A Bargain on Kid's Pants

I don't as post much about bargain shopping as I used to. But I still enjoy the thrill of a good bargain and last weeks haul warrants a post. 

I was returning a few things to my favorite place for clothes bargains. And since I can't resist swinging through the kids clearance even when I am only there to return something, I made a quick detour to my favorite racks, promising myself I wouldn't look for more than 5 minutes. 

At first glance I saw a pair of jeans - an unusual find on the clearance racks since they tend to not be a seasonal thing. And when wardrobe staples like that are on sale - you snatch them up. I checked the price tag...

$1.40!! What! Then I noticed 5 more pairs of pants on the same rack. Each for $1.20!! They were 3T, 4T and 1 pair of 24 months; jeans in different colors, basic sweat pants, etc. All sizes I could definitely use (if not right away, then in the near-ish future). For $1.20 a pair, I didn't think twice and I snatched up all 6 pairs.

And then I spotted this amazing dress (which is a little bit cut off in the picture). It's a 3T (Papillon's size) it's amazingly cute, comes with a hat and is made by one of the more high-end brands that this store carries.  Retail price: $40.  Clearance price $8.  Gift for Papillon's upcoming birthday - check!!

6 very practical pairs of pants and 1 amazing dress with hat - Total cost after subtracting bonus discount and adding tax: $13.00

Yeah. It made my day. I love clearance shopping.

Sno Cones and Cuteness

It being spring, it was also time to kick off Sno Cone Season!  Hibou's first - she was a fan!

Sooooo many options!

And to round out this tasty post, a few random cutenesses.

Sunglasses!!! Say Cheese!

Our latest toy, a bouncy horse. Every time Papillon rides it, she gets off and asks me to take her picture. I have no idea why. But it seems like a very appropriate thing to do with ones horse.

First Zoo Trip 2013

Spring had (mostly) sprung and it was time for our first zoo trip of the year!  This time with Mon Amour and Nana and Grandpa along for the ride! (Managed not to get any pictures of Mon Amour, but I promise he was in the country and along for the ride)

Riding the lion statue.

Petting the baby goats.

Hibou, the turtle!

Papillon, the turtle!

The otters were feeling friendly.

Jumping on the lilly pads with Grandpa.

Being some birdies.

Tulips and Friends

It's a tradition now, every Tulip season, we must make a little trek to the Tulip Gardens.  Last year Hibou was so small! (As was Papillon for that matter)

This year we went with a bunch of friends and the weather was absolutely perfect!

Papillon's little friend (who is about Hibou's age) loved sitting in her lap.

Reading books among the tulips.

Walking together!

Hibou, smiling with the sunny tulips.

Papillon learning how to sword fight (oh boy!) with her friend.

Strawberries!

A little ring a round the rosy!

I wanted to get a picture of both girls in front of the flowers, but Papillon was having too much time and couldn't been stopped. Oh well. There is always next year.

1st Ever Women's Retreat

This is a little out of order, but oh well.  At the end of last month, I attended my first ever, Women's Retreat. In the past the idea of a Women's Retreat kinda scared me...it just sounded like waaaay too many women in one place. (I worked with all women...drama!) But recent life events, and a LOT of encouragement from friends convinced me to attend my church's Women's Retreat this year. I am very glad that I went!

We stayed at a very cool little retreat center of sorts.

I tried to wean Hibou before the retreat, but she wasn't having any of it. So she came with me.  She did a great job all weekend!

Eating bananas during the talks.

Enjoying lunch with all her new friends. Hibou definitely loves people. She was happy all weekend long, as long as there were people around.

She makes friends very easily.

More snacks during the talks. She distracted a few folks with her smiles and exploring, but generally did a great job.

The take away lesson from my 1st Ever Women's Retreat was that the teaching may be fine, the food may be mediocre, and I probably could have done with out the newspaper dress making ice breaker (it was fun...just not my cup of tea)...

...but the reason to go is for the people. Uninterrupted, dedicated  fellowship and relationship building time.  That was the best part and I am very glad that I went.

Dress up with Friends

Just some cuteness from a recent playdate with some friends who we don't get to see super often. 

Dressed up as princesses!  Papillon is happier than her face portrays, I promise.

We also got to play at this fun playground with our friends.

Hibou takes her dinosaur riding very seriously.

Fun at Home

As much as we enjoy having grand adventures out of the house with friends and such, some of the most fun times are those we have at home doing regular, every day things.  Such as....

...Movie Night.

Papillon is at a weird stage where she still needs a nap in the afternoon (keeping her up all afternoon is torture), BUT if she does take a nap, she won't fall asleep before 9:30pm. Which, particularly because Mon Amour was out of town,  led to the creation of movie night. We put Hibou to bed, then pop popcorn and enjoy a little movie together.

...Bath time.  Always a fun time.

...Playing on top of the coffee table.  Technically not allowed. But it was too sweet of a moment not to take a picture.

Sheep Festival

A couple weeks ago, while Mon Amour was once again out of the country, we met up with Aunt Mimi at the local Sheep and Wool Festival.  My family went to this festival with some frequency (at least according to my memory) when I was growing up and so I was excited the take my girls for the first time.  We weren't really there to purchase any sheep or any wool (or a spinning wheel...which seems to have been what everyone else was there for).  We came to look at the animals (the sheep dogs are always fun!), to enjoy the nice weather and of course to eat some funnel cake!

Someone offered to take a picture of all of us. Methinks this is a classic - Papillon's face is skeptical as always, Hibou's clearly been stuffing her face, and I am wearing my glasses cause I was recovering from pink eye.  Aunt Mimi looks nice, though :-)

Mmm...funnel cake!

So tasty!

So many sheep!

As I was uploading these pictures, Papillon saw them and said, "Oh, that was when we went to...to...to the sheep...sheep"   

"The Sheep and Wool Festival" I offered.  

"Yes! I am excited to go to the Sheep and Wool Festival with Aunt Mimi again!"

I think she was hoping we could go tomorrow. But definitely next year we'll try and go again.

Hibou's Spoon Skills

It recently occurred to me that by the time Papillon was Hibou's current age (14 months) I had totally given Papillon tons of chances to learn how to eat with a spoon. Her skills were cumbersome, but she was definitely learning.

With Hibou, on the other hand, it hadn't even occurred to me that she might be capable of any spoon skills.  So I decided to remedy this. I gave her a spoon and a bowl of yogurt and voila!

A little messy. But she definitely knew what she was doing and managed to eat almost the entire bowl of yogurt (minus what ended up on her face).  Nice work, Hibou! I keep forgetting that you are growing up fast!

Hibou, Chillin'

This is how Hibou rolls:

Chillin'. Feet up and munching on a french fry.

Beautiful Weather for the Playground

Way back in April (Pre-kansas, in fact) we had the chance to meet up with some friends who live a fair distance away. We got to hang out, catch up, all that good stuff. 

And it just so happened that the weather that day was perfect. Like perfect perfect. And there was a super fun playground in the little town where we had decided to meet. 

Lots of fun was had all around.