Happy Wednesday, friends! A few weeks ago I saw this quote on instagram and it spoke to me SO LOUDLY! There is so much unknown right now and I feel like this year more than any other it's vital that I set the tone in a positive and upbeat way. I know that school may look A LOT different for lots of your families and so I wanted to re-share one of my very favorite traditions in case you're looking for a way to set the tone for your family as you start the school year.
I'll probably still share how I put together our brinner in a couple of weeks but wanted to share how I've done it in the past so that in case you want to start this tradition for your family you can start planning it now.
Essentially, it's a special breakfast for dinner (brinner) on the night before school. It started because I saw other people posting about special first day of school breakfasts and literally couldn't get it together enough in the morning so I moved it to the night before :)
We talk about what we're excited about for the year, take some time to pray over our teachers, classmates and school and set some goals for the year. The menu is SUPER simple and I tried to change it up this year and was met with SO MUCH resistance which I feel just proves that it doesn't have to be anything fancy.
Well... August is here which means that back-to-school ads are airing, pool water temperatures are rising and Fall decorations are starting to appear in stores (unless you're Hobby Lobby in which case you've had Christmas decor out for a month!).
We got out before Memorial Day which means that we go back earlier than a lot of other schools - but I'm ready and excited! Today I thought I'd share all things back-to-school in the hopes of maybe getting some of y'all excited right along with me :)
Happy Monday, Friends! The countdown to school is officially on in our house and we're EXCITED!!! Including today we have 21 days left of summer (really only 11 days until I go back to work) and while we plan on making the absolute most of the last bit of vacation we really ramp up the anticipation of getting back to school.
I'm going to miss being home with them so much.... the constant flow of hot tea, the lazy mornings, the afternoons in the pool... but instead of focusing on what we're all going to miss we like to focus on all the fun and exciting things coming up.
To help with building the anticipation :) I like to decorate a bit for Back To School. I haven't pulled out my box of decorations yet (at this point my focus is getting cabinet hardware on in our kitchen. UGH!!!), but here's a look at what I did last year.
I'm excited to get the decorations out this year as well - but need a few days :)
In the past I've hosted a couple of back to school parties including a Kindergarten Kickoff Dinnerthat Shay and I hosted when LOTS of our friends had kids starting Kindergarten. This is one of my favorite parties EVER!
Mason has a great little crew of friends at school this year and since they're all going to be starting Kindergarten this Fall I'm thinking of hosting a Kindergarten Kickoff Lunch for them in the next week or so. Hopefully I can pull that together :)
And can we pause for a minute as we take in Baby Griffin the night of our back to school dinner???
This was the first year I made these mini apple spice cupcakes and they're definitely a back to school favorite in my house now.
I blogged the recipeHEREand you won't be sorry you made them. They'd be cute in a first day lunch or as a little after school treat. They would be great to leave in a teacher workroom since they're bite size and teachers would LOVE you. :)
A few years ago I found these cute wooden "First Day Of..." signs and bought a bunch of them for me and my friends. I totally plan on making them hold this sign and take a picture until their senior year. ;) Wish me luck.
Every year I get asked so many times where they are from and, unfortunately, I can't find the exact sign anywhere. BUT... here's a cute one on Etsy. This shop has no clue who I am, but I liked how it has first day on one side and last day on the other.
I still can't believe it's almost back-to-school time!!! Such a fun and exciting time of the year :)
Happy Tuesday, Girls! Today we're showing and telling about our back to school traditions and I can't wait to glean some ideas from your posts :)
I wish I could say that I made an elaborate dinner the night before and/or a fun breakfast the morning of the first day of school, but let's be real... the night before I'm usually EXHAUSTED from meet the teacher and a weeks worth of meetings and the kids first day of school is a day where I meet my 100+ middle school students and it's super hectic and busy. So, no apple shaped donuts, themed meals or inspirational/motivational ideas from me today :) hahaha
I will say, that I treat "Back to School" almost as it's own season and I love decorating the house...
... and building anticipation and excitement with my kids by reading books like these.
In the past I've hosted a couple of back to school parties including a Kindergarten Kickoff Dinner that Shay and I hosted last year when LOTS of our friends had kids starting Kindergarten. This is one of my favorite parties EVER!
And can we pause for a minute as we take in Baby Griffin the night of our back to school dinner???
This was the first year I made these mini apple spice cupcakes and they're definitely a back to school favorite in my house now.
I blogged the recipe HERE and you won't be sorry you made them. They'd be cute in a first day lunch or as a little after school treat. They would be great to leave in a teacher workroom since they're bite size and teachers would LOVE you. :)
Last up, I guess this is kind of a tradition, but every year before school I whip up a big batch of Monster cookies. They're great for lunches and a cookie in my bag will get my through my 2:00 slump any day. They're flourless and I put in 1 cup of raisins instead of 1/4 cup... so that totally makes them healthy, right??? :)
The boys and I made a batch last night and I froze half of them to put back for next week. I pull them out frozen, pop them in the boys lunches, and they're ready by noon.
So, that's it! We're in countdown mode over here... our first official day is next Wednesday! EEEK!
I can't wait to read all of your fabulous ideas today and hopefully start a few new traditions this year.
See you tomorrow for another installment of our Colorado trip! It's 100+ degrees here now... I'm ready for a virtual vacation to the mountains, how about you?? :)
PS - this post contained affiliate links... which means that if you clicked on a link and purchased an item I may receive a small commission. THANK YOU for supporting my blog!!!
Happy Wednesday, friends! We made it through the first day of school - tired but excited!
Monday night we had our annual Back-to-School Brinner and I want to share because it's seriously so easy and one of our family's very favorite traditions.
Essentially, it's a special breakfast for dinner (brinner) on the night before school. It started because I saw other people posting about special first day of school breakfasts and literally couldn't get it together enough in the morning so I moved it to the night before :)
We talk about what we're excited about for the year, take some time to pray over our teachers, classmates and school and set some goals for the year. The menu is SUPER simple and I tried to change it up this year and was met with SO MUCH resistance which I feel just proves that it doesn't have to be anything fancy.
My kids go back to school next week and as much as I'd love another 3 weeks of summer that's just not going to happen so we're fully embracing all things back-to-school and getting excited about Kindergarten, Second and Fourth grades (and year THIRTEEN of teaching!).
My kids are in uniforms every day for school so our shopping is minimal (unless you consider pre-ordering size ups in navy shorts, skirts and polos shopping) but all three kids were in need of some new running shoes after a summer of growing. I picked up these Nike Presto shoes for all three kids and they LOVE them! The boys can both tie their own shoes, but there's something to be said about shoes where you don't have to mess with the laces. I love how easy they are for all three to put on and love even more how excited they are to wear them on the first day. And yes... Mason is INSISTENT that his socks look good this way :)
We have had a FANTASTIC summer full of fun and have made some incredible memories but we've been out since May and I start back this Thursday (meetings, professional development, etc.) so we've been gradually switching over from summer-mode to back-to-school mode :) I'm not going to lie... the last couple of weeks of summer can easily take on the "Sunday Scaries" vibe... where you really focus on how little time left you have left BUT I try to combat that with making back-to-school as much fun and as exciting as I can.
On the console table I put out a few sunflowers from the grocery store, this candle and this caddy filled with art supplies. I also used an old globe on the lower shelf.
Today is our first day of school and it is my absolute PLEASURE to share some back-to-school gear we purchased not for ourselves but for local students in need. Walmart had a HUGE selection of backpacks and other back-to-school gear that made shopping super easy in a really busy time of the year. I went online and let each of the kids pick out a backpack (or two!) that they liked to be donated to a school supply drive for a local Title One school here in McKinney.
I know that lots of us are putting off thinking about heading back to school because nobody really knows what that's going to look like BUT ready or not school WILL be happening in some form or another. Whether that ends up being in-person, online or a mixture of the two making it a fun and positive experience for our kids is a top priority as moms.
When Walmart asked me if I'd like to share some back-to-school finds for kids I knew exactly how I wanted to do that... by putting together some backpacks full of clothes, shoes and accessories that would hopefully put a smile on a few kids faces as they start school this Fall - however that looks!
We've been volunteering with the McKinney Little Free Pantry since the Spring and love their "take what you need, leave what you can" motto. Pantry locations are set up all over McKinney and Melissa and people can come 24/7 and take what they need for themselves and their families. The pantries are stocked multiple times a week by community donations and in uncertain times the certainty of there being food, toiletries pet food and even clothing, backpacks, jackets, etc. is a blessing to many.
I masked up and headed to my local Walmart to shop and, as always, was blown away by the selection and prices. My own kids wear uniforms (convenient but way less fun!) and I had the best time picking out clothes, backpacks and shoes that I thought would put a smile on kids (and moms!) faces as school starts up next month.
Another Homecoming week is in the books and it was a great one! I'm in charge of student activities for middle school which means HoCo is my domain and while the week is an absolute whirlwind it's a fun whirlwind which makes the exhaustion worth it ;)
Homecoming is a high school thing but since our school is PK-12 it becomes a bit more of a school-wide spirit week - it reminds me of when McKinney was WAY smaller and the whole town used to come out for the game, parade, etc. since there was only one high school.
In middle school we do spirit dress up days for the week. High School student government picks the "theme" for all of homecoming and they typically have dress days that go along with the theme (this year was back to the future and they had different decades every day) and middle school will generally do our own dress days that are a little "easier" for middle schoolers to get excited about.
We kicked off the week with "class colors" - where each grade level is assigned a color and the goal is to wear as much of it as possible. Staff is always black because #easy...
Yesterday we spent our day recovering from our first week of school - we cleaned, organized, filled in calendars, registered for Fall sports and worked on our first set of spelling words :) But LAST Sunday was a little bit more relaxed and we spent some sweet time together at our "Back to School Brinner". We have to leave our house around 7 a.m. on the first day of school so doing a special breakfast the morning of really isn't an option for us so we do our family meal the night before school starts.
Well... it's undeniable at this point and as much as I hate to admit it, school is coming whether I like it or not. All my kids are all home from camp and we're in the home stretch of summer. SIGH. In the spirit of back-to-school I'm sharing some of our FAVORITE things for this season because if you have to go back to school a fresh pair of sneakers eases the pain just a bit ;)
Last year we all officially converted over to Owala freesip bottles and love them so so so much! Love that the lid just pops up and you can drink from a straw without actually putting your mouth on a straw. I also love that you can throw them in a bag and they don't leak!
Well... it's undeniable at this point and as much as I hate to admit it, school is coming whether I like it or not. All my kids are all home from camp and we're in the home stretch of summer. SIGH. In the spirit of back-to-school I'm sharing some of our FAVORITE things for this season because if you have to go back to school a fresh pair of sneakers eases the pain just a bit ;)
A couple of years ago we converted over to Owala freesip bottles and love them so so so much! Love that the lid just pops up and you can drink from a straw without actually putting your mouth on a straw. I also love that you can throw them in a bag and they don't leak!
I'm linking up today with Shay, Sheaffer and Mel for What's Up Wednesday!
Pretty much anything that doesn't involve having to turn my oven on :) We do snack a lot more and do more "small things" meals during the summer and here are a few of our favorite snack finds of late...
The Trader Joe's nectarines have been OUT OF THIS WORLD good and I love chocolate covered sunflower seeds as an afternoon sweet treat. This past week was my first time to try their restaurant style tortilla chips and OH MY WORD they are good! They have lime on them and they're a hefty chip perfect for dipping. DELISH!
We start back to school next week (well... I start my meetings) and I'm feeling all the back-to-school feels. We've definitely been reminiscing about past first days..
All the regular stuff. Soaking up time at home just playing and spending time with each other.
The heat! It's been OUT OF CONTROL and I am pretty much dreading the next two months. It's supposed to be hot in July and August... it's NOT supposed to feel like fire in September. UGH.
Bulletin board ideas!!! Last year I moved back into my old classroom after being in a portable for 6 years and I couldn't wait to make it my own. You can check out the full post HERE. This year I can't decide if I want to change out my confetti board or leave it and I'm working on some ideas for the other three boards around my room as well as a couple of things to change/update in my room.
All things back to school! We've had a fantastic summer and while I wish it was another month or so long I'm really looking forward to this school year. Plus, Pottery Barn has Halloween stuff out - which doesn't hurt my excitement level :) #extra
I've been reading as much as possible this summer and Kristin Hannah books have been on the top of my list (I'll do a summer reading review at some point - promise!). I'm currently reading True Colors and, as with all of Hannah's books, I can't put it down.
We're still hamming out to our Sounds Like Summer playlist
I've been loving Madewell Central shirts! They're drapey without being overwhelming and will be perfect for school.
Celebrating one of my favorite girls birthday, sorting/washing/donating uniforms, and prepping some quick and easy breakfast items to make school mornings run a bit smoother (hopefully).
Getting back in the classroom!!! Hearing all about the kids first days of school. Our Back-to-School Brinner... all the start of school things!
A friend put this book in my mailbox yesterday so it doesn't get much more new than that :) I've heard nothing but great reviews and I can't wait to dive in!
HAPPY WEDNESDAY, friends!!!
PS - this post contained affiliate links - thanks so much for reading and supporting my blog!
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