Last day of school

Today was Marisa's last day of nursery. She has really enjoyed going to school and it has been really fun to see her blossom even more by making new friends, from literally all over the world, and exploring new boundaries and adventures. (With an added bonus being her picking up a British accent every single time she asks questions now.)

We are almost always the first ones to enter the classroom every morning and when Marisa registers herself she at first would always put her name and picture on spot 4. Then when she realized she could be the driver of the bus, that became her new spot of choice for awhile.
But of course, all the children want to be the driver and when kids started being competitive for that spot Marisa changed to always putting herself on spot 14 for the remainder of the year.

This is Oscar. Oscar was Marisa's first real friend. The first friend whose name she remembered and we heard about. He is from Romania and speaks Romanian but has a cute British accent and speaks English really well. Oscar and Marisa really complemented each other and the teachers said they played so well together.

Natalie loved being able to play around the school area before and after school even if it was for a few short minutes while we dropped off/picked up Marisa. Isn't this bike so neat?!

This past Tuesday was "Stay and Play" in Marisa's shelter and Natalie loved being able to stay the entire time instead of having to leave. And Marisa was so excited to show me and her litle sister around.

Luckily Tim was able to experience Marisa's environment at school last Friday. He had a work Christmas party that was an all day event and didn't have to be at work until noon so he took her to school in the morning and picked her up! Marisa was smiling from ear to ear when they left for school in the morning and Tim said she was bouncing all over her classroom with excitement when she was giving him a tour of her shelter.
I don't have pictures of that day, but I do have pictures of pictures of Marisa and things she has done at school all around her classroom.
(Side story, one day her teachers excitedly told me one morning, "Look, Marisa is famous! Her picture was printed in a book for a teachers conference we all went to and you can buy the book at any bookstore!" I still need to go pick up that book but they showed me the picture and indeed there she was! So she has pictures truly everywhere!)

During parent teacher conference a couple weeks ago her teachers had nothing but nice things to say about Marisa...

-A great example to the other kids
-Confident and independent.
-lovely to have around
-amazing at small world play

I actually really liked all her teachers. They were fantastic. Zaida, Gill, and Siobhan...

Almaz...

and Mandy. And not pictured anywhere are Toyen and John.

Lots of teachers and lots of love! Marisa was given a book that was signed by all her teachers and nearly made me cry. We are going to miss all her lovely teachers! I'm so glad she, and we, had such a fantastic experience!