Twas the Night before the 1st Day of School....

The kids are SO excited for school tomorrow. Last week we went to each of their schools and met the teachers and found out where their classrooms would be. I am so excited for them - I can't believe I will have 3 of my 5 in school. Time seems like it's flying by.

Tonight we read "The Kissing Hand" which is about a little boy racoon who is scared to go to school. The mamma lets him know that she will be with him whenever he needs her by opening his hand, kissing it, and then closing it tight. She tells him whenever he thinks of her to open up his hand and hold it to his cheek and a kiss would be released. Before he leaves for school, he takes her hand also and opens it up and kisses it and then off he goes. It ends up being the the mom who uses the "kisses" because she misses her son so much. The story was really for Nicole because it's her first big year of school. With Cameron and Maile on their first day of kindergarten, I had to fight back the tears and I'm sure it will be the same way with Nicole tomorrow. It's not that I'm not happy for them, because I am, it's just such a milestone in their little life and it makes me realize that they really are growing up! After the story was over I made some chocolate cookies and let the kids make their hand print with the dough. If you look closely, some of the fingers ended up being eaten before it even was put in the oven! They really liked that!

We also tried to get a little more organized by making these personalized cans. I combined a couple of ideas I found from FamilyFun Magazine and another blog on raising lots of children. They each have their own can with craft sticks in them. Each craft stick has a chore on it that they need to complete - the bottom ends of the sticks are one color and the top ends are another color. When the chore is completed, they get to turn the stick over. The cans are also used to put "complimentary" notes in or even cash rewards if I find them working hard or doing good things. And instead of nagging on them all the time about things I discover that need to be done, I will just drop a note in the can reminding them. This way, whenever they come to me and ask, "mom, can I play the WII or go outside and ride my bike?", I can answer by saying "Go check your can!" At the top of the fridge, we rotate kitchen duty responsibilities with their magnet every week. We have had that for a little while and it works very very well!
Then Kenny gave them all school blessings (which is a tradition we do every year on the night before school) and off to bed they went. They kept coming back out saying "I can't fall asleep"...but the house is quiet now -hopefully we will all wake up on time!