DIY Magnetic Box Tops Storage Bag- Back to School Project

Welp, the kids are off and back to school. It’s hard to believe because it feels like the last day of school was like two week ago. We had a near perfect summer (minus getting on each others nerves from time to time) and were able to collect a few wonderful memories like our trip to San Diego, Virginia and Big Bear.

It was a very interesting weekend leading up to Back to School. We had a wildfire raging less than a mile from our house.

I must admit, it was a little frightening, but it was completely contained by 7pm that evening. I have one thing to say. Firefighters. Are. Unreal. I have always been in awe of what they are capable of doing, but watching the live coverage of a chain of men and women charging into a wall of fire has my jaw on the floor. There are no words. I’m so deeply grateful.

Then after having a good old fashioned, let’s pour my heart out and rant a bit post right HERE, my daughter did this. Proof that the underdog occasionally wins. Feeling a kind of silly for ranting, but feeling even more proud of my hard working daughter.

After our whirlwind of a weekend the kids went back to school on Monday. They were all happy with their teachers, so when everyone came home smiling, Mom was smiling, too.

Being a highly sensitive person, it was nice for me personally to have a break from frantic parents, carpool lines, and volunteer meetings during the summer months. It was a little stressful for me on the first day back. I know this sounds weird to some, but I can feel the energy of other people, and when I’m in a big crowd, it’s tough. Parents are so stressed out these days that it’s difficult to not get caught up in that frenzed energy. I want my kids to be as relaxed and positive as they can when they start their day and that’s not easy to achieve when you have different personalities swirling around. Oh, well, can’t live in a bubble, so I march up to the school repeating the mantra in the image below, that I was reminded of in this POST.. a must read!

Carla’s my therapist- I need her, you need her, we ALL need her. Like Oprah, “you get a new car, you get a new car, you ALL get a new car!”

Oh gosh, ADD moment, back to monkeys.

The other thing I must be very disciplined about when school starts is organization.

With all of the paperwork, fundraisers, and PTA stuff that comes home with my three children, if I don’t stay on top of things it gets real messy, real fast. Before school even started, my kids were collecting Box Tops for Education and I was finding them all over the house. Since we had made a few Duct Tape projects this summer, my daughter suggested that we make one to collect our Box Tops and then I added a magnet so we could keep it in one central location on the refrigerator. This way everyone drops theirs in the bag and when it’s time to turn them in, we are not frantically searching for them. Way better than the Box Tops collection sheets that the school gives you.

My kids made this one and I think they did a great job. The only thing I did was cut the strips of Duct Tape for them- they did the rest. They kept the bottom clear so that they could see when it was filled up, but you could cover the entire thing as well. I left it up to them to decide.