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Ruffles & Sparkles vs. Plaid

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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!

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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.

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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}.

And that I treated myself to some new Fall shoes.

Because I needed another pair.

Of flats.

For Fall.

*****

Happy Medium

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It’s back-to-school shopping time.

I loved this as a kid and teenager.

Shopping for all the new school clothes, shoes, Trapper Keepers and Pee Chee folders!

{Trapper Keeper image found here}

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.

Have a feeling there will be a lot of Punky Brewster moments!

These are the times when I wouldn’t mind her having a uniform.

Holden, on the other hand, is still easy…

…that is IF I can get him out of his pajamas!

2-Year Old Humor

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Holden is now “2 and three quarters”. He knows what he wants. He knows what he doesn’t want. And he will let you know which way he’s goin’.  Lately he has been wanting to wear his jammies out and about. Once in awhile I will pick my battles and let him wear them to drop off Elliott at school, but I do not generally let him wear pajamas out in public.

This morning I needed to run some errands, so I laid out his cool motorcycle shirt and jeans. He fussed and said “No! Jammies!” So, I went and flat-ironed my hair, brushed my teeth and then went back in to fight with him…I mean get him dressed. Hmmm, I laid them out on Elliott’s bed and they were gone. Maybe he just but them back in the drawer…no. “Holdy, where is your outfit?” Ignores me and laughs. He runs away and hides in our closet behind Jay’s dress shirts. I ask Elliott to help me look for them…she said they’re under her bed. Not so. I look under Holden’s bed. Not there. By this time we’re working against the clock and I am getting more and more irritated as the minutes pass. I AM NOT GOING TO LET A 2-YEAR OLD OUTSMART ME! I am determined to find this outfit and get Elliott to school on time…..so I go downstairs and put on “Merry Madagascar” to keep them entertained and head back upstairs to solve the mystery of the missing clothing!

I go back and look in the same drawer, under the same beds, in the dress-up bin, in the pajama drawer, in the guest room, under the guest bed, in the washing machine as the top was open and I thought he may have thrown them in there. Nope! Checked the dryer. Negative. I looked in the Dora hamper. Nope. By this time I am fuming, but NOT giving up. I go in our closet and look in the pile of dirty clothes thinking he may have put them there before hiding behind Jay’s shirts. Nope! Heck, I even looked in the toilet and in the shower of their bathroom. Uh, NO!

“You’re smarter than a 2-year old. You’re smarter than a 2-year old.”

Are you effin’ kidding me? Are you serious?

You know when you’re looking for something and you just go look again in the same place you’ve already looked twice before? So, I got back on the floor and looked under their beds yet again.

I am on the verge of tears and want to scream, but I keep chanting to myself, “You’re smarter than a 2-year old.”

I go back in the laundry room and check the washing machine again – nope. Maybe I’ll check the dryer again too…sure enough…after I moved the clothes around, there they were! The cool motorcycle shirt and jeans! HE HAD BURIED THEM IN THE BACK OF THE DRYER!” I guess he could’ve put them in worse places!

So, after that ordeal, this kid was NOT going to leave the house in anything other than these two articles of clothing!

Once we were all locked and loaded in the car, on our way to school and I had ingested some coffee, I could laugh at Holden’s “humor”.

Just a simple reminder that no matter how MAD you are at the time, you usually can end up laughing about it later.