back-to-school time!

it's back-to-school time for most kids. that means shopping for school supplies and clothes, packing lunches, recess, learning how to write in cursive, and passing notes between classes. ("circle 'yes' if you like me"--i never wrote notes like that. -wink-) do you remember those learning-to-read books with dick and jane? this little girl reminds me so much of jane. she's adorable with her blonde bob, perfect english school uniform, and curious expressions.

images courtesy of missmoss.co.za

i remember the days leading up to the first day back at school after the too-short, hot and humid ohio summer--days spent at the county park riding the merry-go-round and little train; swimming and doing underwater handstands at the city pool; in michigan at the family cottage eating ice cream and playing on the dunes. i was always excited for back-to-school shopping, and not the seemingly obvious shopping. i loved going for the paper, pencils, pens, notebooks, binders--all the actual school supplies--college ruled paper, five-star section notebooks, mechanical pencils and red pens. then, of course, there was the actual clothes shopping and that was fun, too. in my early school years, my mom would often make my first day back-to-school outfit and they were no doubt much cuter than what "jane" above is wearing.