We survived the first week and a half of First Grade! I mentioned in my Back to School Blues + Red Hot School Supplies Roundup that Blakey was nervous about starting school and being away for the entire day, every single day. He is always fine after the first 10 minutes, but his anticipation and anxiety was fairly extreme this year. I'm sure those of you who have school aged kiddos know precisely what I mean. When they are nervous, you are nervous for them, it's impossible not to be! And to make matters worse, parents have to put on a brave face so we don't make things any harder than they need to be. Anyone who knows me in real life probably knows I have a pretty difficult time trying to hide my feelings, so this was the pitts!

I'm thankful I have several more years before we make another entirely new transition with him (middle school – eek!), so things should be calm waters, at least for a bit. Of course with a new schedule and a new year just barely underway, I'm still looking for ways to make this new stage a bit easier on all of us and of course a bit more fun for him. One of the things on my list is to build a few new pieces of furniture to suit his brand new responsibilities as a kid who now has homework and actually needs real school supplies, aside from a backpack. This is pretty big stuff for us (and by us I mean me) but so far I think I am liking this all day school thing. All my girlfriends said this would happen, but you really have to experience it to understand it I guess. Who knew…

If you have kids of your own and you would like to make this year a more exciting adventure for them, consider a fancy schmancy new DIY Desk Project that makes doing homework and organizing just a little bit more fun and feasible.

1 // Pocket Desk Chair 2 // Madeline Desk + Hutch 3 // Compartment Department Table 4 // Oak Park Elementary Desk + Oak Park Hutch 5 // Storage Cubby Desk