school

Nate’s first day of Pre-K was just wonderful, and he is no doubt enjoying the second day as we speak. I only teared up for about 5 seconds before we told him goodbye…I was talking so much that I didn’t have time to cry! We love his teacher Mrs. Brown, and we can’t wait to see what the year has in store for him. Here’s his picture from yesterday morning, all ready to go:

My sugar pie, all grown up.

And of course, I had a ball making his lunch….I’ll post it all on Monday for my Bento Monday series! He actually ate the majority of it, which was very surprising. I wasn’t sure he’d have enough time to eat/talk. He is my child, you know…we can talk all day long! But Ms. Ashley, the student intern from UALR who will be in his class this year, told me that he was asking for lunch at 10:00 yesterday, so he must have been hungry!

Last Friday I showed you guys the Zuckertute I made for his first day of school and gave you easy steps on how to make one. We let him open the Wednesday night, and let’s just say he loved it!

Happy, happy, happy!

When as old you are, look at cool you will not.

All the captain's spoils

Zuckertute head!

It was such fun! Keep a Zuckertute in mind for your child’s first day of school, or for any other very special occasion.

Now your marching orders for the weekend….something new to eat, and a craft for you and the kids.

Mmmmm...breakfast!

From one of my fave food blogs, Framed, here’s something new to add to your weekend breakfast repertoire….Bacon and Egg Muffins! Delish! Click on the photo for the yummy instructions.

Wearable artsy goodness

And from another fav, Filth Wizardry, here’s an artsy craft for the painter child in the family. She made this skirt from 2 flour sack dishtowels from the Dollar Tree, using Sharpie markers and watered down acrylic paint. For those of you who don’t have an immediate need for a skirt, sew 3 sides of the towels together, stuff and handstich the top closed to make a pillow! Click on the photo for the tutorial.

That’s it guys! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

As you can tell, I like to celebrate the big, and small, things in life. My son’s last day at his daycare, his beloved home away from home is today. We made cupcakes together Thursday night for his going away party, and he painted pictures for his teacher and I helped him write his friend’s names on cards to go along with their presents: books about starting a new school.

My sister in-law, Franziska, a German gal, has introduced me to another way to celebrate that transition to “big kid” school: the Schultute, or Zuckertute as she grew up calling them. Translated, it means “sugar bag”; a bag full of goodies given to children on their first day of  entering school, generally in the first grade.

It’s not all about the treat bag, it’s a whole day full of family and neighbor celebrations and fun. The older kids at school put on a play, the family goes to school together for the day. But the Zuckertute is the most fun part of the day for most kids! You can read some articles here and here about Zuckertuten, but I thought I’d show you a couple of them.

Mein Noah!

Here is my wonderful nephew Noah, in front of his new school, showing off the sweet Zuckertute that Giga (Franziska’snick name) put together for him from a kit she got in Germany. It’s huge and so fun…and since I don’t have a handy-dandy kit from Germany, I set out to make my own for Nate’s first day of Pre-K!

The blank canvas

I started out with a black piece of posterboard, and the biggest stamps I ha: the pirates! Argh!

Jolly Roger

Using a foam brush and some craft paint, I painted the stamps and proceeded to stamp the posterboard with all three stamps, different colors for each.

Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate zuckertute for me!

Gold paint for the treasure chest, matey.

Rolled up like a deuce, captain

After letting it dry overnight, I rolled the posterboard into a cone shape and secured the edges with lots and lots of glue dots.

Argh, a black hole!

Then I taped the inside with packing tape, along the seams, for extra security.

Preparing for surgery

I laid the cone on the bed, seam side up, and squished it a bit, and started cutting off the top, to make it even.

Oops

My first cut was a bit slanted….

Round one

…but after a few trims…

Round two

…and more eyeballing…

Yes!

We achieved an even, perfect (almost) top.

Tissue topper

I took three pieces of coordinating tissue paper and taped them together just at the bottom.

Stuffed

I stuffed the taped bottom parts of the tissue paper into the top of the cone and secured the paper to the cone with packing tape. I also stuffed a piece of red tissue paper into the bottom since the bottom of the cone was a bit larger than intended.

All secure

Me pirate booty

Here’s the hodge podge of goodies for the zuckertute: a sweet Yoda shirt, bath color tablets, Hot Wheels….like he needs more…tic tacs, Super Why stickers, and a R2D2 and C3PO pencil case with pencils and a sharpener.

Stuffed

Yoda on top to surprise my pirate!

Finishing touches

I grabbed five coordinating ribbons to use to tie off the Zuckertute.

All ready for me matey!

We will have to wait a week before giving this to Nate, and I just might find more goodies to stuff inside or decorations to further adorn the Zuckertute, but I just LOVE how it turned out! I’ll be sure to let you all know what he thinks when he sees it.

Here’s the players:

Yay for ribbon and butterflies!

Mini paper bags
stapler with colored staples (available at craft stores)
scissors
an assortment of ribbon, cut in 8” strips
craft butterflies; mine came from the Dollar Tree but they are also at any craft store
not shown are the Glue Dots that come into play later

So happy to have some pink in this project

Pair up the ribbons into coordinating twosomes.

Is that a hand model?

Place one end of the paired ribbons in the middle on the top of the bag.

Look at how she holds that stapler...

Put the bottom of the staple inside the opening of the bag, under the ribbon and staple.

Let the sunshine in!

I like to use several staples to attach the ribbon to the bag cause it looks cuter and makes the handle more stable.

The rule of 3, people!

Flip the bag over and secure the other ends of the ribbon to the other side of the bag. I like to keep the ribbon ends uneven…I like things to look haphazard and stuff.

There's that beautiful hand again!

Here’s one of the little butterflies. There was a piece of wire embedded in its belly, so I pulled it out so it could be glue-dotted to the bag.

I *heart* some glue dots

Voila! A slightly tilted little butterfly finishes off the bag.

Love it! What a cute set!

Here’s the sweet trio of butterfly bags, filled with tissue just waiting to be filled with treats and goodies for friends and loved ones. I just LOVE these, so easy and just so pretty.

For the SAHMs out there, I imagine there is a point where you wonder to yourself how you can keep your kid’s intellect sharp and ready for the next school year, while letting them actually have a summer break. Julie, a guest blogger at How Does She?, has designed a simple system of fun learning that focuses on four principles: taking care of our spirits, body, space and minds. The best part is that at lunch, they drop what they are doing and go back into full-on summer mode. Click here for her post about her family of six and how her kids really enjoy this special mom time.

I’m sure if you did not see Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution this past spring, that you heard about it. Honestly, I did not see it, but I totally support Jamie’s campaign to save the health of Americans through food. From the Food Revolution website:

This food revolution is about saving America’s health by changing the way you eat. It’s not just a TV show, it’s a movement for you, your family and your community. If you care about your kids and their future take this revolution and make it your own. Educate yourself about food and cooking. Find out what your child is eating at school. Make only a few small changes and magical things will happen. Switching from processed to fresh food will not only make you feel better but it will add years to your life.

On the website, they have Tool kits you can use to help you bring better nutrition into your home and schools. One toolkit is a .pdf with simple meals to make with your kids.  I thought, what a great project for the summer! Cooking with your kids, for any meal, at least one day each week. Make real food with real ingredients, and help them to appreciate what their hands can make.

My four year old might not be ready to wield a knife, but he does stir eggs and pancake batter, and LOVES to make banana bread with me. He is a huge fan of meatballs….I think he would love to help me make Jamie’s meatballs and pasta. I’ll let you know how it turns out, and you do the same! Happy cooking…

Ok, here’s my link round up to some of my favorite end-of-the-year teacher appreciation gifts. As my son is not yet out of preschool, I always forget that the year is drawing nigh for the older kids. I almost let this one slip by me!

Pencil Flower Vase from Saga of the Southwicks….so beautiful and EASY.

Teacher's box of goodies at eighteen25

Photo from FamilyFun

Homework is not in the immediate future for Nate, but when he does begin to bring it home…I plan on making him one of these portable homework stations to help him focus and his task at hand. Go to FamilyFun for the SUPER easy tutorial.

Such a cute idea from Kaboose.com for some sweet and easy candy rings for your loverly valentine, or valentines. The craft is recommended for ages four and up, but I’m sure any toddler would be willing to help out! They suggest the best candy to use would be foil-wrapped chocolate hearts, which sounds adorable. I can also see little paper valentines rolled up and threaded through the ring. Kaboose also has a ton of great Valentine’s day craft ideas on their website.

I registered the kiddo for Pre-K this afternoon. It was fast and painless, with no lines or hysteria. It was almost too fast. I had wanted to take a picture to document the occasion, but there was nothing to photograph. It was just me and the nice lady sorting the papers. No hype, just life catching up to me.

Last night, as I filled out the registration paper work by candlelight…we had no electricity between 1:00 and 11:30 p.m., after some electrical work we had done…I was a bit sad but mostly in shock.

Where has the time gone? It seemed like the little squiggly, sweet-smelling, chubby-legged 8 pound baby I gave birth to a few short years ago just got up, sat on the couch, counted to 100 and wrote his name, right before he taught me how to play Star Wars Legos on the Xbox.

I’m excited. Really I am. He’s starting a new chapter in his life, and I’m looking forward to his new friends and new horizons.

But my baby can’t be ready for big kid school, for “Prwee-K” as he calls it?

He still gets into my bed in the mornings for some snuggle time. And he wants me to carry him around, and snuggle with me before he goes to bed….holding my hand. Is that how a big kid, ready for life in the fast lane, acts?

No! Big kids in Pre-K dress themselves, and have their lives all figured out daily by 9:00 a.m. They ask questions like, “What’s blood? What does it do?” and “What are clouds?”

Oh yeah. That’s right…he does all of that. Cause he’s a big kid now.

Amazing beings, these children. How they grow so fast and change, right under your nose, catching you off guard with their wee-wisdoms and kindness. We are so blessed.

Well, my heart was in the right place when I wrote my post last week about MLK Day, but my planning skills…another story.

I had intended to volunteer at the Arkansas Foodbank Network for a few hours this afternoon to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr Day. I had also spoken to my son’s teacher about a little service project the kids could do at school for MLK Day.

Well, it goes to show that when you have more than one adult helping to plan, things usually will work out.

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