He's a kindergarten graduate!!

And now I'm the mother of a 1st grader. The graduation was on Monday and it was really nice, well other than the fact that it was hotter than Hades in the auditorium. It was 97 degrees outside and the a/c was broken. Most of the pics of the kids on the stage didn't come out so well because the principal turned off the lights on the stage to give the kids a break from the heat from the lights, but I'm glad for that. They marched in, sang songs, got their diplomas. Brendan and girl Vanessa thanked the principal for the class and gave her some flowers. With his diploma was his final report card and I was so happy with it. He improved in everything, especially all the behavioral areas. In the takes pride in his work he went from a check minus the first trimester to a check the second trimester to a check plus for the final report card. They also made up a nice bound portfolio of work from the whole year and gave framed pics of the class. We stayed only long enough to take a few pics with the teachers and some friends and then left, it was just too hot. And of course he wanted to play with his new Nintendo DS. Yes, he got the DS that morning. The improvement in his behavior at school was just unbelievable. His teacher said that not only was he so well-behaved, but he was also very funny and outgoing and in her words “a real pleasure” and that she was sorry that she didn’t get to know this Brendan earlier.

He also had lots of other stuff to play with since his birthday party was on Sunday. With all the drama leading up to the party (long story involving a crazy employee at the racquet club who tried to hijack the party plans, not to mention all the parents that never RSVPed) but it went so well!!! I can't tell you how good a time Brendan had. All the kids had a blast. They had the kids playing tennis for an hour while the adults noshed. I had a big hero and salads for the adults, chips, pretzels. Then the kids came out and they brought out the kid food, chicken fingers, hot dogs and fries. Then we did the cake and gave the kids the tattoos and the party bags. Brendan loved every minute of the tennis and was almost insane by the end of the party he had such a good time.

And the gifts, he got a Cars race track and Gear Up and Go Lightning McQueen, a really cool Speed Racer race track and cars, a set of trucks, a bunch of legos, a Mets shirt and helmet, Topps Cards, a Mets ball set, Spongebob Operation, some art stuff. But he also got 3 gift cards worth $85 for Toys R Us, a $50 gift card for Macys, and if you can beleive this $150 in cash. There were two $50 bills, each from kids in his class. I've never seen that before, giving a large amount of cash like that for a 6 year old's birthday party, I mean it's not like it was a bar mitzvah or a high school graduation. I told Brendan he's paying his own way on our vacation, lol. I also gave him his birthday presents the day before that, the favorites his new Razor scooter and Spongebob crocs. This child is just so deprived, lol.

And we’re off on vacation on Sunday for the next 10 days!!!