Why Your School Needs A Buddy Bench

Recently I was part of the committee that worked to put Buddy Benches at my kids' school. A dad at our school built the benches and I painted them. We sold a "handprint" for $10 each and used the money to fund the entire project.

There are lots of great things about Buddy Benches and if you're interested in a few books I recommend, be sure to check out Everybody Needs a Buddy or Are There Bullies on the Buddy Bench.

10 Books for the First Day of School {as seen on Jacksonville Moms Blog}

This was a post I did for the Jacksonville Moms Blog with some of my favorite books for the first day of school. 

Why We Love Our Public School {as seen on Jacksonville Moms Blog}

A little piece I wrote for the Jacksonville Moms Blog about how much we love our school.  It's worth a click to read it.  

Getting Your Kids Talking After School {News Clip}

I was asked to do a short segment on our local news about Talking To Your Kids About Their School Day.  You can view the video here.

Getting Your Kids Talking After School {as seen on the Jacksonville Moms Blog}

Another post I did for the Jax Moms Blog.  It's a good read if you have a tough time getting your kids to open up at the end of the day.

Practice Writing Names and Letters {10 Fun Things to Do with Your Water Table}

Sand is a great medium for little hands to practice writing.  Read some more ideas for your water table over at the Jacksonville Moms Blog.

Laptop Lunches {Product Review}

So I looked at the calendar yesterday and realized, holy crap, school starts back in 1 month.  1 MONTH.  I've reviewed Laptop Lunches before because I love them so much, but I just wanted to remind you again of their fabulousness.  You can read all my reviews here, here, here and here.  Now is the time to order some for yourself so you're ready when school starts.

Elephant & Piggie Costume inspired by Mo Willems {Elementary School Character Parade}

I had a reader email me and ask me what costume we used for last year's Character Parade {when he was in Kindergarten}.  Last year, Cole went as Gerald from Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie Book.  Cole has always loved elephants and this was a perfect costume for him.  I bought the elephant costume on ebay.  The parade was in May and he had grown out of the elephant costume that we had (oh yeah, you read this right, this was not my FIRST elephant costume purchase).

I Spy Costume {Elementary School Character Parade}

This year for our annual Character Parade at Cole's school we decided to make a really cool I Spy costume.  A few years back we hosted an I Spy Birthday Party so you can see that the I Spy Books are very popular in our house.  

I started by collecting random things {junk} from around the playroom, craft room, etc.  I used a hot glue gun to attach everything.  Then I came up with a poem for the back {this was seriously the hardest part}.  I cut the poem out with my Silhouette Cameo and ironed it on.  You could also write it out using a fabric marker.  It really was an easy costume to make.

Laptop Lunch Boxes Update

A few more pictures from our adventures with Laptop Lunch Boxes.  We're a year and a half in to using them and we still love them.  I really love the amount of variety I can put in Cole's lunch.  I'm still working with the same 3 lunch boxes we bought back when he started Kindergarten.

Back To School Teacher Survival Kit

These are the back-to-school survival kits that I made for the kids' teachers last year.  I hope the school supply cakes that I'm working on for this year turn out as nice.
You see more pictures of the survival kits here.

Nailed it!

I'm getting ready for back-to-school and I just came across an idea I had saved for Cole's teacher last year.  I was going to make her one of those school supply *cakes* for teacher appreciation, but decided on a gift card for our local liquor store instead.  I saved all the school supplies for a back-to-school gift for his new teacher this year.  I like to get to know our teachers before I start buying them booze.

Laptop Lunch Boxes

It's August and for most of us that means back-to-school is right around the corner.  We still have a few more weeks of vacation but I'm starting to get geared up for lunch making season.  Last year we bought Laptop Lunch Boxes for Cole to use and we're going to be using the same set again this year. Here are a few of the lunches I packed for him last year.  Hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures of our lunches this year.

Laptop Lunch Box Review Follow-up

Well we've just wrapped up our first full year of Kindergarten and with that came lunches.  Back at the beginning of the year I reviewed the Laptop Lunch Box System that we invested in for Cole. I thought I'd follow up now that it's the end of the year.  He and I both absolutely loved using the Laptop Lunch Box this year.  I loved giving him choices for healthy items and he loved throwing me for a loop and requesting things like couscous (see second picture).  We ended up buying 2 of the lunchboxes so that I could prepare it the night before and put it in the fridge and then also have 1 in the dishwasher.  This made lunch prep even easier. 

Laptop Lunch Box {Product Review}

My oldest started Kindergarten this year and we decided to invest in the Laptop Lunch Box system for him.  At first I was really hesitant to order the boxes because I didn't know if he could get them open, or how big they were.  Then I got to actually see them at Whole Foods one day and instantly fell in love.  These are just a few of his lunches from the first few weeks of school.  I wanted to note that I didn't buy the entire Laptop Lunch Box set that includes the case and water bottle.  I opted to get him a few of the boxes and we're using the Land's End Classmates Lunch Box.  Oh, and I am getting nothing for this post.  No free lunch boxes.  I just wanted to share something that worked for us with all the moms out there.