I don't have a picture to go with this post

and you will soon discover why.

Last night was Grace's pre-school graduation ceremony. In Grace's case, she is "graduating" from the 3 yo room to the 4 yo room, but nonetheless, this is a delightful evening where the kids get to sing their little hearts out and mommies and daddies cry because of the wistful music and poignant pictures played during the slideshow.

I was prepared. As prepared as I ever am. This time, I was going to get it right. I packed hairspray. I packed leave-in conditioner to deal with any untameable wispies. I even packed an extra dress for Grace. Just in case.

What I did not pack was the camera.

Okay, sad but not catastrophe because I did remember to pack the new videocamera. This is a videocamera we purchased immediately after Charlie's pre-school graduation last year. See last year, we did not get any video from his graduation because our crappy old videocamera died in the first 3 minutes of the program. Bought a new one. We are covered.

Justin agreeably stopped at the grocery store to buy a disposable camera so we would have at least a few pictures. But this then made him late for the ceremony. (Are you starting to get a hint how the night went?)

And three minutes into the ceremony, the newly charged battery for the videocamera conked out. Not to worry. I am PRE-PARED. I have an extra battery. Except. Oops. The extra battery is in the camera bag. At home.

Sweet! No pictures. No video. Gotta love being prepared.

Cue the music. It's the very first song, appropriately enough, about singing. The kids all have very colorful wooden drumsticks with which they are pretending to play the drums. This is delightful! This is so sweet! What a great idea! Why is that boy hitting Grace on the head with his drumsticks?

Yeah. Cue mommy racing in front of everyone else's happily taping videocameras (hey, they all seemed to remember to bring tri-pods for their cameras. Why didn't I think of that? Oh, never mind.) to rescue hysterically sobbing Grace from the stage.

She finally calmed down but she is not going back up there. No way. Nuh uh. Never. Nicholas HIT her. Bad Nicholas. I finally convinced her to go back up so she wouldn't miss singing her very favorite song "I'm a Little Leprechaun." Mommy sends Grace back up on stage. Without a kleenex. After she has been crying for quite some time.

Mommy sits down. Grace starts picking her nose. She was really going for it. This is a new thing, Grace does not normally pick her nose. Mommy catches Grace's eye and shakes her head "no." Grace ignores mommy. Mommy becomes more animated - shakes head again and mouths "no picking your nose!" Grace bursts into tears. Several teacher's aids race to her aid and ask her what is wrong. Whereupon Grace announces to the auditorium filled with 200 friends and families that "Mommy made me cry." Good job Mommy.

In the end, I don't think we'll need the pictures or the video to remember how this night turned out. Oh, but daddy got her flowers. And that's all she really cared about when it was all said and done.