No kindergarten graduation? No problem

May 24—I honestly cannot believe how fast this school year has flown by !

This is my firstborn's last week in kindergarten and I'm in disbelief. It is just as emotional as the first day of kindergarten was, in the sense that it reminds me how fast my little girl is growing up—and how quickly time is flying by.

I don't know about your school district, but in ours they don't have a kindergarten graduation ceremony. When I found out I was really bummed. I wanted the whole picture-perfect moment of my little girl finishing out her first year in school. To that end, I have taken it upon myself to make it as special as I can for both of us, because we both made it to a big milestone !

My daughter's last day of school is also an early dismissal, so I decided to take the afternoon off and pick her up, rather than her riding the bus to her after-school program. I'm going to show up at school with "congratulations " balloons that I just know will put a smile on her face. I also thought about taking her to get ice cream as a treat—and found one of our local ice cream parlors is doing free ice cream for kids on the last day of school.

Another thing we'll do is take "kindergarten graduation " pictures. Even though they aren't doing a ceremony at school, I ordered a little cap and gown for her to wear in the photographs. I thought I'd take her back to school on a day it is closed and snap some pictures out front of it, with her in her cap and gown, as keepsakes. I was a little afraid the cap and gown would be ridiculously overpriced for what I wanted, but I found a ton of great options for $30 or less on Amazon.

I am so proud of my girl for persevering this year. It's a big deal to complete your first full year of school—and to see how much she has grown throughout the year has been amazing to watch.

To all you other mamas with kiddos finishing the school year, let's show them how proud we are and make them feel so special and loved on their big day.

Ann Burns is a Morgantown native, raising two young children with her husband, Drake. She writes weekly columns for The Dominion Post. Contact her at Columns @DominionPost.com.