Brides

So the name of the game last night at Grammie and Dandaddy's house was "Beautiful Brides" where each girl took her turn being either the bride, flowergirl or veil carrier. Complete with the petticoat from MY wedding dress, my mother's veil and flower petals from my brother's wedding (I think). However, I wasn't exactly ready for these sweet pictures when mom emailed them to me this morning. ***Sniff...sniff***

Quick Kids Closet update

The Sale grossed over $54,000 - 30% goes back to our Kindergarten/Nursery School program- which is roughtly $16,500. WOWZA!

Also, I didn't even sell HALF of my hairbows, however, the ones I DID sell where the expensive multi-packs, go figure! I did sell enough to cover the cost of what I spent though! And I will still get a check for 70% of all the other clothing/toys/baby items I sold! YEAH!!

Kids Closet Time!

Its Kids Closet week, which means bargains!!! I traditionally post pictures of my finds for the girls, so here we go!

For Beth, I spent a total of $59. As she gets older and into larger sizes (a 7/8 now!! 8's on the bottoms! ACK!!), the choices get slimmer and slimmer. I'm very particular about her clothing. I don't think at age 6 1/2 she needs to look like a teenager, which is what the MAJORITY of the clothing in sizes 7+ are these days. So, as you can imagine, the majority of her clothes still come from Gymboree, Osh Kosh, Hartstrings, etc.

So, she got a new halloween shirt and some candy corn pants to go with a candy corn shirt she already has; Two new dresses- both Kelly's Kids. One has a horse on it (and she's really into horses right now) and the other is pink with black polka dots. I need to pick up some black leggings for that dress, though; a black shirt with a reindeer on it.; a purple Mini Boden shirt that has a horse on it; a blue turtle neck from Children's Place; a red/white shirt from Justice; a brown "Love" shirt from OshKosh; a blue shirt with snowflakes (which she LOVES!) from Limited Too; and Giraffe PJ's from Gymboree. There is also a pair of brown shoes...which can double as dress shoes/gym shoes! Oh - and some purple striped gloves!

With Sarah Katherine, I spent more than I needed to - $130.EEK! However, Beth basically "skipped" size 3T in winter clothes, so I had VERY few "hand-me-downs" from Beth for Sarah. I'm not overly excited about anything, but I do think a few of the outfits are very cute. Not pictured is a TinkerBell costume she picked out for Halloween. I love dressing both girls in "holiday" specific clothing for Halloween and Christmas, so I always load up on those outfits at Kids Closet, where they are cheaper and I don't feel guilty buying items that they will only wear 1 month! Sarah Katherine actually helped me shop for her a little bit. She picked out the majority of these outfits!! Probably too much, but with a VERY picky 3-year old, I guess one can never have too many choices!

So - Halloween Jack-o-Lantern 2-piece outfit by Cottontails; Gymboree pumpkin shirt; Flaphappy 2-pc ballerina outfit - in a size 4T. She'll eventually wear it and I LOVE that brand; khakki and pink dress (matches shoes we bought, too); Gymboree horse 2-pc outfit; a few other 2-outfits, mostly OshKosh, Childresn's Place and off-brands; a green and pink Osk Kosh dress; a purple fleece snowman outfit; several 2-pc Christmas outfits; a candy cane dress w/ matching shirt; several Christmas shirts (pink!); 1 nightgown; Gymboree striped shirt with flower; Old Navy pink cordoroy "light weight" coat; 2 pairs of jeans; 2 pairs shoes; 1 pink snow boots; 1 bag of tights; and pink soccer cleats with pink soccer socks.

Not pictured are several things I picked up for Christmas gifts- a few DVD's, Books and games.

Total amount spent to date: $209.

(Total amount of bows I made to sell: $510, plus all the clothing and stuff I consigned. SO, even if I only sell 1/2 of what I took, I'll still get a check! As a consigner, I make 70% of what sells. What I buy comes out of what I sell...make sense? Usually its an even swap, but last year I got a check for over $100. Selling all those hairbows really pays off!!) Here's a picture of all my bows on the rack:

And here are close-ups of come of those bows...let me know if something catches your eye!

One more Sarah Katherine picture

Sarah Katherine's first soccer game

Saturday Sarah Katherine played her first YMCA soccer game! SOO CUTE! She did so well for 3 years old! She smiled the whole time and she had a great time!!!

Gramma came to see her play!

Posing with Beth:

Stretching!!


Getting ready for Kick-off - still smiling!


Coach let her do the first Kick-off! She was so excited! (and even actually made a pretty good kick!)

Running and Smiling!

Still running and smiling!

Playing hard!

...and getting the giggles!

Lunch Packing

Is it weird that I'm obsessed with packing Beth's lunch for school? :-)

I knew we were in for a rough year because one of her classmates is allergic to Peanut Butter, Beth's FAVORITE food and a major staple in our home. Ugh. A few years ago I ran across a website blog/picture site where I lady took a picture of her son's lunch everyday. What made this interesting to me was they have the same problem we do - no peanut anything allowed, so all her photos were of lunches that were "safe." Ever since seeing her great lunch ideas, I've been on a roll. I wrote many of her lunch items down and have a "master list" of "safe items" on my kitchen cabinet that I can refer to nightly, if needed.

I learned that what I'm doing is basically called "Bento." Its a Japanese technique of packing lunches - lots of little containers - lots of choices. I've since discovered other blogs that I read on occasion to get fresh ideas. Many people say the more choices you give a child at lunch, in small portion, the more they will eat. So far, true with Beth! Its VERY rare she comes home with ANYTHING left in her lunch box. Her favorites are hard-boiled eggs and yogurt, ham & cheese cubes on a stick, string cheese wrapped in ham, bologna cut into triangles, chicken legs and on days when I'm lazy - Lunchables. I limit Lunchables to 1x a week. Her favorite drinks are Minute Maid Fruit Punch juicebox, chocolate milk, small bottles of water, Berry Gatorade and CapriSun Roaring Waters. She hasn't been impressed with the small bottles of apple juice, though...never has been an apple juice fan!

I also have a stock-pile of snack items and special treats. Its hidden so everyday there is surprise treat. Most include mini chocolate chip cookies or mini-Oreos sprinkled in the lunch, Oreo sticks, Fruit-by-the-Foot, PopTarts, Mini strawberry Fig Newtons, mini Muffins, Cheetos, Bug Bites cookies and more! I also buy cool napkins and other things when I see them - so far, I have butterflies, Tinkerbell, pink, pumpkins and turkeys (for fall), Disney Princess ziplock baggies, Halloween baggies and pink utensils. I also make sure to include a note everyday!!

Most of my lunches pretty well mimic the lunches here (website mentioned above), minus the "wraps" and other weird things she won't eat. We have the same container- LOVE IT!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mslil65/sets/72157601755804789/

I also get ideas from:
http://www.laptoplunches.com/lunchmenus.html
http://lunchfitforakid.blogspot.com/

So, am I obsessive? :-)

Because its fun to remember - Beth

Here are some old pictures of Beth when she was an "only child"!

Prego with Beth 6 1/2 years ago:

When Beth was born- March 16, 03

Beth - 3 months

Beth - 4 months

Beth- 5 months - check out those cheeks!

10 months:

12 months:

14 months - just getting the hang of walking!

First time on the boat - 15 months? Summer of '04

18 months - October 2004:

Halloween 2004:

First time fishing - Summer 2005

Fall 2005:

Christmas 2005:

And these two were taken on Easter 2006- 4 days before she became a BIG SISTER!

I'll do Sarah's sometime later this month...if I have time! :-) Isn't it always that way with the 2nd kid, though?

Sarah Katherine's First day of 3-year old Nursery School

Today was FINALLY Sarah's first day of 3-year old Nursery School!! Bless her heart, she's been asking about it for a month now, especially since her backpack came in the mail! She knew from watching Beth that I take pictures of Beth with her backpack on the first day of school and she's be asking a lot if it was time for HER picture with HER "packpack?"

I tried to talk her into a different outfit this morning, but she would have none of that - she HAD to wear her pink butterfly dress and pink butterfly crocs! Oh well - it matches her backpack!

So, FINALLY, here are Sarah Katherine's FIRST "first day of school front porch" pictures!! Yeah!!!

These two aren't great, but they show her personality right now- total Miss Priss and camera ham!

Standing in front of her cubby in the class. After this picture, she said "you can leave now, mommy." **sigh**