Elle is ready for school!
Thinking about sending the kids back to school while watching them swim at the local pool just isn’t right. Shouldn’t there be leaves turning orange or something? I sound my age I guess. Here we are mid-August and my living room is currently filled with four bags of school supplies that still need labeling! Elle’s Kindergarten night is on Wednesday and I have to have her things ready to go. The other three don’t drop off their supplies (or should I say household goods? Anyone else have to by a ton of cleaning and paper products?) on Monday.
We are going camping this weekend and I really don’t want to be labeling the day after I get back from the lake. After all we know that the day after camping is laundry day! I would hate to double book myself and my two hands. That is right. I only have two hands believe it or not (my kids don’t believe it, they think I have extra arms as well as the extra eyes behind my back.)
On top of the school supplies, cleaning supplies, water bottles, sandwhich bags (reusable of course), lunch boxes and book bags we have clothes. School clothes as some call it. I call it the changing of the seasons clothes switcharoo and guess what? The seasons have not changed yet. Why then, have I bought long sleeves, pants and sweaters now? The kids want to wear them now. So I have bags of clothing hidden in an undisclosed place until the weather actually turns fall-like. I am such a mean, mean mom.
The hand-me-down routine with four kids is a full time job. The Good-Will lady sees me at least twice a week as I go through all of our clothes to decide what gets passed down, traded, given away, ripped into rags or tossed. I went through ten tubs of clothes last Saturday. TEN! I whittled it down to 4 and am very proud of myself!
Enu is happy to be going into the big-kid-school!
Of course the kids are already asking about the allowance that I stop in the summer (the summer activities are very costly, if you haven’t noticed), our fall schedule, when the first slumber party will be and of course HALLOWEEN costumes.
Am I ready for back to school. Partly yes and partly no. What is my biggest school wish right now? UNIFORMS. I’ve talked about that before and it is secretly my biggest school wish. My number two school wish is for healthy lunches, but I know that is asking for the moon!
What is your favorite school wish? Go ahead and tell me. I promise not to tattle on you are tell your kid!
Here are a couple links you may enjoy for your own back to school rush!
ThredUp.com A kids clothing trade site (I’ve just started using it)
Fillthebackpack.com A current contest going on right now.
Etsy.com Where I got my re-usable bags and labeling stickers
(Disclosure: I have not recieved any compensation for the links above. They are places I use and have found to be fun with good customer service!)
Photo Credit Mandy W. 2010
Sounds a lot like our house right now. Clothes shuffling and school supplies. . . I got the “Mean Mom” award because I wouldn’t buy the girls new back packs. Grandma bought them new rolling packs last April and they aren’t worn out yet so. . .
I still can’t get use to this state where it doesn’t start getting cold until October. I skipped “back-to-school” clothes shopping because last year one kid out grew all her cold weather clothes before she even got a chance to wear them! Instead, they each got a special outfit for Open House and a special one for the first day. Fortunately, they have enough decent summer clothes left that should get them well into September.
I hear you on all the cleaning supplies we have to provide. Don’t mind the Clorox wipes, though since they use these to wipe down the desks regularly which really helps control the spread of illness. My pet peeve is the teacher supplies we have to purchase. For all the taxes we pay and levies we have supported over the years I shouldn’t have to provide the teachers with grading pencils and dry erase markers. Also, the classroom supplies. This is a common kitty of crayons, paper, pencils, etc. so the kids have it available if they run out of their personal supplies. This really irks me as I work very hard to teach my kids to be responsible for their things and I check with them at least once a quarter to be sure they have the supplies they need. Why should I have to provide these supplies to other people’s irresponsible children? (Remember, we don’t live in a district where people struggle to afford the needed supplies – it’s a waste and responsibility issue.)
I too wish for healthier school lunches. Fortunately, we have open campus and the kids can come home to eat so I have more options. Now if I could just get better about more natural cooking and get away from all the preprocessed convenience junk!
Good thing this isn’t Twitter or I would be way over my limit! :-) Did you have any idea your post would generate so much from one person?!
Enjoy the first day of school for your kiddos! And the (hopefully soon) approaching change in seasons.
[...] I mentioned last week, we have been doing a lot of shuffling around of clothing at my house, in preparation of the [...]