I can hardly believe tomorrow is the first day of school here in Denver. Where did the summer go?! Ohhhh that's right, we had swimming lessons, speed camp, soccer camp, picnics, museum visits, zoo adventures, bike rides, hikes, family from out of town...went to Ethiopia {twice}, and brought home 2 more beautiful & amazing kids from Ethiopia. Guess we did do a lot. Perhaps I should be more ready for school to begin after all, but alas...it's always a mix of sad & excited.

Anyway...

It has become tradition in our house that on the 1st day of school, we have a breakfast party.

This year, since I've still not gotten the hang of shopping around with 6 children in tow, I decided to make my own decorations.

And why not share some of them with you?!

{click on photo or here to print}

I know these signs are so popular these days and can be found ALL over Pinterest but I wanted to go one step further and add the memory of who the child's teacher is and the date school began {don't you feel like it's earlier and earlier every year?!}.

I realize those of you with older children {like our Abreham} have multiple teachers, not just one. For theirs, it'd be fun to write something tongue-in-cheek in that spot like "too many" or I don't know, something funnier than that {it's late, I can't come up with anything better at the moment}.

{click on photo or here to print}

I love lunchbox notes, don't you??

I thought it'd be special to address things that may be going through their heads the first week of school {worry, judging, peer pressure, feeling important, & working hard}, while adding some encouragement at the top.

Rather than copying the actual verses, I wrote them in my own words and added a prompt for them to look it up on their own, listing the actual reference at the bottom. I take any chance possible to encourage our kids to open up their Bibles...even if it means they stick it in their pocket to look up when they get home.

{click on the photo or here to print}

Good luck, proud Mama! Hope your kids have a wonderful new year at school...go buy yourself a latte and read a book for longer than 5 minutes. You deserve it!

. . check our Hugs & Punches facebook page in the morning {8.19.13} for photos from our back to school breakfast party! . .