The Parrillo Family

The global pandemic might have forced his preschool graduation to take place via Zoom and our laptop, it hasn't made him - OR US - any less proud.  Frankie - likes his sisters before him - enjoyed his time at a Lutheran early education school.  For him, it was Bethel in Westmont.  He's becoming quite a kid. He's on his way to Kindergarten at St Mary's where he'll join his two big sisters.  One school.  Finally.

Just a few days ago, Sadie went off to Kindergarten for the last time .  Today, she is a Kindergarten Graduate!  Here she is, in her gold gown, entering the Church at St. Mary's for the ceremony. Sadie is still her loving, caring, silly self.  But she's also now becoming a kid.  She loves her friends, her teachers and also nature and animals.  She cares about her siblings and always wants to make people happy.  This was her first year at SMG and she certainly made her mark.  And her brain?  It is growing leaps and bounds.  I already told you this month about all the reading she's doing. But she's also so creative.  I'm so proud to be her Dad and to see her conquer this milestone of Kindergarten Graduation. It was only two years ago that Eloise hit the same Kindergarten Graduation milestone.  She was, however, at Immanuel Lutheran in Elmhurst.  Here's the photos from that day in 2016 . Along with a few of her fellow cla...

In addition to the video I posted yesterday showing our baby(!!!) Eloise getting her Kindergarten diploma and graduating to become a first grader, we took a bunch of photos (as sentimental parents are wont to do!) Although she (technically) had a few more days of school, the folks at Immanuel Lutheran School in Elmhurst held the Kindergarten Graduation last week on Thursday.  It was a perfect night and the program couldn't have been better.  The kids sang, we laughed, and I might have shed a tear or two thinking about what our Eloise has become:  a big, confident, kind, curious young kid. And she has changed this year.  Grown up. A lot!   Just look at the photos on the blog here showing her first day of Kindergarten last fall .  She was so excited.  And I tell you what:  she's learned so much.  She's a reader!  A serious reader.  And Nat has a ton to do with that.  Nat is a reader and she's made sure to be dedicated to Ell...

As part of Ellie's Kindergarten graduation her entire class stood up one at a time (or two at a time) and recited a line about what they learned this year. Here's what the full sheet looked like with Eloise's line highlighted.  It reads:  "There are 5 oceans.  Pacific, Atlantic, Indiana, Arctic and Souther Ocean! And, guess what?  She nailed it!  The audio is real low, but if you turn your speakers up and listen real closely, you'll see Ellie pop up in the back row and belt out her line perfectly. If you are reading this in your email and can't see the video of Ellie saying her Oceans line above, click here to watch the video .

So...this happened last week.  We have a First grader!  More photos and details coming in a full post. If you are reading this in your email and don't see the video above of Eloise getting her Kindergarten diploma, you can click here to watch the video on the site .