Paper Bag Book Covers

I ran across this a couple weeks ago and it brought back a flood of back to school memories:


http://familycrafts.about.com/od/homemadebooks/ss/PBBookCover.htm


Getting brand new books- Spelling and English (my favorites), Math (yuck) and History (I tried hard to enjoy it, but sometimes I was bored).  Taking my books home on the first day to carefully cover them with paper grocery sacks.  And then the labeling.  If I did not perfectly write the subject of the book on the cover, I had to start all over again.  I know, OCD, but it would bother me.  Later I would cover it with hearts, flowers, my friend's names and the always mysterious, "I Love ???"

What is a favorite Back-to-School memory of yours?

One week left of summer vacation (Boo hoo hoo)

There is only a week and a couple days left of summer vacation. I am sad. I actually know some moms that were done with having their kids home by the end of the first week, but not this mama. I just hit the 2 year mark of my SAHM-dom and I am still grateful everyday I wake up that I get to do what I do. With that said, I finally hit a wall this past week. I declared, "Maybe I am glad school is almost back in!" My mild mannered 3-year-old has become 13 over night. He instigates almost every fight with his older brother. Older brother has reminded me I'm "mean," "a jerk," and of course, that I "don't love him." Of course my little sprout has been an angel. A very hungry angel.


After my declaration the other morning, I decided that separating my two oldest in different rooms wasn't cutting it. So I came up with this:



Inside those tents are two boys quietly building with Lego's. I decided to make their separation new and exciting by using the tents. They brought their own storage containers in their own tent. They couldn't copy, steal or otherwise destroy the others creation. It worked like a charm and the fighting was silenced for at least 45 minutes. I will be storing this in my mental file for sure.





So....How do you break up the fights and switch directions with the kids in your life?