Back to School

Heading into third grade, first grade, and preschool for the four oldest kids this year!  Our back to school feast was so much fun!  I did a beach theme for the decorations and food and it was a lot of fun!  I was so happy with how it turned out that it was the only thing I took a picture of! 
This year my parents were able to join us for the evening.  We ate our dinner then talked over this year's theme and what it means.  "So little children, lets you and I try to be like Him.  Try, try, try."  It is from a Primary song.  After we talked about our theme each kid got a father's blessing.  I was also able to get a blessing from my own father which was very special.  I can't remember the last time he was able to give me a blessing.  To end the evening each kid got their new school clothes which was a tradition I had growing up.

All of the kids had a great first day of school!  Ethan and Wyatt have both never gone to school outside of our home.  Ethan understood what was going to happen and went right into his classroom with excitement.  Wyatt didn't really understand what was going to happen and was a little uncertain when it came time for me to leave.  I walked him into his classroom and sat him down at the table to trace his name like they do at the beginning of every school day, and he was good!  He ended up having such a great time!  I am excited for this year and see the growth that each child has.

Back to School Feast 2016

This last Sunday was our second annual Back to School Feast!  I'm loving this tradition so far!  Avery planned out our night this year.  Earlier in the summer we were at Dollar Tree and she saw some Hawaiian Luau party items and so we got a bunch of stuff.  Avery also wanted all the girls to do a hula dance so she spent the week before making bracelets to match the grass skirts we had gotten at the dollar store.  The menu for the night was also picked by Avery, she chose hot dogs, cheesy Pringles, veggie straws, and grapes with strawberry ice cream for dessert.

We started out the night with our delicious dinner all decked out in our Hawaiian luau outfits!

After dinner we did our hula dance, Avery was adorable about it!  

Once the dancing was over we sat down so I could talk about our theme for the school year.  

This year I chose a section of scripture in Jacob 4:3

We talked about how exciting it was going to be to go to school and how much Avery was going to learn!  Avery told us that she was most excited to learn how to read!  I told her that even with all of the great things she is going to learn this year that even more important are the things she learns in our home and at church.  Then it was time for Avery to get a blessing for the start of the school year.  At this point Mary jumped up, ran over, and put her hands on Avery's head!  I cracked up and snapped a picture before we talked a little bit about the priesthood.  

It was a fun night together and I'm so excited for Avery's first year of school!  

I know she's going to love it and she is going to learn and grow so much.

Back to School Feast 2015

If you read the Nie Nie Dialogues blog then you may have seen that she  does a back to school feast each year for her kids.  They have a theme for the next year, she gives her kids a present, her decorations are amazing!  When I first read about it, I loved the idea!  Now that Avery is starting preschool we decided to have a back to school feast for Family Home Evening this week.
I started by thinking about what I wanted our theme to be for the year.  A few saying and scriptures came to mind and I ultimately decided on "Have courage, and be kind"  It is from the new Cinderella movie.  I thought it fitting for our family this year.  

Once I had the theme for the year I started on decorations, I'm not one for super fancy decorations so we decked our house out in streamers and called it good!

We started the night out with dinner, I had asked Avery what her perfect dinner would be and she said marshmallows, graham crackers, and rice!  We had chicken, rice, and marshmallows for her! 

After dinner I talked about school starting and how Louis and I had come up with a theme for the next year.  I read the theme and then had the girls each read a scripture, one on courage, and one on kindness.

Once that was done Louis gave Avery her first back to school father's blessing and it was wonderful.  When I was growing up we always had a father' blessing before school as well as get a few new school clothes so after the blessing Avery got to open up a new outfit.  We also gave her a new I am a child of God necklace because her old one had broken and got lost.  

It was a good night together, I am excited and nervous for Avery to be leaving the house for school.  She's going to have a blast and I'm sure she'll do great!