First day of school 2015

This year was a brand new school year for us in a few ways. L is starting his 4th grade year, and D is starting her 3rd grade year, but both kids are starting in a new school. After the last few years, we had decided to make a change. We had applied for the transfer the previous year, but it was denied due to too many kids in D's grade. But this year, we made the cut. We have been planning and trying to buy a small chunk of farmland south of where we currently live for a few years now, and really wanted to get the kids into this school before we moved. Plus, there are only about 130 kids in the entire school as opposed to 550 in our last.

Our new school had a back to school picnic the Monday before school started, which was great! We were able to head in, meet the teachers, meet most of the other staff, receive a folder with all important paperwork, and have a nice meal with new and old friends. It really helped already having friends at this school too! Our best friends have gone there from day 1, and we knew many families thanks to Cub Scouts!

So far this school year is everything we wanted/needed it to be! In fact L came home the first day of school and proudly announced, "Mom, they included me like one of their own!!!" and right there it was all worth it.

First day of School 2nd and 3rd grade

Our back to school week began with picking out new glasses, even D got glasses this year. Since we were already at the mall, we stopped off to get Amish made Ben's pretzels. These are our all time favorites!!!

 Then it was new shoe shopping! These kid's feet are growing like crazy!

 We had to adorn our front door with puffy paint school buses, even though we don't ride the bus.

 And pencil bookmarks for all those books we plan to read this year.

 The night before school starts and the backpacks are all ready to go.

 First day of 3rd grade! How did that happen already?

 First day of 2nd grade!

 Nice photo for the wall...

 and a silly photo for the kids.

First Week of school 2012

This has been a big year in our house this school year. Both kids are in school full time! D started kindergarten and L started first grade. I was both excited and sad by this change. It is the first time in 6 years that I have been able to spend time during the day for myself. Yes, I miss they during the day at times, and yes the time goes even quicker now. But I have also been able to start working out again, meet my friends for coffee or lunch, and watch a movie during the day. I still go to the library at least once a week, and I still come home with a stack of kid's books. I am cherishing my quiet time, but also loving all that the kids are learning.

Highlights from this past week:
There are 5 red heads in D's class
Both kids were excited about the teachers they got
L got new glasses with stronger lenses in them
D wore dresses that her Grammy made for her the first two days of school
They both LOVE school so far, and have even proclaimed it the best year ever
L's reading has suddenly sky rocketed!
Neither wants to leave the school after school gets out
I have already helped with painting in D's class
D is decked out in Hello Kitty everything
L is decked out in Super Hero everything




The day before school started we woke up to find a giant pencil sitting in front of the door. The kids were amazed and curious. Does it open? Where did it come from? They opened it up to find small balloons filled with candy and a note. A member from the moms group made these up for all the kids going into school this year, and dropped them off early in the morning. It was such a sweet gesture, that I know most of the moms cried.

D had orientation on the first day of school, which meant that she only went from 9-10 that day. But we treated it as if it were her first day as well. 

 L was very nervous about starting first grade. He thought he wouldn't know many in his class, and generally didn't like school. When I picked him up that day he had made a new best friend, and loved school. Amazing what one day can do!

This was D's official first day of school

Check out last year's first week! 2011

Back to School party

I hosted a fun back to school party this year especially since both my kids will be going to school. I put together a fun little gift for each kid going back. I folded a piece of lined paper into a pouch, and stuck a mini notebook, pencil, erasers, bookmark, and stamper in each one. We read some fun storied, and made school buses! I even made a crayon cake that I found on Pinterest.

Supplies needed for school bus craft:
blue, yellow, black, and white paper
scissors
markers
glue stick

I drew out a bus shape and cut it out of the yellow paper for the kids. Have them glue the bus shape down. Cut circles out of the black and white paper. Glue the black circles for wheels, and the while circles for people faces in the windows. Then let the kids decorate the people, bus, and background with the markers.

Check out our party from a past year! 2010

Back to School party!

As some of you might know, I'm an organizer of a local mom's group.  This year, we have the majority of the kids going to one school or another.  We decided it may be fun to have a back to school party to get the kids ready.  We decorated pencil cups, bookmarks, and had fun coloring pages.  I read stories, and ate a pencil cake.  The cake idea came from Family Fun magazine.  If you haven't checked them out yet, you should.  They always have age appropriate crafts, story ideas, food, travel, toy suggestions, and party planning.  The pencil cups were just cans that I saved from the meals I cooked.  I washed them out, let them air dry, wrapped 2 layers of masking tape over the top lip of the can (so the kids didn't cut themselves on anything), and covered in just plain construction paper.  I gave the kids stickers and markers to help them decorate with.  The bookmarks were donated foam bookmarks that we also decorated with stickers and markers. 

The two great stories we read were: 

D.W.'s Guide to Preschool by Marc Brown  and 

First Day by Joan Rankin

I highly recommend both of these.  They were both well written for the age group and were very funny!

Pencil cups all ready to go!

Pencil cake.  Not exactly how I intended it to look, but not bad.

Our finished pencil cups.