weekend randomness: school days

The past couple of weeks have been a bit chaotic as we have started the school year and baby #2's arrival gets closer and closer (and I panic a bit more and sleep a bit less with each new day). But there's something I just love about the start of the school year... though my child is not yet of 'school age', his childcare feels much like school. New teachers, lunches to pack, things to label, coloring pages full of crayon marks and progress reports from the day have started to become part of our routine once again.

I've put together a collection of things from our start of the school season, above:

1st and 2nd photo: A couple of class photographs from my mom's childhood that she just rediscovered. Apparently my grandmother insisted on getting a class picture every year, even though it wasn't something that the school did. So she would gather my mom's class at their house (second photo, notice living room environment), until she began going to the school to take the picture (top photo, notice blackboard). She did this all the way through my mom's schooling, until her senior year of high school when a professional graduation portrait was taken. She even labeled the back with the names of every person in the class, which my mom says she is now grateful for.

3rd photo: we just had a photog come to the house to do a couple of pictures of little G before his sister arrives. I've only seen a few preview photographs, and am much more pleased with the photos of just G than of the ones that include me. This pregnancy is not treating me as well as the first one did!

4th and 5th: I attempted to follow Kristin's lead and document G's first day of school with a 'sign'. Unfortunately, a 21-month old is not nearly as cooperative as a 3+ year old. The best I could get was G running towards me or eating the paper.

6th: I just rediscovered a set of alphabet stamps I purchased in my Martha Stewart days, and am now labeling just about everything, including G's school napping sheets and our cloth shopping bags.

7th: Haley introduced me to these great divided containers that I use to pack G's lunch for school (bonus, they are BPA free!). Months ago, I bought Gram a set of cocktail forks from Target that he loves- and seems to encourage more eating, so I tape a single fork to the top of his lunch pack.

8th: I've finally started to continue the 'first words' project I did for Gram. My goal is for him to have familiarity with family members- particularly ones that don't live close by. So I've put up a magnet board in our playroom and created magnets (business card-sized ones from Michael's) with pictures of grandparents, uncles, and even the dogs. I try to practice the names with him each day, which so far seems to be going well. I'm adding family as they cooperate with my project- but I still have 5 or 6 must-have people left to go.

On a side note, I've been meaning to thank Pint Size Social for the shout-out on the first words project- it's fun to see that it is still living on, 7 months after I posted it.

All the best to you and your loved ones as we leap into fall!