The Instagram story I posted asking for kindergarten prep ideas may have gotten the most responses of any story I’ve ever posted… ever. Y’all wrote in with lots of good ideas, yes (see many of them below!), but way more of you simply wanted me to share the responses I received.

I was so tickled by this kindergarten cohort! And I get it! Heading back to school, whether for the first time or the twelfth, is a big transition. As mamas, we want to prepare our families well for it, emotionally and practically, and to celebrate well, too. The start of a school year gives us so many opportunities to do this, including renewing, refreshing, or beginning family traditions – because for all the time kids spend in school, I firmly believe that the foundation we lay at home matters even more.

Today, I thought I’d share some of the ways we’re preparing for our first kindergartener, as well as back-to-school suggestions from many of you! Some items are particularly unique to our family, but hopefully even those might spark an idea for yours.

Things we’re doing to prepare for kindergarten:

— Transition June’s clothes upstairs and begin picking out clothes the night before. As many of you may remember, June’s and Shep’s clothing has been stored in our bedroom. With Annie’s arrival, we moved June’s clothing up to her room and began the practice of laying out her outfits the night before. She thinks this is super grown-up :)
— Buy an adult bike. We live in the walk zone for our elementary school, and plan to bike to school most days for pick-up and drop-off. John’s road bike has clip-less pedals and is not ideal for short, casual rides, so we bought him a Priority bike for the days he accompanies her. (June has a Priority bike, too – more on hers here!)
— Pull backpack options and order backpack and lunch box. To facilitate choosing a backpack option we both will love for several years, I narrowed down options from State, Pottery Barn, and L.L. Bean. We scrolled through the screenshots together and she chose this one! I gave her free rein over the lunchbox choice and this is the one she chose :)
— Buy matching bracelets. As a special back-to-school gift, I ordered a mini monogram bracelet for June and a stack of bracelets representing each family member for me from Pearls & Prosecco. I think they will be a reassuring physical connection on those first few days! It would also be fun to make your own beaded bracelets. (Not just for girls: a mama I know makes friendship bracelets with her boys the night before the first day every year!).
— Go on school supplies shopping date. I’m planning to print out the school supplies list from school so June can follow along and plan an afternoon browsing the aisles at Target with my girl. We may also hit up Parker Paper Company for a few fun extras. Our church is collecting supplies for a partner school, so we’ll plan to buy two of everything.
— Fill out and return health forms. Simple enough, but still something I need to set aside time to complete!
— Play at the school playground. Our school playground is open during the summer, so we’re planning to head over and visit sometime in August. Since our chances to explore inside the school have been limited with COVID, I think this will be a fun way to gain some familiarity!
— Choose a scripture theme for the school year. As they head off to school, our desire is for our kids to be grounded in the Gospel. Choosing a short scripture we can all memorize and refer back to throughout the year is a simple way to do this! John and I will choose it together and we’ll debut it at our back-to-school dinner.
— Plan back-to-school dinner menu and decorations. Considering the success of our Octonauts premier party, June and I will work on this together. The dinner itself will be held the night before the first day of school! I plan to write about ours after it happens, but if you’re looking for inspiration now, Stephanie and Merrick have made me look forward to these dinners for years!
— Choose a first read-aloud book. June and I are just getting into read-aloud books, and I’d like to choose one for first-day-of-school bedtime reading.
— Bring lunch to preschool teachers. June’s preschool career will end a week before kindergarten begins. Even though her graduation is not the end of our relationship with their preschool (Shep still attends, and Annie will eventually, hooray!), we wanted to do something to thank them for how absolutely wonderful they have been to her for the last three years. She and I will take the teachers’ orders and deliver lunch one day that week, which I think she will think is the most fun.
— Get clear on morning and afternoon transportation plan. We’ll be easing into drop-offs and pick-ups, as I’ll still be on maternity leave and Annie won’t yet be in school, but John and I need to sit down with our schedules and the time boundaries in front of us and make a plan for each day of the week.
— Make a rough plan for my schedule. This will shift when I go back to work, but I’d love to wrap my brain around what my days will look like in September and how to make the most of our time together outside of school!
— Do a dry run on bikes to school. This will help everyone feel comfortable on the big day, and will help us know how much time we need to budget for little legs to get to school and back.
— Choose a first day of school outfit. Very important :)
— Mock up the letter board for first-day-of-school photos. We’ll put our scripture theme for the year on the board after the photos are done!
— Prep snack tray favorites for first-day-of-school after-school snack. Snack trays have taken a hiatus with pregnancy and summer, but I’m excited to bring them back this fall.
— Begin to think about how we might organize school supplies and papers. Not going to make any purchases or decisions until school actually begins, but it’s on my mind!

Like I said, y’all had lots of good ideas about how to start the school year in a sweet way. If nothing we’re planning strikes your fancy, here are a few other ideas!

Fun back-to-school traditions:

— From Jessie: “We always have a ‘kids choose day’ before school starts – usually the park and pizza and ice cream.”

— From Shannon: “We did ice cream before the first day of school always! Even when I started grad school, we got ice cream the night before, ha!” (Others suggested ice cream as a first day after-school treat!)

— From Rachel: “We do a mom or dad and kid date night, a shopping trip for new school clothes, going to the library to pick up some new books, and for my daughter, a trip to get our nails done the weekend before school starts! We also cook their favorite meal the night before. Finally, we tried to find other families who had rising kindergarteners [Em says: try your neighborhood Facebook group] and invited them over for playdates.”

— From Lauren: “The day before school started, the kindergartener and mom would do a ‘practice morning’ that would end with just the two of us getting donuts.”

— From Brittany: “We did a one-on-one overnight trip to a fun place [could just be a local hotel!] with each kid before beginning kindergarten!”

— From Laura: “We prepped his school supplies together! I bought name stickers on Etsy and then spent the evening labeling everything together and talking about the fun things he’d do using the supplies.”

— From Erika: “My husband does a video interview the evening of the first day and asks who his teacher is, whether he has a friend in his class, and something fun he did that day. He’s going into third grade and it’s been fun to go back and watch them together!”

— From K: “We have two traditions: my husband gets our daughters flowers on the first day of school, and we have cider donuts and apple cider for our after school snack.”

— From Kerstin: “We do the German tradition of making a ‘Schultüte’ – a cone made out of construction paper which is decorated and filled with treats and school supplies.”

— From Courtney: “We made a paper chain so our daughter could count down the days to kindergarten! She loved it.”

— From Robyn: “After experiencing some emotions that popped up a few weeks into school (later than I expected!) when our daughter started kindergarten, I’m planning ahead for regular, intentional one-on-one time in the first month or two to support my son as he starts. I’m also preparing myself mentally for behavior shifts that might be coming and reminding myself it’s a temporary adjustment period!”

I hope this post was helpful, friends! Sending hugs to all my fellow mamas sending littles to school soon, whether for the first time or the last :)

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I’m sure there’s someone out there who thinks the attention we give to choosing our children’s names is a little over the top. And they may be right :) But for me, someone who believes so strongly in the power of the stories we tell ourselves about our lives, a name is more than just an identifier: it is the first lines in a story. And as parents, we get the honor and privilege of writing them. John and I can’t determine the ending of any of our children’s stories, but we can set them in a direction and give them supplies for the road – roots and wings, as I’ve said before. With that, here’s a little more about the name we chose for our daughter…

First, Annie. After we bestowed the name June, which had been my number one since high school, I kept a loose collection of other favorite names in a note on my phone, should we have another daughter. As I added and subtracted options over the years, one sifted to the top: the sweet but not saccharine, feminine but feisty, friendly and optimistic Annie.

True to form for my favorites, it would be at home on any of our grandmas (it was a top 20 name from the 1880s to 1910). It is simple to spell and pronounce, and is familiar but not too common.

Annie Banks-MacKenzie is a central figure in two of my all-time favorite movies, the ones that helped to set my expectations for a loving family and set me on a course toward my future career.

Annie originates from the English Isle and has a definite Scottish feel to it, which is appropriate given my ancestry.

And most serendipitously, Annie Jane is the name of John’s grandmother, which I didn’t learn until years after I fell in love with her name. I never got to meet Annie Jane, but love that we’re able to honor her through our daughter!

So, Annie. But the most common formal name for the nickname Annie – Anne – was just a name for me, without any further meaning or significance (and you know we couldn’t have that, ha!). I puzzled over this for years, until I finally realized that another name on my short list – Susanna – was emblematic of my maternal grandmother’s name (Susanne). Even if our Annie may not use it too often, I was thrilled for another family connection.

I think it’s important to remember here that we don’t name our children after perfect people, but after imperfect people who are a reminder of the story from which they come – one that’s far from perfect, but filled with people who try, who have integrity, who are kind and smart and humble and face challenges and pick themselves back up again and again. As crystallized for me in this essay, I strongly believe (and research backs up!) that one of the best things we can do for our children is develop a strong family narrative. (I wrote more about this in Shep’s name post!)

I’ve written about my grandmother before – she was a deeply layered person, and not always easy to understand. But so many of the things that define me were passed down from her – my love of garden bouquets, boat rides, singing in church, and reading and writing; a belief in thank you notes, correspondence, and a beautifully-set table; and the importance of standing up for the flag at parades, giving back to organizations, and supporting your alma mater. I look forward to introducing Annie to her in the years to come :)

Finally, Liberty! Our other two kiddos’ middle names spoke to our love for America and our love for our faith, respectively, and this one actually combines both. For a Fourth-of-July-week baby, we love that Liberty speaks to the hope, possibility, freedom, and opportunity that’s found in our country more than anywhere else in the world. America is not perfect, but her ideals (including “life, liberty, and happiness”) are beautiful, and we feel lucky to have the privilege of living up to them – and to help our kids do the same.

The idea of liberty and freedom is woven throughout the Gospel, too. Jesus sets us free from death, but even more than that, He has set us free for freedom! When we live with Christ, we don’t have to be weighed down by the comparison, guilt, envy, anxiety, or fear that are so common in our world. We love that Annie’s middle name will remind her about the life that is truly life – a life of abundance, obedience, contentment, joy, and freedom.

So there you have it – much more than you ever wanted to know about our little lady’s name, ha! Thanks for listening, friends, as always.

Friends, this is our sweet Susanna Liberty! She arrived on Thursday, July 8 at 2:26pm, weighing in at 7 pounds, 1 ounce with lots of dark hair. We will call her Annie :)

I am feeling so very grateful for a healthy baby and a safe delivery, for the precious family I already have, and for the true gift of getting to add one more to our crew. She is the absolute sweetest and we all love, love, love her so.

I will be back with more on her name soon! In the meantime, thank you for all the well wishes and prayers!!

I have unofficially officially declared myself the Queen of Meal Trains. This might sound grandiose, but here’s the good news: the number of people who can hold the title is limitless, and you need absolutely no skills to do so.

Why the title? I believe meal trains are magic. Before having June, I wasn’t really sure if I wanted one: would it feel awkward to ask people for help? Would we really need it? What if they arrived right when I was feeding her or she was crying? What if they stayed to talk for way too long? (Introvert problems, am I right?)

But then she arrived, and the meals arrived, and it was magic. Not having to think about dinner at the end of the day? Magic. Yummy food made just for you? Magic. The feeling of being thought of and cared for by friends? Magic.

And so now, because I know how much it meant to have meals brought to us as new parents, I basically chase pregnant people down on the street to ask if I can set up a meal train for them, or at the very least bring them a meal. (This is only a slight exaggeration.) I don’t want anyone I’m even mildly acquainted with to miss out on having a meal train, either because they didn’t understand the value or because no one thought to ask them. It’s such a small thing, but I’m making it my thing!

Want it to be your thing, too? Here are my best tips:

1. Use MealTrain.com. It’s free! It’s easy to set-up! Absolutely no skill is needed! Just ask your recipient for a few pieces of basic information (address, desired delivery time, meal preferences, number of people eating, allergies, etc.), fill out the online form, and voila! It’s ready to go. I usually recommend running the train on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays (to give working meal-bringers a weekend option!) for 2-3 months.

Once you’ve activated the Meal Train, a link will be sent to the recipient so they can block dates, add a photo, or make changes as needed, too.

2. Ask everyone. Like seriously, everyone. I used to worry that people might think I was weird or overly-forward for asking. Maybe a closer friend had already set one up? But who the heck cares?! If they already have one, then you have the perfect opening to ask for the link so you can sign up to take a meal – and they’ll be tickled you thought of them. And if they don’t, you’re giving them a huge gift that literally takes ten minutes of your time.

3. Offer to send an email. I know it can be awkward to ask for help, which is why I always request a list of email addresses to send the meal train to on behalf of the recipient. I strongly believe people want to help, and when you give them an easy way to do so, they’ll gladly jump on board! I’ve found there is a huge difference between the number of sign-ups when an email is sent and when one is not; this is almost always due to the direct ask, not the size of the friend network. (And if someone sets up a meal train up for you and doesn’t think of this, do not hesitate to ask if they’d mind sending one! I’m sure they’d be thrilled to!)

On a related note, if you’re passionate about bringing meals, this post has 10 great dinner ideas for new parents, and a few of my favorite tips. The only thing I’d add a few years out: it is 100% okay to bring a store-bought meal or takeout favorite. In fact, I did just that this weekend – our life is a little too crazy right now to make an extra home-cooked meal, but I happily picked up a few favorites from Donovan’s Dish and delivered them on Saturday afternoon to a new mama friend. If you’re self-conscious about your cooking or worried about getting the delivery timing right, this is a great option!

I would love to hear: do you have an acts of service “thing”? Do you always remember to write condolence notes? Do you watch friends’ kids so they can go on a date night? Do you send a Starbucks gift card for big days or hard weeks? (I have a friend who is consistent with doing this the week friends go back to work after maternity leave – so sweet!) And if you don’t yet have a thing, I hope this post (or the comments!) might inspire you to choose one! :)