Back To School Supplies

On August 16, I will officially be a mother of nothing but school kids! My youngest daughter, Ciara, is starting Kindergarten this year. (I'm not too happy about that part of the situation) I am excited about having a few hours each day to myself..... kid-less!! (That don't happen too often..... babysitters are VERY rare!) My oldest daughter will be starting 1^st grade! My girls are 5 and 6, they have recently decided that they are “stylish girls”. Dangly earrings, dresses, sparkly clothes etc. Jade, my 5 yr old, told me today that she wanted girly pretty clothes for school. Loran, my 6 yr old, is all about skirts and dresses here lately.... mainly skirts. On top of clothes shopping, that I haven’t even started yet, there is the school supply shopping. I don't know if it's just me but it seems like every year the supply lists keep getting longer! I understand that the teachers have to pay for a lot of the classroom supplies and every little bit helps but why would each kindergarten kid need to bring 5 glue-sticks? That's 120 glue-sticks per classroom if there are at least 24 kids in the class! *That's ALOT of glue-sticks* Yesterday I was able to get almost everything on my daughters supply lists. Below is my girls' School Supply Lists:

Jade's Kindergarten Supply List

Purple shows what I bought

Black shows what I haven’t bought yet

1 Backpack (large enough for a paper folder) *Last yr I bought too small of a packpack... I did better this time :0)

1 Small Towel for Napping

Tennis Shoes for Play

Jacket for Cool Days

Baggie with a Full Change of Clothes (labeled with name)

1 Box of Crayons (16-24 count)

5 Small Glue Sticks

1 Pencil Box

1 Box of #2 Pencils

1 Plastic Folder with Prongs (any color)

1 Composition Book

Optional Items:

Additional glue sticks

Dry Erase Markers

Stickers

Teacher Box Toys

Watercolor Paints

Hand Sanitizer

Disinfectant Wipes (ex. Lysol wipes)

Loran's 1^st Grade Supply List

Pink Shows what I bought

Black show what I haven’t bought yet

1 Backpack

1 Extra Large Stick

1 pkg. Pencils

1 Large Eraser

1 Box of Crayons (16-24 count)

1 Spiral Notebook

2 Durable Plastic Folders with Brads & Pockets (blue and red)

1 Small Pencil Box

1 Small pair of Safety Scissors

Optional Items:

1 Box of Tissues

1 Bottle of Liquid Soap

1 Box of Gallon sized Ziploc Bags

1 Box of Quart sized Ziploc Bags

Yesterday we spent almost $50 on school supplies, 45.56 (minus some bath soap and 2 cups that were on sale)!! Which is a lot more than I thought we would spend. That didn't even include the back pack and shoes! I was planning on going to Office Max to get the supplies but we ended up going to K-Mart instead. Most of the supplies were on sale. I completely forgot about buying towel, so I guess we did pretty good since the towel was $11.69. Ciara picked out a really cute Hot-Pink polka dotted towel with a black trim. It's very adorable!! Jade is normally a purple girl but this towel is just to cute not to love! I was even able to buy 2 things for Jade's kindergarten Treasure Chest! I got a little paint by number set and some mini star sticky notes. Good thing this weekend was No-Tax Weekend!!

We're planning on buying the school clothes next week. I've been collecting pants for the girls from where my friend's daughter has grown out of most of her clothes! 90% of the clothes that I got from her were either never been wore of barley worn so Loran was able to get a few pairs of pants and a couple shirts without me even buying anything yet. But of course...... I have to buy skirts, leggings and stylish shirts. My girls also need some dress shoes and REAL earrings! Their ears get red and sore when they wear fake earrings so I have to buy them some silver ones to wear to school their holes don't grow up. It hasn't even been a year since they got them pierced so I can't leave them out for to long.

Looks like I still got a few long shopping days to go before I can relax at home and enjoy some kid-less hours!! The excitement is starting to bubble up in my tummy!! I sure hope my little Jade does good and don't get scared and shy on her 1^st day of school. I'm sure I'll cry a bit but maybe not too much! :)
(I only cried a tiny bit when Loran started school and I was able to wait until I made it to the car and I also hid it from my fiance..... I think I hid it anyway)