Back to School Favorites

Wow, what a week!  My crew headed back to school this week.  Thankfully, it was just a 3 day week for them and they're both off to a wonderful start.  Both have teachers that they like, are making new friends and we're figuring out our back to school schedule.  I'm never eager for Summer to end, but this was about as good of a start as I could have hoped for.  The kids are no longer "new kids" and were feeling confident in how their school runs.

I'm going to share some Amazon affiliate links to some of our favorite things below.  Keep your eyes peeled!  The best parts of our week were:

1 // Great Start

Olive and Fletcher were a little nervous about their first days, but mostly excited.  Thanks to a back to school open house where we got to meet their teachers, find their desks and get familiar with their new classrooms.  Leo missed them tons the first day they were gone.  We had the best summer ever, squeezed in as much family fun as possible and feel confident in the direction our family is heading. 

2 // Rainbows

You know I love spotting rainbows and that they've been popping up for us often as we've made this big move.  I opened our front door one day this week and spotted this pretty rainbow.  These God winks and reminders of God's promises has been so encouraging in a season filled with so many changes for our family.

3 // First Grade 

Fletcher has had a great week in first grade.  His teacher is really sweet and he seems comfortable already.  He says his days are long, but he hops in the car at the end of the day smiling.  He's made new friends, is happy to see familiar faces from students and teachers and is really into math.

4 // Fourth Grade

Olive says her teacher makes everything fun, has tons of learning games and is really nice.  She met "the nicest new friend ever" which is a huge blessings since her best buddies from 3rd grade weren't in her class this year.  I've been praying hard for her to make good friends.  She loves the new set up of changing classes, her new binder system and seems totally ready for her new responsibilities as a 4th grader.  She still makes sure that Fletcher gets to his class every morning.

5 // Yumboxes!

This is our 6th year using yumboxes for the kids lunches and we are still obsessed.  It saves me so much time filling them instead of packaging each item separately and saves me so much money in ziploc bags.  I just fill the 6 compartments the night before, pop them into the kid's lunch boxes with a slim ice pack and they're set.  The hot pink yumbox is 6 years old and still working great.  We have only ever had one break - they are so durable and totally worth the $30 investment.  We also love these Thermos Funtainer water bottles.  They are so durable and keep ice in their drinks for hours.  We've been using some of the same ones for 6 years!

We've collected several over the years - this monster one is new this year.  Isn't it so cute??  I always hand wash them to help them last longer.  We love this style the best.  It's the Yumbox Original.  They make bigger and smaller options.  This size has worked perfect for the kids from Pre-K to 4th grade.

6 // New Friends

Being new to town, our whole family is working hard to make new friends.  We read When Pencil Met Eraser and it was a really a really cute reminder that there are good friend options all around us if we keep our eyes open for them.  The kids were inspired to do some pencil/eraser art after reading this cute book.  We'd highly recommend this book!

7 // Stickers

I let the kids grab a new water bottle and then we got the cutest sticker pack from Amazon to personalize all of their stuff.  This pack was super kid friendly and had plenty of stickers that were appealing to me as an adult.  They loved personalizing their stuff.  I couldn't believe how cheap the stickers were!

 

8 // Label Maker

This label maker is my BFF this time of year.  I labeled all of their lunch boxes, water bottles, yumboxes, backpacks and more with it.  The labels are water proof and really stay for a long time.

 

9 // Accessories

We made back to school bracelets again this year.  The kids love wearing them the first few weeks of school in case their start missing home.  They're so cute!  They love picking out new outfits and Olive cared very much about her nails, hair and all the details.  They used their old Pottery Barn Kids backpacks and lunchboxes again because they were still in great shape. 

10 // Friends!!

Speaking of friends - my sweet friend Jacque - stopped by their school to check in on them this week!  She said they seemed so confident which made me feel so good.  Our transition to a new school would not have been so smooth and so wonderful if Jacque hadn't helped with every step of the process. 

11 // Pumpkin time!

My kid's #1 favorite cookie is a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie.  Once they head back to school it feels like pumpkin season begins.  I surprised them with fresh pumpkin cookies after school.

12 // Leo

After a day or so, Leo and I found our regular routine again of being home together.  He likes the one on one time and loves playing with any toy he wants when he has the house to himself :)  These little years go by too fast so I'm soaking up our days together.

13 // Facebook pages

Both kids have teachers with super active Facebook pages.  They're so sweet to snap and post pictures each day of the kids.  I love seeing them with new buddies and learning new things.  Their school is wonderful!

I hope you've had a great week!  Are your kids back to school yet?  I hope they have the best year!

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