Last night, we took my oldest son to Meet the Teacher.  Summer flew by, and we are feeling a bit nostalgic about how quickly our not-so-little boy is growing!  This year, he not only moves up a grade-level, but on to a whole other wing on his campus!  It’s a weird feeling to see less of my baby and more of the young-man he will become in that face that looks back at me.

Our guy experienced a little anxiety about his new classroom when he realized that he’d be without a few of his close buddies for the first time this year.  Meanwhile, we know he’ll make new friendships in his class and he can still see his old pals throughout other parts of the day.  It’s a tough lesson for our boy, but we are very excited to see what the year has in store for him!  He’s slowly getting a little more comfortable with the idea of spreading his wings after some TLC from his family.. I think by Monday he’ll be truly excited to head back to school!

Fortunately, we are part of a great district, with an amazing staff and full of wonderful families. Still, even under the best circumstances many kids experience Back to School Blues for one reason or another.  So I decided to add a few extra items to my freebie in hopes of blessing my special guy with a few Mom-ents on his first day back.  Earlier this week, I created bright note paper to jot down some I Love You’s for packing in his lunchbox throughout the week.  Today I also designed a few bookmarks for his school box as we finish rounding up those last-minute additions to the supply list!  After that, my son and I had fun creating a mini-joke book for his backpack.   Nothing gets things going well like a little laugh, right?!

Download my School is a Hoot collection free today!  Prayers for a smooth start for our family and your’s as we begin another academic year!

For the Mini-Book, simply follow these directions:

1.  Cut off excess paper, leaving the 8 pages of the book as one large rectangle.

2.  Fold the Mini-Book vertically down the middle. (hot-dog style)

3.  Open the book and fold horizontally down the middle. (hamburger style)

4.  Cut one line between the title page and the page above it. Stop when you get to the line between the two outer rectangles.  As you open your paper, the slit should only be between the four middle sections.

5.  Fold on the extra page divisions and then open the paper back up; re-fold along the original vertical crease.

6.  Take opposite ends of the book and squish them together creating a diamond shape in the center.

7.  Continue pushing the ends together to form the book.   Crease along the edges you’re ready for some cheesy back-to-school fun!

UPDATE!!  For those that wish to avoid the Scribd subscription fee, you can now download my freebie from 4Shared.  Thank you for the continued love and positive feedback on these designs!  🙂