For example, laying out clothes the night before, complete with hair clips, socks and shoes. Or setting the breakfast table before you go to bed.
But if I had to pick one thing I did this first week of school that made the biggest difference, it would be this:
Prepack lunches for the whole five days.
I do this anytime I'm going to be out of town so that my mother-in-law doesn't have to worry about what to pack in Bird's lunchbox. But I've never done it for myself. Until this week. And I just couldn't believe how much more relaxed it made the mornings.
I've plugged these before on the blog but I'll do it one more time - we use Easy Lunchboxes and their insulated cooler bags pretty much everyday.
photo courtesy of easylunchboxes.smugmug.com
Since Lily eats a predominantly paleo diet, these bento-style trays work great. Most of her lunches look more like a "buffet of snacks" consisting of cut-up fruits and veggies, deli meats, trail mix, nuts, boiled eggs, popcorn, gluten free crackers, fruit leathers, and the like, along with a special paleo treat or two, like cookies, banana bread, or granola bars.
So last Sunday afternoon, as I'm getting everything ready for Lily's first day of school, I decided to try making her lunches for the week. And within one hour, I had a nice little stack of Easy Lunchboxes...
... ready to pull out of the fridge and go.
We'll see how long it lasts but since the mornings went so smoothly, I'm hoping that motivates me to overcome my typical Sunday afternoon laziness.
Oh - and the lovely recipient of those nice little lunches?
Here she is on the first day of first grade. I caught her on the move but I also caught her looking at the camera!
Got any great back to school tips to share? I'd love to read them so leave a comment!
Now get out there and have a fabulous (long) weekend!
