Save Outgrown Clothes! June 26, 2009

Okay, so I am learning so much from my girlfriends here!  Having been a mom of boys first, I saved mostly everything I could from my older son for his little brother to wear and had a few tricks up my sleeve to make those clothes last longer but WOW, what you can do with little girl clothes, I just have to share!

Okay, so little girl clothes are darling, right?  They are so pretty and clean and totally- SEASONAL!  Try finding something warm to wear for your new baby girl who was born in the summer from your closet of baby shower clothes and you will find a ton of strappy dresses and tiny swimsuits.  Or vise-versa with a winter baby and cooler clothes for the spring and summer.  Here are a few solutions that I have recently learned from my girlfriend Corrine, and a few I have used myself for years.

What to do with those first few months of darling dresses she grows out of so quickly and the season changes?

If she is a summer baby- Keep them!  As winter approaches you can layer with a long sleeved onsie, the dress and warm tights to make the dress last a few more months.  You can also put a little cardigan over the top, if you are out of onsies or you need extra warmth.  Little leggings or those cute little lace trimmed leggings work really great too.

If she is a winter baby- Keep them!  As spring approaches, there will be plenty of cooler days so keep them around and throw a diaper cover over her bum or some little shorts and you’ve got a good couple of months left in them as dresses.  Not every dress has to have tights underneath.

Okay, so we’ve made the dresses last a few more months but they are getting pretty short at this point, what now?

Keep them!  In about 1 year, or 1-2 seasons, this little dresses will make the most adorable tops you have ever seen!  In particular the little summer-y ones.  Just throw some shorts on under, a little jean skirt or capris and you have a whole new way to re-ruse those little dresses. I’m doing this this year with Audrey’s(size 2T-3T normally now) 12 month sized dresses and they are so cute!  Maybe even cuter than the first time around!  The winter dresses work the same way and are ADORABLE with little leggings, skinny jeans or little flare legged pants underneath.  Beware though, of arm pinching with long sleeved stuff, as long as it isn’t too tight for her, it will work!  Even if the arms are a bit short you can either roll them up a few times if it’s in between to look 3/4 length!

So, we now have 2+ years out of the dresses, what about the pants?

The pants!  Same thing as the dresses, they are so cute but they are in and out of season so fast it makes your head spin and those little legs and bellies grow faster than your pocketbook!  Here’s my solution, you guessed it- keep them!  That’s right!  So a size 3-6 months leggings or strech pants make darling capri pants for a 18 month old.  Their waist doesn’t grow all that much but their legs do!  The trick is just like the dresses, once they’ve grown out of stuff the first time around you have to re-think how you can use it and store it.  So once we have outgrown stuff the first time, I put it away for awhile, labeling it for the next season and size I will use it for.  Say I have a bunch of sized 12 months jeans and leggings that Audrey has grown out of, I will pack it up and label it- Spring/Summer Girl Size 3T.  That way, when I’m looking at what I have as that time approaches I’ll see that I already have a great base of capri’s for her for the whole season! PLUS, all the shorts and pants will fit again the next year after you potty train.  Lose about 2-3 inches in diaper all the way around and  you’d be shocked what fits again the next year!  I always pack up the shorts and tank tops from all my kids for the next year- you never know what will still fit or fit again, depending on how their bodies have changed.

A Note on Boy Clothes:

Boy’s don’t have as many “in between” clothes in their wardrobe as girls but the same rules above still apply.  Keep all the shorts and tank tops, at least, between seasons, I know that my kids grow up- not out so a pair of shorts that are a bit long one summer will be okay still for the next summer coming. Also they are so skinny, they are wearing some small sizes compared to their actual ages.  They have been wearing some of those shorts for YEARS!  Kids usually grow up, getting leaner and longer as they move out of the baby stage so keep that in mind.  Now obviously, you can’t keep their old pants for capri’s in two years, unless you want to seriously damage them, BUT you can keep those air pants that zip off and turn into shorts!  Long after the “pants” are too short the shorts will still fit just fine for a couple of years.  Just don’t lose the bottoms for when you are done with them to sell at your local consignment store, yard sale or to give to another family with little boys!

So there’s some simple tips for you to get more mileage out of those little clothes!  A little organization and thinking outside the box can really save you HUNDREDS of dollars every year!

Fun with friends… April 29, 2009

So, my kids have friends.  They have playdates, classes, school- they have friends.  They have time for friends.

I discovered tonight, I have friends too.  Okay, I know I’ve always had friends, I’m a friendly-friend making person!  BUT… Friends, true friends you can sit and laugh with, at and about, those are friends.  I have great friends here I discovered tonight.

Our move this year was hard for me, making new connections, meeting new people.  Once again, gaining friends hasn’t been hard but FRIENDS, even Girlfriends, that has been hard coming.  Well, it’s here!  There is something Godly in a group of 5 Christian women, sitting in a Mexican restaurant talking about life, our fears, joys and pregnancy stories all over over cheesed, over seasoned food.

I am truly blessed that even when I don’t need it or ask for it, God is providing me with exactly what I need.  I have had a difficult year, to say the least, and I have prayed for patience, love, hope, trust and financial wisdom.  I have prayed for health, healing, a better marriage, better kids, desire, MOPS…  However, I have not prayed for Girlfriends.  Yet, that is the one thing God keeps on trying to give me.  Even when I don’t have time… He is prompting me, “Make time, my dear.”  After fun and sharing tonight, I am thankful that God is the God of not only hearing our prayers but of providing for us what He desires as well.  Thank you Lord for knowing what I need better than I do myself!

Roller Skating With Children Is Like… March 22, 2009

• crawling on a conveyor belt in the wrorng direction
• jumping into quicksand
• a sudden adrenaline rush, like the kind you get from snatching your toddler out of the street, over and over and over and…
• walking through a cute little shop with a stroller that can’t make the corners
• convincing a 2 year old that you are right and she, or he, is wrong

Well, as you can guess, I went rollerskating today with my three children for the  first time.  Thankfully, it wasn’t my first time or we would have been a real disaster!  Clayton had a rough start and possibly a broken tailbone, David was a natural, and Audrey- well, I had her wheels tightened enough that, after the first 3 laps of pushing, pulling and gliding her around in a half crouched position, she could “walk skate”.  Overall, it was a productive afternoon. 

Ahh, motherhood- the only profession besides reality TV that we routinely and intentionally throw ourselves into potentially dangerous, definitely foolish and always overwhelming- yet fun- situations.  I love my job!

Surgeon General and Attorney General Team Up for Spring Laughs March 21, 2009

I hope everone is enjoying the first day of spring.  Nothing quite like sideways rain, sunshine, rainbows, hail, and 25 mile per hour winds to get the season started off right.

I don’t enjoy forwards, but I like the challenge of trying to write in the style of forwards.  So… enjoy the following!

SURGEON GENERAL – TOXIC FUMES COULD CAUSE DAMAGE

The U.S. Surgeon General has issued a warning regarding the possible release of toxic fumes from the heating of certain springtime blossoms.  According to published reports in at least 18 different states, adults and children have suffered symptoms including dizziness, trouble breathing, irregular heartbeat, and nausea after attempting to iron fresh spring flowers.  The Centers for Disease Control did an analysis of the cases and reached the conclusion that in each case, the victim was attempting to flatten four leaf clovers with a hot iron.  As a result, the Surgeon General has issued the following direct warning to all Americans effective immediately:

DON’T PRESS YOUR LUCK!

 

This is supposed to sound sort of like that “Beware of the ___________” forward that we’ve all seen.

St. Patrick’s Day SCAM— DON’T SUFFER THE SAME FATE AS THIS GUY!

—One day I got a pamphlet in the mail, with a return address from Dublin.  After opening it, I found information about what appeared to be a wonderful place that could help many people: The Dublin Leper Colony.  As I read on, I realized that leprosy has taken a huge toll on millions of people worldwide. Even though we don’t think about it as being a problem we face today, there are still thousands of lepers throughout the world, even in 1st world countries like ours.  The information showed all of the tremendous ways that the Dublin Leper Colony has worked to touch individual lives through medical care, compassion, friendship, and most importantly, restoring dignity to these “untouchables.” 

I was glad to help and sent a check for $100 to the Colony, expecting it to make a tremendous difference.  I was doing what Jesus would do, and putting my money where my mouth was. 

Boy, was I wrong.  The Attorney General in our state caught on to the scheme of a certain group of South American mafia lords who had set up the “Dublin Leper Colony” as the name of an account in a certain unnamed, tax-sheltered, Caribbean island.  They had duped kind-hearted souls out of some $4.3 million, which was now unrecoverable.  The Attorney General wanted to issue a simple warning for all the citizens of our state- something catchy and easy to remember:

Don’t be tricked by Leper Cons. 

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and first day of Spring!

JM

What’s Best? March 20, 2009

I don’t know.  It seems like everything is going okay for awhile and then- BAHM!  Something happens that shakes you.  I am stressing out and mostly because my husband is facing a job cut in pay, no expirence raises anytime soon and the school where my kids attend might just get closed.  What’s next?  We love where we just moved but, what’s next.? We came here for a pay raise (nixed?),  great education opportunities for our kids (nixed?) and a more peaceful life- not now.  I love it here, don’t get me wrong but wow.  It makes me wonder how much of this will happen, what is just here-say and what I need to actually worry about. 

In our venture to become debt free, we sacrificed, sold things and got extra jobs.  We are used to living meagerly so all this new economic stuff hasn’t affected us like it has others.  Jeremy’s a teacher on a salary and we just relocated to a district that payed much better.  However, with a pay decrease, 2 mortgages and 5 people to feed- I’m worried.  We don’t have car payments or credit cards, student loans or an equity line of credit we are just “weird” people living our life debt free.  That’s going to get a lot harder if our pay goes- DOWN- not up as my husband gains expirence, education and enrichment.

Perhaps it’s time for me to go back to school, get a job on the weekends or something but, once again, what’s best?  These kids will only be small for a little longer but we are trying to change our family tree, give them more security and smarts when it comes to handeling their money.  I have security in my faith and family, I just don’t know if I have faith in what’s next.

Go Mariners March 4, 2009

SoDo Mojo… yeah.  That worked.  Catchy.  Solid.  A good motto gets people’s heads on straight, gets them thinking in the right directions for a good season of the great American pastime.  Back then, the new field needed a new zinger.

This year,the whole lot needed some zing.  Start with the motto, they thought. 

Now we’ve got A New Day, a New Way.  It’s catchy, it still rhymes, and it’s fitting too.  We’ve got the “kid” back, we’ve got a catcher leading the team (THANK GOD!), and even though we’re picked to finish dead last in just about everything, I still have hope.    I hope they play heads up, manufacture some runs, do the little things, work together, and make it a solid season.  I’m a realist here.  I don’t think the fabled return of a player past his prime is going to be a silver bullet.  But I know that I’ve got hope. 

Check back in August.  I’ll be the guy still rooting them on to shoot for .500.  Go M’s!

“Free Money” March 4, 2009

As a girlfriend and I were entering JCPenny this afternoon with our 3 collective children (we both had 1 in school or there would have been 5 with us…) to redeem our $10 off a purchase of $10 or more coupons, last day of course, we were attacked.

Okay, not actually attacked but close.  A lovely dressed woman jumps out from a tiny table that she had set up, right between the Trendy Women’s section (not an actual section name) and the Extremely Long Checkout Line and asks us the question that I get asked every time I had a cashier cash for a purchase- “Would you like to save 10% off all your purchases today?”  This would have non-paused me but she followed it up quickly with- “Plus an additional 15% off today?”  That’s when I looked at her and said- “Is it a credit card?”  “Well, it’s a no interest, no fees card- like free money!”  I shook my head and kept walking with my girlfriend.   This woman kept commenting after me about all the things that made it not really like a credit card.  I looked at my girlfriend and said, “We are in JCPenny- James “Cash” Penny- he must be rolling in his grave right now!”  My son, the ever inquizitive asked me, “Mommy, what’s a fee?”  We laughed and shook our heads while I explained to him that a “fee” for what she was offering is extra money you pay for using money that you didn’t have in the first place.  He shrugged his shoulders and went, “Oh, that’s silly.”

That is silly.  It also baffles me that after all this bailout, “money crisis,” hullabaloo she’s still saying stuff like “free money!”  Seriously?  It’s not like that’s a new phrase or the first time I’ve heard it, it just rubbed me the wrong way today.  I wish I would have said, “Honey, there are starving supermodels all over the country right now out of work due to the new Old Navy ads and you want to give me ‘free money’?  We are in a crisis here!”

Modelquins? March 2, 2009

Okay, so I was reading the Sunday paper when I came across the ads- the real reason why I get the Sunday paper anyway. Apparenlty, Old Navy is launching a new advertising campaign. Since the economy is so crappy, they have stopped hiring actual people for their ads. They are now using Modelquins. Strangely happy looking manequins with bios and “lives.”
Okay, so I know that real models are probably less interesting than these pastic beauties but really? Is this going to help our economic situation? Replacing real people with fake ones? I will need to ponder this more but for the record, I couldn’t stop laughing when I read the ad. There’s this one picture of one of the female “Modelquins” doing her nails- actually, her had is off soaking in a bowl of water or something and she is smiling plasticly at the camera. Really? Really? I will be venturing to the local Old Navy soon to see if I can get a picture with one of these new celebrities because for once, I love the idea of eleminating the humans out of fashion.

My first Blog, two! February 22, 2009

Okay, so my plan for this was to be able to visit and keep up with everyone. Our kids are growing a mile a minute, we just got debt free but need to keep moving on the emergency fund and just want to be able to share the love! I have been inspired by a friend’s blog and am excited that it’s something that Jeremy and I can keep up together! Who knows where it will go?!

First go ’round February 18, 2009

So this is my first attempt at blogging.  I think the part I like most about reading other blogs is the witty chatter that people put out there.  That and the videos. 

I don’t know if you saw this live, but here’s Joaquin Phoenix.  Nobody’s really sure what’s going on here, but had this kid come to my class he probably would have gone to the office to be “checked out.”

Hope your day is more eventful!