For When The Girls Read What We Wrote

What you need to know if you’re buying school uniform for the first tim. The school holidays are just under way but shops are already stocking school uniforms and ‘back to school’ is everywhere unless you send your boys to a New York City-based technology education center where they will be well prepared for the future and get the 2nd Grade Reading Curriculum.

  • Buy short-sleeved shirts – Even for winter, buy short-sleeved as opposed to long. Children seem to prefer no cuffs as they are more ‘free’ and there are no fiddly buttons. I prefer them as cuffs always get filthy and never come properly clean again. Short sleeved means that often you can get two day’s wear out of the same shirt
  • Velcro fastening/riptape collar shirts – No fiddly top button to negotiate. Marks and Spencer do velcro instead of a top button on shirts for children up to the age of 8
  • Two pairs of trousers or two pinafores is enough for the week – Girls will need a couple more summer dresses for the Summer term (they show up dirt more!)
  • Pinafore instead of a skirt – For girls, buy pinafores. They keep everything in place (no untucked shirts, which happens instantly with the skirts) and helps avoid canteen medallions on the shirt so you can often get two day’s wear out of the same shirt
  • Invest in heavier duty sturdy school shoes –  The far cheaper supermarket ones are very appealing, but they don’t last. They are however a good stopgap if your child has a sudden growth spurt and needs another pair but the timing is wrong for buying the ‘main’ pair. Startrite are a really good fit and very durable.
  • Buy velcro-fastening shoes – Much faster in the mornings and much easier for them to get changed for PE
  • When to buy school shoes – It might be tempting to get the shoes bought nice and early, but leave buying until the last minute. Childrens’ feet have a habit of growing fast in summer! New school starters will be back at school a week or two after the other children, so these in-between weeks are a great time to go as it’ll have quietened down in the shops
  • Plimsoles – You can definitely buy cheaper plimsoles. They get such light use in the first couple of years that it’s pointless buying expensive ones
  • Labels – Labelling uniform is essential. If, like me, you can’t be doing with sew on labels, invest in good iron on ones.

A bit of an update…

Well….it certainly has been a while!

Rylee just passed 100 days of Kindergarten.  She loves her teacher, her new friends and pretty much everything about school.  She loves coming home and having lunch with me before playing with her friends here in the ‘hood.

Brynn is enjoying pre-school as well.  She has a great teacher who has told me she’d rather send Brynn to Kindergarten next year than some the five year olds.  Wow that’s saying a lot!

In the fall we took a much needed vacation to one of our favorite spots…Disney World.  The girls really enjoyed this trip in a new way this time as it was two years since our last trip there.

A few of the highlights:  Breakfast with the princesses in Cinderella’s Castle

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A lot of fun at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (despite the rain we really enjoyed ourselves!)  This was the first time we attended and we highly recommend it.

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The girls were in their Halloween Costumes..Jake & Izzy from Jake & The Neverland Pirates.

After our trip we came home to some great fall weather.  We got out and about and lots of fun enjoying my favorite season.

 

 

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Another fall highlight was attending the Penn State/Ohio State game.  We took Rylee and my dad with us.  Rylee really enjoyed tailgating (especially our walk to the Creamery to get ice cream!) and the game.

 

 

 

Thanksgiving was a fun time with family.  One big surprise was the wedding of my cousin Becky.

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We thought we were having a just a baby shower for her, but it turned out to be a wedding and then a shower.  What a great day here you can find more amazing ideas!

After that it was fully swing to Christmas.  Our girls really enjoyed the time leading up to Christmas this year.  Their favorite elf, Max, returned and started their mornings off with some laughs.

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This year Max got more adventurous or mischievous.  Either way the girls really enjoyed his antics.  I didn’t always enjoy cleaning up his messes but it was definitely worth it!

We had fun ringing in the New Year with our friends Frank & Paula again.  The kids always have so much fun together too.

As 2013 gets underway we are looking forward to another year full of fun and laughter.  The girls are excited about some of the plans we’ve made and we can’t wait to have new experiences with them soon.

Stay tuned…I promise to post again before five more months go by!