Our Family Journey: Its FUN being a GIRL~

It's time to put on the walking shoes, pull out the newspaper ADS and SHOP for good deals, long pants, sweaters and new shoes....THATS right- its time to do that school shopping thing again! It seems that school just got out for summer break (although SUMMER has only been here for the past week) and now its time to start it all over AGAIN....*sigh*

Gathering school clothes for 6 growing children used to be a long, drawn out process, often taking 3-4 different shopping trips. Shopping was made up of finding pants for TALL children, stylish clothes they each adored and finding it all within my allotted budget. It was often (more OFTEN than OFTEN) stressful and left me dreading the entire experience...so I made some changes. I started taking the boys in one trip and the girls in another. THAT way we didn't have anyone dreading the shopping experience of the opposite sex...drudging through the girls section was always SO BORING for the boys and racing around the boys section was equally as boring for the girls. So taking the boys and girls separately did wonders for the OVERALL experience for us all! I let each group (boys or girls) decide on which place they wanted to eat lunch and then we tried to do something fun while on our trip...like go and get ice cream or have a picnic or stop for a walk up the mountain...I tried to make it a "mom and kid" day. I enjoyed the day more and so did they. NOW that I am down to the last 2 children at home...its a completely different experience all together. Cameron HATES to shop, so he does all of his school shopping online. He gets on the internet, orders what he wants/needs and calls it good. SO....that means that I only get to take ONE shopping! Last week Halle and I put on our walking shoes and headed out the door for a day in the city. WE shopped 2 malls, a Target, a Walmart, a Ross Dress for Less, a Rue 21 and a TJ Max...granted, it took 2 days but we got what she wanted/needed and I feel as though the trip was a success. Halle loves Mexican Food (how could that be?...its not like OUR entire family doesn't LOVE a "little Mexican food now and then"...) so she chose to eat at Cafe Rio and Los Hermonos (both are MY fav's too). Dayna endured hours of watching Halle try on clothes, go from one store to another and chase after the shoes of her dreams...so it was only right that she was able to join us for lunch and dinner too.