Kind & Nice

Oh man, it happened. Ryder had his first day of his first year of preschool last week. Although it may not be too exciting for most, it was for me.

When I was younger, going back to school was a big deal. Which perhaps explains why my heart gets all a flutter when I start seeing the leaves falling and yellow school buses driving by.  So now that I have a child to live vicariously through, it can be a big deal again! ...sigh...:) I can't even imagine how exciting it will be when he actually starts attending kindergarten!

I think it's hilarious this was the shirt he picked for the first day...

just so there's no confusion, people.

One reason it was a big deal in our home was because the night before school started we'd have a special family home evening lesson and my dad would give us blessings. So great. And as I'm sure many of you have seen NieNie's take on the whole back to school dinner, I couldn't help Nienie-fy ours a little as well. 

Phil and I wanted to pick a theme for the year that was simple and applicable. So we chose "Kind & Nice". It was originally "Kindness" but I quickly knew it had to be changed to "Kind and Nice". If I had a dime for everytime I've heard this phrase from my mom growing up ("you'll never regret being kind and nice") and how many times I've used it as a mom ("Are you two being kind and nice!!!"), I'd have like hundreds of dollars. Truly though, it is, I'd say, one of the biggest things I've learned from my mom (and that's saying something). I think it's because for as many times she told me to be kind and nice (especially in the difficult--I feel like being not nice moments) she showed me even more times through her example. 

SO--that's where our theme this year is based. Thank you, mom for your inspiration.  

 If you think these two are cute separately, they're even cuter when they're together. Not to mention I love a man willing to wear a paper crown.