First Day of School

The time has come - My first born started school today. All day Kindergarten to be exact. To be honest I am kind of glad it is all said and done. I have been anxious about this day and spent a lot of time thinking about it so it feels good to have jumped this hurdle. It has been such a mix of emotions as we celebrate this milestone as well as say goodbye to the stage in our life where all of our kids are home with us everyday. I know that this is just the beginning of these types of days as our kids continue to grow and take on new things and it makes me want to hit the pause button. It's all going too fast!

That being said I am completely confident in Nathan. He has been ready for this day for sometime and was nothing but excited. In fact, he was up and ready by 6:15 all on his own! He was very concerned about being late for his first day and kept asking when he could leave. He also told Jordan that he would make sure to find every red thing (Jordan's favorite color is red) in his class so he could tell him all about it when he got back. So cute:)

Last night we got everything ready, including lunch. Sunday night I made ahead his sandwiches for the week and froze them so that made things even easier. I did a special dinosaur shaped sandwich to match the lunch box note I made him. Hope it brightens his day!

We of course had to do the obligatory first day of school pictures before heading out. Jordan just had to be in one with him! And I got the idea for the K sign here (they have free printable card which is way easy and cute!).

When we arrived at the school we prayed with Nathan about his day and then I let Jeremy take him to play on the playground while he waited to line up outside of his classroom. Poor Jordan burst into tears as soon as Nathan got ready to get out of the car. It was so hard to wait and watch from afar but I'm glad I stayed in the car because I probably would have embarrassed him! Jeremy said he did great and lined right up when the bell rang. I'm so proud of my little man. Counting down the hours until I get to hear all about his day:)

Lunch box note - Dinosaur/Crocodile

Yesterday I saw a Hallmark product called Lunchbox Notes. I didn't really look at the cards themselves but the package they came in was part of a decorated brown paper bag. This give me a great idea for creating a cute note out of the bag itself. My sons are really into dinosaurs and crocodiles so I thought a note that looked like one of those would be a hit.

Here's what I did:

First I cut down the bag so just the flap and the back section of the bag were left. I then cut the length of the bag so that about 2 inches were left below the flap:

I then cut a head that was slightly longer then the flap so that it hung over on each side. I used a glue stick to attach it (make sure not to glue the flap shut!):

Time to give this guy a face. First I did the teeth which I glued underneath the face so they would be hanging out of his mouth:

The eyes and nostrils were easy, I just used "circle"ish shapes from black and white:

This guy is really starting to come together! Now for the inside of the bag. I added a green strip that would cover up the brown bag showing when the card was closed. The remainder of the brown bag became the mouth which I made all black:

Last it was time for a tongue. I measured a strip of red that would fit inside the mouth with a flap at the end to glue it on. I wanted the tongue to stick up when he opened it so I only glued the flap. Finally, I wrote a note right on the tongue:

And there you have it!! A cute and easy lunch box card sure to make any boy (or dinosaur loving girl!) excited to eat lunch at school. I am looking forward to my son's reaction when he sees this on his first day of Kindergarten this week:)

I am thinking about doing this once a week and sharing what I make so I would love to hear feedback on whether or not this would be of interest to you as an ongoing post. I would also love to hear theme ideas or specific materials you want to see used. Thanks!