Thursday, August 26, 2010

First Day of School!

Today was THE first day of school!  All in one day, we went from an All-Kids-at-Home with a Student-Daddy-Family to a Teacher-Daddy-with-a-Real-Job-and-a-School-Girl Family.

Firecracker started Kindergarten...
And Hubby became a chemistry, physics, and science teacher.  (He was a good sport and posed with the sign too.)
The little ones got in on the fun too.
Last night I had Firecracker choose an outfit for the first day of school to help things go smoother.  This morning she went through 4 outfits and 3 pairs of shoes (none of them the one she chose last night) before she settled on this one.  I figure this is a good sign for the school year then, that when she showed up wearing this outfit...she totally matched her teacher!  Firecracker was in Heaven (especially with the red carpet treatment added in.)
Firecracker had a great first day of school. She already says her favorite parts of school are recess and lunch...can you tell she's a little social butterfly?  This is Firecracker with about half of her kindergarten class.  (The other half come for their first day tomorrow and Firecracker has tomorrow off school.) 
I realized around 8:30 pm last night after putting the girls to bed that I hadn't done much to get ready for such a momentous day...so I went out into our garage and made these signs, and got some prep work done for an extra special breakfast.  I also got Firecracker's lunch made ahead of time, so we'd be sure to have plenty of time for a picture taking and things in the morning.

I didn't take pics for a tutorial, since I was working against the clock, but I'll give you a quick run down.  The wood pieces are old drawer fronts I got for a different project for $4 a piece at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store.  (I guess Hubby will have to stop by and get me some more next time he has class.)  I sanded them quickly with a small electric sander.  Then I gave them two coats of acrylic craft paint.  I sized the letters on the computer since I don't have a Cricut or anything of the like.  (Make sure to trace them backward on the back of scrapbook paper.)  Then I used Mod-Podge to apply the letters and make the paint glossy.  They actually went together really fast, and Firecracker was super excited with her sign.  She's looking forward to having it in her room and says she wants to keep it forever...we'll see if she still feels that way when she's 12.  The glittery letters were cut out of a scrap of some cardstock-like self-adhesive glitter paper that I bought years ago.

I went looking for some "First Day of School" traditions, since I figure it will always be a big deal at our house.  I found some great ideas on How Does She? as well as a few on other sites and some I thought of on my own.

Here are the things we did to commemorate the day...
  1. Pictures on the doorstep with a special sign.  (We'll keep the 1st Day of School Sign every year, but change the grade sign.)
  2. Extra special breakfast...fruit smoothies and waffles.
  3. Measuring and marking their height on a special wall marker.  (I still have to make the wall marker though, so we'll be a few days late with that this year.)
  4. Homemade personal pizza and special dessert for dinner.
  5. Father's Blessings from Dad.
 I'm sure the specifics of these may evolve as we adapt them and/or add more.

Have your kids started school yet?  What do you do to make the day exciting?

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5 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your family's momentous day! I love the traditions you are starting with your children - you are making memories that will carry on for years, even with their children. I only ever got as far as taking a picture at the door to kindergarten, and father's blessings the night before. I think it's great that you are expanding!

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  2. Hmmm . . . my daughter's favorite things of her first day of kindergarten were also lunch and recess - all three of them. Three? Yep, three - 1 30 minute recess and 2 15 minute ones. Woo hoo! Love your kindergarten sign. What a great thing to hang up in her room all year . . . or forever, like she said. ;)

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  3. Love the signs! What a clever idea to use drawer fronts!!! I would have never thought of that!

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  4. These are very cute! What fun pictures!

    www.makingmemorieswithyourkids.blogspot.com

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