Back to school

So as much as I try to pretend its not happening, school is starting! I have really really enjoyed having my kids home this summer. Now I'm not saying that there weren't {MANY} moments that they were bickering incessantly and I wanted to lock myself in the bathroom or put them all in a basket on the fire station steps and go back home to sit in peace and quiet. But they're a little big for that, and I would miss them after a few hours... And seriously, we had a fun summer. We didn't take any big vacations or have something "to do" every day, it was just a really good mix of swimming and fishing and walking and parks and Popsicles and movie marathons. The smell of chlorine and sunscreen and sunshine and shampoo and stinky Crocs. Bodies littering the family room floor because it's like a frat house here in the summer, and that's ok because we didn't have any buses to catch. Now I can feel reality sneaking up on us, like when "they" start telling you how many shopping days til Christmas and I begin to panic. I feel this almost crushing sense of sadness win I think that the next time they're all home with me for the summer - they'll all be another year older. A little bit more independent, a little bit closer to "Mom, I just want to play with my friends today..." {{SIGH...}}

I went back and forth with "Should I start making them be in their own beds by 8 pm and practice getting up and dressed early?" and I decided that come August 21, they'll have to get up and I don't think we really need to practice it. So over the last couple weeks, we've been soaking up every last little drop of summer and that doesn't mean I'm out of touch with reality, it just means I'm ordering one more drink at last call, baby! It'll be closing time soon enough :(  But for now, we're letting the bodies fall where they may, we're sleeping in (sometimes, past 7 am - GASP!) and we let the day take its own direction. Soon enough, we'll have to conform. Soon enough . . .

One thing I did vow to get a handle on this year was the overwhelming influx of "school papers." With four kiddos in school full time plus one preschooler this year, it's gonna be a doozy!!! I started by asking other moms if they had any suggestions or systems that totally worked for them, took bits and pieces and here's what I came up with. I used mostly what I already had, and turned an otherwise unused wall in our dining room into our "family command center."
Each student has an inbox (clear wall pocket) for papers that need to be seen, signed or sent back. Anything that needs to go back to school goes on their clipboards, made by Melissa Frances scrapbooking. I bought the clipboards YEARS ago at Archiver's and have been just waiting for the perfect use... I used mod podge to adhere some scrapbook paper to each board. The clips are embellished with acrylic letters + coordinating card stock I punched with a circle punch and glued to a chipboard hang tags I had saved from the kids' Life is Good T-shirts and painted with Martha Stewart chalkboard paint.
The framed cork board was a steal for $9.99, and is the perfect spot to tack up school newsletters, lunch menus, district calendars or Book It sheets.  I found the clock and wall decal dry erase calendar at Target in the back to school department. The whiteboard weekly calendar and dry-erase to-do list are from the Board Dudes.

I'm pretty darn pleased with how it turned out....