What's My Kid Wearing Today

It was 70 degrees and sunny yesterday (we have been in an endless routine of clouds and rain which will continue for who knows how long), so I decided that the ladies and I needed to get out into the world. So, we headed out for frozen yogurt and a walk around the square (that's what you do when you live in small town).  I figured I's take the opportunity to take pictures of all of the girls together (and it's not even anyone's birthday).  Thanks to our sunny Friday afternoon, you all get a four-fer.  Here's what my kids were wearing (note: most of these are posted simply because I am entertained by the ridiculousness of my children):

Okay, Ashni's face?  Really?

 Anyway, here's the outfit breakdown starting with Bijou.

Brown cat sweater - Gymboree ($1.49 at Goodwill)

Jeans - Gap ($0.00 free from a friend)

Floral T-strap Mary Janes - Doc Marten ($2.99 at Goodwill)

Total Outfit - approx. $4.50

 Ashni

Grey Boots - U.S. Polo Assn (these were actually purchased new for Jena last year $24.99 at Shoe Dept)

Multicolored Argyle leggings - Circo maybe ($1.49 at Goodwill)

Skirt Overalls (?) - Tommy Hilfiger ($1.49 at Goodwill)

Denim Jacket - Gap ($3.99 at Goodwill)

Total Outfit - approx. $32 (pretty steep for me)

Jena

Blue canvas sneakers - Old Navy ($0.00 gift from her grandmother)

Supe skinny jeans - Arizona ($3.00 from Sears)

Yellow Harajuku t-shirt - ($2.00 from Goodwill in St, Louis.  It's an import!)

 Zion

Silver shoes - Toms (previously featured)

Striped Leggings - not sure of the brand ($.99 from Goodwill)

Brown Skirt - Gymboree ($.99 from Goodwill)

Atari T-shirt - not sure of the brand ($.99 from Goodwill)

Corduroy Jacket - Old Navy (honestly, I'm not even sure where we got this from)

Total outfit - approx. $3.00 (without the shoes)

And finally, just wanted to show that my sweet little darling will indeed forcefully shove her sister out of the shot if she feels like her photo op is being invaded.

We actually do get some work done...

We really do still homeschool the girls.  I swear.  We actually manage to get work done.  I know, crazy, right.  Yesterday, Bijou and I did some math with Cuisenaire rods and diagrammed some sentenced with the grammar symbols.

I am pretty sure that I have talked about these symbols in a past post, but I'm too lazy to look for it.  Each symbol represents a word function (noun, verb, etc.).  The big black triangles are nouns, the medium dark blue triangles are adjectives and the small blue ones are articles.  Together they form a kind of family.

Her sentence was - A green dog on a yellow tree.  See the pattern of the symbols (article, adjective, noun)

This is the first time that she got to use the green crescent.  The crescent is the symbol for prepositions.  So far she has learned nouns, adjectives, articles, verbs and prepositions.

I started to try and retouch this picture and digitally clean up all of the junk in the background, but, hey, there's learning happening here and sometimes it's messy in our house.  Anywho...we did some place value work with the rods and some triple digit addition.

This is my place value chart that I made on the fly.  We just worked up to the hundreds place.  We will start thousands next week.  Once she has mastered adding thousands without regrouping, I will introduce regrouping.

Ten Things that I've Learned About Raising Girls...

I don't really read a lot of things anymore about raising children.  Every now and then I will follow the links posted by Facebook friends to inspirational articles about touching things that the authors have learned about raising their respective children.  So, I figured I would write one of those loving and inspirational post about the things that I have learned about raising girls.
1.  Girls talk.  ALOT!  I am not a huge talker.  I don't want to have lengthy discussions about my feelings or troubles.  But my girls are different.  They want to have a lengthy discussion about EVERYTHING.  I have never talked more about clothes, food, books, movies, music, positions at the dinner table, seating in the car or ponytails and their holders in my entire life.
2.  Despite popular belief, girls smell.  My girls are not delicate flowers.  They are more like that giant putrid flower that grows in the rainforest.  They fart, they don't always flush and I have had to bribe a couple of them to take a bath.  Couple that with ballet shoes and fencing shoes (and socks and knickers for that matter) you have a foul combination on your hands.
3. Not all girls are Daddy's girls.  My girls LOVE daddy, don't get me wrong.  But if they have to choose between hanging out with Mom or hanging out with Dad, they are more than like going to choose Mom.  It's really more of an interest thing than a preference.  My girls and I like to do the same things (and I am more likely to get snacks, lol)
4. They will ruin clothes.  You know all of those ruffled, sparkly, pink, sequined clothes they make for little girls?  Yeah, I hate those.  Not only because I think that they are ugly, but because my girls ruin clothes.  They are either covered in paint splatters, impossible to get out sauces or so ground with dirt that there's no use in trying to get it clean.  This is another reason that I am VERY thrifty when it comes to buying clothes.
5. Someone is going to want to be a dancer, singer or model.   I have three out of four daughters in ballet and it is because they all asked.  I have never suggested it, they've all just asked to dance.  I think that there is just something inside of the little girl brain that says "Tutu?  Yes please!"  Even my little girls who live me, the antithesis of girl.  And as we speak, three of them are having a photo shoot, so....
6. They will trash their rooms.  And your living room and your dining room and your car.
7. They will eat you out of house and home.  I hear people talking about their sons and how much they eat and how lucky we are to have girls.  Um, yeah, my girls eat like teamsters!
8.  They will fight about anything.  And everything.  I have heard some of the most ridiculous fights in the last few days.  The most recent was about eggs and whether or not they came from the store or the chickens at school.  It ended in tears.
9. Panties will find their way into every part of your home.  Now I'm not sure how you leave your underwear on the back of the couch or behind the bookshelf, but there they are.  Fortunately, they are almost always clean underwear.
10. Despite it all, they will always want to take of you.  They will fix you breakfast in bed, want to pick your clothes, braid your hair (or Daddy''s hair in our case), make you dinner, read you a story or any other thing you may need or not even know that you need.  They may talk you to death and fart repeatedly in the process, but they will be there to help you out (whether you want them to or not).

What's My Kid Wearing Today?

I am not a fan of super girly clothes.  You will rarely see my girls in ruffles or sparkles.  You will never see them in bows (unless that bow is a tie).  I have made my peace with pink and mary janes.  Bijou even owns a pair of those ruffly socks (thanks to her job as flower girl in my sister in law's wedding).  But as a whole, I feel that overly "girly" clothes are fussy and silly and impractical.  There are certain clothes that I think should be a staple in all of my girls' wardrobe.  Those staples are leggings/tights of various colors and patterns, jeans of various cuts, a denim skirt, converse type sneakers and a denim jacket.  I think I can group any of those staples with other things and pull off a pretty cute outfit.  Now, I know that I have four daughters, but I really love little boys' clothes.  I have learned over the years that I can pair a "boy" item very girl specific item (i.e. a skirt) and no one confuses my daughter for my son (well, most people don't).  That's the type of outfit Zion wore today (and because she has short hair, if I don't put her in a skirt people automatically assume that she is boy).  Here is her rainy Wednesday outfit.

Green Frog Rainboots - $0.00 (free from a friend)

Black Leggings - $.99 (from Goodwill)

Denim Skirt - Justice ($.99 from Goodwill)

Awesome Rocky T-shirt - $.99 (from Goodwill)

Purple and White Pinstriped shirt - Benetton ($.99 from Goodwill)

Zion's favorite pink retro jacket - Adidas ($.99 from Goodwill)

Orange slouchy hat - $.99 (Goodwill)

Total Outfit - approx. $6

Bijou was not as enthusiastic about me taking her picture, as you can see from the expression on her face.  Of the four girls, she is probably the most "girly".  I question her taste on a regular basis.  But never fear, I shall brainwash her over time.  This is her rainy Wednesday outfit.

Pink Floral Rainboots - $0.00 (hand me downs from my niece)

Grey Leggings - $.99 from Goodwill

Neon Yellow and Grey dress (not that you can see it) - Gymboree ($.99 at Goodwill)

Pink Jacket - Land's End ($0.00 free from a friend)

Total Outfit (not including the price background of the fencing salle) - approx. $2

Jena and Ashni just asked why I haven't taken pictures of them yet.  I told them that when they wear something cute, then I'll take their pictures.  I see some outfit competition in the future.

Our new allowance system

As much as I love my family, it is not easy managing a household of six (especially when you come from a household of three - with a 8 year age gap between the two children).  With working, schooling, feeding, crafting, chauffeuring, and all of the other stuff that goes into the course of my day, it is sometimes difficult to make sure that everyone's chores are being done, that attitudes are positive and that instructions are being followed (the very first time).  So we have implemented a little system.  For years I have tried to teach the girls that we take care of our responsibilities because they need to be done, not for rewards.  So we have never given them an allowance before.  Honestly, that was a huge pain in the butt!!  I'm sure they get it, but with my schedule being so busy I have resorted to bribery. Well, not bribery...a reward system.  We have implemented ALLOWANCES!!!  The kids are ecstatic.  

We have all of their chores written on big craft sticks.  The older kids have a set and younger kids have a set.  Each Sunday they pick chores at random and store them in their chore containers (I started color coding certain things for them a couple of years ago and it kind of stuck - Jena is green, Ashni is yellow, Bijou is blue and Zion is red).  These are their chores for the week.

We also have other clearly defined ways to earn happy faces or red strikes on our behavior chart.  (There are things on the strike list like, screaming, whining, not following instructions with first time, being uncooperative, not finishing chores.  The opposite of these behaviors earn happy faces.)  This is our behavior chart.  It's just one of those cork board squares that I added the girls pictures to.  We have a three strike policy in our house.  The first red strike (which is just a thumb tack colored with red sharpie) is a warning, with the second red strike you lose your chance for a happy face for the day and with the third you are doomed to go to bed a half an hour early. (Notice that Zion has three strikes in this picture.  She got the tird strike late, so she will NOT be happy at bedtime tomorrow).  If you have no (or just one) red strikes then you earn a happy face for the day (which is a thumb tack with a happy face drawn on it).  At the end of the week, we all sit down and count up the happy faces for the week.  For each happy face the little girls get, they earn $.25.  For each happy face the older girls get, they earn $.50.  

This is our tax jar.  Yes, I said tax jar.  Some days I feel like my kids eat all of our school supplies.  Pencils disappear while in use, crayons are immediately broken into the tiny nubs, markers tops are, I don't know, buried in the backyard.  SO, in order to (hopefully) get the girls to understand that their things cost money, we deduct taxes from their allowance.  Ten percent of each girls' allowance in deposited into the tax jar.  This jar will hold money that will be used to purchase school supplies when needed.  Hopefully, this works out.  I'll keep you updated.

What's My Kid Wearing Today?

So it was my first day back to work after Christmas vacation.  I have to say, it came much too soon.  As you all know, I have a house full of daughters and my daughters like clothes.  As you also know, my husband is home with our daughters until I get home at 12:30.  He does NOT like little girls' clothes (thinking about them, folding them, picking them, arguing with little girls about them).  So, in order to keep the clothing battles to a minimum, the little girls and I pick their clothes for the week and keep them in labeled bins in their closet.  Today, we didn't actually go anywhere, so Bijou is really the only one who got dressed (we like pajamas around here).  So, here's what my kid is wearing today...

boots - Mini Boden ($0.00 free from a friend)

leggings - $.99 from Goodwill (not sure of the brand)

skirt - Gap ($.99 form Goodwill)

shirt - Cherokee ($.99 from Goodwill)

The beaded jewelry I used to make and sell when we lived in St Croix.  These are leftovers that the kids discovered in a box in our hall closet.

Total Outfit - approx. $3

How about a new segment?

I really enjoy being able to dress Zion still.  I also enjoy shopping at thrift stores.  Actually, shopping at thrift stores is really the only my kids have clothes.  It's pricey dressing four little girls!  Fortunately, our local Goodwill is a virtual treasure trove of cool clothes AND kids clothes up to a size 5 are only $.99 and the most expensive kids clothes are still only $2.49.  So, why not combine my love of dressing my kids in cool clothes and my love of thrift stores and create a new blog segment (yes I know, I am not good at keeping up with this blog as it is, so adding something new is probably not my best idea...) called "What's My Kid Wearing Today?"  Whenever I feel like one of my clan looks particularly stylish, I will post pictures.  So without further ado...What's My Kid Wearing Today?

It really is only possible to take one or two sane pictures of any of my children.  After that the insanity sets in...  Anywho, here's a break down of the ensemble, lol:

Boots - Old Navy (I actually bought these new and they cost me a whopping $25.  Got them in the boys section because all of the girls' boots seemed very impractical)
Leggings - Gymboree ($.99 @ Goodwill)
Skirt - Justice ($1.49 @ Goodwill)
Sweater - OshKosh ($.99 at Goodwill)
Bomber Jacket - Hawke and Co. ($3.99 @ Goodwill)
Fuzzy Hat - Not sure ($.99 @ Goodwill)

Total outfit (minus the boots) - approx. $9.00.  Not too shabby, right?