Well, it looks like it’s going to be a low maintenance Halloween.
Elliott wants to be a ballerina instead of Dorothy.
{wah!}
I really wanted her to skip around door-to-door in her ruby slippers and blue and white gingham dress, hair in braids and a little basket on her arm with Toto peeking out!
Oh well. She wants to wear her costume from June’s dance recital…
Remember this one?
I tried to tell her she could be a “Dorothy Ballerina” and wear a tutu under her blue and white gingham dress.
Uh. No. Not goin’ for it.
So a recycled dance recital ballerina it is!
Holdy will also be going green and recycling a hand-me-down chicken costume from Babystyle.
Man I miss that place. They had the BEST costumes.
Both my kiddos were the peacock….LOVED that one!
{Google Images}
Of course, he will be an organic, free range, grass fed chicken.
There you have it.
The Aspiras’ are reducing, reusing and recycling this Halloween.
Done and done.
Looking forward to our annual pot o chili and jalapeño cornbread muffins after we trick-or-treat. Searching for my goulish cocktail for this year…last year’s was more like a trick, not a treat.
My garb du jour is the same Monday through Friday.
Sports bra, ribbed tank, yoga pants or if I’m “dressed up”, my favorite comfy jeans or black casual slacks and flip flops, of course.
Here’s a visual…
Exciting, huh?
I do love the layered tank look and stumbled across another super-duper clearance at Old Navy this weekend and decided I needed to spice up the “wardrobe” a bit.
For about $35 I got 9 new “fancy” tops. Here are just a few…
I ADORE the gray one with the rosettes…
Feelin’ like a whole new woman! {and all for just $35}
I LOVE the ribbed tanks from ON…they’re super long and perfect for layering with other tanks or under a long sleeved shirt on cooler days.
Speaking of cool days, today I have my “Baked Cookies” home fragrance going, chicken and dumplings in the crock pot and it’s a nice, crisp forecast of ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN!
Ugh!
As you can see, I am not letting these ridiculous temps get in the way of my comfort food cravings.
Tomorrow it’s supposed to be 103* and then “cool down” to 95* on Wednesday and then be back up to 99* on Thursday and Friday!
What the heck, Mother Nature!?!
See why I just went out and got some new tanks? Around these parts you never know when Fall may really get here.
Looks like we’ll most likely be having another snow cone while picking out our pumpkins again this year.
So Cal is nice, but I would like to trade in my tank tops and flip flops for sweaters and boots every once in awhile!
I’m a FREAK when it comes to planning my kids’ birthday parties.
They really aren’t as extravagant as many I see on all the darling party blogs out there, but I try to keep them fun yet frugal.
I usually have a “theme” about a year ahead of time. I get an idea and build from there…over the course of about 12 months…I gather little things here and there that I find on sale or for cheap. I stow them in a “secret place” away from the kids (& Jay!). I also cruise around the net and pick up ideas from this site and that site, jot things down and get the creative juices flowing early on.
Elliott’s birthday is in May and I just found what I think are going to be her invites.
I had something in mind and when I saw these on my TJ Maxx excursion yesterday, I knew I had to grab them since they’d be long gone if I decided to go back down the road and look for them again.
They fit the color scheme that I had in mind and reflect the party’s venue.
I am so excited that I crossed paths with these.
Here’s a sneak peek…
I think I need help.
Because there are a million and one things that will take place before her 6th birthday that I need to think about, but I just couldn’t pass these up.
If I can give my unsolicited party planning advice I would say to start early {obviously}.
But is 9 months to a year TOO early?
I find that when you have an inspiration far enough out, you can pick things up bit by bit and won’t have to shell out a grip of cash all at once. I save receipts in case I need to make returns or exchanges.
So far the TWO (count ’em…one. two.) mornings that we’ve had with our new elementary school student in the house have been a little challenging in the wardrobe department.
We lay the outfit out the night before and everything is hunky dory….
…until the next morning when it’s time to get dressed.
The tag itches.
It’s too tight.
Too big.
“Please wash it and shrink it, Mom.”
Too hot.
Too cold.
Blah. Blah. Blah.
With ALL the new darling clothes she has, she settled on something old today.
But at least we got out the door on time and had a leisurely walk to school.
Holden on the other hand is easy.
He doesn’t care what he wears.
Heck, he’ll even go all day in his jammies in public if I let him.
I pick my battles and sometimes do.
But since he’s a big boy now and starting preschool next week, we need to focus on getting him out of his favorite Old Navy jams every Tuesday and Thursday and get him off to school, too.
I couldn’t have him start preschool without some new threads of his own, of course.
I’ve said before that I am pretty particular about what I put on my kids.
For Holdy, I love cargo shorts/pants and graphic tees and the cute 2-in-1 look with the long sleeves under the short sleeves.
That’s it.
Easy.
Mix and match.
This goes with this goes with this goes with this.
Boys never match and they don’t have to.
Today I hit the bullseye at Target and picked up a few, what I think are super cute, tees for my soon-to-be-preschooler:
Love, love, love this one!
Got the gray bumper car one…didn’t have the blue Malibu one in his size. ;-(
Picked up the orange one, but again, didn’t have the green one in his size. But I LOVE that one, too!
While Gramm K was visiting this week, we hit up Old Navy again for some more shorts since we’re anticipating HIGH temps for awhile longer here:
He’s gonna be so darn cute in his new duds, hair spiked and his hand-me-down penguin backpack!
SOOOOO excited to get his own cubby!
****
Speaking of bullseyes, I found these today on super duper clearance:
Had seen them in gold awhile back and didn’t get them and was kicking myself.
But black’ll do.
$6.74 or something ridiculous.
I had to laugh at one of the comments left on-line for these:
“These shoes are very cute…I think that if you have a little meat on your feet u may not have the same experience i had. The straps dug into the side of my narrow bonny feet an were a little uncomfortable(i still had a lot of width to spare) but as i walked and they rubbed against my foot they hurt a little,but i wont return them. they go grate with shinny jeans or slacks. Maybe i will have to break them in.”
Well, don’t you worry girlfriend, I have plenty of meat on my feet so we should be good.
And I won’t comment on any of her misspellings.
I know it’s just a review for some Target shoes, but I am a stickler for spelling.
But I digress.
*****
The point of this post was that boys are easier to dress than girls.
That I found some fun tees for Holdy for cheap {2 were $3.50 and one was $5.99}.
Even after last week’s back-to-school shopping fiasco, I decided to challenge myself and take the kids to Marshall’s to look for school shoes.
I’m happy to report, though, that we had a successful outing and came home with these cuties:
Michael Kors (my fave) glittered flats!
She LOVES, loves, loves them and of course so do I.
I’d seen them in pink awhile back, but then discovered the more versatile silver and was thrilled they had them in her size.
Only $19.99!
Yay!
The creme de la creme…we strolled through the clothing racks and found several gems. She’s currently into the “dress and legging look”. We scored some 2-piece outfits that we both agreed on and some cute little tops to go with her jeans. Oh, and some knee highs….those were a must!
I was tickled that we were able to get this knocked out and that I don’t have to spend my weekend running around town to 5 different places.
She’s happy.
I’m happy.
I didn’t spend a fortune.
This morning we walked up to the school {just about 1/4 mile away} and turned in ALL the paperwork. She is officially enrolled!
Now we’re just waiting for the new big girl backpack to be delivered and we’ll REALLY be ready for kindergarten.
The kids never have a shortage of clothes, but they need a couple brand-new pieces to start school as well as some new zapatos.
I took them to Ross yesterday and it was a nightmare.
Everything that I liked, she hated.
Everything that she liked, I HATED.
We settled on a few things, but nothing that I super adored.
I’m not going to lie. I LOVE shopping for kids’ clothes. I am the one that always gives some article of clothing as part of the birthday gift for their friends. To kids, this equals B-O-R-I-N-G!
For Elliott’s birthday I found a darling pair of silver sequined high tops. I was so excited to give them to her. Wrapped in zebra print tissue and a glitter gift tag…she opened them and immediately blurted out, ‘They look like clown shoes!”
I told her they would look so cute with knee highs and a ruffled skirt.
Then she saw something on iCarly or somewhere and changed her mind.
So, now the sequined high tops are back in the game.
Yay!
Again, not going to lie….I am pretty particular about what I put on my kids. And I don’t mean that ALL they wear is designer, boutique inspired clothing. That is not the case at all. I have no problem putting them in a $2 pair of pants or a 50 cent shirt ~ as long as it’s cute!
If the shirt is ugly (in my opinion) and it’s 50 cents, no.
Cute and 50 cents, YES!
Sometimes a bow is OK, sometimes the bow ruins it. Sometimes there is just one little thing that makes it look cheap and I won’t buy it (even if it IS cheap).
I get most of the kid’s clothes from Ross, Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, Target, The Children’s Place, Old Navy, Kohl’s, some hand-me-downs and occasionally Wal-mart. I refuse to spend a lot on their clothing. I almost always get their shoes from Ross. They have quality shoes like Stride Rite at great prices.
So, getting back to school shopping…I was so excited to take her this year, but I just won’t spend money on something that I don’t like for her. Is that bad?
What I think I’m going to do to come to a happy medium is shop for her stuff myself and then let her pick out her outfits (within reason). That way at least I will LIKE all the pieces she has to choose from if she won’t let me dress her.
Ugh! I can already see the writing on the wall each morning.
