Jeans Shopping With My 11 Year Old Son

I fell into a panic last night that our Ethiopia trip was coming up so soon and I was not ready, so rather than blogging I spent time last night ordering 24 bottles of nail polish, 10 soccer balls, 300 balloons, rocket balloons, bottles of bubbles, and jump ropes.  

What?  Doesn't everyone take 24 bottles of nail polish with them when they travel to Africa?!

We'll be spending time with kids in the different care points so the nail polish is for painting the kids fingernails and all the other stuff is for playing with the kids.  Nothing breaks down language and cultural barriers and allows connection quite like nail polish and rocket balloons!

Oh, and travel toilet paper!  I ordered some travel toilet paper.  You know you are in for an adventure when your packing requires travel toilet paper!

 

_______________________

Then this morning I panicked again when I realized that the 11 year old, who is going with us to Ethiopia, had outgrown all his jeans, and jeans are pretty much what he needs to wear every day of our trip.  Guess I should have thought of that little detail sooner, because it has been months since we've worn jeans around here, but really, for none of them to fit, the boy has done some growing!

So, tonight after dinner, the 11 year old got the pleasure of me taking him to Old Navy to do some jeans shopping.  Typically I buy the kids clothes over The Internet, once they ship I have the kids try them on at home, and then I return to the store what doesn't fit.  Therefore, my kids have been totally spoiled and have not spent much time in dressing rooms or hunting for their size at a store.

My son got an education tonight!  He is now very well versed in the different sizes and styles of Old Navy jeans.  You have the 5 different styles - super skinny, skinny, straight, boot-cut, and loose.  Then within each style there are sizes (like 10, 12, etc. that correlate loosely to the child's next age).  AND THEN there is the further break down of each size into slim, regular, and husky!

Needless to say, I had the boy try on about eleventy-million pairs of jeans before we figured out exactly which combination was right for him!  12 regular boot-cut, 14 regular straight, 14 slim boot-cut, 12 slim loose fit, and on and on!

All while I stood outside the dressing room door.  Because he's an 11 year old boy, you don't get to go in there anymore as his mom, which is a little sad.  But, OF COURSE I was right outside the door to his dressing room and he had instructions to come out as soon as he had the jeans on.  I certainly wasn't leaving the judging of acceptable fit up to my son (my daughters, yes, my sons, no)!

So, while I stared at this:

A lady walked by holding her baby boy and I thought, "Just wait, you blink and he'll be trying on jeans with you on the other side of the door!"

Really, my son was good-natured about the whole thing and even suggested some of his own size combinations to try, "Mom, maybe I should try the 12 slim loose fit."  Don't even get us started on the fact that there is such thing as a slim in the loose style or a husky in the skinny style!  

I think it would have been less complicated to become rocket scientists, but we did discover the 11 year old's best size right now is a 12 regular in either the bootcut or straight fit.

My boy reached his personal wall in shopping with his mom when I began laying out various jeans accross the floor in Old Navy so that I could compare colors once we'd definitely decided on the size and style we needed.  "Look, this one is darker.  And this one has the faded parts there along the thigh." I said as he began to twitch and looked around to see if anyone was staring at us.

Then as I dug way into the back of the shelves to find certain colors I deemed best in his size, he began begging me, "Mom, let's just get these!  I like these!"

When I complained that one pair had what I referred to as a "wrinkled fly" and we needed to look for a different pair, I sensed that I was pushing the whole shopping thing a little too far.  I saw the look in my son's eyes that I've seen in my husband's eyes many times over the years.  It is the I-have-to-get-out-of-this-store-right-now! look and I knew then that it was indeed time to go.  I brandished my 20% off coupon and headed to the check-out.  As we left the store with count them THREE pairs of jeans that fit the boy for a total of $36 with tax, I congratulated both of us on a successful jeans shopping expedition!


May your weekend be as merry!  

Great Shorts for Little Girls to Wear Under Dresses and Skirts

I don't know about where you live, but where we are, it has finally decided to settle into warm weather every day.  I love that my girls like to wear dresses and skirts often, but it gets too hot for leggings under them and my girls are active, bar flipping, monkey bar swinging, climbing girlies, and I do not want their panties showing to the entire playground!

So, I've always had my girls wear soft shorts under their dresses if they are not wearing leggings.  A few years ago I bought several perfect ones at Target, super soft and the right length to not hang out the bottom of the skirts.  But, then my older daughter outgrew them and I couldn't find anymore at Target.  Thankfully, last year I discovered the Cartwheel Shorts at Children's Place and they are still selling them this year!  During a 40% off sale, I stocked up in various colors for my girls.  Just be warned, I order a size or even 2 up because the shorts seem to run small, that or they are just designed to be super skin tight, but that would not be comfortable for my daughters.  I size up and they are great, loose enough for easy walking, but tight enough not to fall off their waists! 

Anyone else a mama to a girly girl who loves dresses but also loves the monkey bars?!!

Spring is here!!

These flowers in front of our house are only pretty for about 3 weeks each year, so you better believe we enjoy them!  My foursome after church on St. Patrick's Day:

Saturday we did some spring cleaning of our back patio and trimming of trees and bushes.  The kids were all part of our work crew.  My 7 year old dressed herself that day and I have to applaud her sense of style whilst picking out a yard work outfit!  I have matching pink rainboots, no seriously, I do!

Speaking of dressing herself, after church on St. Patrick's Day she changed into play clothes and took the green theme of the holiday to a whole new level:

I loved her extra details of the green necklace and hairbow (the dog and messy kitchen in the background were totally planned for your viewing pleasure)!  The way she's rocking these outfits lately, I'm thinking I should let her start picking out my clothes!

Find more Wordful Wednesday here.

Easy DIY Valentine's Shirt

It's not too late to whip up an easy Valentine's Day shirt for your little darlings.  

All you need is a plain t-shirt, iron-on adhesive (like HeatnBond), a small amount of fabric, and a heart template (I just free-hand drew mine).

1.  Iron the adhesive onto the fabric scrap.

2.  Cut out the heart from the adhesive-backed fabric.

3.  Pull the paper backing off the heart, position it on your t-shirt and iron it on.

4.  Use a sewing machine to sew just inside the edge of the heart all the way around.  (Set your machine on the slowest speed and you can turn the fabric as you sew to follow the outline of your shape.)

Ta-da!  A super easy, cheap, and fast custom Valentine's shirt for your little one!

 

Did I mention I taught myself how to sew using the Internet?  Trust me, if I can do this, you can too!  You can also check out this tutorial for more detailed instructions on applique.

Find more Works For Me Wednesday here.

Feety Jammies

Have I mentioned before how much I love feety jammies?

My 6 year old and 4 year old love them, too and absolutely couldn't wait for the weather to get cold enough to wear the "jammies that cover our feet!"

Too bad I can't talk my 8 year old into wearing them!

P.S.  I realize the technical term for these pajamas is "blanket sleeper" but in our house they are "feety jammies".

Find more Wordful Wednesday here.

The day I learned my daughter and I do not have the same taste in socks

This past Saturday I took my daughter with me to buy some socks to go with her new pink tennis shoes for school. The packages of socks were buy one get one half off, so I told her she could pick out one pack and I'd pick out one.

Guess which ones were her choice and which were mine?


As we left the store and she proudly swung the bag containing the newly purchased socks, I asked her, "When are you going to wear those crazy things?!!!"

Her reply?

"Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And on Saturday and Sunday I'll wear the white ones!"

At least kindergarten will see her coming!

Find more Wordful Wednesday and Wordless Wednesday here, here and here.

A Finished Product

I think I figured out one of the reasons I love my new hobby of sewing.

A downside of being a homemaker is that often there is no finished product at the end of the day to show for your hard work. The dinner was eaten, the cleaned room messed up again, the children will need to be cared for and trained and fed and read to and loved again the next day.

I know that this job of homemaker and mother is really, really worthwhile and important and I am so grateful to have it, but still there is no finished product to gaze at and feel that sense of accomplishment.

I've talked with several other women who have left the career world to stay home with their kids and the adjustment to a new type of productiveness where you often feel very unproductive is one of the hardest aspects of the transition.

All that was a long way of saying, with sewing there is a finished product!

This weekend I made this skirt for my daughter and it is my favorite creation yet!
She had a skirt in this style as a toddler and I loved it, but have not found another like it to get in a bigger size. So, I made one! And another awesome thing about sewing? You can create things in just the colors you want, so this will match pretty much every shirt in her closet!


Here's how I did it:

1. I used this tutorial that I've used before for the base of the skirt, which was a mint green t-shirt (you can see it as the top layer of the skirt in the top picture).

2. Next I cut 4 inch wide strips from 4 different material for the ruffles (the length was 2 times the length of the bottom of the skirt measuring all the way around).

3. I hemmed one long side of each ruffle, and did an overcast stitch on the other side of the strip to prevent fraying on the top edge of the ruffle.

4. Sewed a basting stitch (long, temporary stitches) just under the overcast stitching and then pulled one of the threads to gather creating the ruffles until the length of the ruffled strip was the same as the width of the skirt.

5. Pinned each layer of ruffle to the t-shirt skirt base and sewed them on using just a basic stitch right on top of the basting stitch.

And then it was done!

The elastic waist combined with soft t-shirt under-layer make this super comfortable which is of high importance to my little girl and I love the way it looks on her!


And that skirt?

Unlike the cooking, cleaning, laundry, child rearing, errand running, etc. is a finished product!


This post is part of the Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge.

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Making more of my daughter's clothes

We live in a climate where it is warm enough to wear summer clothes through October and often into November, even. And not only is it warm enough for summer clothes, but summer clothes are a necessity, really. The typical "back-to-school" clothes stores feature (often long pants and long-sleeves), just don't work for us until after Thanksgiving. So, I've used this to my advantage and buy our version of back-to-school clothes in late June and July when the stores put their summer stuff on sale.

This year I've had no problem scoring some on-sale khaki shorts and knit collar shirts that are the staples of my boys' wardrobes. But my daughter, is a different issue.

She's off to kindergarten in the fall and as much as it pains me to say it, I've pretty much decided I will not be sending her to elementary school in a smocked dress. She wore them several days each week in preschool, and will still wear them to church, but in the 2 years my son has been in elementary school, I've yet to see a girl come out or go in wearing a smocked dress, and perhaps I should not subject my daughter to sticking out like a sore thumb, although a sweetly-dressed sore-thumb she'd be.

However, I refuse to dress her like she's Hannah Montana, or 18, because well, she's not. And, now that she's out of the toddler sizes so many of the stores I used to get her non-smocked clothes at just do not have cute things in her size. And even if I find a skirt I like the pattern, it is usually way shorter than I'm comfortable with my daughter wearing!

So, I've decided I'll either have to pony up the money for things off Etsy.com (which is not always more expensive than the regular stores, it's just they rarely have 30-50% off sales) or make the custom styles I like myself.

This weekend I used this tutorial and recycled some soft-knit t-shirts of mine that were stained/worn in some places but still had large portions of usable material and made her this skirt:


Now I am uncrafty, so the fact that I could complete the skirt at all is saying a lot about the low level of difficulty, but when the tutorial refers to the fact that you can finish the skirt in less than 60 minutes, you might want to triple or quadruple that estimate if you are a beginner seamstress, like me, and have to refer to your sewing machine manual to even load the bobbin!

But, I did get so comfortable and have so much fun making the ruffles, that I went on to embellish this t-shirt with ruffles to go with the skirt. It was a plain white Old Navy $5 shirt to begin with, but to use my daughter's descriptive words was "not fancy". Adding the ruffles really was easy and quick and I love how it turned out! I really want to make one for myself, now!


And because creating cute things for my little girl to wear is more fun than say, mopping my floor or scrubbing off the mystery gunk that is dripping down my white kitchen cabinets, I went on to also make this little hair clip to go with the outfit. I just cut a circle out of the extra pieces of knit t-shirt, pulled it in the center and twisted a tiny bit and sewed it with needle and thread, then added the button and sewed the whole thing to an alligator clip. Again, very easy! And you can absolutely trust me on the easy-part!

This post is part of the Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge.

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The post that is NOT about shoes

It's Not Me! Monday (a blog carnival created by MckMama; you can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have NOT been doing - but really have!)

On Friday, I did NOT finally get so tired of picking my 1st grader (who knows how to tie his shoe laces, but just often chooses not to) up at school to find his shoes like this:

that I said, "That's it! We are going back to Velcro shoes!"

My son is actually thrilled with his new tennis shoes/water sandals, so it's a win for everyone! (I'm sure his teacher was tired of seeing him with his shoes untied all day, too!)


We did NOT have a conversation that went like this:
Me: "Doesn't it bother you having your laces flapping around every time you walk?"
7 year old: looks at me confused as if he can't understand why that would bother anyone
Me: "Well, it bothers me when your laces are flapping around like that!"

And while I'm denying things, that afternoon when I had all 3 of my children in the Stride Rite store, there is NO WAY each of them measured a full one to one & a half size larger than the shoes they wore into the store. As a mother, I am totally on top of my kids' foot growth and never let them wear shoes that are too small to the point that one of my children looked worried when trying on a shoe that actually fit and said, "It feels funny!" and I had to explain that it would feel different but your toe is not actually supposed to be up against the front of your shoes. NOPE, NOT ME!!

And since I truly am a lover of the $15 Target shoes over the Stride Rite shoes, there is NO WAY Stride Rite won me over with their "Buy one pair, get one half off sale" to the point that I actually wished we already had our 4th child because once we picked out a pair of shoes for all 3 of my kids, I had to go and buy my daughter a 2nd pair of shoes to really maximize the sale!

And my final shoe confession: When my 4 year old daughter desperately wanted to wear her new white sandals to church this morning, I did NOT refuse to let her and say, "You can't wear white shoes before Easter!" Seriously, I would NEVER follow such an arbitrary fashion rule!

And when she asked why her little brother got to wear his new sandals when she couldn't wear hers, I did NOT answer, "Well, his sandals are brown, and that's a year 'round color."

Find more Mama Guilt Mondays here.

Embellish a t-shirt!

Believe it when I say, if I can do a craft, nearly anyone can do it!

My daughter has some cute red print pants but was lacking in shirts to go with them.

So here's what I did:

I bought a basic plain white long-sleeve t-shirt for cheap, got inspiration from the flowers on this dress and added my own red rosettes.

To make the flowers, I cut 1 inch wide strips of fleece from an old sweatshirt my boys had outgrown. I twisted and wrapped the strip of fleece until it looked like a flower. Then I just hand sewed the flower together and very simply hand stitched the 3 different rosettes to the shirt.
So easy, and the result was a custom t-shirt that was just perfect to match the pants she already had!

I made a matching hair clip by putting three rosettes together.

Easy, cheap, and my daughter got compliments when she wore the outfit -- definitely my kind of craft!

This post is part of the Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge.

Check out Gratituesday, Tuesdays Unwrapped, Tackle it Tuesday, Try and Tell, and Works for Me Wednesday.

Kid Fashion - Summer Sales!

I haven't done a Kid Fashion post in a while, because it is summer and for once my kids were set for clothes for a while with nobody really needing anything new. But, the school year is rapidly approaching and right now there are some great deals out there on summer clothes and if you live in the South like we do, your kids will wear those shorts through November! It is a finer thing because you can get cheap back to school clothes, buying what is on sale now! Also, you can buy shorts and swimsuits in a size bigger to be ready for next summer.

Here are 7 quick takes on the deals I've found for my kids in the last few days:

1. Athletic shorts like these and these; they will be great for soccer or basketball practices! Children's Place is offering and additional 10% off with webcode U4936MYN79.

2. I have blogged about these pull-on cargo shorts from Children's Place before. They are great shorts! We are totally hooked! Easy on and off and they hold-up well over time. And they are currently on sale for $6.99! I'm buying some for my oldest son to start school in and some in a bigger size for next summer!

3. For my daughter I got one of these knit skorts for next summer. We had a similar one this summer that has been worn a ton because it is so comfy and you cannot beat that sale price of $3.99!

4. J Crew's Crewcuts is offering free shipping for a limited time and they are having a great sale. I haven't ever bought my kids clothes from there because they are too expensive, but the sale stuff I can actually consider. I'm thinking of getting these shorts for my boys to wear next summer. So cute!

5. I love this dress from Crewcuts for my daughter and just need to decide if I should get it in navy for her to wear this fall or the light purple for next spring and summer. I'm also loving this khaki skirt!

6. These shoes from Target look really cute and remind me of some I paid over $30 for last fall. We will have to get to Target to try them on.

7. And I would like to get these Target shoes for my toddler, but his foot is a wide and they don't come in wide. I'll have to keep looking for some fall shoes for him!

Find more Finer Things Friday at The Finer Things in Life, Hooked on Fridays at Hooked on Houses, 7 Quick Takes Friday at Conversion Diary

Kid Fashion - Shoes for him

I remember when I just had one child and shopping for anything for him was so fun! Bibs, tiny socks, pajamas, shoes, clothes -- oh the excitement whenever he needed anything new!

Now that I have 3 ever-growing kids, keeping all 3 in shirts, shorts, pants, dresses, skirts, pajamas, school shoes, church shoes, underwear, winter coats, rain coats, swimsuits, swim goggles, winter hats, sun hats, baseball pants, baseball socks, ballet leotards, tights, ballet shoes, soccer cleats, baseball cleats, etc. that are the right size and not too worn out has become quite the overwhelming task. At any given time somebody needs something!

Just today my daughter's feet were crammed into too small ballet shoes that I need to find time to take her to replace and my toddler went to bed in a pajama shirt with some random athletic shorts because the bottoms to all the 2-year-old-sized-boy-summer-jammies somehow disappeared during the passing down from big brother to little brother!

But this past weekend, I tackled a wardrobe issue rather painlessly and learned something new about malekind in the process!

My 6 year-old has been wearing last year's brown sandals to church the past few weeks because it has been warm enough for shorts, but his toes were crammed up against the end. I checked a couple of my usual stores for new ones, but since he moved up to a kid size 1, the choices for classic looking footwear in those stores have disappeared.

But the Internet, is my friend!

You gotta try shoes on, right? And they may or may not work, so that is why I love the sites like Endless.com that have free shipping and free return shipping if the shoe does not fit or work or whatever!

I found 2 cute options and planned to send one pair back after we decided which was best. They arrived so fast I didn't have time to try them on my son until we were getting ready for church.

I did the girl maneuver on him and put a different shoe on either foot to compare. I was leaning towards the one with the toe covered, but I asked my son what he thought.

Do you know what he did?

Lifted up each foot and examined the bottom of the shoe!

I was amazed at why the part nobody could see would matter. Comfort & cuteness, that's how I rate shoes! He informed me the ones with the open toe (1st picture) had a much better bottom and would allow him to run faster and jump higher.

Hmmm. . .

I called in his dad, my husband, for further help and wisdom. He had been in another part of the house and not heard any of our conversation thus far.

Do you know what my husband did when I asked him which shoe was better?

HE LIFTED MY SON'S FOOT AND LOOKED AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH SHOE!

People, I learned something new about males! I have been married to a man for nearly 10 years, grew up with a big brother, and have 2 sons. I thought I knew it all about boys. Not true!

Apparently they choose shoes based on the bottom of the shoe!

Whatever! The shoe they unanimously chose was on sale for $19.00 versus the nearly $40.00 pair I liked! So the $40 pair was sent back.

No matter how you choose shoes, I highly recommend the Internet shopping. More choices, better prices, not dragging your kid to the store and through the store, and being able to try the shoes on your kid in your home when he or she is in a cooperative mood & while your other kids are contained and not running wildly through the store -- I could go on and on about the benefits!

But I'll just list one more. You get to narrow the choices!!! I chose 2 pairs of sandals that I liked and thus eliminated taking him to the store and having him fall in love with some ugly shoes and fight to get them! It's all about bringing the store to your child, not your child to the store!

Find more Fashion Friday at Big Mama.

Kid Fashion - Swimsuits

Okay now that I got the swim diaper basics business out of the way last week, we can move on to the more fun, regular swimsuit.

The website Kid Surplus has some really cute swimsuits for great prices click on this link for All Swimsuits on their site. They are also running the special $5 Off Orders over $50 at Kidsurplus with code MOMSDAY.

I just bought this cute little girl swimsuit for my daughter and got it in the mail a couple days ago. It is even more fabulous than the picture! It has sparkly sequins on the front of the top that are hard to see in the picture. If your daughter is like mine, sparkly anything is a huge delight!

I do not get bikinis for my 3 year old, but tankinis I will let her wear since they are more covering and also very practical because they make bathroom breaks so much easier! I got her this tankini recently and she literally slept in it for 2 nights and insisted on wearing it under her clothes for a couple days!

For boys, I love the Old Navy swimsuits. They usually have cute ones to choose from like this one or this one with great rashguard shirts like this and this. My oldest son is on the slim side and other brands of swimsuits often slide down off his waist, but these Old Navy kind have a great fit around the waist that stays on him. Also, those swimsuits wear really well. We have some he wore over and over for 2 summers and they still look great to pass on to Baby Brother!

Find more Fashion Friday at Big Mama.

Kid Fashion - Swim Diaper Necessity

This is more functional rather than stylish Fashion Friday advice, but if you have a non-potty trained child you plan on swimming with this summer, this tip just may change your life!

It only took me 2 kids and countless gross mishaps before I realized, those disposable swim diapers LEAK! There is nothing that will mar an otherwise spectacular pool or waterpark adventure quite like holding a swim diaper & swimsuit clad baby on your hip and realizing that a mixture of chlorine water and #2 is running down your leg!

I wised up by my 3rd child and began thinking there had to be a better way!

Then the place where my older kids take swim lessons began requiring double swim diapers on all kids younger than 3 and one of those swim diapers had to be the reusable kind. They recommended and sold the iPlay brand.

I began doing this on my toddler anytime he went swimming last summer, a disposable underneath the reusable iPlay swim diaper and then the swimsuit on top. And it works, no more leaks!

Here is a link to the iPlay boy version swim diaper I just bought in the size for my soon-to-be 2 year old son to wear this summer. He will be so happy to have a boy swim diaper because all last summer he wore the pink flowery ones that his big sister had to wear to swim lessons (but since they were under his regular swimsuit nobody knew)!

KidSurplus.com has the best deals on these swim diapers right now and they are offering $5.00 off an order of $25.00 or more, just use promo code DAFFODIL.

For the girl 2 year old version click here, and for other styles and sizes for younger babies this link will show you all the iPlay items.

I plan to spend a lot of time at the pool with my kids this summer, so if not for yourself, then for the rest of us in the pool, please get a resusable swim diaper for your infant/toddler!!!

Find more Fashion Friday at Big Mama.

Kid Fashion - The Monogram

I shared a few weeks ago about one of my great loves, the smocked dress, well, today I am sharing something almost as near and dear to my heart.

The monogram.

What is it about adding a 3 letter or 1 letter monogram that just makes it adorable?!!!


The dress below I found plain on Ebay for around $12.00 and then I took it to a local shop and paid a few dollars to have it monogrammed. An adorable custom dress for less than $20 -- you can't beat that! Unless you have your own monogram machine and then you can beat that. Also, if you do have a monogram machine be sure to send me your address, I'll be over with a stack of clothes!!!


This next dress, brown with white stripes, I bought on sale at BabyGap for cheap and then added the monogram to make it special.

Etsy.com has super cute monogrammed t-shirts. I will be featuring some of my favorites in coming weeks.

Check out these adorable custom, monogrammed diaper bags. I've had 2 different versions of these for my babies and loved them. So durable, washable and cute!

And, I've linked here before but you gotta love these monogrammed bloomers and these monogrammed onesies!

You can find monogrammed headbands, hairbows, pony tail holders, baby booties, bibs-- the possiblities are endless!

But I gotta stop somewhere, so maybe there will be a post of The Mongram Part 2 someday!

Find more fashion Friday at Big Mama.

Kid Fashion - A Hairstyle

Am I the only one who after having a boy child, had a girl and felt totally unprepared for the whole hair-fixing thing?

Now, don't get me wrong, dressing my little girl and fixing her hair is one of the great joys of my life, but let's face it, some mornings there is just not the time for much styling. Out of desperate need, I discovered the best hairstyle!

This hairstyle does not even require you to be able to brush through your daughter's hair, which is awesome when my daughter eats waffles for breakfast, gets syrup in her hair, and there is no time for another shower! It is also very cool for hot weather if your little girl has long hair like mine does.

This is all you have to do:

• Roughly part the hair on the side or down the middle (does not have to be perfect).
  
• Grab a hunk on one side, smooth front and sides a little, and wrap a hair band around until tight
• Repeat on other side.
• Find 2 matching hair bows and use them to secure any stray hairs on either side up near the hair bands.

I get tons of compliments when my daughter's hair is fixed like this and all I can think is, "if they only knew how crusted with maple syrup that hair was!"
Find more Fashion Friday at Big Mama

****Click on the button below for more info. on MckMama's baby Stellan and how you can pray for him. This bloggy world may be big, but we can still support each other like sisters!****

Kid Fashion - Best Summer Shoes

This is going to be a super short Fashion Friday post because we are . . . um . . . traveling for Spring Break.

I cannot tell a lie and anyway if you were here yesterday you know the truth. We are camping. Who camps with their 6 year old, 3 year old, and 1 year old children? Crazy people, that's who!

I'm setting this to auto-post so I'm still in the comfy, climate controlled loveliness of home, but as you read this I'll be braving the elements and the nature! Check back next week to hear if we made it out of the wilderness, how long we lasted in the tent before we headed to the car to sleep, and just how many other campers in the state park tried to vote us off the campgrounds!

Back to kid fashion.

Crocs are the best summer shoes for my kids. They lived in them last summer. Easy on and off, comfy, cool, and best of all, they can be hosed and scrubbed off when needed!!! We just got our Crocs for this summer.
These styles are the Crocling in color Camo and the Mary Jane in Cotton Candy. Find them at

or
the crocs online store

Find more Fashion Friday at Big Mama.

Kid Fashion - There are Brand names and then there's Target

I've posted before about wanting clothes that will last for my kids and how I'm willing to pay more if they will still look nice after 5 washings (which I've found begins to fade many-o-brands I've tried even using cold water and low heat dry)!

Well, I had gotten the Mini-Boden catalog for a while and always thought the clothes were cute, but too pricey, especially since I would have to pay for shipping because we do not have a physical store here. But, one day a little over a year ago, they were offering free shipping and a sale on top of that, so I bought some things for my son and daughter.

I was curious if the higher price tag would mean higher quality, especially for things like t-shirts and jeans.

Do you know what I found? For the most part, no, the quality was not worth the extra price, with the exception of two items.

These zip off cargos which are pricey, but they are super durable and convert from pants to shorts. My oldest son has worn them every week for a year as both pants and shorts and they still look brand new! Not to mention he LOVES the concept of being able to zip off the bottoms should he get hot mid way through the day, its all about options, my friends. The second and only other notable item I purchased is this skirt in this style, ours from last year is pink and white polka-dots which I don't see this year, but the style and fabric are excellent, so you can't go wrong with any color choice. The skirt is very soft, easy to pull on and off and went great with pretty much every shirt in her closet!

Another big name brand is Hanna Andersson which I usually only frequent right before winter for their awesome long-sleeve soft cotton dresses, but they are having a sale on their summer dresses right now. Check out this cute one or this one. While you're over there these cropped pants are adorable and would be so comfy for spring, summer and early fall, paired with either a short-sleeve or long-sleeve shirt.

I'll leave you with these cheap, fun little girl shoes that I may or may not have bought for my daughter while picking up Diaper Genie refills this week! If you have not yet discovered the Target shoe department for your kids, go! The shoes are super prices, cute, and usually just as comfy as Stride Rite! But if you are not actually shopping for shoes, avoid it like the plague, because you will cave to the temptation!

And speaking of the temptation, while you're at Target if you happen to notice this dress you will totally be forced to buy it because where else can you find a $5 dress?

Find more Fashion Friday at Big Mama.

Kid Fashion - The Smocked Dress

I think there is not much sweeter in the world than a little girl in a smocked dress! I love them for many reasons, some of which may surprise you! The smocked dress is easily cared for, simply wash on the handwash setting in your washing machine in cold water and hang to dry. The dress dries very quickly and minimal ironing is needed.

In my experience stains come out of these dresses much easier than say a pink cotton t-shirt from BabyGap (sorry Gap, did I bash you last week, too? really there are no hard feelings; I'm just calling it like it is and the stain stick, the Tide with Bleach for colors, even the Oxy has not saved many o' Gap clothing in my home). There is something about the fabric in those smocked dresses that does not hold stains! People have marveled that I let my little girl wear these dresses to preschool where she paints and uses markers, etc. but actually these dresses are easier to get that stuff out of than her other clothes!

The dresses can literally be worn for years! You buy them first at a length that falls to your daughter's ankle and she can wear it until it is knee-length and by then it will be getting a little tight around the neck and alas, you must shed some tears and pack it away, hopefully for baby sister to wear!

The dresses can be worn with tights and sweaters in colder weather.

So, do I pay the $60 boutique prices for these? No way! I usually pay around $24.00 and sometimes even $18.00 or $19.78 on Ebay. Sometimes that is for a new with tags dress and sometimes used in good condition. I really don't care, we wash it after we get it and if the Ebay seller has a good rating I believe their assessment that there are no holes, stains, etc. I have not had problems with quality on these! They actually hold up well over time and are hard to wear out!

Simply search on "smocked dress" and maybe also your child's size. Tons of results will come up but I only look at the ones that are ending in the next 24 hours. The key is not to fall in love with one dress because you may loose several before you win one, but there are always more being listed and a bunch of cute smocked styles to choose from! Just try again a few days later.

Great brand names to look for: Rosalina, Orient Expressed, Amanda Remembered, Anavini, Silly Goose, Smocked Frocks, and there are probably a few other great ones I'm forgetting, so don't consider that list exhaustive.

Oh, and to go under the smocked dress, monogrammed white eyelet bloomers are the best! Find cute, quality ones here. These are a long wearing item, too. My daughter is still wearing some she wore a couple years ago (of course she has shed the diaper since then, so that has allowed for growing room)!

Have fun dressing your little princess, from what I hear you can only get them in the smocked dresses until age 6 or 7, so I'm enjoying this time while I've got it!!!

For more Fashion Friday, head on over to Big Mama. Oh, it makes me smile every time I think of her blog name, especially once you see a picture of her and see that she is really tiny!

Kid Fashion - Best Buys

I like my kids to look cute. I like to not spend a fortune on their clothes. I like their clothes to last not only until they outgrow them, but until their younger sibling does! I don't ask for much, do I? Here are some tips and deals I've discovered to make my kid fashion goals possible. Check back on future Fridays, too, because I'll share more exciting kid fashion tips, like the beauty and durability of the smocked dress and how to find it cheap!

For Girls:
Check out these little girl shoes, so cute and for a great price or these in the leopard print.

If you are looking for little girl jeans, these from Target are great, super cheap. They are the soft denim which my little princess will wear without complaining that "they hurt" as she does for regular denim jeans!

Now this is not on sale, but I cannot say enough about tulle skirts (ballerina tutu style) for little girls. My daughter has a couple (one found on sale at Gymboree a little while back and one found on Ebay) and you can pair them with t-shirts like this one or this one for an easy, cute look. My daughter gets tons of compliments when she wears her "ballerina skirts", not to mention how much fun she has twirling around in them!

Your daughter can start wearing her spring and summer dresses and skirts even if the weather is still a little chilly when you pair them with leggings and a sweater. We have these eyelet leggings and they are my favorite. They go with all my daughter's dresses and do you know the best part? They are white, so you can totally bleach pen away any stains! Not that my little princess would ever have grass stains on her knees or anything! She wore hers last winter and this winter because if they are a little short it is just like capri leggings, so I got my money's worth!

These capri pants are fun for spring and can be paired with a long sleeve or short sleeve t-shirt.

For Boys:
For toddler boys, these Stride Rite shoes are a steal at $19.99 marked down from $34.00. My toddler wore these all winter and I loved them for casual or with khakis for church.

Now, I'm all about great buys for kid clothes, but only to the extent that I'm still getting good quality. I have two boys and I would like to be able to reuse most of my 1st son's clothes for his little brother. I have found that the Ralph Lauren short sleeve polo shirts wear much better than a Gap or Old Navy one. Sorry Gap and Old Navy, but you just fade so much that you wear out before my 1st child even outgrows you! I only buy the Ralph Lauren stuff when it is on sale and then it is only a little more than the other brands. For example, these solid polos are on sale for $19.99 and this stripe polo and this stripe polo are on sale for $22.99.

Also, these long sleeve t-shirts are on sale for $9.99. I may buy a couple for next winter! And short-sleeve are already on sale for $7.99, marked down from $18.00 -- such a deal!

Before the Old Navy people leave me nasty comments, I must say, I don't have quality problems with all Old Navy stuff. My son has worn their jeans all winter and they still look great and they come in slim, which he needs! So, if you need boy jeans check these out, they are even on sale!

Now here is some quality for a low price! These pull-on cargo shorts from Children's Place are awesome! My 1 year-old and 5 year-old both had a couple pairs they wore all last summer and fall and they did not wear out! They are easy on and off with no buttons and look great with t-shirts or collar shirts.

I'd love it if you'd share your kid fashion faves! What have you found to last and what looks terrible after a couple washings?

Find more Fashion Friday at Big Mama.