*This post is sponsored by Walmart and affiliate links are used. Â All opinions and product selections are my own!
{Wonder Boys Short Sleeve Pocket Shirt/Athletic Works Boys 3-Pack Shorts}
5th grade! Â My baby boy is heading into 5th grade this year. Â His sisters will be in 11th and 9th grade (BOTH now in High School). Â I really can’t believe it. Â Want to know what else I can’t believe? Â They will all be starting the year on-line. Â I’m not going to lie.. when we heard the official news that our kids would all be starting the school year on-line I felt so depressed! Â I sat my kids down and told them the news expecting total disappointment and possibly tears (they all miss their friends and want to go back!). Â Kole immediately smiled and said “well.. the good news is that I don’t have to wear my school uniform!” Â We all laughed. Â It’s not the first time Kole has made us smile even when we don’t want to. Â :)
He’s right.. always a sliver lining and no school uniform for him this Fall! Â I decided to take Kole’s lead and look for the positive in this situation so I’ve been trying to think of ways to make on-line school a fun and positive experience for my kids. Â We are doing our usual back to school prep this month which includes cleaning out closets and shopping for school supplies and some cute new things to wear. Â Comfy clothes! Â Kole’s favorite. :) Â I bought him some really cute inexpensive clothes from Walmart and it was honesty all he needed to get excited about a new school year. Â He was even fine with me snapping pics in his new outfits because it meant he got to start wearing them sooner. Â He’s just thrilled that he can toss his button up shirt and khacki shorts aside for the time being!
{Sport-Tek Camo Athletic Tee/Cheetah Boys Mesh Shorts/Polo Club Slides}
I bought lots of cute tees and comfy shorts. Â Boys are so easy and this is the stuff he LIVES in. Â He is loving these slides too! Â So easy to slip on to play in the yard or run a quick errand with mom. :) Â I also just ordered him these cute Polo flip flops because we will still have warm weather for a while!
He has had his razor scooter for years and it’s still a favorite. Â He rides it around the yard every day. :)
{Cheetah Performance T-Shirt/Champion Mesh Athletic Shorts/Polo Club Slides}
These Champion shorts are such a great fit. Â I ordered so many comfy clothes from Walmart for Kole to try thinking I’d return some of it and we seriously kept everything we ordered!
{Jachs Boys Raglan Short Sleeve T-shirt (3 pack)/Hanes Boys Active Fleece Sweatpant}
Cozy sweatpants for the win! Â Kole and I have been on a Beverly Cleary kick this summer (I love her books!). Â We read together every night before bed and I try to make sure he’s also getting some quiet reading time in during the day.
{Gamer Graphic T-Shirts –Â I knew these tees would be a hit!/Cheetah Boys Mesh Shorts}
Before you start thinking that we have it all together over here reading up a storm.. let me assure you that my son has looked like this WAY more than usual this summer. Â Survival mode has reached an all time high this month. Â I started off the summer with our Zone Cleaning Charts and rules and a schedule. Â At this point I leave the iPad and a bag of pretzels out on the counter for him at night to hopefully buy me an extra hour of sleep in the morning. ;)
{Hanes Boys Mesh T-Shirt/Tricot Joggers}
And my house is still decked in red, white and blue.
We’re all hoping August brings our productivity back. Â Ha.
{Wonder Nation Boys Sherpa Hoodie/Tricot Joggers}
This jacket is one of my favorite finds. Â It’s lined with fleece, a fun style, so warm and only $15! Â It will be perfect for when things cool off a little around here.
Kole loves it! Â He also loves his Player 1 tee. Â I bought his cousin the Player 2 tee. Â The two of them have been iPad partners in crime this summer. Â I always wake up to the sound of them laughing playing games together. Â Knowing Kole’s iPad time includes social interaction with his cousin has helped to justify the amount of time he’s spending on it.
Right? Â Moms? Â Anyone with me on this one?
{Cheetah Boys Fleece Hoodie & Jogger Pants Sweatsuit}
Last favorite is this hoodie and jogger pants sweatsuit. Â Kole loves it because it’s so soft and warm! Â It will be perfect for any Utah trips we make in the Fall to visit family. Â He’s excited to wear it so I didn’t want to remind him that he’ll die of a heat stroke wearing it in San Diego. ;)
My girls will start school sitting at the little desks in their rooms so I bought them these pretty Rose Gold Desk Organizers to help them keep books, papers and pens organized.  (I’m on the hunt for some comfy chairs for them to sit on all day!)
We’ll move these organizers to their bookshelves so they can actually work at their desks when school starts.
Kole and I will be sharing the office/craft room again! Â When Zoom is going I take my laptop to the dining room or couch.
I snapped these a few days ago while he was working on his typing. Â :)
When Kole was doing on-line school in the Spring it drove me crazy having all of his books and papers and supplies all over the office desk. Â It was an unorganized mess and I knew we could do better for the Fall! Â I totally went to my former school teacher happy place shopping for organizers! Â I ended up buying this Classroom Keeper 10 slot Mailbox and this Classroom Keepers Management Center to hold all of his stuff. Â Now we can label the tabs and organize his books and papers by subject. Â We can also use a slot for finished and un-finished work. Â This little set up and all of the new school supplies makes me GIDDY I tell you.
{Star Wars Not Today tee/Athletic Works 3-Pack Shorts}
 I taught 4th and 5th grade for years so Kole gets to have all sorts of help from his mom this year.  Whether he wants it or not!
I’ll have to keep reminding him that at least he doesn’t have to wear his school uniform. ;)
*More back to school organization tips are in this post and below is a round-up of some cute clothes for Elementary school girls! Â My girls both wear adult sizes now so I had fun picking out what I would have bough them if they were Kole’s age again. Â This Dollie & Me Outfit Set would have been their all time favorite with an outfit to match their dolls too!
I love the stage my girls are in right now, but man.. every once in a while I miss the old days. :)
1 – Button Down Tie-Front Shirt  2 – Freestyle Revolution Joggers  3 – Limited Too Leggings   4 – Crewneck Sweatshirt
5 – Long Sleeve Play Dress  6 – Shining Star Sneakers  7  – Dollie & Me 2-Piece Outfit  8 –  Faux Leather Quilted Jacket
{POST SOURCES}
Okay, Kole literally grew up this summer! He looks “older” to me. More so than I’ve noticed before. Wow! Very handsome, too. Love all the outfits. Very typical boy clothes and yay for no uniforms for him for a while! I’m so sorry that they have to start online away from their friends. It’s tough. We had a monkey wrench thrown at us at my daughter’s senior meeting with the counselor yesterday. Let’s just say this year is going to be a bit different than we thought, and it’s not Covid related, but schedule related. My daughter, whose had a lot of things thrown at her when it comes to school (making her school experience very different than her older sister’s) handled the news with grace. What a trooper. Our kids have to navigate way more than we ever did. And Kole will sure look good doing it! (Lucky him, too, to have a Mom who can really help him ( says this former 4th grade teacher-hee, hee). Your daughter’s desk is looking pretty and that mail center sure brought back some fun memories! Have a great day! Happy shopping!
Thank you so much Jeanne! He really has grown up! All of my kids seem so much older to me lately. I have to not really think about it or focus on it or I get sad! It’s all going by so quickly. You are right.. kids are dealing with so much right now. I’m so proud of your daughter! It’s teaching our kids how to adapt to whatever is thrown at them for sure. They will be stronger because of it if we can just keep everyone healthy! Are you going back to work or staying home in the Fall? It’s crazy to me that this is still going on. When things shut down I honestly thought it would be for 2-3 weeks!
Enjoy your Wednesday! :)
Our kids are back in the classroom. Mask are required. Its definately a different feeling sending them off this time but being in 7th & 10th grade are old enough to follow the strict giidelines.🤞 Fingers crossed they don’t shut the school down again.
t’s nice to have a break & be able to clean the house without people messing it up behind me😂🤪
Their beds got made for the 1st time in 5months yesterday🤣
Ps…
Our daughter has the low back finley velvet chair from West Elm ( pink color or they call it grapfruit I think) at her desk. I looooove this chair!!! So comfy & modern.
Oh my word.. I bet that felt nice to have a quiet day at the house Jennifer! I miss the days when the house would stay clean for more than 20 minutes! Ha. Enjoy! I’m going to have to just live through you! Yes.. let’s hope they stay healthy and don’t have to shut things down again. I really thought my kids would be going back (with masks and spacing, etc) at least for a day or two a week, but not yet. It’s so crazy! Who would have ever guessed this would still be our situation. Thanks for the desk rec.. so sweet of you! I’m definitely checking that out! :) xo
Erin, I’m looking for small white desks for my girls rooms. Can you share your source?
Thank you!
Jolie
Hi Jolie!
I actually had that made! I had such a tiny space for desks in their rooms and I couldn’t find anything that would fit so I sketched two simple desks and just had my carpenter make them. Then we painted them. Sorry that’s not much help! Every desk we looked at was just too big for the little corners in their rooms!
hi where did you get the table for the girls
I actually had that made! I had such a tiny space for them and I couldn’t find one that would fit so I had my carpenter make two desks for their rooms. Sorry that’s not much help!
Your kids fashion posts are adorable! I also have 2 girls, who will be in 7th and 11th grades this year. Seeing the picture of your daughters with their dolls brings back memories of when my own were little! Will you be doing a fashion post with your daughters? I’d love to get some fresh ideas for Fall!
You are the sweetest Jessica! Thank you! Isn’t it bittersweet seeing pics of them when they were little? I’m having so much fun with my girls right now but I see pics like that and just want to go back to that stage even for a day to remember! They would play together with their dolls for hours. So sweet. I’ll definitely be sharing some fun clothes ideas for my girls soon too! xo
How do you attach the pictures on your shiplap wall/frame? Do you just use regular tape?
Thank you,
Fernanda Fisher
Hi Fernanda! I use blue painter’s tape! Easy to peel off. :)
That’s a great idea. I hope you don’t mind if I ask you one more question. What do you use to put the banner above it?
I have a fireplace in my family room and I always put banners there with Command Hooks and it keeps falling all the time! I need a better way to do that.
Thank you.
Hi Fernanda! I used command hooks too! I have 2 of them on the top corners of the shiplap wall that each of the banner strings are looped around. :)
Cole is such a cutie, and no wonder you love taking his pictures with all his new outfits. Boys are definitely easier to buy for. By the way, the shiplap board is huge since seeing Cole sit in front of it. The pictures you have up are also big sizes. I think your kids are blessed that their mom was a school teacher and this season of homeschooling will not be as tough on your family as it will be for many other moms out there.
Thank you so much Debbie! It’s definitely easier helping my kids with my teaching background. The hard part is being able to help them AND get my work done. The struggle for most of us right? Good luck to all parents this Fall! :)
Hi Erin ! I’m new to your site. Just found it the other day ! First I want to say that you have the loveliest home ever, and second how sweet of you to share all of the information with all of us strangers. I love reading your blog because you are so down to earth.
I guess all I can say is I love everything you say and do ! Thank you for sharing with all of us !
Hi Nancy! Oh you are so kind! What a thoughtful comment. It honestly made my day! Thank you! It’s so nice to “meet” you. :) xo