Back to School, Baby

Happy Dancin' going on over here! I love the first day of school, especially now that I'm not the one actually going to school :) Kaitlyn gets so excited the day before, all full of plans. And the morning of, she pops right out of bed and jumps right into getting ready for school. I love that, even on days like today where I wasn't fully ready to pop out of bed with her. My morning was a bit of a rush trying to fit it all in - the ABC pancakes that we HAD to have today since we did it last year

and making sure Kaitlyn signed the note on the treat for her teacher. Much as I thought about doing something super-cute I went with simple. Printed off a tag (printable found here) and attached it to a candy bar that I had Kaitlyn pick out on a quick grocery run yesterday. And then silly me forgot to make sure it was all ready to go last night.

And making sure we got a few photos before rushing out the door. Phew! Of course once we were out there we ended up waiting 20 minutes for the bus to show up. Turns out the list at the school was right and although they claim they didn't change the route, the pick up time is somehow later this year. I think it will take a couple more days of this before any of us will trust it though - bus times weren't very consistant last year and more than one child missed the bus due to someone thinking the bus being later a few times meant it was a permanent change. (don't get me started on bus issues - I'm not exactly happy with ours)

But once the kids were on the bus we all breathed a sigh of relief. And I ran home to finish setting up for my own back to school party :) A few of the neighborhood ladies were able to join me for a little brunch and a lot of chatting - so fun! It was a great opportunity to get to know a couple of the newer neighbors that I hadn't met yet. And you know me - I don't do a party without putting a little effort into it. So here are a few shots of the party set up
The drinks:

The table: I grabbed the floral arrangement from my bathroom and an apple from the fridge - easy!
The food table: I had the banner and everything left over from last year's party.

I went really light and easy with the food. Yogurt and granola (Sam's grandmother's recipe that we try to keep on hand), fruit,

and muffins. I've been experimenting with a few different recipes and have been happy to find some winners. Apple oat (perfect for school, right?), sweet potato (on a constant quest lately to get the kids to eat more veggies) and chocolate. You really MUST try the chocolate ones. They taste exactly like chocolate cupcakes (Kaitlyn says they're much better than the store-bought chocolate muffins) and all it takes to make them is a cake mix and a can of pumpkin puree (you don't taste the pumpkin at all, though you might if you tried a yellow cake mix instead of devil's food). I jotted down the recipe one day while watching Food Network, but I've seen variations of it all over Pinterest lately.

And that's pretty much it! The ladies were having so much fun they didn't leave until after lunchtime :) Then I took some of the extra muffins over to friends that hadn't been able to make it for the party and spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with them. Pretty much a perfect First Day of School :) Tomorrow Ty starts preschool and *shocker* I am trying out a preschool program after all. Fingers crossed it turns out ok, though with all the prep work I already have I fully intend to still use that and rely on the program more for the social part for him and a little break for me.
I'll leave you with one more back to school photo. Everyone say awwwww......

Linking to:






Gingersnap Crafts Back to School Party