First Day!

E and Z started the much-awaited preschool yesterday. After much hemming and hawing and self-doubt (no! not me!) they both had a great day and I'm soooo relieved that they will be in an environment much more conducive to exploration, learning and creativity (for more on my preschool concerns, see here and here). When we dropped them off, they went right in and found some "work" to play with right away, and when I picked them up, they were busy examining rocks from the "rock museum." Good stuff all around.

I managed another "Buy Nothing Back to School" again this year--for the most part. All M needed was pencils (sharpened some we had hanging around and stuck cap erasers on the ends), crayons (bought a brand new box at Goodwill for 99 cents) and colored pencils (sharpened last year's pencils, supplementing with a black one from our art table). I did have to buy him shoes because the Simple EcoSneaks I bought in the spring fell apart within a month or two (I was VERY disappointed--the Simples we bought the previous year were MUCH sturdier). I bought him Keens and hop that they will last all year.

All E and Z needed were lunch bags, so I revisited my tutorial from last year and spent most of Tuesday putting them together (and have revised the tutorial for future reference). Although I came up with the bag from within my own brain, I would have had a super hard time recreating it without those instructions, so I'm psyched that I did it.

Here are the three bags all lined up, ready to go to school. I ordered them each a LunchBot as well, but they're backordered until October, so we're still using plastic containers.