Back to School!

Tomorrow is the first day of school! (Just in time for the weather to finally warm up!) Lovey starts second grade - how can that be???!!! and my baby starts her second year of preschool - how can THAT be???!!!

A new twist starting tomorrow will be both kids going to daycare. Why? Because I am going back to work. After 5 years of staying home, I am going back to teaching. And I will be Littlebit's teacher. CRAZY! We have spent the last few weeks in the classroom getting things set up and ready. Lovey is so excited to go to daycare after school, even if it is only for 30 minute. Now if he can just remember to get on the right bus on the right day.

Here's to a great school year!

100 Days of School - A Thank You

Tomorrow is 100 days of school. Lovey cannot wait to celebrate! He has been counting down to this day and talking about it forever. They have learned songs to prepare for it and he has been singing them all around the house.

I thought that maybe I would take the opportunity to create a thank you for his teacher. Usually teachers hear about the things that they are not doing right, so I thought now would be a great opportunity to express our appreciation for Lovey's wonderful teacher.

Lovey and I created a basket with 100 thank yous for 100 days of school! I typed some of the thank you notes on the computer and some are in Lovey's handwriting. It was cute to see what things he came up to thank her for.

Here are some of his ideas:
Thank you for teaching me to add.
Thank you for teaching me to subtract.
Thank you for helping us.
Thank you.

We put it all in a basket with 10 chocolates (they counted towards the 100 thank yous) and attached a little card to it. I think it turned out pretty cute and he can't wait to take it to school.

Back to School

On the first day of school for the past three years, I have made a pencil-shaped brownie cake. It was something I saw somewhere and thought it would be fun. Last year I almost didn't make it until Lovey said that he was excited to have it.

With two different first days this year, I wasn't sure how to pull off the pencil cake. Lovey's day was first, but I wanted Littlebit to have a cake too. I wasn't about to make two cakes. Ugh.

I decided to substitute the brownie cake with giant pencil sugar cookies. Lovey ate his on his first day and Littlebit had hers the next day. Problem solved.

How Can It Be?

Littlebit will be starting preschool this fall. Wasn't I just taking Lovey there and Littlebit was a baby?

Tonight was the open house at Littlebit's school. All day she was talking about going to school. She is so thrilled. I thought she was going to be my one that was going to cling to me. She has alway's been Momma's girl, but lately she has started to branch out. It definitely helps that she is familiar with the school because Lovey went there and she knows one other girl already.

She picked out a dress to wear and let me put pretties in her hair. She couldn't stop smiling and talking about school. We were one of the last families to leave because we couldn't pull her out of the classroom.

This afternoon Lovey will put on his backpack, new shoes, and new clothes and head to Kindergarten!

How? How did my little boy get old enough to go to Kindergarten? Wasn't I just taking him to my staff meetings at 4 months old and setting up his pack-n-play, so I could set up my classroom? Oh wait, I haven't been in a classroom in a few years.

He is so excited to go to school, I'm surprised he slept last night. We've been to his classroom twice and his teacher is very nice. Last night we walked around the school at open house. He was amazed at how big it was and he kept asking if we were going to get lost. I assured him we wouldn't and we didn't.

He can't wait to ride the bus, but today I insisted on taking him to school. He can ride the bus Friday. I can't wait to hear all about his first day!

Dresses, soccer, and birthday preparation

After seeing a tutorial for a cute dress on made, I knew I had to make one for Littlebit. It won't fit her very long, but I have two other shirts to work with. It is hard to see the buttons going down the front and the shirt had darts that I ended up using in the dress. It was a little difficult because I was guessing at the sizing and had to draw my own pattern. The shirt used to be mine, but it is so much cuter as a dress for Littlebit.

Wednesday was Lovey's first day of soccer. He had a great time and can't wait to go to practice today.

Yesterday was Lovey's special day at school. The whole family went. We brought chocolate chip pancakes, apples, and hot chocolate for snack. Lovey brought in the book Pirates Don't Change Diapers and I read it to the class. We also took a walking field trip to the elementary school to see the salmon they hatched. The rain held off until we were home!

We also sold our beautiful bedroom set yesterday. It was way to much furniture for our bedroom, so now I get to find new furniture. Hopefully I find a set soon. Our mattress is on the floor and our close are in the laundry baskets and dirty clothes are thrown on the floor of the closet. Yikes!

Lovey also sent out his birthday invitations this week. He is so excited for his dinosaur party. Here is what the outside of his invites look like.

Back to school

Lovey went back to school today. Three weeks of vacation can be a long time for a 4 year old and for me. He was very excited, but it was hard to get into the routine this morning. He was finally able to give his teachers their Christmas presents and bring home the present he made at school. It was an advent candle holder and an angel made with his hand prints. Cute! We were a little worried last night that there might not be school when it started to snow at 2:30 and didn't stop until almost 8, but it melted before 10.

This is going to be a long school year.

Littlebit misses Lovey when he is at school. It is only his second day, but as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, she started crying. She cried when we got back in the car and wanted me to hold her the entire time he was gone. She is done with a morning nap, so I can't get anything done. She didn't do this when he was at camp this summer, so hopefully this is a short-lived phase, or it is going to be a long school year.

And he's off...

Today was Lovey's first day of preschool. This year he goes 3 days a week and he is so excited to be a "big kid." I have been asked everyday since school ended in June when he would go back and today was the day. Backpacks were packed, art projects were made for his teachers and new clothes were hanging in the closet. There are a lot of kids in his class this year, but not his friend from last year. I'm sure he will find someone new to play with. Littlebit had a hard time adjusting to him being gone and wandered around calling for him. Since it was his special day, he picked out corn dogs for dinner (yuck) and I made a brownie pencil cake for dessert (yum).