Back To School, A Transformation, And Making Memories

Have your kids gone back to school yet?  Yesterday was the big day for my kids. It's always a little bittersweet for me.  In all honesty, I'm usually ready for them to go back (and they are too.)  But it means that the last bit of Summer is slipping through my hands.

Back in the Spring, I painted a large chalkboard wall in our kitchen. (Stick with me, this will all come together and make sense in a minute, I promise!)  It was a huge leap for me, but now that I've done it, I love it! It's added a lot of character to our kitchen and, well, it's just kind of fun.

 

Here is that part of the kitchen "before."  Pretty boring, huh?

I was a little concerned after the first coat. It wasn't looking good. But after another couple coats, I was really pleased.

After the paint had dried for 24 hours, I seasoned the chalkboard by rubbing chalk all over it. This helps the chalk to "stick" better when you write on it and also prevents a ghost image which is when you can still see your writing after you erase.

Then came the fun part. I doodled around for a while and then decided I would do a large calendar for the month.



So back to Summer coming to an end.....

A couple years ago, I got really discouraged because it seemed like Summer was passing us by. I must admit that because my kids have special needs, it's often difficult and frustrating to try and go places with all three. I decided that if we were going to have any fun and make any memories, we were going to be very intentional about it. The Hubster and I sat down with the kids and made a "Summer List."  We allowed them all to choose things they would like to do or accomplish. We told them to dream big. We couldn't guarantee them we would complete everything on our list, but at least we would have some goals. Our first year's list was written on a piece of notebook paper and put on the front of the fridge and we checked things off as we completed them. Our lists have included everything from a vacation at the beach to visiting friends, a long car ride, eating at our favorite restaurants, and getting ice cream.

Now back to the chalk board.....

This year, as the kids spouted off things they would like to do this Summer, I wrote them on our new chalkboard. It was fun to have it right there in big letters in front of us all Summer. Many dinners around the table were spent talking about our list. And this year we did a pretty good job and accomplishing things on it. It's been fun to have this little family project and spend time together as a family, making memories.

So I thought it would be great to take a back to school photo in front of our chalkboard showing both our Summer List and the August calendar.  I think it was the perfect way to look back at a great Summer while also looking forward to an exciting new school year.