Back to school

So far, pretty much every August, EVEN BEFORE kids, when I was a teacher...I get seriously bummmed. When I think about school starting up, I just grab the kid closest to me and give them a "hug of death"...insert children's eyeroll.

I'm flooded with all kinds of emotions...

about the responsibilities...the schedule...the time change (bleh)...earlier bedtimes...less time for adventures...less time with the kids...gotta be "on it" all the time...more commitments...homework...are they being challenged...are they being respectful...more independent actions from my kids (I mean he's gonna be gone ALLLLLL day this year!)...

bleh, bleh, bleh

I basically get the "blues" about having to adult. But I can't revel in the bummer attitude. So I do what puts my mind at peace...ORGANIZING.  I usually go over the top with systems to put in place in hopes that things run more smoothly.


One year I tried to make freezer meals before the school year, so I was prepared...I spent a gazillion dollars on food prep...made the meals...they were ok, but haven't done THAT again!  I think if you find the right meals they are HUGE time savers...but I haven't done it again.

Last year I made a "cute" Pinterest chore list that is clearly a choking hazard and has yet to be hung

2 years ago I made a list for Luke to help him know what to do to get out of the house more efficiently.  You know, with cute boxes to check, laminated...yeah, I found it the other day and Carolyn asked, "Where is my chart?" I clearly haven't used it enough, since it was bent in all kinds of ways and now I gotta make another one?

So this year...I had to come up with something new...something to relieve stress throughout the year and make my days easier...

I uncluttered the arts and crafts box and organized all the folders for my organizations I am volunteering for...

this is the side of my fridge...which looks less cluttered to me...

I gotta keep my pictures, people!

But I had to do something a little more drastic...bum, bum, BUM!


...LUKE IS GONNA PACK AND MAKE HIS OWN LUNCH!

Ambitious you say...probably. Not gonna last...we shall see.  I'm sure there will be lots of, "You're not cleaning up after yourself...you've made a mess...you are only packing junk" yelling matches that are gonna be taking place at 7am, but I would like to make whatever advancements towards my son not being an enabled child as I possibly can.

I was thinking, "So I need to have suggestions for foods for him...should I get magnets of food...maybe there is a decal magnet for packing a lunch that I could buy...I don't have any extra money for silly things like that because summer happened...maybe I could make him a flow chart?!?!"

So I head to Pinterest for ideas! And you know what I found...

nada...

not one single aid.

I found LOADS of "lunch box packing for moms" ideas.  All the kinds of tuperware and combinations of tuperware that best fit into a lunchbox.  All the different combos of foods. It was insane the amount of ideas for moms to pack their kids lunches.

-okay, I only searched for 10 minutes, but I found nothing and I don't have time for lollygagging

SO I made my own...TADA!

This is going to go on our fridge.  I made sure he could read it before I laminated it.  The kids were soooo excited to see me use all my sharpies!!!!

After I did this I had to make the system work by putting everything at 'Luke' level because it's going to drive me nuts if he has to scale everything.  Plus if I still have to reach everything for him and put it all out, I'm not sure that it is any less stressful for me...actually it is just one more body in my tiny kitchen...we'll be doing all kinds of dancing...or yelling.

I put all the snacks in a square container for him to easily see all the items he can pack.  I'm sure this will all be a mess soon.

I put his lunchbox, bread, peanut butter and any lunch item that he might need on the same shelf.

I put all the chopped veggies, drinks, and fruit in the same area of the fridge so he can see it ALLLLL at the same time and not pull out a billion other items.

I was gonna buy the individually bagged snacks, but wasn't sure how that was going to work in our cramped kitchen and it's expensive, and the bags won't fit in his lunchbag with his food container and ice pack and drink. I'm sure I will change my mind in the future.

I also found my reusable baby food pouches which will now be used for water and juice.  I went back and forth about this, but it's less money, less sugar, less space in the fridge, takes up less space in the lunchbox, lunchbox is lighter, and he is less likely to loose his good water bottle on the playground.

 this is the drink drawer with his reusable water pouches

And I'm just going to have to come to terms with "You made a mess and didn't clean it up as well as I would like". Get over it, Elly!

My friend Sarah Anderson has done this successfully with 2 of her boys.  I'm not quite ready yet for Luke to use a sharp knife to cut his veggies and fruit and sandwiches, but he successfully cut the tops of his strawberries with a butter knife, so there's that...WOOT! WOOT!

We have exactly a week to practice...

and a few more weeks till Carolyn wants a system too 😐

pray for me