The Panther Patch is complete!

Since the end of last October, The Panther Patch has dominated so many parts of my brain...not to mention my to-do list! Today it officially opened. All the projects are finished. No more building. It feels SO good to be able to say that! It was a sweet morning...even the weather cooperated! Click over to The Green Panther if you want to see pictures.

I bet I took 200 pictures of the P-patch today! Here are my favorites!
The first is just fun, not even posed. It just happened.

Though I am fully aware it might not work out, I truly hope and pray that someday Ella Kate gets to go outside with her class at SVE and think, "My mom helped build this place!"

And lastly of all the hundreds and HUNDREDS of pictures I have taken over the last few months out in The Panther Patch, this is my favorite. As I was packing up today, a second grade class came outside to do their social studies lesson. When I looked over and saw them, it hit me. The Panther Patch is really complete.

After all the hours of freezing and then sweating, all of the PTA drama, the late nights searching and shopping on-line, all the e-mails and phone calls, after all the shoveling, and raking, and planting... The Panther Patch has finally become what we dreamed it would be, an incredible outdoor facility where teachers teach and kids learn.
What a great day!