The Princess

May I introduce you to my daughter, Rebecca. The eldest of three and the only girl. She is our princess.


She is also a handful! Her recent adventure was deciding to cut her own hair. I tried for days to hide the shorter pieces but decided to get it cut today. They blended it in as well as they could and while it still isn't perfect it is much better than it was and they were able to keep much of the length still there. It could have been worse. She also has been cutting the dog's hair, which he doesn't seem to mind, but I do. These two are inseparable, and also both sporting shorter hair styles this season.


But look at that sweet face! Short or long hair, she's still a princess!

A Busy Labor Day

I hope you all are enjoying a relaxing Labor Day. Here it has turned out to be perfect weather and a day for getting things done. Hubby has been working in the yard and getting a few small projects done around the place. I'm busy doing my usual routine of cleaning, putting food on the table, and dealing with children who constantly need one thing or another. But it has been nice. While Joe (you know, the Energizer Baby) took his afternoon nap I decided to leave him with hubby and take the other two children with me for a quick visit to my Grandma's house. It was wonderful to actually get to sit down and visit for a few hours and see several relatives as well. Now I am off to make some hot dogs for supper and then we will probably go for an evening stroll. I will leave you with a photo of the visitor that entertained the children the other day...

Don't You Love Free?

Living in a small town means that if we want to go to some "real stores" we have to travel about an hour away, which we typically do once or twice a month. Today we decided to take advantage of the 20% off Labor Day sale at Half Price Books so decided to make it a full day of shopping. Let me tell you that trying to shop, much less browse, at a bookstore with three little ones (especially the Energizer Baby) is pretty much impossible. Hubby was able to look through some of the shelves while I occupied the children in the children's section. If I was child-less for a few hours I think that bookstore would be the place I would run to and just spend hours looking around in. Maybe in 30 years, right?!


Then we headed to a thrift store and a consignment shop but we spent less than five minutes in either one because my precious Joe (the Energizer Baby) would not stay still and I really did not have the patience today to deal with a squirming child. Some women may dream longingly about taking a vacation to Paris or a ring worth 50K but I just dream about having an hour alone to shop! Again, maybe in 30 years!


We headed to Target after our first three-store flop and I was able to score some items free by combining manufacturers coupons with their store coupons. It has been awhile since I have been able to plan ahead and organize some good deals so at least I scored at one store. I was able to get the dog food free, Rice Krispies free, was paid 40 cents for every two packages of pens I bought, was paid $1 for each razor I bought, and was paid 30 cents for the Bounce Dryer Bar (which I have been curious to try). Along with some other items I bought with coupons I saved $56 and only spent $43. If only the cashier wouldn't have been so coupon clueless and questioned every little one I would have walked out of that store walking on cloud nine.




Our last stop was a Sara Lee Bread outlet where I was able to stock up on their Cinnamon Raisin Bread and Bagels which I love, for just $1 each. Also grabbed a few loaves of bread to stick in the freezer.


(The alien arm seen in this photo is actually Joe (the Energizer Baby) who is also known as the bottomless pit and is trying to make a grab for his bagels.)


I love to shop (okay, maybe not so much with kids) but especially love it when everything is cheap or free! In future posts I will highlight some of my favorite couponing moments or what I get free with refunding.

My Tough Guy

This is my Jacob. Busy at work building his village for the day.

These guys are ready for their search and rescue mission. Or is it search and destroy?

Either way, he looks pretty proud of his display.

My little tough guy, always in camouflage with his weapons or busy with his army toys. Seriously, this kid is all boy and is constantly building, running, climbing, or setting up his toys to make elaborate scenes. I never know what he will think of next.

But in the end he is just my sweet little boy. We'll just keep that our little secret though!

3 Kids = Lots of Clothes

Having three small children means that we also need to keep three small bodies clothed. It could get expensive. But it hasn't so far. With the surplus of thrift stores, consignment shops, garage sales, Ebay, and awesome clearance closeouts I am able to keep my children well dressed for a fraction of what most mamas spend on just one child's wardrobe. It takes a little shopping around and often shopping out of season and a year or two in advance but having a bin or closet full of clothes to go to instead of running to the department stores with each change of season is well worth it.

For example, yesterday and today I went to several garage sales and returned home with a pile of clothing for my five year old and several outfits for my toddler for close to $20, which is what the price of one of the Gymboree outfits I bought my daughter would have cost new. The best part is that I am often able to sell the clothing (at a consignment shop or garage sale) after my children outgrow it for more than what I paid in the first place so their cost of clothing, in the end, is virtually zero.

(Some clothing I bought at a recent garage sale)

Some tips for keeping your little ones in designer clothes on a limited budget are:

*Shop garage sales and try to get there around the time they open. The good stuff goes quickly, sometimes within a matter of minutes if someone starts grabbing up all of one size. Search the paper each week to see the garage sale listings in your area. City-wide garage sales are often advertised a week or two in advance and are the best way to hit several sales in certain areas.

*Search your local consignment and thrift stores. Learn when they have their clearance sales and get there early.

*Watch for online sales. Often websites will have fantastic sales on out of season clothing. Search for online codes or free shipping codes to get an even better deal. Sign up for their e-mails to get first notice of their clearance sales.

*Buy a year or two in advance. If you see a cute outfit for your child that is a size or two too big buy it and put it away for when it will fit them. I store up to two years ahead.

*Use storage totes or an empty closet to organize clothing by size and sex. Label everything properly...there's nothing more frustrating than finding a pile of clothing that you had put away for your child that you forgot about and is already too small.

*Keep your clothing in good condition and try selling all outgrown clothing at a garage sale or ask your consignment shop what their consigning terms are. You can often make your money back when you bring in clean designer clothing in the newer styles.

It doesn't have to cost a fortune to keep your children in clothes!

What Do You Do All Day?

I'm sure we have all seen this joke a time or two but I just had to post it. This is what I do all day!

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel.

She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?' She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?' 'Yes,' was his incredulous reply. She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.'

A Bountiful Harvest

As I turned the calendar page today to yet another month I realized that soon we will be in another season, which means that our garden will start to slow down and finally stop producing anything at all. But for now we are still enjoying some of the bounty of our small raised beds and benefiting from our own homegrown organic vegetables. My children love to eat the tomatoes just by biting into them like you would a big juicy apple and our cucumbers are eaten as fast as we pick them. The bell peppers should be ready within the next few days and the pole beans will soon be ready as well since we got a late start on planting those.

With the way the economy is and the price of food (especially fresh organic foods) it only makes sense to set aside a small plot of space and grow a vegetable or two for your own family. Even in town with a small space it is possible to grow enough to drastically notice a reduction in your grocery bill during the summer months. When we are forced to cook what we have on hand; such as more salads, BLT's, and tacos you become more creative in the kitchen and learn to not rely so heavily on the grocery store and running there whenever you need one or two items.

I found the best advantage of having our own garden though to be that the kids are more willing to try new things if they are the ones that planted it and helped tend to it. My four and five year old help me dig up the warm spring soil and plant the seeds. They checked the garden daily and ran to tell me when they saw the tender shoots emerge from the ground. They helped water it and then reaped the rewards when the fruits of their labor were ripe. That, I think, is the most effective way in teaching a child to enjoy healthy eating.