Finding Spring Wardrobe Bargains!

These are from Skylars Candy Clips on Etsy, Easter Bunny is putting one of these in Myah's basket!

With the economy the way it is I know we are all getting creative with our purchases. Trying to stretch our dollar as far as we can. I have always been a pretty thrifty shopper and I use LOTS of restraint when it comes to buying clothing for Myah. It just so happens that Myah has outgrown just about everything she owns right down to her little ruffle socks. So I have had to put "buying clothes for our naked daughter" into our budget this spring. I have had some "should be illegal because it is so much" fun scouring the local children's stores for budget friendly purchases. Here are the fruits of my labor! I am very lucky to have a nice outlet mall near me. I can find very good deals at the G*ap Kids outlet if I wait long enough. I loved this collection last spring at the G*ap, usually the following year Ga*p Outlet will have what was in their mall stores this time last year, I purchased the sunflower dress last year and it still fits her ( I buy things big so I can hopefully squeeze out 2 seasons of wear) so I was able to build a wardrobe off of things she already has. I love buying clothing in a collection because I can really mix and match and come up with several different outfits. This madras plaid collection at G*ap was also a favorite of mine last year, I have a hard time buying thing the first time around when I know that next year it will be at least half the price at the outlet. I love this dress and plaid shorts, I found a matching hat too, she can wear the shorts with so many different colors of t shirts, I love finding pieces like that.

Lord have mercy, a Gymboree outlet just opened up at my outlet. I have gone to the one in Birch Run but now having one just 15 mintues away made my heart stop and I turned my car around so fast I left tire marks in the parking lot. I purchased the cute little cropped pants for $9 and paired them with the cutest little $6 shirt from Old Na*vy, I love buying hair accessories at the outlet too, such a savings! I have literally been in the Gymb*oree outlet and had the ladies mark stuff down to a dollar while I was there, now that is fun!

WalM*art has really stepped up their game lately, I have always had good luck finding cheap and adorable clothes there. (Tar*get too!)This season I could have bought everything! These sweet cotton dresses were $6 a piece! The shirt was $4 and the shoes were $10. I also bought a few rolls of polka dot ribbon so I can tie ribbons in her hair to match. I love all things polka dots! I also purchased a cute sweat suit for her but she was wearing it when I took these pictures.

Old N*avy has the cutest things right now and such good prices. I have found things for myselft there as well. Myah has outgrown just about everything she owns so we even needed a new rain coat and rain boots. I feel in love with this navy blue and white pattern. And the best bargain is their flip flops, right now they are 2 pair for $5! I bought her 6 pairs! And a good tip is to look in the boys section if they don't have the right colors you are looking for, of course I wanted pink and lime green but in the boys dept. I picked up navy, brown, red and orange! Same shoes as the girls!
*sorry these pics are so gloomy and dark, it was a very rainy day here!*

I also have picked up some great play clothes for her at mom to mom sales and resale stores. I found some really cute gingham shorts, and some super cute tops. I don't like to pay alot of money for Myah's clothes, for one, she outgrows everything so quickly, secondly, I want her to play like a 3 year old and not worry about her getting her clothes dirty, and lastly, I am cheap and like to get the most bang for my buck, especially in this economy! My goal this year is to learn to sew and make some things for her. I have seen some really cute things this year already on clearance so it is a good time to shop. Myah is a northern girl so we have to have a revolving wardrobe, clothes for all seasons, I try to find pieces that are good to layer and that she can wear all year long. I always invest in a good coat/jacket because she wears them every day, same with shoes, a few good pairs of basic black and brown in the winter and white and pink in the summer and we are good to go. I like to air dry her clothes as well, I find that with buying the cheaper brands it helps keep their colors bright. I also found a product called Color Catcher that I throw into the washing machine and it helps catch the colors so they don't bleed onto your other clothes. It is wonderful especially for items that are striped with white. A fun item to purchase now is big girl panties now that Myah is completely potty trained, yippee! I make sure to go through my kids clothing every so many months and weed out those things that they have outgrown, and give them away, this way I know what to keep my eye out for while shopping and it also keeps me from being impulsive and buying a cute dress because I know she has some in her closet that she hasn't even wore yet. It pays to shop early too, I find that up north here it is hard to find summer clothes during the summer, they are putting the fall/winter stuff out, so I find most of the spring/summer items early in the year, then I am not desperate and paying big bucks later on. I love to make alot of Myah's hair accessories, it is so much cheaper to buy some alligator clips at Sally Bea*uty supply and hot glue some cute ribbon, flowers and rhinestones to them than to buy them at boutiques. I do find some really good deals on Etsy though. Actually the Easter Bunny is bringing some really cute items that I found from Sklyar Candy Clips, she has good prices and I love the felt monogrammed pieces. She is really good to work with, tell her I sent ya! And of course you know that Matilda Jane has been a staple in Myah's wardrobe since we brought her home, I love Denise and am so glad that she has gotten so "huge". I don't buy alot of her pieces but usually will get one or two pieces a year, these clothes grow with Myah, the pants can become cropped and the dresses can become shirts while she grows, they are very generously cut and Myah needs that. My sister is having a trunk show on Monday if you are interested let me know.

Well, that is Myah's spring/summer wardrobe in a nutshell, now if only the weather would cooperate!

I bought the brown one on top and also ordered a monogrammed one for her! Love them!

Chinese Milk and Cookies

These sweet brown cookies with pink frosting were a huge hit with Myah when we first got her. Mary our social worker had told us about these type of cookies before we went to China, she said that it is a way to "bond" with your baby, by giving her something like this that she likes. Funny enough, the orphanage gave us a bag full of necessities on Gotcha Day and these cookies were in it. They are made by Kra*ft and have the cutest little faces on them. I bought a few packages of them to bring back home to help in the transition, and to give her something that she liked and was used to getting in China. This coconut milk was also in her bag from the orphange. The babies loved it! I purchased some more of this as well, I just poured the rest out the other day.

This was a bag of formula that the orphage gave us as well, it was the infamous "Sanlu" baby formula that was tainted, I gladly poured all of that out! Still I kept the package because they had written some information in Chinese on this particular bag.

One last bag of cookies, these were the vanilla version of the sweet treat that Myah loved so well.

I neatly put all of these empty packages in a baggie and put it in with Myah's special box, I hope that someday she will appreciate that I have kept all of these little things from our trip.

The other day my friends took Myah for the day, I took full advantage of my time to myself and decided to clean out her closet, something that is almost impossible to do when she is home because she gets into everything. I have recently moved Myah into Dayton's old bedroom so she has the small walk in-ish closet now which is SO nice! I have two huge totes in there that hold some of her most precious treasures, everything from China. I finally sorted everything and put the things that we plan on giving her as gifts in the future in one and in the other one I put all souvineer-ish type things, and special momentos from our trip. I brought home some food/candy/tea to share with our family and friends. I still had it all wrapped up. I figured it has been almost 3 years, we most certainly are not going to eat it, but I had a hard time parting with it. So I took pictures and saved the wrappers that they came in. What would I do with the food after all this time anyways? It is just that everything from our trip to China is so precious to me. So I am doing a special post just about food, Myah's favorite thing in the world.

Week In Review

We have had a busy week so I thought I would just do the week in review through photos. Dayton started outdoor baseball practice this week as well, but I didn't have any pictures of that. We also took mom out looking at new cars, she is in need of a new one, we had fun shopping with her. Myah is showing off her very own library card!

We took a walk to visit Indie in her new barn behind our house. I think we will be making many trips to the barn.

St. Patricks Day at ABC/123, nice hat huh!

Enjoying our first 67 degree day! Yippee!

We took a special visit up north to visit Great Grandpa.

Myah and Dayton by the creek that runs through Grandpa's backyard.

Myah making a "D" with cheerios at her class.

Dad's Harley left mom and dad's for the last time. My sister and her husband are now the proud owners. An eagle was flying overhead watching all that was taking place.

We went to watch Dayton's buddy Brandon play hockey, he is an 8th grader and plays goalie for the high school JV team. He is pretty darn good!

Two Months Already

Dad has been gone from this earthly life for two months today. We all miss him so much. At times it seems like it has been just yesterday, and other days it seems like I haven't heard his voice in years. We are headed up north to spend some time with my Grandpa (dad's dad) and also to spend the night with my mom. It will be good to go home. I have been pouring over old emails from Dad, he loved to write. I have been watching videos that I took of him, the last one was on Christmas and he lovingly gave a "farewell" speech that has now become a priceless gift. Yes life does go on, time just marches on no matter what, but he is constantly in my thoughts, actually the other day I was driving home from my Grandma's and usually when I left her place I would call Dad because I would be thinking about him, this time I went to reach for the phone and had to remind myself that he would not answer. It is just not burned into my memory yet that he is gone permanently. I held the phone to my ear and talked to him anyways, I am sure he was listening. We have received so many wonderful messages regarding Dad's passing. He sure meant alot to so many people, nationwide. The local news outdoor sports reporter spoke at Dad's funeral and later that weekend talked about my Dad and his funeral for about 10 minutes on his radio show, it was very nice, he sent us a copy. A fishing magazine is going to have a blurb about Dad's passing too. They are going to have a benefit motorcycle ride in Dad's honor this summer, the local sports writer also wrote about my Dad's passing and what an impact he made in the out of doors. A man who was the bass singer in the doo-wop group The Diamonds who sang the oldies favorite "Little Darlin" sang a song "The Anchor Holds" and recorded it for mom and said some very special words about his friendship with my Dad. His local motorcycle group has made a custom patch for their vests in Dad's honor. I know I am leaving something else out, but his legacy will live on through all of us. He would be so proud. A few people have commented on how Dad's life could be made into a movie, he was a Forest Gump type person (not the mentally slow part) but how he ran in many different circles and was a person who got things done, he was comfortable with famous people and those who society has forgotten. He knew Ted Nugent, Ross Perot, John Hagee, Geraldine Ferraro's brother, Governor Engler, Kathy Roberts ( gospel music artist of the year), she actually called and spoke beautiful words into his ear the day he passed away, Homer Circle, Forest Woods (owner of Ranger boats). The list goes on and on. I have never heard another person tell so many stories about their life, and they were all true! He was a fantastic storyteller, he could remember every detail of an experience he had 50 years ago. I miss hearing those the most, he could always make my stomach hurt from laughing. I need to laugh like that again.

I found this email that he sent out the day before he turned 60, almost 2 years ago, I thought I would share this excerpt from it:

On a personal note, tomorrow I'll become 60 years of age. Just that alone makes me believe in miracles as I never dreamt I'd live to see 30. In 1966, I graduated high school, married my child bride that September 24th, received my draft notice two weeks later and left November 15th.......OPENING DAY OF FIREARM DEER SEASON! Spent 3 years as a Military Policeman in Germany, came home and God provided Linda and I our first child, Leslie Lynne, itself a miracle as we were told by military doctors we'd probably never have children. Yep, we had plans to come home, buy a Corvette and a new house (we both had good jobs awaiting us) and live life to the fullest. God had another plan. Ended up with an old house, a used Olds Cutlass 4 door, but then we soon traded that for a brand new Barracuda! Well, yes, we were cool and loved the car, but when Leslie came along a few months later, guess what? No trunk, no backseat, NO ROOM FOR BABY, so we traded for a Dodge Charger. Couple of years later I came home drunker than a skunk to learn Linda was pregnant again for Melanie. I recall telling Linda, "Let me go lay down and sleep this off and tell me again when I'm sobered up!" Our family was complete.

He goes on to say.......

If I died today, my life would be complete! After all, He's also given me all of you Prayer Warriors and I no longer WORRY over anything. Concerned? Yes, but never worry. Pray about it and leave it at The Cross. And it's so wonderful to see prayers being answered, regardless of degree of challenge. So, in honor of God allowing me 60 years of life, I offer praise and blessings upon each of my family, friends, and all the Prayer Warriors, for making my life worth living.......and I look forward to seeing our 3 grandchildren with The Lord right now. THEN, LIFE WILL BE COMPLETE.......FOR ALL OF US!!!!!!! WITHOUT HIM WE'RE NOTHING, BUT WITH HIM THERE'S NOTHING WE CANNOT DO!!!!!!!

That was Dad, you know when he wrote in all caps he really meant was he was saying! He is also where I get me obsession with exclamations points from. He wasn't always perfect but he was my Dad, the one and only forever and ever. Miss you Dad!

Thank you Mr. Meijer!

To Mr. Meijer,
Thank you so much for bringing back Sandy the Horse. You see the last few weeks I have been so sad when we go grocery shopping because you took out all of the old Sandy horses just like the ones that mommy rode when she was little and was grocery shopping with her mommy. Mommy is nostalgic that way and was sad too, besides it only costs 1 penny to keep me happy for a whole minute. I was so excited the other day when mommy and I were checking out and I noticed a bright shiny new Sandy, I even stood in line like a good girl waiting for my turn because you only brought back ONE Sandy Horse to replace the 3 that used to be there. But that is ok, I would rather have one very shiny new and improved Sandy than none. It was my lucky day too because the cashier even gave me an extra penny so that I could ride twice! Mommy was so happy that she pulled her camera out of her purse and took this picture of me. See, I am very happy! And it really helps keep my mind off of all of the candy at the checkouts, you know how tempting that can be to a sweet toothed girl like me. Thank you very much for remembering us little people, because of Sandy, I promise to be a good shopper for mommy again. Love, Myah
P.S. Please tell that lady at the checkout to keep the free pennies coming!

Come on Spring!

Myah can't wait to wear these!

A Special Outfit

A few months ago a girl named Rose and her mother went to China to re-visit the orpahanage that she and Myah are from in Tuanfeng, Hubei. I had sent my video camera over with them you may recall as a gift to the orphanage. I also sent some money along so that Susan and Rose could purchase a special gift for Myah. This gorgeous silk winter outfit was their gift of choice. I love it and will treasure it forever. Not just because it is beautiful but because it actually came from a little grocery store in Tuanfeng. She said that there was not much to choose from but she knew how badly I wanted something from her actual city/village and she spotted this one little outfit and it happened to be just Myah's size. It is very special to me also because I never got to go back and tour the orphange or visit her city, the daddy's in our group went while the mommies stayed back with the girls. So knowing that this came from there means so much. Susan and Rose also so graciously brought me back a small baggie of soil taken from the banks of the Yantze River that flows through Tuanfeng, another something that I was not able to get while I was there. I cannot thank them enough for taking time out of their special visit to honor my wishes.

Dayton's Last Basketball Game

This is not the best quality picture but it is the first one of our family without Dad taken after D's game. Still doesn't seem real.

On Saturday my family came down for Dayton's last basketball game. He was so excited to have family come and watch him. The season started the weekend that my Dad passed away so we have missed a few games and practices but it was good for him and us to have something to keep us social during these long winter months. We love seeing all of our friends each week. My mom, sister and her family came down so I made dinner for all of them afterwards. It was the first time that my family has been down to my house minus my Dad. It was sad I will admit, he would have loved to watch Dayton play. There have been alot of firsts and I know this is only the beginning.

Next on the calendar is baseball, we have our first outdoor practice next week, can you say brrrrrr! And Miss Myah is now signed up for an instructional soccer team. She is very excited!

When It Is Too Quiet

She emptied them all into one big bucket, her own special blend.

I know that when Myah is quiet she is up to something. She talks all day long non-stop, so when I hear a lull in conversation I know to go looking for her. Last night we had the Playd*ough out, what else do you do on a Saturday night when it is pouring outside and Daddy is working. I had left it sitting out on the kitchen table and I guess it was just too darn tempting, I found her making her own shall we say "special blend". It guess it is safe to say that I will not be trying to sort these out into their own little cans. So next time she plays it will just be with Myah's original color blend. I should have known better than to leave it out I guess! I can't complain too much, it did give me a few minutes of peace and quiet and sometimes that is worth its weight in gold!

Welcome Home!

The went white water rafting one day on the Nile River, I love their African sarongs.

Lora and Rachel are expected to arrive back home today around 2:30, please pray for safe travels. I can hardly wait to see pictures and hear about their experiences. I am sure it was a life changing trip for both of them. I am sure Scott will be glad to have them home too, we called him last night and he was ironing, he said he had about 15 more pieces to go!