{ back to school }

WHAT?!!? Back to school time already? Every year I think that summer goes by way too fast... I adore having the kids around way more than they are during the school year. At the same time, we have had ZERO routine this summer and I am craving a bit more structure to the day so that I can work more normal hours, work out on a regularly scheduled basis and get the kids to bed earlier. We're going to squeeze in one more camping night, a few more trips to the pool, one zip line adventure, one more day on the river and one night making our own icecream! And then...its back to school time!

Our lives are falling into place as I hoped they would when we made some big decisions earlier this year (to sell LobotoME, to try to sell our rental properties, to get rid of stuff holding us down, etc.) The LobotoME sale/transition happens in early September. We've got 2 more big races to produce this year including our new series which we are super excited about and I've got 2 more races I'm running in. The biz is sold, the airstream isn't sold but we've had fun using it while its still ours, one of our rental properties is listed, we've sold & donated more stuff, we are booked to spend a month this winter in Mexico (cannot wait) and back to school organization has commenced. The kids are going to the same school this year which is awesome and will make life so much easier with one drop off & pick up location.

Anyway, a few quick things while I'm thinking of them and a few things we do to get the kids excited about the new school year.

- While you're stocking up on school supplies, pick up extra while they are on sale for Operation Christmas Child boxes in November.

- While planning your weekly family schedule this fall, we like to not plan more than 2 nights a week where we are at an activity. The kids each get one "non-school activity (eg. soccer, swim lessons, tap lessons, etc.) and Sam gets an additional "afterschool activity" (eg. art class at school, girls volunteer group, etc.) In my opinion, kids are way overscheduled and this has been our families way to combat that by limited the activity each "season" to ONE per week. Here's another post I've written about this topic.

- Visit some of my former posts about healthy school lunch ideas here and here.

- We always give small back to school gifts for teachers {Sanity Saving Kits} - a bottle of smartwater (thanks for making me smart tag), a coffee gift card (hope this year is a latte fun tag), lotion (hope this year goes smoothly for you tag), hand sanitizer, healthy granola snack, Save ME notepad, etc.

- We always have a back to school celebration dinner the night before school starts! I think this is a great way to get kids excited about school, to talk about what their goals are for the school year and what the plan is for school & activities.

- The school fairy always visits our house the night before school starts and leaves the kids a new backpack & lunch box and a first day of school outfit.

image via here.

{ on my mind }

hey, hey, hey! I'm back! Sort of.... what have I been up to you ask?

Well we went on a 2 week road trip in the northeast (NY, VT, NH, ME), visiting family & friends, attending Will's family reunion, picking blueberries, hiking, eating blueberry pie, more hiking, eating blueberry icecream, swimming, drinking blueberry smoothies, kayaking, eating more blueberry pie, etc... We had a blast but are glad to be home in time to get settled in & organized before school starts the week after next.



Designing & getting ready to launch a new notepad that will be available on the website soon! (sneak peek below).



Renovating an old airstream for some upcoming cross-country family road trips - more on this FUN adventure soon! (sneak peek below).


Sending out 100 press kits for holiday gift guide pitches. (see stack below).


Watching NO TV. I took a NO TV for 30 days challenge and other than one cheat (Friday Night Lights season finale on hulu = 42 minutes, we've been TV free for weeks). See what my daughter thinks of this below. She keeps leaving me notes about how the TV isn't working.



Planning Samme's back to school celebration dinner (alphabet pasta, giant cupcakes, school fairy treats & more).

Cleaning & purging and getting ready for the fall... which I have to say is my favorite time of year!

Redoing the kids rooms - making them a bit more "big kid-ish" now that Henry is in a bed.

What have y'all been up to?