Promotion, Graduation, or whatever you'd like to call it

Our little girl is definitely growing up.  Yesterday marked her promotion/graduation from elementary school to middle school.  Back in my day (yes I sound like an old man), we called it graduation when you finished elementary school.  Nowadays to be politically correct, you call it promotion.  But the party planners haven't quite figured that out yet, and neither have the greeting card writers.  All the cards and all the plates and napkins, and party supplies still call them "graduates", and congratulate the recipient on their graduation.

The school had a really nice ceremony, and I wish I actually got to participate in the festivities afterwards a little more than I had.  I'm the room parent for the class, and before hand I had to stop by Costco to pick up the 15 pizzas I had ordered for the party.  We left them in the car, to stay warm under a blanket, while we went to participate in the ceremony.

First the principal made some nice end of year remarks to the kids, and then each of the two fifth grade teachers made remarks to their students.  Lauren's teacher was especially gracious and had lovely words for her.  He then even called me out as room parent and asked me to stand for applause from the assembled crowd.

After the teacher speeches, they called each child on stage individually to receive their diplomas, and an engraved medal with their names on the back.  They also had them stand in front of the assembled crowd to allow for their pictures to be taken individually and receive applause.

After receiving the diplomas, the kids put together a show for the parents and sung "Try Everything" from the new Disney movie "Zootopia".

After doing a class picture, the party started, and I got a few parents to come out to the car to help bring the pizza into the auditorium.  I also set up two picture frame mats for the kids to sign, one for each fifth grade teacher, and that's when Lauren grabbed me and asked me to start making cotton candy for the kids, and pretty much where I stood for the rest of the party.

All in all a good day.  So proud of our little girl, who's not so little any more.