Nothing brings a smile to a little girl's face than new clothes . . .

So I pulled out the tote with all of Morgan's 2T-3T clothing in it, along with a few things I bought on clearance for Callie a year or so ago.  You would have thought it was Callie's birthday!!!  She was SOOOO excited to see all her "new" clothes!  She is definitely a girl who loves her clothes!  She kept pulling different things out and was like, "Mommy, look at THIS shirt!" or "Mommy, can I wear this dress?" and she would open her mouth up wide and squeal with excitement.  She was completely in heaven!  I didn't think she would go through THE WHOLE tote, but she did and had it strewn all over the hallway.  Needless to say, she was quite excited to start wearing all her new clothes.  She has no room for anything else in her closet (I do still have her long sleeve shirts and winter dresses in there too though and she only has 1/2 if not less of the closet) and never runs out of anything before I get to the laundry each week.  It has been such a blessing having the two youngests' wardrobe already ready to go each season.  Of course it is always nice for them to have a few new things of their own and there might be something here or there that they will need, but usually their new wardrobe consists of getting up in the attic and pulling down a tote of clothes from the older two.  Anyway, here are some pictures to show Callie's excitement. :)

 

 

 

 

 

Ode to Goodwill.

(and other awesome thrift stores!)

Oh how I love finding great deals at the Goodwill! My friend called it her "frenemy". I think she said it perfectly! I love going there and finding super cute items for hardly anything, but I have to make sure I don't go overboard just because it is cheap! I especially seem to find lots of cute shoes, so I thought I would showcase them. My most recent find is this pair of black pointed Anne Klein heels - I paid $2 for them! I love them! I wore them on Sunday and they fit nicely and unless I do a ton of walking, they stay pretty comfortable. So, no walking around the town in them for sure, but wearing them at church where I mostly sit will do just fine. Anyway, then I have these fun, summer wedge sandals. I have been wanting something like these for a while now. They are really quite comfortable! Next are my gold, what seem to be exquisite (the sticker on the bottom says 850.00 - does that mean dollars??) , dress shoes. I love them, but I really haven't found a whole lot to wear with them. BUT for $4, who could resist? :) Next are my Bohemian sandals. They are so comfortable and I love the way they look!

This next pair of shoes I found at Plato's closet and they are SOOO comfortable! I think I paid $8 for them and they are American Eagle. Every girl needs a little animal print in their wardrobe! ;)

My awesome sister-in-law, Candy, has a fun blog that features cute, modest, yet inexpensive ways of putting outfits together, so I was inspired to see what outfit I could put together that I haven't worn before from clothes I got at a bargain. I figured it wouldn't be that hard since I am quite the bargain shopper when it comes to clothes (who can't be when you have four kids and a love of fashion like me!?). So this is what I came up with. Please excuse the quality of the photo and the way I put it together - it's kind of hard to take a shot like this one when there isn't anyone in the house to take it for you!

Vintage-looking blouse - $8, JCPenney, clearance

Belt - $4, Kohls, clearance

sweater - $10, One Upon a Child (it's maternity - shhh!)

jeans - $6, Target, clearance

boots - $30, Macy's, end of season sale

necklace - $12, Target

Did I do well, Candy? ;)

I had fun putting this together and I get such a natural high when I can find such great items at such bargain prices!

A little bit of sunshine, a little bit of sweetie . . .

This is my feeble attempt to usher in spring! They were Valentine clearance flowers, so I just couldn't resist the bright, beautiful colors at a great price! Plus I love tulips! As I am typing this, my fingers are cold, there is snow steadily falling outside and and there is no sunshine to be seen! Springtime please come soon!!!!

At least this makes the snow seem more tolerable! :)

I had been looking everywhere for black boots and couldn't find any, so I was estatic when I fumbled across some at Once Upon A Child. They are a little big, but that way she can wear them for a while. Plus I had been wanting to buy Morgan a cute, flowy skirt and there it was just calling my name when I saw it hanging on the rack. Isn't it just the most adorable skirt ever!? I love you OUAC!!!! I had a little bit of time before I needed to finish my errands, so I stopped at Hobby Lobby and found the pink ribbon to make a headband. I was so excited to find something that matched so well. I had a ball putting together the headband and Morgan was just as excited, if not more, to try on the whole outfit! Like mother, like daughter! :) She's pretty comfortable in front on the camera, huh?

A new spring wardrobe . . . so fun and so needed!

So, I haven't bought new spring/summer clothes for a couple years now because I was in maternity clothing last year, so with the money I earned from babysitting these last couple months, I was able to go shopping for some fun, much needed clothing. Now mind you, I wasn't able to get them all at once due to fussy children (which I usually had one or two with me) or in-decisiveness (which I'm a pro at!), but at least I was able to find some things I liked when I actually had money to spend! I LOVE getting new clothes! It makes me feel so good and happy! There is just something about wearing new clothing/jewelry/shoes that boosts your self-esteem and energy. It's very invigorating! :) Especially since I don't get new clothes very often. I relish the chance, especially when I find such cute clothes at such good deals! If I could, I'm SURE I would be a spendaholic, but I have to control my spending since we live on a teacher's income! (which really is a blessing in disguise - helps me stay focused on the important things and not get too materialistic!) So, I was going to just download pictures of what I bought, since the model clothing is probably much more flattering than the size I had to buy :), but since Cato didn't have pictures of the things I bought, I just took pictures of them. They are not the greatest pictures because I tried using natural lighting and for some reason when you do that it doesn't focus it, but you can still get the idea. Turns out I should have stuck to the AUTO setting! Oh well! I really like Cato because they are stylish, yet made for the "WOMAN" (not those bean-pole teenagers most stores cater to! No offense if you have a body like that! ;) Just jealous, that all.) Anyway, so here they are:

My fashionable sister-in-law, Candy, told me that yellow and gray are the new thing for spring, so I thought I would go for that look.

You can't see them in the picture, but these capris have a cute row of buttons on the cuff, and they actually look like capris on me instead of too short of pants! (Well, I guess capris ARE short pants, but normally they just look like high-waters instead of actual capris!)

I want to buy some dull silver ballet slipper type slip-ons, with the rest of the money, but I haven't really looked for them yet. Also this adorable B&W damask-like skirt if I have enough left over. Oh I also bought three pairs of jeans (a dark pair, med. blue, and light blue) for about $10 each on clearance/sale at Kohl's! I love it when I get things for a good deal! Did I already mention that?