Back to School

It's been a great last week of summer here at Casa Lamar. I realize that we will be dealing with summer weather for another three months, but as far as my girls are concerned. Summer is over. School starts officially next week. And with the start of school comes new school supplies.

I had been obsessively checking the school's website to get the lists for the 2011-2012 school year. The only ones posted were from last year. So I may or may not have been the mom that e-mailed the principal and pointed out that the lists were old. She responded right away and about 24 hours after I e-mailed her....the updated lists were posted. (Yeah, I'm *that* mom. )

I set out this week to buy most of the stuff the girls needed because next week is going to be nuts. The supply lists are VERY specific and say that parents should buy the exact brand and size requested. That rubs me the wrong way, right off the bat. I realize that as educators they have experience in what kind of glue/crayon/marker works best, but to request that everything be the right "brand" is a bit much.

The lists were pretty normal, but after shopping for the stuff I began to realize the teachers who made the list obviously didn't take time to step inside a store to see if those things were actually available. One list requested a certain kind of markers in 10-count. The kind they requested didn't come in a 10-count, only an 8-count. I even had a store employee check the computer. So I went rouge and bought what I wanted. I did the same with hand sanitizer. A 12 ounce bottle of Purell was requested. Purell only came in 8 ounces and was about twice as expensive as the store-brand. So I bought the 10 ounce store brand. I seriously doubt the teacher can argue that Purell cleans better than the store brand. Maybe I'm a rule-breaker, but when you are buying tons of supplies for two kids (and eventually THREE!) I think it's okay to get the store-brand sandwich baggies and tissues.

The girls are more than ready to load up their supplies in their backpacks and head off to school. We will meet their teachers on Tuesday night!