We had family company at the house for 2 solid weeks, and the kids were definitely not looking forward to the return to school (aka day care). Who am I kidding -- we weren't looking forward to going back to work either!

However, the kids' school had a book fair during the week of their return. In celebration of the book fair, they also had spirit week. Each day held a different theme, a different reason to dress up. In short: the kids were EXCITED every morning!

On normal mornings, they shuffle into our room, murmer something that sounds like hello, then crawl into bed and snuggle with me for a little bit. It's really a wonderful way for me to wake up. However, it also usually results in rushing out the door, because I laze around in bed snuggling my kiddos for longer than I should!

During spirit week, on the other hand, the kids bound into our room already dressed. They were SO jazzed to be all dressed up, and couldn't wait to put on their gear. I told their teachers they need to do spirit week every week. OK...maybe not...that would get too expensive. In other words, I had as much fun with it as they did!

So here's a run down of the week.

Monday was Sunglasses Day. I didn't take a picture of the kids, but they both rocked out in their shades.

Tuesday was Sock Hop Day. This is the day I was most excited about. I went to Hobby Lobby over the weekend and found some cute black and pink fabric, a poodle iron-on, and went to town. I essentially made a tree skirt with elastic at the waist. The whole thing, including the top applique, took a whopping 2 hours. I was SO excited about how it turned out. Dominic I struggled with, because I couldn't find any Roy Orbison-esqe glasses that were in youth size. At the last minute, I found this cool fedora that he totally rocked! Apparently the other classes' teachers all kept coming into his room to ask him to model his hat. After school we went to a fundraiser at a local pizza joint -- and they were a hit there, too. Sock Hop Day definitely got two thumbs up!



Wednesday was Rock and Roll Day. I struggled a bit with this one, because Rock and Roll isn't really all that much different than Sock Hop, unless I want to get all Poison, Kiss, etc. on the kids. And I wasn't sure I wanted to go that direction. Had we not been pressed for time the night before, I'd have cut D's hair into another mohawk. Instead, he got to wear his Small Paul rock band shirt and I drew an "I Heart Mom" tattoo on his arm. He thought that was pretty cool. He plays a mean air guitar, doesn't he? For Amara, I found some cool hair extensions that were hooked to a ponytail, so I kept her side pony from the day before and just added the black / pink / silver hair to it. I found a cheap "rocker" shirt that came with a leather bracelet and a cheap pair of sparkly leggings the day before, and then she also wore here hot pink metal bracelets. For a last minute pull together, this actually turned out pretty good!



Thursday was Dress as Your Favorite Book Character Day. We looked through all their books for ideas, of course I was steering them towards "easy to costume" books. Dominic originally wanted to be Curious George. I quickly got him off that idea! Then he wanted to be Lightning McQueen and wear his Car's t-shirt. Then Amara found "Michael's Golden Rules," a book by the Jordan family about the importance of playing hard, practicing, being a good teammate, and being a good sport. Dominic's eyes lit up as he said, "I want to be a baseball player!" Sold!



Amara was a little bit more difficult. I originally had her convinced to be Pinkalicious. This would be super easy, because Pinkalicious simply wears all pink. On Wednesday night, Amara changed her mind. When I picked her up at school, she said she wanted to be Mary. I asked who Mary is. She said, "Jesus' Mommy." I wracked my brain thinking of what we had at home to accommodate that, but really we had nothing that would quickly and easily transform her into Mary. Then she said Mary Had a Little Lamb. Again...nada. OK, so how about the teapot from "I'm a Little Teapot." Good grief!

I asked her where she thought we would get things for these ideas. It was already their bedtime. She said, "From the store." Oh my...no! So there became a lesson in planning ahead, sticking with decisions, etc. It was clear, however, that she didn't want to be Pinkalicious. So I thought about the costumes and outfits we DO have at home. Lightbulb! How about "Angelina Ballerina." All smiles and she's happy again! So Amara went as the little mouse named Angelina from the series of books featuring Angelina Ballerina. And she wore her tutu to Jon's baseball game as well. tee hee



Friday was Pajama Day. The kids excitedly wore their pjs to bed the night before, got up, and were ready for school. I didn't take pictures of them again that day, because it was really pretty run of the mill. All in all though, a really fun week was had by all -- including Mom!