Planning your life around BACK TO SCHOOL

This year is very emotional and exciting for me. My first daughter starts Kindergarten in a few weeks!! Of course, I am super excited for her (it helps that she can't wait) but I'm also nervous for her and for me, will she make a friend right away, will she love her teachers, will I be able to go on her field trips, will she eat what I pack her for lunch? These are just a few of the things that keep me up at night LOL. My mom always said don't stress over the things you can't control, but control the things you can. Sooo, I have spent my summer organizing, researching and planning so that September can go as smoothly as possible. 

1. Lunches

30 websites later, I finally chose the "perfect" lunch bag, containers and water bottles. But what to put in them? Thankfully, there are tons of people who are Pinteresting their child's lunch each day (this isn't sarcasm either, I truly love Pinterst ) I'm sharing one of my favourites HERE, mostly because it was mix and match and it was realistic. I seriously doubt my parents worried about this!

2. Clothes

My daughter had a huge growth spurt this summer, so naturally I assume I am going to have to buy her a new wardrobe, well thankfully after 2 hours of trying on all her clothes, ( this included walking in funny runway walks towards the mirror, she's not vain at all!) we only needed a few outfits. I try my best to support local, Little SummerBee is super cute, I also got a few brand new outfits from FB sell groups. Crisis averted!

3. Schedule/routine

I have always been a paper and pen kinda girl, yes I have a Google Calendar, but I have to write things down too, therefore I have a new organization station in the kitchen with my meal plan schedule, Family Calendar with colour coding, cork board for important notes, and a to do bin for bills, forms etc. I know this will likely fade out, but for now, it makes me feel organized :)

4. Daycare

One of the most important things to me, is if my children are not with me, I need to feel confident that they are having fun, and safe.The other issue what to do with them when there is no school. Unlikely that you can take all the time off.  There are lots of great options, but one I came across was the City of Ottawa, they have great options for before and after school care, as well as March Break, PD Days etc. Check it out here

5.Fun

We had a great summer and I have to admit, I am finding it a bit hard to get motivated to go back to work and be away from the kids. I think one of our favourite things this summer was, creating our bucket list and completing it. So, we are starting a Fall Bucket list, this way, we will be sure to make time in our hectic schedules to have fun!