My first baby was off to Kindergarten today. It has been a most exciting day for him, and a most difficult day for me, but no the less I always aim to make big days a little extra special! The day started with the first day off school photo and I can’t wait for him to get off the bus to find a special little surprise.
My little man has been really anticipating his first day of Kindergarten. The day has finally arrived and I only have a couple more hours left before he gets off the bus and is back home with me. Wow, was that a difficult task to pack his lunch and say goodbye for a full day of school. My heart ached most of the morning, for reasons I’m sure every mother understands. I am so proud of how brave, excited, and inquisitive he was today. He simply gave me a hug, sat in his seat and was ready to be a kindergartener! I fought back the tears and walked away from what has been my daily job joy for the last few years to care and nurture for this amazing boy all day. Sigh – those days are gone until next summer and I officially have a school aged child. Thank goodness my little girl will be home with me to ease my mind and keep me busy. I’m already dreading sending her off to kindergarten and figuring out how to spend my days without two kids in tow.
When my son started pre-K I started the tradition of taking a picture of him with a little note that says the date and what he wants to be when he grows up. My plan is to make a photo book for the kids as they graduate high school that includes a picture from each year – and won’t it be interesting to see what they end up going to college for after 12 years of changing their minds! This year I grabbed a chalkboard that I had hanging in the kitchen for the annual photo! I love the idea of being able to use the same sign each year and just filling in the info in colorful chalk. This chalkboard was just an old frame that I painted white and distressed. I even painted the actual glass that came in the frame with chalkboard paint to finish it off. I glued the glass into the frame – closed everything back up, and have an easy and adorable chalkboard for such a special occasion!
I have seen some neat ideas about the “back to school fairy” coming and leaving a little something for the kids on the first day of school, which I think is a darling idea. I opted to leave out the back to school fairy and make the gift from his dad and I so he knows how proud WE are of him! Santa, the Easter bunny, and the tooth fairy, steal enough of the gift giving joy throughout the year. I found a cute little school themed container in Targets dollar section that could be personalized with a dry erase marker. I then added just a few other things that totaled less than $6.00, but that I knew would really thrill my son when he got home. I added a new water bottle for school, some of his favorite gummy treats, some fun colored pencils, his favorite goldfish snack, a small slinky, and a star student medal that he can decorate with his pencils. Nothing too fancy, just a little something to greet him when he gets of the bus.
I also found these great lunch packing accessories at Target. For those of you that pack your child’s lunch you might enjoy these. The sandwich container has a little built in icepack under the lid to keep sandwiches fresh and a cool and a Lightning McQueen lid to make them fun! My son adores cold cuts in his sandwiches and I can’t wait to send them in his lunch with this and know that they stay cold. I also found these darling little lunchbox note cards in Target’s dollar section. I left him a note on a napkin today, but think these are just adorable for sending a little message for kids at lunch time. The back allows you to write a message and the cards are thick and water resistant so you can throw them in their lunch bags! These are right up my alley and I hope he looks forward to the little notes from mom at lunchtime at school.
Happy back to school time to all of you lovely mother’s out there!
Hi there, I don’t know how old or new this post is, but I just stumbled across it when googling something and found it so delightful to read. I love the way you talk about your kids and the things you do for them, it made me cry its just beautiful. My son has just started school and I can relate to how you feel. I love what you say about the gifts being from you not from some imaginary fairy, its true, fairies and santa do steal enough!! And I love the ‘note in lunch box’ idea. I did that a couple of times with my son’s snack at nursery but had forgotten till you reminded me. Will do that for my son tomorrow in his lunch box I think, and then every so often after that. I will now go and read some more of your beautiful posts. xx
I am so glad that you managed to stumble upon my blog and I loved your comment. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave it – it really motivates me to keep blogging and sharing things with other mom’s that I think are important and doable for anyone! Hope your heart is handling the first few days of kindergarten and that your son enjoys his little notes from home! I also hope that you enjoyed reading through some other posts here 🙂 Thanks again for the wonderful comment!