I'm BERRY Excited for School!

I love any excuse to give a gift!  And heading back to school is the perfect reason to give a gift.  We haven't met our kindergarten teacher yet but we are excited for a fun school year.  And we are so happy to be back at preschool again this year, with our next little one!  So, we really are excited to give our amazing preschool teachers a gift on the first day of school! 

I saw these sweet strawberry themed items at Target this summer and couldn't resist (a strawberry tablecloth, a strawberry plate, and a berry basket).  So I picked up a few of each and saved them for the perfect gift giving time.  I added some yummy soaps from Bath and Body and the gift was done.

Add a fun tag and the gift is ready to go!  Love it!!  Super cute and easy.  And my kiddos can't wait to deliver these gifts to their teachers.  Happy 1st Day of School!

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The Magic School Bus is Coming Soon!

The first day of school is just around the corner!  And before that first day arrives...I love to have a visit from the "Magic School Bus" to get my kiddos excited.  I pick up a few fun items here and there during the summer and fill some little bags for each child.  Inside these bags might be a cute book like "The Night Before Kindergarten," a coloring book, some new school supplies, a toy or treat, stickers, and more!  This could even be a way to give new shoes or a back to school outfit to your kiddo.  (But I love to do back to school shopping together...so this wouldn't be a surprise!)

Then all of my little gifts that I have collected over the summer are arranged in a gift bag and I create a cute label for the front.  This year I added a bus from clipart and a little note from the Magic School Bus.

Then the fun part comes.  The bags get placed on the front porch.  And you can pretend you heard a knock on the door or have your hubby knock and run!  Ask the kiddos to get the door for you and they will be so excited to see a surprise waiting for them.  It's now a fun tradition in our house and my kiddos can't wait to find out when the Magic School Bus is going to visit us and get us excited about heading back to school!


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Organizing the School Work!

We are at the very beginning of our school years and already I can see how the schoolwork and artwork just piles up!!  This year my big boy is going into kindergarten and it has motivated me to start some organizational routines for the years ahead.  This made me think about what I am going to do with all those sweet art projects and cute papers that come home.  It's important for me to keep only the ones that are really, really special.  And with those "special" projects...I needed to create an organizational system.  And I did it for all three kiddos!

I picked up some colorful crates that were just a few bucks at Target.  And I grabbed some hanging folders and a bunch of file folders.  With some cute labels, I was ready to create!  Each child has their own crate and in it goes a folder for each year of school.  A cute label was placed at the top.  And on the front of the file folder is a cute cover with a spot for the school photo, important information, and some fun questions to remember all of their sweet answers.  These cute printables came from one of my favorite blogs at "I Heart Organizing."  It was the perfect touch to this organizational system!

Now I am ready for the projects and papers to come home.  The hard part will be deciding which ones to keep and then make sure they get filed away in the correct crate.  And way down the road, each kiddo will have an awesome crate filled with wonderful memories to keep forever!


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Our Morning and Bedtime Routine!

Oh how I love routines!  And with the start of school just around the corner...it is the perfect excuse for me to create some new routines and systems for us to use.  At a garage sale several weeks ago, I picked up this cute wall cabinet for $5 and knew all it needed was a fresh coat of white paint.  I had no idea how I was going to actually use it, but I knew I would find some purpose for it.  And then at the next yard sale, a lady was packing up her stuff and told me to please take whatever I wanted as she was taking the rest to Goodwill.  Well, I snagged some cute white shelves that I thought might come in handy somewhere in our house.  And I was right, because these two items became the center of my new organizational system for morning and bedtime routines. 

I added three knobs to the shelf to hang some white canvas bags from.  I added the kiddos names to the bags with some iron-on letters.  These bags are for each child to place their clothes in for the next day.  I want to get as much done in the evening as I can, so we aren't rushing around each morning.  Above the canvas bags, each kiddo has a basket.  The basket if for any accessories we need to collect...bows, headbands, belts, ties, and so on. 

And then there is the cute cabinet I found and had no idea how to use.  But I love it here in the hallway to help with our new routines!  The hanging rod has three buckets.  I'm not actually sure yet how I want to use these buckets, and my ideas might change as the school year starts.  But right now I plan to put little notes of love and encouragement in there.  And sometimes I might put something we are trying to learn and memorize in there.

I love to add initials to things so the little cubbie holes were great for that.  And I have a pot of "prayer sticks" we use when we want to add a fun idea to our prayers at night.  And the rest of the shelf is filled with cute decorative items that can change anytime!  I have copies of the morning and bedtime routines I found on my favorite blog "I Heart Organizing" and the kiddos use these to help them be responsible for what they need to do.  Less nagging from me...I just need to point to the next step on the list.  And they love being more independent!!  This is the perfect addition to our hallway outside the kids bedrooms.  It is helping us be organized and ready for a new school year!

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