I mentioned my volunteering to design the t-shirts for my son’s 5th grade class trip. Well, the event was Thursday, and the shirts were ready Wednesday morning. Thank you NCTees for pulling through with a last minute delivery to the school for me when my work schedule messed up my plans. I had designed a handful of options for the teachers to choose from, and the slogan they chose was “Up and Away!” As seen here:

Wifegrit was one of the chaperone parents that went on the trip with the kids, and she took these photos of the kids and shirts.

The trip, itself, was to the coast, (about 3 hours ride in a charter bus), to visit an aquarium, a beach, an outer banks island, and ride a ferry. The kids saw dolphins swimming alongside the ferry, and wild horses on the island. Though I wasn’t there, so I can’t give a real account of the event, both Wifegrit and Calfgrit11 said the whole thing was overall a lot of fun.

Bullgrit

I’ve volunteered to be the “T-shirt Chairperson” for our elementary school’s 5th grade classes. Each year, these classes take a field trip together, (all track schedules, together), I guess as a sort of “last hurrah” of elementary school before heading on to middle school. Part of the event is every kid gets a school t-shirt commemorating their graduation out of their first school. (Calfgrit11 is in this 5th grade class.)

So it seemed perfectly proper for me to offer myself as the lead for the t-shirts. I mean, obviously.

I talked with the principal and a couple of the 5th grade teachers to get an idea of what they wanted, and what they had done in previous years. Now I’m in the process of designing the shirts, (gratis, of course). Their previous designer was the art teacher, but she’s moved to another school this year.

Let me tell you, there is a difference between designing fun shirts for my store and designing something for someone else. My kid sense of humor doesn’t really match what a public school needs to present. I can’t put bathroom gags on the school shirts.

But this is still a fun project. I have to incorporate a school logo, several sponsor logos, and teacher names all on the small space while still wanting to put something [appropriately] fun and/or cool for the kids. I’ve come up with a handful of fun slogans, but making any fit among all the other text and graphics is proving challenging.

None the less, this is a fun opportunity to do something for an organization my kids are a part of. I’ve had and turned down prompts to coach kids soccer and tee ball, and to chaperone field trips, but sports and herding two dozen kids is not my forte. Maybe this is my chance to shine among my sons’ peers.

Bullgrit

Every parent knows the zombie-like feeling of a day with little to no sleep the night before. Maybe you were up every two hours over night to feed the baby. Maybe you spent all night in the Emergency Room with your sick child. Or maybe you’re just frazzled from keeping the kids entertained all day during summer vacation or school track out.

Heck, you don’t even have to be a parent to occasionally be worn slap out. Been studying for mid-term exams? Been working 12-hour shifts all week? Been out on a drunken bender over the weekend?

For all these times, I present:

I’m Not a Zombie, I’m Just Tired

Bullgrit

Yeah, this is a partial repost from November 2010. My oldest is now 11 years old, (as of Jan 4), so technically this gag is inaccurate, but it seems that so far, they both still think I’m pretty awesome. Or, at least, they think all my toys are pretty awesome. We tried letting the boys do their homework in my office, at the game table, but they say there are too many distractions in the room.

This “motivational poster” was the inspiration for this t-shirt design:

Bullgrit