A few weeks ago I got calls from the principals of each of the kids' new schools inviting us to attend the new student orientations that they'd be holding. This gives students and their families who are new to the district the opportunity to come see the building, find their classrooms and ask questions of school staff members before Open House night when EVERYONE is there.
(most of the photos in this post are from my phone, so definitely not great. sorry.)
At Pyper's school they had 5th graders running the tours, which I thought was smart. Those kids know their stuff.
I just love this picture of Hakan. You can definitely see the anticipation!
Why grade schoolers need lockers, I don't know. But my kids were certainly excited to find out that they'd get one!
I found an idea on a blog I follow that I wanted to implement in our family. They call the last day of summer vacation "Kids Are Boss Day", and celebrate their last day of freedom before they head back to school. They let their kids choose a few things that they want to do that day, as long as they stay within some guidelines. We decided to let them choose 3 activities, as long as they didn't include buying toys or driving more than 30 minutes away.
We told them our plan a week before K.A.B.D. so they could think of lots of ideas and then narrow them down as it got closer. Not necessary. They probably had their 3 activities decided on within five minutes.
They wanted to:
camp in the backyard
cook s'mores on the grill
go swimming
Since we couldn't camp out the night before school started, we decided to do that part the night before K.A.B.D. Aaron fired up the grill after dinner and the s'more feast began.
For some reason Finnley didn't love the idea of eating a "cooked" marshmallow.
Aaron suggested we buy the ultra big marshmallows, which made for ultra messy s'mores!
Unfortunately we didn't end up camping in the backyard because the forecast called for rain that night, and we hadn't yet unearthed our camping gear from the mountain of boxes in the garage. The kids were okay with having an indoor slumber party instead.
We made popcorn, got comfy and watched "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" together. (Good flick!)
Unfortunately, when it was time to go to sleep the kids started being ridiculous. I finally had to send Finn up to his bed, then Hakan went up with him so he wouldn't be alone. Aaron and Pyper were the only ones who slept in the TV room.
We'd intended to let the kids choose what we had for meals on K.A.B.D., but that didn't exactly work out, either. Pyper wanted Norwegian pancakes for breakfast, but I hadn't found my frying pan yet so I made muffins with the blueberries we'd picked last week. They were okay with that.
The purple sugar sprinkled on top was a big hit.
For lunch we attended a picnic that our church held at a local playground. So, again, the kids didn't get to pick our meal. They had fun, though, and we got to chat with the members of our new ward. (And despite the expression, Pyper really did enjoy her chicken. She ate 3 drumsticks. I think she just likes to make dramatic eating faces when she knows I'm taking pictures.)
Somehow the kids managed to talk us into stopping for ice cream on the way home from the picnic. Maybe it had something to do with it being 90+ degrees out and we were all in need of something cold.
They were pretty tickled with being able to buy their own treats with some money that Grandma Pam sent them to spend on Kids Are Boss Day.
Aaron's co-worker had invited us to his house for a BBQ and swimming that afternoon, which worked perfectly with the kids' plan for the day.
Anyway, we had a very full but FUN Labor Day weekend. Hope yours was great, too! I'll be posting the kids' official Back to School photos soon!
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