The cake!

Grandma's Place Pre-School Graduating Class of 2011

Lulu in her graduation dress with her diploma.

Me and Lulu. I think Miss Patti took a better picture of the two of us with her camera, later.

Olivia, Zach and Lulu are all smiles.

Angela, Julia and Lulu.

Pink teeth from the red cake frosting roses!

Zach and Lulu are graduating from preschool next Friday, June 10th. There will be a special ceremony (as you may recall from the note the parents received, we are looking forward to enjoying some 'desert' with everyone!) to commemorate the occassion.

I don't know why Lulu is so coy in her larger photo. Her smaller picture is adorable. And of course, major cuteness from Zach all the way around.

Love that they put their graduation pictures up next to one another on the bulletin board!

Great Lulu/Zach story to share from one of the toddler room teachers last night.

So, this teacher was covering playground duties recently and of course, EVERYONE knows that Lulu and Zach are getting married. Anyhoo, the teacher watches Lulu intentionally push Zach, which makes him fall on the playground and he starts crying. Lulu goes over to help him up and Zach replies, "NO! Go away...Don't touch me!!" or something to that effect, to which Lulu starts to cry. "Zach won't give me a hug!!!" she wails to the teacher, who answers, "Well, you shouldn't push then, right?"

Ah, tough, young love...

Amy Zuckerman, future mother-in-law of Lulu and mother of the groom, has joined On Bears, Beans and Beers as our 12th follower. WELCOME! It also seems only right, since she is a future member of the family, to give her a section of the blog, per se, where she can share her own stories of what she hears on her end from Zach.

This is going to be great!

To get things started, I thought I'd post her recent comment to the "Stealing Kisses" entry from this past Valentine's Day:

"Oh, my. The mother of the groom is WAY behind! I was just informed of what I THOUGHT was the first kiss this past Monday (May 16)!  

He announced in the car on our way home that evening, "Two people kissed on the lips today. Do you want to know who? Me and Lulu." Then, "she's my girlfriend." Zoey tried to point out that he had also kissed her on the lips that day at school but she's just his little sister, so that doesn't count."

Zoey is Zach's younger sister and just as adorable as he is. And Zach, that sly devil! I love the set up of the event to Amy. These kids crack me up!

Lulu: "Mom, when Zach and I are finished being married, can we come and visit?"

Me: "What, honey? What do you mean?"

Lulu: "When we're finished being married..." (meaning, post-wedding)

Me: "You mean, to visit or to live?"

Lulu: "Visit you. Will we live with you?"

Me: "No, honey, you'll live in your own house."

Lulu: "Oh, okay. But will there be any houses open?"

Me: "Open? You mean for sale? Yes, there will be plenty of houses for you and Zach to choose from."

Lulu: "What about my clothes?"

Me: "You'll take them with you."

Lulu: "How?"

Me: "You'll take them with you to your new house..."

Lulu: "But when will we see you?"

Me: "You'll come and visit us. We'll see you on holidays...You'll visit Zach's family. We'll have you over for breakfast on Saturdays."

Lulu: "Oh, okay!"

Aren't they sweet? I took this of the lovebirds last night at school.

What you don't know, is that after this picture was taken, Zach wanted to tell me all about how he had a space shuttle toy and launcher at home, and of course, Lulu wanted my undivided attention, too. (You can't see it here, but Lulu has a space shuttle picture in her hand that she had colored earlier in the day.) All the while Zach is breathlessly telling me about his shuttle launcher, Lulu is doing frustrated "Arrgh!" because she can't get a word in edgewise.

I start ushering her out the door and say in passing to her teacher, Becca, that I'd better get her out to the car or else she and Zach are going to get divorced before they're married! Becca laughs and then tells me how earlier in the day, they both proceeded to get on each others nerves.

It seems that earlier in the day, as they sat at the same table playing or having snack or something, Lulu kept asking Zach if he was going to marry her, over and over and over again. Zach was like, "Yes, yes...YES, I already told you I was going to marry you, stop asking me!" So Lulu leaves him alone for like, ten minutes. And then she can't take it any more, and she starts up again, which has Zach about ready to tell her, 'No' from the constant badgering.

Lulu told me that she and Zach shared a quick kiss during circle time on Valentine's Day.

On the lips.

It seems this went down very stealthly, when the teacher wasn't looking.

Evidently an opportunity was seen, and consequently, taken...

Lulu said that they had candy hearts for a treat in school. She said Zach got "Marry Me" and promptly gave it to her. She got "Forever" but I'm still unclear on who ate that one. Evidently, Miss Patti opened the box and found the 'Marry Me' one and said that it should go to Zach since he and Lulu are the resident [engaged] couple in the class. I believe Zach gave his to Lulu without outside prompting.

When I pick Lulu up at school on the days Zach is at school, they give each other a big hug (on their own) before Lulu leaves school. Lately, Zach likes to show off for my benefit that he can pick Lulu up once their hug has commenced. She only weighs 39 lbs, still, though she's had another growth spurt so her pants are already high waters on her, yet again. Still has that super, skinny, Iggy Pop body as we like to say at home at LdC.

It is adorable to see Zach and Lulu together at school. They really adore each other something fierce! And if you should make an off the cuff comment at home to Lulu like, "I'm putting your shoe on your foot like Prince Charming would..." I am immediately corrected. "No, mom, it's Prince Zachary."

Ah, right. My mistake...

I was sharing the latest of the Lulu and Zach wedding chronicals with Lulu's afternoon teacher on Monday night. How Eddie went to check on Lulu recently after she was asleep in bed and she was saying Zach's name in her sleep. She in turn told me a story Zach's mom had regaled her with recently that had happened with them over the weekend.

First off, Becca told me that Zach's parents are getting just as big of a kick as we are out of the whole wedding/marriage planning these two have been plotting. Eddie even met Zach's mom one night at school when he was picking up the girls and got to meet Zach for himself. (Dad very much approves!) Eddie told me later that he and Zach's mom had a fun time joking about being future in-laws and getting to know one another better.

Dad also said it was very obvious that Zach is TOTAL smitten-kitten with our Bear!

So, Becca tells me how Zach was playing with some friends over the weekend and someone starts teasing, "Oh, maybe you and [child playing with] are going to get married!" or some such thing. Evidently, Zach's mom reported to Becca, that Zach got really upset and bellowed, "NO!!! I'm marrying LULU!!!!" Zach's family? In hysterics I guess over it. I'm sure Zach's little friends and those not in the "know" where like, "Who on earth is Lulu?"

Oh, they'll learn soon enough!

Coming home from picking the girls up from school last week, Lulu gives me the latest Zach update.

Lulu: Mom? When Zach and I get married, do you know what we are going to do after we're married?

Me: No, honey, what?

Lulu: Well, after we get married, we're going to take off our clothes...

(I hold my breath at what I suspect must come next!)

Lulu: ...And then we're going to cook. Because I like to cook! I'm a good mixer.

Me: (huge sigh of relief) You'll have to keep practicing cooking then!

I hadn't expected that response, but it makes total sense. When either Eddie or I get home from work at night, we are always announcing that we have to change our clothes before we can start making dinner.

On Christmas day, Lulu was jumping on our (king) bed.

Lulu: When Zach and I are grown-ups and married, I want to sleep in this bed.

Me: Oh really?

Lulu: Yeah, you and dad can sleep downstairs.

Man, downgraded to the basement guest bed. These things happen faster than you anticipate!

And like that (snap!) things change. Again.

Last night on the drive home from daycare...

Lulu: Mom, Zachary and I are going to get married.

Me: I know, honey. In Hawaii, right?

Lulu: No! We're not getting married in Hawaii, we're going to get married on a Christmas tree farm.

Me: Oh, that's going to be pretty cold!

Lulu: It's okay, we'll wear coats.

So, here is a picture, finally, of the famous Zachary! What a cutie, huh? He's tall, so he and Lulu do make a striking and attractive couple. Yesterday when I was picking Lulu and Bean up from school, Zach told me that he and Lulu were going to get married in Hawaii.

I believe the Hawaiian destination is a result of an off-the-cuff comment to the kids a while back from Miss Patty. Lulu and Zack were discussing where they were going to get married with Las Vegas being seriously considered since they knew that Eddie and I were married there. Somehow, Hawaii was brought up, and the kids asked Miss Patty if she would fly them to Hawaii. She replied, "Sure!!!"

And there you have it.

I could see Lulu having a Hawaiian wedding someday. Just seems like a Lulu-thing she'd do!

This is a total Lulu expression, love it!

Tonight on the way home from school, Lulu told me that "FIVE people at school want to marry Zachary now. FIVE!"

Crisis!

Me: So, what happened?

Lulu: The kids at school, they said, (switches to obnoxious sing-songy whine) "I want to marry Zachary!"

Me: Oh. And what did Zachary say?

Lulu: He said, (dramatic deeper voice) "NO! I'm marrying Lulu!!!"

Me: Hmmmm, really?

Lulu: Yes...So I told Miss Patti, "Miss Patti? Everyone wants to marry Zachary, but I want to marry Zachary...!"

(Miss Patti told me, later, this was true. Lulu was QUITE upset when she told her this and took the matter VERY seriously.)

Me: And what did Miss Patti say?

Lulu: (very matter-of-factly) "Well, you have a disaster!"

So Miss Patti, LOVE that woman! Miss Patti, I should add, gets the biggest kick out of Lulu and her daily antics as well. If you couldn't tell by now, the kid's got spirit in spades and some of the funniest things come out of her mouth unintentionally. She keeps the crew at Grandma's Place in regular hysterics and it's often they tell me how much they love how spunky and fearless she is.

Maybe, they're just angling for a wedding invite?

Lulu's teachers at school are getting a ton of entertainment value out of Lulu and her wedding planning shenanigans.

Evidently, she has started a trend in her preschool class of her classmates pairing off into couples and planning their own "weddings" to one another, now. Craft projects at school are accompanied now by frequent commentary and discussion of the wedding planning variety, including who is going to have what kind of wedding cake and so forth and so forth. Said one of Lulu's teachers, "It's hilarious, because they aren't interested in the marriage part, but just the wedding [planning] part of it."

This same teacher also shared that she has witnessed first hand, the extortion attempts upon the boys by the girls, which go along the lines of this:

Girl: "If you don't do [insert activity in playroom at school] then were not going to get married!"

Boy decides to go along with girls demand/request, after all.

On the drive home yesterday, Lulu announced to me that she wanted to get married in California.

Me: Why California?

Lulu: I just want to get married in California!

Me: I know that, but I am asking what your reason is, that's all.

Lulu: I just want to get married in California!!

Me: Okay, but 'why' there? I'm just curious.

Lulu: I don't know why.

Me: So, what if Zack doesn't want to get married in California?

Lulu: I'll have to ask him about it tomorrow. And if he doesn't want to get married in California, we'll just get married in Las Vegas, again.

Me: Get married, again?!

Lulu: (frustrated with me) In LAS VEGAS!

Me: You already got married in Las Vegas?

Lulu: (heavy dramatic sigh) No, if Zack want's to get married in Las Vegas then we'll get married in Las Vegas...

Me: Oh.

By the way, she took a picture of me in my wedding dress from our wedding and showed it off to all the teachers and kids on Wednesday, telling them she was going to wear my dress (and accessories) when she marries Zack.

We've not heard the end of any of this wedding planning, not by a long shot.

Lulu made the above piece in school for the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm not sure who exactly came up with the words, but it cracks me up every time I look at it, and I see it often because it is displayed on one of the kitchen cabinet doors (our own impromptu gallery for Lulu's ever growing craft projects from school).

This original art, is going to take a little more explanation. From right to left is me, Zachary, Lulu, and Bean. You're probably wonder who Zachary is, right? Well, Zachary and Lulu go to preschool together, and they decided last week, that they are going to get married. Yes, married! I know, they really do grow up quicker than you ever realize. One day she's at preschool, the next moment, planning her wedding.

So, we were driving home on Monday from school and Lulu announces to me that when "...she and Zachary are grown-ups and a family, they are going to get married!"

Okay, I replied calmly. She continued that Eddie and I were invited to the wedding.

At home, she told Eddie her news, and later in the basement, brought up to him that she had decided what kind of wedding cake she was going to have. I can also tell you that she is suddenly enamoured with my wedding dress, tiara, veil and gloves. And the ice blue shoes I wore. She's only seen the pictures in our wedding album, but she is very much on board with wearing these items I already have. And she is very keen on the Frog Prince movie from Disney, so the fact that I already own "Tiana gloves" gets big points with her, too.

I'll have to get a picture of her and Zack together. "Lulu Zuckerman" has an interesting ring to it, don't you think? Zachary Zuckerman, well, he almost sounds like a crime fighter or a private-eye!