Swap with friends

My friend Mary started this group on Facebook a couple years ago ... it's called Another Person's Treasure. So basically you post things you want to get rid of and your local friends can take them off your hands. One man's junk is another man's treasure! So this past week she organized a Swap event. It was held in the gym at our church and everyone brought all their unwanted items and laid them out - then you could go around and 'shop' for FREE among the items the other ladies had brought. It was AWESOME! Not only did I get rid of about 5 bins FULL of my unwanted stuff ... but I came home with some really nice items too! 

Here is all my stuff ready to go into my car ... 

And here are some of my treasures - a food processor! Something I have wanted for a LONG time!
A towel holder for my downstairs bathroom, and a toothbrush holder. 

I picked up 4 of these flip-flop jewelry boxes that I figured the girls would enjoy painting one day with friends. 

My daughter LOVES cupcakes, I got her this to put on her dresser to hold jewelry or treasures. 

{She LOVED it!} 

3 picture frames, I always need more frames!

This beautiful clock ... this is my Mom's life verse so I am going to see if she wants this, if not I will keep it - it needs a new clock function but that is easy enough to replace! 

BRAND NEW candles, never even used! I can always use more of those. 

I use these little bins all the time for office supplies or craft supplies. They fit perfectly into drawers for easy organization. 

 A hot pink suitcase for my daughter, she was super excited about this!

A new game for the family and a brand new 1000 pc puzzle - would be great for a snow day! 

Brand new box of Biscotti, these will be great for coffee with friends!

At first I passed these by, but finally came back to them ... they will hold candles and go on the wall in my bedroom - romantic, huh? ;) 

This is a covered chip/dip holder ... I have another one of these and use it ALL the time when going to parties with friends. They also hold muffins, cupcakes or cookies really well. 

A whole stack of new-to-me books ... I LOVE to read and there were SO many books to pick through at this swap. 

These are hard to see but they are green envelopes with a slightly sparkly finish to them, I can use these when I make cards. 

Wedding table place cards ... got these for my Mom, not sure if she'll need them but they were free so hopefully she can use them!

A beautiful LOFT coat for me ... 

A long comfy sweater for me ... or maybe even my girls. 

This sweater is for me, I love short sleeve sweaters. 

Two sort of fancy shirts for my daughter. 

And a little sweater for my daughter to wear over a dress. 

And SIX beautiful summery dresses that I am hoping will fit one or both of my girls. It's SO hard to afford to keep up with buying them clothes and at this age we never get 'hand-me'downs' anymore ... so I was SO happy that this Mom from church who has 3 college age daughters was giving away some of their clothes!

I think that's all ... so many wonderful treasures, I am SO thankful! If you have a place to do this I would highly recommend getting together with friends and doing one of these swaps! {Side note, they did another one in the fall OUTDOORS at a local park - so you don't need a large gym to do this, just load up your cars and have a tailgate swap in the warmer weather!} Thanks Mary for all your hard work!!! 

Miss Smarty Jeans

First, a little background story ...

My daughter has the worst time finding jeans that fit her. Actually, finding ANY pants that fit her. See she's a 'normal' sized kid living in a world where all the clothes are made 'slim fit'. It's awful. It's been frustrating on many occasions to go into a store and try on 10 or more pairs of jeans in sizes WAY too large for my child - and still have not a single pair be able to get over her thighs and butt.

And I'm not being an over-protective parent when I say this - but my child is no where near overweight or fat. She is very healthy and very athletic, but she does have thighs and a butt and is not a 'slim fit' girl.

So for a long time now we've resorted to buying her stretchy pants or wearing skirts. But she's a typical 7 year old girl and she loves jeans. She wants to wear jeans and be like all her friends that wear jeans. (And no it's not a school thing, remember, we homeschool?) She begs me to take her jeans shopping all the time and we always leave the stores frustrated.

Anyway, getting on to the story ... today I felt like I actually had the patience to deal with jeans shopping so we went to the mall and I decided to try GAP. I hardly ever go in there and anything my girls have that is GAP was bought at the consignment shop - not full price! But I figured I'd give it a shot.

Well, GAP has these wonderful jeans in PLUS sizes for kids! How wonderful! Problem is, that the PLUS is actually TOO big for my child. (I told you, she' s just normal!) So we try on the 'regular' fit ones too ... and I hold my breath as I wait outside the fitting room door ...

AND THEY FIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Perfectly! And she loves them! woohoo, success, finally!

So we did find one pair of plus size that you could pull those little tabs tighter on the inside of the pant - you know what I mean? So she ends up with these 2 pairs that she likes.

Oh, and you have to know that because she does have plenty of clothes at home already and it's not like she 'needs' the jeans, I had told her that we'd go jean shopping but that she'd have to use her own money to buy them. And no, I am NOT a mean mommy! She had almost $100 saved from birthdays, teeth and Christmas ... so she had plenty to spend on jeans and of course Mommy's always halfway to broke! Just kidding, but you understand, right?

Anyway, so we go to check out with the 2 pairs of jeans and I squeak out a little compassion for her and say 'How about I'll pay for one pair and you can pay for the other, sound good?'

One pair is $20 and one pair is $15 -- yes, it's way too much for children's jeans but don't even go there with me ... remember the long struggle we've had looking for jeans??!!

So H replies to me, 'Can I buy the $15 ones and you buy the $20 ones?'

????!!!!!! Are you kidding me? I've just been outsmarted by my 7 year old! She has more money than me and she wants ME to pay for the more expensive jeans??!!
Even the checkout girl was laughing ...

So you know what I did, right? I paid for the more expensive pair. 'Cause that's what Moms do. =)

Why I love consignment shops

Reason #1 ... winter coat for oldest daughter $4.80!!!! Reason #2 ... winter sweaters for both daughters $2 - $5 each!
Reason #3 ... cute shirt for oldest $5
Reason #4 ... cute shirt for youngest $4!!!

Easter pictures

We had a wonderful Easter this year. My Mom, Bob's parents and his brothers and their wives all came. The girls had such a ball playing outdoors with their cousins Thomas and Jonathon.

I had a heck of a time finding Easter dresses that didn't break the bank, but finally came across these at Walmart and these are the ones that the girls chose. I was so surprised at the yellow and blue choices since there were plenty of pink and purple dresses in the store and those are the colors that the girls usually choose. But, this is what they chose, and I thought they looked just beautiful in them. Here we are, me and my girlies.
Daddy's girls ...
It was still a little chilly out ... but the sun was shining and it was such a beautiful day!
This is my favorite one ...
With Grandpa and Grandma ...
Family picture ... Jonathan, Andrew, J, Thomas and H after the egg hunt with their bags full of eggs. =)

I {LUV} Land's End

I love everything about this company ... I love their clothes, I love their shoes, I love their children's clothes and shoes ... I love that even though they are a little pricey, they have such high quality products that you know you are getting your money's worth!

I just ordered a few things for myself since we are heading south next week and I needed some summery things to wear ... I felt like a kid in a candy store when the box arrived through UPS today! It was like getting a really awesome present in the mail ... even if I did have to pay for it myself! :) .... Good thing I worked all those hours around Valentines day ...

In my box came a catalog for their kids clothes too and I have to tell you ... I am ready to order EVERYTHING! I have done a little looking around for kids swimsuits and think that I will now order from LE ... they had the most adorable, comfortable, modest, and SPF of 50 swimsuits for little girls. I have a couple of their suits myself and let me tell you, they really do last so much longer than other companies!

And how cute is this Easter dress????
Oh how I love Land's End!!