and they're off

 

First day of school.

A brand new school

for both of them.

Kindergarten & 4th grade.

And I didn't cry.

Looking forward to hearing about their day.

And praying it was amazing.

back to school brunch...finally!

Turns out those recipes I found on pinterest.


They were quite a hit for our back to school brunch.

And I was quite happy with how I actually made them


without it being too difficult or time consuming.

I have hostessing issues you see.


Typically I don't time things super well.


I get all intimidated over things being overcooked


or just plain not right.


But I tell myself, it just takes practice.


So practice I do. 

This was fun to set up and decorate.

Flipping through an old Martha Stewart kids magazine, 

I found the idea to make an outline of a placemat to let them draw

inside.

They loved it and it kept them busy while the eggs and 

french toast were cooking.

The french toast kebabs were yummy mixed with vanilla and 


cinnamon.  As were the egg bacon toast cups sprinkled with salt 


and pepper and some basil for the grown ups.  

I also realized either would be great breakfast ideas on the run for 


school mornings.

Because they're easy finger foods, 

especially since I made the eggs hardboiled for the kids.

Fresh squeezed oj from the juicer in recycled starbucks


bottles.  Another genius idea I gathered from pinterest.

And honestly, my desire to get these cute yellow striped straws was 


the impetus for the whole party in the first place.

For desert the kids had this honeydew, cucumber, mint and avocado 


yogurt parfait.  They had no idea there were so many healthy things 


loaded in  there.  A little stevia and a little banana and they gobbled 


the whole thing up.

My friend captured me saying a blessing over the food and the 


school year  (My son and youngest daughter are so busted not 


praying...look at those busy hands just itching to eat.)  


But the other two, with their bowed heads and closed eyes, 


so sweet.

All in all it was a lovely day with lovely friends celebrating the 


start of what I pray will be a wonderful school year.  

In case you haven't started school yet, I'd love to share with you the 


two pdf's for all of the fun paper elements  I designed for this back 


to school brunch.  

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; 

I will counsel you and watch over you."

Psalm 32:8

my heart

 is so sentimental today.

This sweet girl finds, 

and creates hearts everywhere she goes.

I love her heart and the way she sees things.

Tomorrow she'll begin kindergarten again.

Today, along with all the other parents, we turned in her supplies,

and got her all settled in.

Because tomorrow the parents will have to say goodbye at the door.

I've never been one to get sappy about kindergarten.

I'm normally quite excited.

But we went through a lot in the last year

and I know now that she needs extra special

help to learn things and to retain them.

And my momma heart is feeling apprehensive.

I want so badly for everything to go well.

She's just plain excited.

And I know I need to pray and cast my cares on Him.

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

1 Peter 5:7

"Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; 

he will never let the righteous fall."

Psalm 55:22

175.  kids doing online art tutorials initiated all on their own.

176. blank dry erase boards for each of them. brilliant

177. supplies all labeled!

178. emotions because I guess the opposite would be bland

179. teaching my husband about how girl's minds work through my daughters (oh a post is brewing in my mind on this one)

180. last day of summer

back to school brunch

Here's the link to see how our party turned out.

One of the things we're doing to celebrate the 


end of summer is a surprise party for the kids.


A Back to School celebration, and this year it'll be a brunch.

I have to thank pinterest for lots of great brunch ideas!

You can see what we did last year here.


I'm liking making this a tradition.


We've invited a close family friend and his mom.


I'm keeping it super small.


But perhaps in the future I'll be brave enough to make it larger.


I'll link to the pdf for you to use the banner, flags & gift tags if you'd like.  And here's a separate link for the invite & menu.


Enjoy!
p.s. I've been noticing sometimes when I click on the link it says it's not available to you.  If this happens to you, try it again.  Usually it works the second time around.  Sorry, not sure why it's doing that.  We'll be having our party on Monday... so stay tuned for more pictures.

back to school banner

I'm working on a surprise back to school party for the kids.
In case you're interested in doing one too, I'm sharing this pdf file.

This is new for me, working in google to offer you a high resolution pdf.
It took a little playing around for me to figure out how to print cleanly,
just one page at a time.

Look at the top left hand of the screen, once the whole pdf opens.
Click on FILE and at the bottom of that menu is an option to print pdf file.
Then each page comes up all by itself for clean printing.

Each flag is 4x8.  Once you've printed, cut them out and attach to ribbon,
string, twine.  Whatever your hearts desire.  You can tape it, staple it or
punch two holes in each top corner of the flag and feed the ribbon through.

You can print at home or upload at a printing place like Office Depot or FedEx/Kinkos.
I like to use a heavy weight cardstock.
Enjoy... and keep checking back here over the next week for additional items!