the next 100.

Happy 100th Day, Peanut.  I love you... 100 times.

Love,

Mommy

Decorating the Tree

My Dearest Molly,

Every year, one of my most FAVORITE things you do is make ornaments at school.  Your teachers have been very creative -- we have reindeer with construction paper versions of your tiny baby hands as the antlers... a wreath made of green construction paper scraps you glued together... and a reindeer head you made out of painted puzzle pieces.  We'd get one, maybe two each year.  And when you brought them home, you were so excited to give them to us and we'd hang them on the tree together.

Then came Kindergarten... and an avalanche of Christmas ornaments:

First, an ornament you made with Shiloh, your third-grade buddy...

Then this little Rudolph, which make me smile every time I look at it...

The scratch-off skate you decorated at your class party...

And two glittery gems you made at after-care...

Then we went to Glazed and Confused and made a couple more!  (Yes, that's your thumbprint and Ellie's thumbprint as reindeer.)

And last, but not least, this beautiful ornament you made in Mrs. C.'s glass as a Christmas present for Daddy and me:

I can't wait until next year.