I can remember my excitement for the first day of school every year! I want my kids to have that same excitement but I also want to instill in them the values that makes them the best they can be in all areas of life! I am proud of how they excel in school, but no grade could ever replace a kind heart or a character based on integrity. I hope to instill strong values in my children and help them become leaders and people of faith throughout their life. That's one of the reasons why I love the "Back to School Feast" tradition! This tradition focuses on the strength of character in my children and helps them focus on what is important in life as they prepare to start school and the challenges and relationships associated with a new school year!
For our Back to School Feast I started earlier in the week by having the kids cut out items or words from a magazine with things that they thought represented them! Then I used those cut outs to glue onto a paper crown with the year of the grade they were starting! This was their back to school feast crown! Both kids, who usually do not like dressing up, were so excited to dress up for this special dinner!!! They ran to get dressed up!
I also talked with Jon to help pick a family theme for the school year.
We decided on
"Have Courage and Be Kind"
because we want to encourage the children to try new things and be brave, but above all to BE KIND! We had a few instances where my children had inadvertently hurt another child's feelings, and I knew my kiddos needed to focus more on being sensitive to the needs and concerns of others - and being kind would help them do this!
Shayla's crown had pictures of animals, meat (yes a photo of meat!), prayer, she chose the words fun, friend, family, faith and courage (before knowing the theme!)
Mitchell's crown had Ninjas, legos, Jesus, fun, pictures of animals too and knights!
I am so glad they love each other so and get to go to school together and share recess together!
Sorry so many photos! They are too cute!
And they wanted to do some funny face photos so I let them of course!
We ended the night with a special Fathers blessings and a discussion of the coming year!
We are looking forward to a wonderful year!
