lovely hand-me-downs.

As each school year approaches I always manage to remember the clothes bin that I have tucked away in the back of our entry closet. This past week while the girls were at camp I managed to take it out, and let me tell you...it was like back to school shopping for Chelsea. 

I love thrift shopping, and some of these clothes were either bought at various consignment shops, Deseret Industries stores when we lived in Utah, Old Navy, or the Goodwill. Luckily I'm one of those organized mothers in which I label everything under the sun in order to save the things that I know will be beneficial to someone in the future.

Chelsea was in heaven as she was pulling out all the clothes from the bin. She said to me, "Lexie wore some really nice clothes mom, you're a good shopper."

She was so excited when we pulled out these skirts. She said, "Now I have more skirts to wear to church!" It's a good thing we went through this bin because some of these skirts she'll only be able to wear this year! Sometimes I forget what I saved, and because they vary in sizes from 8-11, I usually put the ones that Chelsea will be able to wear on the very top.

These dresses are Chelsea's favorite, and was squealing with delight when we pulled them out! I actually found these for Lexie at a Kid to Kid store outside of Philly four years ago. These were her favorite, and when she saw Chelsea wearing the blue/yellow(the one on the left) dress to church this past Sunday she was reminiscing about when she wore the dress telling Chelsea how it was her favorite, and to take care of it. As if it was still hers!

It's hard to believe that some of these clothes are ten years old or older, and they are still in mint condition. Sierra, and Lexie knew how to take care of their clothes, and I am happy that they did. I'm not sure how these clothes will look in the end once Chelsea has worn them. She's notorious for dirtying her clothes the first day she wears them. I know she'll take care of the dresses because she'll only wear them to church. The casual clothes will definitely have it's last wear, and that's okay. It'll be worth saving them for all those years.

I know for some of us it's too easy to just get rid of things, and that is great if we don't need them. If it's clothes, and if you have younger children of the same gender who could use them save it for them. This has sure saved us some money on not shopping too much for Chelsea this school year.

Once again I am grateful for those age gaps in my girls so that one may pass their clothes on down to the other. It's nice to know that I saved all of these clothes, and then some for a rainy day.

Quality time with legos, & a clothes horse

I love my mornings, and prefer them to the evenings. At night as I lay in bed I often think of what tomorrow is going to bring, and I do look forward to living another day. I've never looked at it that way, but because I have made the choice to look at each day differently, it is fun, beautiful, and my days are never the same. Everyday gives me the hope of doing something memorable and fun with one of my children. Whether it's just going for a walk, or playing lego games with Noah indoors. I always try to take advantage of spending quality time with my kids no matter what we do.

Each morning Noah is bright eyed and always wants to go outside. He will take me to his drawer and point out his clothing. He loves his khaki shorts, and since he has so many shirts he'll just pick his own. I love boy clothes. I never thought it would be fun playing dress up with a boy, but I actually love dressing up our little boy.

Noah is definitely a clothes horse!  Thanks to his three older sisters!

As he gets older I am truly beginning to see the differences between him and his sisters. His personality is beginning to flourish. He loves everything that has do with nature, and absolutely loves the outdoors. He has a love for rocks, and bugs right now, hence all the clothes. He usually gets dirty, and I have to change his outfits at least twice a day. He has been helping me get out of the rut of being cooped up in the house during the day to go for a walk down the bike trail, or play in the park. I don't want to spend all my time inside when the weather is so beautiful. This boy is truly going to keep me busy all summer long (with laundry) especially when the girls are away at camp!

I do have a lot of time on my hands to spend with Noah, and in three more days school will officially be over for Lexie and Chelsea. Sierra's last day in high school is tentatively next Thursday! She has finals for the rest of this week, and on Friday she'll be performing again at Hershey Park. Lucky for her this is her third time going, and we have lived here for four years and haven't gone as a family. What's up with that?

Need to put that on our summer bucket list.

I sure do look forward to spending quality time with our kids this summer (but not dirty laundry!)