Mommiedom

Tips for going back to school

1. Plan your first week out so your kids know what to expect. Kids need to know where and when they are being dropped off. Ask them what questions they might have and have them work with you to get a feel about how it will go. 

2. Lunch Meal Plan for the week and execute it on Sunday. The kids are picking out the things they like and we are getting it ready on Sunday so during the week , they can just grab and go for their lunches.

3.  Backpack checklist. 

My seven year old needs this so I created this checklist for him to have on his backpack. He is pretty good about remembering the stuff he needs to bring home but in the morning we sometimes forget. 

I hate school lunches and I am starting my 7th yes 7th year of packing them for my kids who hate everything we have packed. Packing school lunches sucks. My kids get burned out, I get burned out. They don't don't like to buy at school because it isn't great food (they keep changing the the rules for school lunches). You have to worry about allergies even if your kids don't have any. You have to do it every single darn stinking day. It is hard and painful. I actually might like to get a shot than have to pack lunches. Packing lunch day in and day out is the pure definition of insanity. 

So with that I need help and lots of it.  I need a way to make it easy on me, a variety of items for the kids to choose from and find a way we don't all burn out on it. Here is my great school lunch experiment that I m trying this school year. I need to make it easy one me and more in the kids hands when it comes to being responsible for the own lunches.

As you all know I am a planner for my meals and lunch should be no exception with this but it gets hard so very hard. Have you gotten how hard I think it is.

A plan has been put in place for school lunches this year and let's hope that this "experiment" can work and become part of our weekly routine and that the kids don't feel so burned out on PB &J's.


First and foremost, I scoured Pinterest for ideas for lunch planning and well let's say there are so many ideas and options. You can easily get overwhelmed with it so stick with what jumps out at you for your comfort level.

The one thing I found that I really liked was creating fridge lunch containers where I can stick a week's worth of lunch items in there for the kids to grab and go. I think this will help in having them decide what they want for the day.

Here are my bins and yes they are already labeled.

So I put on a few things that can be heated up for school. My daughter did her test run of hot food for her camp last week and she said it worked well but of course she had a few adjustments. 

I have containers that I can build things like homemade lunchables and mini pizza kits. As much as I love the ease of prepackaged meals and yes they come in handy when I am super burned out, the effort of making one is really not much more. 

For the Turkey Lunchables:

Crackers

Cut Cheese

Cut Turkey

For the Mini Pizza

A deli round

shredded cheese

pepperoni slices

tomato sauce

The dollar store has tons of cute containers to store. I got the tiny ones for stuff like the cheese and tomato sauce so when the lunches are being tossed about things stay where they are suppose to. 

I also can use them for condiments like BBQ sauce and mustard. I think BBQ sauce actually runs through my kid's veins she eats so much of it. I should take stock in Sweet Baby Ray's because that is here favorite.

I also have a snack station that the kids can pick out from as well.  I figure that if the kids have choices in lunch and  have some say in what they want, that maybe just maybe that this might go easier for everyone. 

I have a chart for my fridge as well where the kids are suppose to pick one thing from each category so that they get a balanced diet and that they aren't packing all sweets (yes I have spot checked to find  a lunch of mostly desserts in the past).

I am really hoping that by...

1. Doing weekly planning.

2. Have the kids have some say in what we make. 

3. They are responsible for packing their lunch.

I will keep everyone updated on this experiment and let you all know how it is going. I really hope we have keep this up for the long haul!

Tanks for stopping by!

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School is "almost" here and I am skipping around in excitement. Not that I don't love spending time with my kids but they need school ad the structure/schedule that comes with it. No more sleeping till 9 or 10. Up by 6 for the girl and 6:30 for the boy. We are dealing with two schools this year. Boy is still in grade school but the Girl starts middle school.

I keep asking myself when did that happen. How do I have a 6th and 2nd grader all of a sudden. I mean it seems the Girl just started kindergarten like yesterday but I have a 11 and 7 year old who will turn 12 and 8 this school year plus 40 is right round the corner of me!

Back to school planning honestly starts for me in mid July because I need to time to get my stuff together plus usually good sales are happening. Girl needs uniforms this year so they were on sale in mid July plus good deals for the boy. I figured let's just knock that out of the park.

Supplies are a whole other issue. I started a few years ago to just get the school pack which is so much easier but middle school doesn't have it plus the girls asked me not to even if they did, so we needed to get all of that stuff. We started slow, getting an item here and there. I found good deals on lunch boxes and thermos as well.

The other big thing is getting organized for back to school. Honestly this is more summer cleaning up and getting us in a good mindset.

My list of to do felt like a mile long and well I went about tackling it.

Things that I needed to do:

1. Update our Family command center.
I wanted to have something with more information that last year. As much as I love the area, it needed a update to fit our family better. You can check out the post from last year.

Here is the update:

It is great to store all her polos and pants. We still had room left over for other things like her shorts. 

This is a big help in getting her stuff sorted. 

Also I got her a hanging shoe rack for the back of her closet door to store all of her leggings. This is a must have if you or your daughter wears leggings. It was the best thing to organize them all. 

The boy was pretty simple and I use a hanging rack as well for his shorts and pants. He can just pull his shorts out and pick a shirt for himself to wear. He is super independent so this is up his alley. 

3. Fridge organization. 

My fridge got a deep cleaning and organization in order to prep for school lunches. I purchased this really nice bins from Amazon last year and still love how they function though I did switch things around some this year.

I also purchased inexpensive clear plastic shoe boxes that you can get most places for a buck. I labeled each one for main course, fruit, veggie and drink so the kids can just go in and grab their items for the day. We are planning on doing meal prep on Sunday so everything is ready to go for the week. I am "hoping" this makes it less stressful overall. 

4. Family Contracts for behavior and chores. 

We are really needing this one and it is still a work in progress with the kids. My kids have been slacking big time and they need to right their path. Nothing says fun like a  tween with an attitude.

I went to various websites and composed a contract that outlines our expectations, responsibilities for the house and punishments. My kids think everything is unfair so hopefully this will help with that. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday is back to school and YEAH!!! Could I shout it any louder? Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and it great to spend the time together and I will one day look back all teary eyed thinking about how they were so little as this disgusting teenager farts on their way out of the kitchen. Oh wait I have a preteen and kindergartner who already do that!

I actually like having my kids go to school because they thrive on structure. I am pretty sure my nine year old read like a whole two hours all summer (okay she ready nearly every night but it was junk stuff i.e. Star Wars and Sport Stats). So new rule is that once school starts back up we read things with some purpose so compromise was some Goosebump books. She is pretty good about reading substance over fluff for the most part.

I look forward to hearing all about the wonderful things they are learning every day. Sometimes they even surprise me with new stuff or with stuff, I didn't think they were learning yet. History club was awesome last year because we had lots of great conversations about the world.

This is he first year I have both kids in school full time. One very excited fourth grader and one not so sure about kindergarten. We talk about the expectations that we have as parents and of course what the teachers will expect. I need to make sure I mention to the kinder teacher that we aren't a Yes Mam or yes sir household (we grew up in the north where you just don't do it).

So the bet is on on how long the boy will be be before he gets his first conduct mark at school. The girl has yet to get one and is do for one here soon. Most likely hers will because of my laziness of signing the folder which starts somewhere around January which is of course the time I need to bribe the teacher as well with some sweets or liquor (all depends on what her likes are).

It is also the time of year where I need to determine what sort of parent I will be for each kids teacher. Yes I am happy to be your room Mom but only if I can be the head one and I get good Moms who are willing to help out but hey if you already have like nine Moms who want to be room Mom, I am happy to just be helpful which is pretty much what I am most years except the year I was asked to be the room mom back in May if the teacher got my kid. Good thing I like the teacher because I said yes and for the most part it was a great experience. I had lots of great help but I am not shy from asking for it either.

I have one friend who somehow always gets stuck with no room mom so she somehow gets roped into it. I am figuring odds are high in our favor that our girls will be together, so I guess odds are I will be the fourth graders room mom this year and than the guilt will come into play so likely I will be the kindergartner''s one than add on on my PTA duties plus I was thinking of going back to work. Okay maybe I will just be a very helpful parent to them. Decisions decisions decisions.

The other parenting decision will be how much I want to interact with the teacher. My belief is to have an open relationship but not to bug to much. I rarely question the teacher because they are educated in it and even though I am quite educated, this doesn't mean it is education. I would hate to be a teacher and have that former teacher parent questioning everything. I would hate for any parent to question everything I do as a teacher so I am not a hover helicopter parent though once the hubby's drone project is up and running, we may have one follow them to school every day.

I try to be somewhere in between with the kids. I care but I also trust in the teacher. If we have a good relationship, I hope they can come to me when a problem arises and vice versa. That is why I honestly like having repeat teachers but this year, it will be a new one for kinder because the teacher left to be a Mom and I never have had a fourth grader before so it will be a new experience.

Overall I have been lucky as a parent with my kids school. They are learning so much and I enjoy being a part of the experience as well. I try to be just involved enough where I am known but yet not the mom who is constantly up there. I also enjoy my time away from the kids. So here is to another great school year.

Thanks for stopping by!

Three weeks left for summer break and I couldn't be happier. I am not one of those Moms who likes the lazy days of summer- I dread them. Its hot in Texas like super hot, you can't seem to breath outside hot so we linger in doors most of the time only to venture out to the pool here and there which isn't at all refreshing at all. We don't do yard work until the sun starts setting because it is so hot. So most of the time we are cooped up in the house or inside somewhere. So the kids going back to school is wonderful and joyous thing because it gets them going out on a regular basis plus I get to regain my sanity because I no longer will hear hours on end about Minecraft, Terriaum, or what the Hobby kids are playing with this week. 

So the countdown begins and I am ready for school. The first year the oldest went to Kinder, I was frantic running around getting supplies the night before school because I couldn't find one thing on the list. I was stressed to the max because well it was my first. Next year, I wasn't as stressed about it as she headed to first but still stressed some. Less stress the third year for second (It helped we had a great teacher that year). Than I wised up and well last year was a breeze. Why may you ask, well because I preordered the school supplies from the school and had all the school clothes shopping done by the end of July. August was a joy of relaxation and the last dog days of summer. 

So this year, I did the same and it was so much easier even with both going to school. One is in Fourth and my baby is going into Kinder. 

So here is what I did - I got organized and because I was last year, this year is easier. Clothes shopping is done and is quick. The kids can wear summer stuff till October, so we buy a few new things and add as the year goes. I also watch the sales and shop that way. I got six pair of jeans (I bought big) for 40 bucks with coupons. I likely spent a total of 150 bucks for clothes for both because of how I shop. My kids at this age don't need expensive things that they will outgrow in an instant. 

We purchased a new backpack and lunch kit for the boy but my daughter is using the same one from that last two years. I spent about 60 bucks on a new set from Vera Bradley a few years ago, and it has stayed so nice. I just throw it in the washer and air dry it. It looks brand new. I told her she can go get a new one for middle school.

So our backpacks are ready to go and new water bottles which of course were personalized.