Little Miss Lindsey

In January I took Lindsey to get her portraits done. Nothing special, just JCPenney. I wish they were special... but a few shots turned out cute. Wishing they were special makes me jealous of my cute sister Emily, who not only had fabulous hair that I envy, but also has a great photographer for a sister-in-law... AND she lives near her. The pictures of her cute baby boy are always fabulous. *sigh* I mean really, go look at her blog. The top bar picture? Shonda. The Valentines and 7 month pictures? Shonda. Newborn pictures, family pictures, engagement pictures... Shonda, Shonda, Shonda. So jealous...

Anyway, these pictures were definantly not what I had pictured in my head for newborn pictures, but I probably waited to long for the one I wanted. Oh well... I can't figure out how to grab the pictures to show on here... if you want to see them, check my facebook page. In the mean time, you get this...

Which is at least as cute as anything that the photographer at JCP got (even though its not a portrait kind of picture). Plus she's smiling, which she would not do for her "real" pictures.

And this one...

We definantly have another finger-sucker on our hands. I'm looking forward to the end of my binky-chasing days too, acutally. Lindsey will quite happily gnaw on her fists, but I'm thinking she'll be really happy once she finally uncurls those fists. Few more weeks, right?

Other than that, Linds is happy, chatty (our house will never, ever be a quiet house I'm pretty sure!) and generally conent, as long as she's being held. 'Cause if she's not being held, its pretty hard to protect her from the onslaught of her siblings' love.

This is them giving Lindsey space. Normally they're about on top of her if I leave her vulnerable.

By the way, I'm about ready to buy a DSLR camera body... I have some great lenses from the film SLR we have, so I just need a body... anyone have a recommendation for a good camera? I don't expect to do a lot of photography, I just want better picture of my kids than my point and shoot will take. And maybe, with a little practice, I would take my own kids' portraits and be happy with them...

Apple Picking

Brian's been out of town this week, so I've been trying to pack the kids' days with fun things to do to help them go by faster (for all of us!). And I've been having the hardest time finding a decent apple at the store around here, so we went to a local farm to do some apple picking. We were in luck, too: galas had just come in and they are DELICIOUS!!! It was a fun little farm. In addition to apples they had a cute little country store, several other crops for the picking through-out the year and a little petting zoo. The kids really had a great time. It was lots of fun. We'll probably go back later in the fall for pumpkins.

Love this picture. Carter spent most of the time walking around munching on a HUGE apple. I mean, does life get any better than eating your own yummy apple while exploring outside without mom nagging you to hold her hand? Carter doesn't seem to think so...

Feeding the goats. Carter kept his distance, becuase he did not want to share his apple with them (which is good... we had feed pellets for them). Allison thought feeding them was great.

Stocking up

So every once in a while, I have to share my shopping adventure and exploits. This one of those times.

My sister-in-law, Katie, taught me the ropes on how to shop ahead for your kids clothes. I've heard of it, I've wanted to do it before, but I've always been faced with the delima that my kids needs clothes for now... how am I suppoed to afford clothes for now and for next year?

This year, my kids are pretty well set for now. So I shopped for next year instead. At Old Navy I shopped their "Additional 50% off winter clearance" sale. Apparently it happens the mid-month January weekend every year. At Old Navy, I was able to get $519 worth of clothes for just $62. Apparently the real trick to this sale is to shop before hand (up to 2 weeks before) while selection is good, then go back with your receipt during the sale and get a price adjustment.

For Allison: 3 pairs jeans (one of them for right now), 2 pairs fleece pants, 1 pair black pants, 1 pair brown cords, 1 fleece half-zip sweater, 1 chunky white turtleneck sweater, 1 hooded pink sweater, 4 turtlenecks, 5 longsleeved t-shirts, 1 velour dress, 1 puffer vest, 3 skirts.

For Carter: 1 puffer coat, 1 shortsleeved t-shirt, 1 long sleeve polo, 1 sweater, 1 pair jeans, 1 paid khakis, 1 pair black cords, 1 set PJs

At JC Penney I shopped their 75% off year end clearance, which happens every January. Not all the prices were fabulous, but I was still able to get some good deals.

For Allison: 1 Sunday dress (for now... it was so cute!), 1 denim skirt, 3 longsleeved t-shirts, 1 half-zip fleece pullover, 3-in-1 systems coat, brown shoes, Ugg-style boots (these are actually from ON)

For Carter: 1 pair khakis, 1 longsleeved onesie, 1 longsleeved all-in-one outfit, 3 long sleeved shirts

The The Children's Place, it was the Monster Sale, but not until very near the end. I waited until this week and all clearance items (except winter coats) were marked down to $2.99. WOW!

For Carter: 1 zip-up hoodie, 1 fleece jacket, 3 longsleeved t-shirts, 2 sweaters, 3 pairs pants. I also got a pair of cords and a hooded cardigan sweater for Allison there too.

In total, I got nearly $1000 ($985) in new clothes for my kids for next year for just $175. That represents an 82% savings off the retail price. WOW!!!

Now, provided that my kids actually fit into my estimates of how big they'll be in 10 months (I'm mostly worried about Allison... I bought her 2T because I just can't image her being over 30 pound before the end of next winter), we should be all set for next year's winter clothes.

Oh, and lets just say I'm hooked, and I know how I'll be spendingmy kids' clothing budget from here on out. Can't wait for the summer version of those sales come July! =)

*Disclaimer: Yes... I do realize that I'm a complete and total nerd. =)*