Last day at barnehage

Today was our last day at barnehage. Rhiannon's class had a going-away ceremony of sorts in the afternoon that I was invited to attend. First they sat in a circle on the floor with Rhiannon sitting on a chair.
Bente, the head teacher for Rhiannon's class, presented her with a book of drawings that her classmates had done especially for her. Bente went through each drawing and the artist explained what they had drawn for Rhiannon.
Then Rhiannon was presented with her "perm" -- the portfolio of all the photos, artwork and memories from her time at barnehage. Since she was 14 months old when she started going here, it is a very thick book full of wonderful memories... so special. Finally Rhiannon got to choose a song to sing and everyone sang together before sitting at the table for snacktime. Rhiannon chose "Tre Sma Griser" (Three Little Pigs) as her song. I had made chocolate dipped strawberries as a treat for everyone in her & Tryfan's classes (as well as extra for the staff) the night before and so everyone enjoyed these after they had finished their snackboxes.
Then I went over to Tryfan's class for a similar ceremony.
The 1 and 2 year olds in Tryfan's class were mostly excited about the strawberries and there was no formality or ceremony in here.. just Hilde the head teacher presenting Tryfan and I with his "perm"
We hung around for long enough to give hugs to everyone that was there and say goodbye. I cried my eyes out at the bigness of the 'end of an era' feeling. This barnehage and the people there have influenced me so much and have been such a big part of my/ our life here in Norway. This was the day I was dreading and I was so relieved to crawl into bed this evening! But actually after we left barnehage we had other things to do before bed -- we handed over the house officially to the new tenants at 4pm, played with Kristoffer from 4-5pm, and then had dinner 5-7pm with our other friends/neighbors Tristan and his parents. What a day! And what an end to April.