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I have read several examples of Back to School dinner's online – very creative, fun and meaningful examples.  Some go all out with grand food and decorations.  But I decided that grand food and decorations don't exactly speak my boys' (all 4 of them) love languages.  Good, simple, homemade food does.  So I made my chicken parmesan and salad and garlic bread, which they loved.  Then I introduced our "theme" for the year which are President Hinckley's 6 B's - suggestions for living for youth.  He said,

"I suppose that most of you are in school. I am pleased that you have that opportunity and that desire. I hope that you are studying diligently and that your great ambition is to get A grades in your various courses. I hope your teachers will be generous toward you and that your studies will yield top grades and an excellent education. I could wish nothing better for you in your schoolwork.

Tonight I am going to let your teachers give you the A’s that I hope you earn. I want to talk about some B’s. You get the A’s; I will give you the B’s.

1. Be grateful.
2. Be smart.
3. Be clean.
4. Be true.
5. Be humble.
6. Be prayerful."

I think these virtues are so meaningful and helpful and each month we are going to study one of the them in depth.  We started this month with "be humble". 

The boys each have an index card that is called "way to bee".  We took each boy one-by-one that night and met with them to discuss goals and routines for the school year.  On the back of the card we wrote their goals.  And on the front we put "bee" stickers each time they make a choice that we believe exhibits one of our "bee" values, or when they meet one of their goals.  They'll be rewarded when they fill up their card with "bees".  The cards hang on the fridge.

It was a fun night, a simple plan and a great way to start the year off on a good foot.  We ended it with homemade root beer float pops (thanks to Dana for the pop molds and a recipe book!).