OK-- NOW we're ready for school

So Jack has been excited to have his whole Bear Den over for a sleepover before school starts for like, a month.  And a couple of weeks ago, we found out that the whole pack is having an ice cream social at the park by our house.  So, I mean, it seemed like a no-brainer that the den would just walk home with Jack after and sleep over, right?  Except I could NOT make myself email everyone and invite them because I really like my sleep.  I am the WORST.  Anyway: TL;DR, I sent the damn email and the party is ON.

I just, it's like... I have this vision of being the awesome mom with the house full of kids and chaos, but it turns out I just really like my quiet nights and clean basement.  It's something I am working on, I swear.  I want the kids to feel like they can always have a friend over for dinner or a sleepover on the weekends, so, that's a goal for this upcoming school year.  RELAX and entertain more.  I have gotten a lot better at having grown up friends over, so I just need to turn my attention to kids.

SPEAKING OF PAYING ATTENTION TO KIDS, Jack built some sort of fort out of yard waste yesterday:

He is really putting those Boy Scout skills to work.

We went to the big kids' school to pick up the school supplies we bought through a fundraiser, fond out who their teachers are, and sign up for beginning of the year conferences-- and the conference sign up happened on Chromebooks, which was awesome because they are already in my google calendar and not awesome because they used to happen on paper, and it was easier to tell who was in what class-- and it was sad and weird.  I feel so strange in that building after 5 years of feeling totally welcome, relaxed, and at home.  Such a shame.

But!  The kids are thrilled about the new year and spent a cute little hour labeling their supplies when they got home.  5th and 3rd grade, here they come!  Especially because Harry FINALLY found a pair of shoes he will deign to wear.  He found them on Zappos, after we toured the mall for 3 hours and he tried on every shoe in about 5 stores.  Fun times.