Step 1 : Gather Your Favourites

As summer begins to come to an end and we head back into "school," we are looking back and reminiscing about some of our favourite moments. Lake Retreat, Brie's Wedding, Picnics in the Park and Woodland Zoo were some of our favourite trips. However, as moms, sometimes the simplest moments such as discovering a new park, finding a new treasure at the beach or reading a new book brings just as much joy as the BIG adventures. 

Our "Back to School" might look a little different than most as we chose to not put Jake in a preschool and instead we are going to do an at-home preschool together. A big part of preschool is starting to learn and develop more vocabulary and I love that books are a perfect place to start. All three kiddos love books and I love that books help our kids enter into a world of imagination, develop new thoughts/ideas, and they are the perfect activity for a quiet time!

Jake was overjoyed when he saw this Dinosaur Sticker Activity Book from Chronicle Books and Kinsley loves butterflies so she kept saying "fly, fly" when she saw all the different coloured butterflies in her book. 

These new Nature Activity Sticker Books are from Chronicle Books and I love that the kids can add stickers to the scenes. Jake loves doing sticker activity books and they are the perfect activity for quiet times. Each page has a gorgeous illustration and coordinating stickers for the children to match and also create a new picture. 

This picture was such a beautiful moment. A lot of times pictures may not be an actual representation of what was going on, but this one....was as special as it looks. I love reading so when all the little ones gather around to hear me share a story my heart skips a beat. I love finding new engaging stories that maybe my kids wouldn't pick out for themselves, but once we start reading they are fully engaged. This one, "Over and Under the Pond" is a part of a book series and it is amazing! It shows children all the plants on top of the pond but also all the incredible creatures below. "Over and Under the Snow" and "Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt" is on my next purchase list!

P.S. These are sugar-free snacks for kids at home or on-the-go from KIND! They are called Fruit Bites and they are amazing! My kids love them and I do too because the ingredients are just fruit! We found them at Target :) They are the perfect back to school snack to pop into your child's lunch box!

Summer days don't get better than this. Kinsley and Cairo sat here for awhile just flipping through pictures. I couldn't love this more. Spread a blanket out, grab a bowl of KIND snacks and a stack of books and enjoy the last few days of summer before your "back to school" starts again.