Getting Ready for School

Well, it has been just over a week since my last post and what have I been doing? Did I fall into a well like Laura Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie (my favorite episode, by the way)? Nope. Did I somehow wander into a time warp and get sent back to the 1950's like Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future? No. (Although that would be cool). No, instead I have fallen victim to the great "get ready for school race" sponsored by my children, Hannah, Leah and Lucas. Here's what we've been doing:

* Haircuts-- all three got snipped at Super Cuts this past weekend during their "half-price kids' cuts" special. Score!

* Back to School Clothes Shopping-- I went out with all the crazies and fought the crowds during Oklahoma's Tax Free Weekend. We got new shoes for all three, jeans for the girls who keep insisting on growing taller, but not bigger around. This poses a problem because they need length, but not width. Their top half is easy to fit. Their bottom half-- not so much. But, we found slim jeans at The Children's Place which fit them well, and I picked up a few cute $5 t-shirts too. From the age of 2 to 6 my girls lived in dresses. Every single day they could, they chose to wear a dress. It was easy breezy. And awfully cute. But now that they are 8 they are not into dresses anymore. They run and play and do the monkey bars and turn cartwheels at recess and, "Mom! Boys would see our panties if we wore dresses!" Even with me pushing "cartwheel shorts" underneath the dresses, they have entered the world of t-shirts, athletic shorts and jeans. They will do the occasional tunic or long shirt with leggings, but that's about it. Dresses are for church or special occasions now. Whahhhh!  Our shopping also included new backpacks and lunch boxes. I always loved getting a new backpack too.

The girls' new backpacks. Can you guess which one belongs to which girl? I'll give you a hint: Hannah likes things neat and orderly while Leah embodies the term "free spirit."

 I picked up this cool set by Rubbermaid for the girls' lunches. I've been inspired by 100 Days of Whole Food to pack more of a variety of healthy lunches for my girls while cutting down on the amount of waste too. The blue part in the middle is an ice pack and all the containers snap together. We'll see how it works!

* School Supply Shopping-- Okay people. We spent just over $100 at three different stores on school supplies. When did this get so complicated?! Apparently no one in OKC had "jumbo glue sticks" so I was forced to buy the regular ones hoping they were alright (and they were). And remember when school supply shopping was fun because you got to pick out your own Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper and your cool strawberry scented erasers? No more. The school list is very brand specific now. I'm not arguing that Crayola crayons are better than the store brand. It's a fact that they are. But why must you make me buy the super expensive scissors? And why do we need 4 pair? Oh well...I won't complain. You are only shaping my child's future by giving them an education. Whatever. :)

* Fitting in all the fun things we can before school starts!-- We've been swimming with our friends three times, went to see Despicable Me 2 at the theater, went out for ice cream, played at the park, went to our friends' houses and they came to ours, etc. It has been a whirlwind of activity over here in my hiz-ouse!

*And lastly, I participated in my first ever Body and Soul Instructor's Workshop. I'll be on stage leading a cardio/strength class once a week, so I needed some special training. The workshop was from 9 am to 9 pm last Friday and I came home sore, sweaty and excited about the fall session.

Here's all the instructors who participated. I'm on the top row, fifth from the right in the blue shirt. 

So with all of that going on, I just didn't have a lot of time to write, but I promise to be more consistent now that school is starting tomorrow and our life will resume a more orderly schedule. For the most part anyway! I'll start off with an adorable first day of school picture in the morning!