Getting ready for school

So we (just the girls & I) went shopping at Target the other day & had to look through the school supply section. We don't actually need to buy school supplies since the school provides everything (for a fee, of course!), but it is always fun to look!

I told the girls they could each pick one thing to buy. Gracie picked a small purple calculator (and I do mean small - it fits completely in John Michael's hand) that she just loves. I keep hearing about how six plus six equals twelve and all sorts of similar sums. I was trying to teach her how to use the subtraction key today - of course we were driving to Ft. Worth in the van so that made it a little challenging!

Clara picked the 15 pack of pencil cap erasers for her treat. I'm not sure why she loves them so much, but she does. She and Gracie had a blast matching them to their pencils. Clara has always liked using pencils. She will often use a pencil to color in a picture - not the colored pencils, but just a regular no. 2 pencil.

And not to fear, JM wasn't left out of the fun. There were two small round cap erasers and John Michael was just sure they should be pulled off of the pencils and bounced on the floor. He kept laughing and laughing as I would put them back on the pencils and he would pull them off again and toss them across the floor.

But the best part of Target (for Clara at least), was getting a new backpack. Clara already has a small Dora one, but it won't hold a school folder. Last year, we found that a folder was really handy for Gracie to have in her backpack for papers going to school and coming home from school. We didn't actually plan on buying one that day, but thank heavens we did. Here she is enjoying her purchase:


Front view


Back view - yes it's Tinkerbell. She also got a Tinkerbell folder to match.

Anyhow, she spent most of the rest of that day carrying it around. But it was really the next morning that I found out how much she loved her backpack . . .


Yes - that is what you think it is. I kept telling her to get dressed that morning, so she went and got her clothes, put them in her backpack and then felt the need to take off her pj's so they could be transported via backpack as well! Classic Clara!!

A few hours later, this is what she looked like as we were heading out the door to a friend's house for a MOMS Club recipe exchange (lunch and playing!).


And just today, the backpack had to be used to carry provisions into Costco. (Provisions, why would you take provisions into a warehouse store??? Okay, if you are asking that question, you clearly haven't shopped at a large warehouse store with a 5 year-old, 3 year-old and 1 year-old. Food, more food, toys and wipes.)

So, I have a feeling the backpack will be quite broken in by the time we start school in just 25 short days!!