A got it for a steal!

Yesterday Jim had some work he wanted to finish at his parents house while they were at the beach, so Sean and I planned on taking the boys to the Clackamas County Fair. I looked up the events for that day, admission costs, parking, prices for the rides, etc., and figured it would be a $50 outing. I picked up Sean and we decided to veto the fair...I had been really needing to get Preston new clothes and they both need new shoes for Fall so we headed to the Troutdale Outlet Mall. I do not go shopping alone ever-I can't look at anything and watch the boys, it just doesn't work. I thought if we are going to spend $50 I have many other places I would like that money to go.
These are the pair Sean picked for Connor, he LOVES them and even wears them around the house! I usually buy the slip-on classic vans but they were so picked over.

Connor gets all Prestons hand-me-downs and always has plenty to wear but Preston needs new clothes- he is growing so fast. I have been very frugal in our spending with Jim starting school, the baby on the way, Jim no longer working full-time, and wanting to keep some savings. We hit up the Vans outlet first, they were offering a buy 1 get one 1/2 off deal. What a deal too! Sean picked out a pair that Connor loved, he would not take them off and wore them the rest of the day, they were $19.95, Sean also found these for Preston which were marked at $9.95 (later we found out they were mismarked and should have been $24.95) so the total was $24.95 for both pairs!

Preston wear a size 10...doesn't that sound huge?! He isn't even 4 yet! He is outgrowing everything so fast!

I wasn't to keen on the idea of shoes laces but Sean said to just knot them and make them slip-ons, I thought duh that would work! These are a black suede and not to chunky.

Next we ventured to Carters, my favorite! They had 6 racks of clearance clothes for boys and girls ages newborn to 7 yrs. Everything was marked at $3.99 plus an additional 20% off through August 31st. She said they were getting boxes of clothes in everyday that were all clearance...I will be back next week to see whats new! It was so hard not to go crazy buying everything that was soo cute! Really I needed shorts, pants, Pajamas, and T's for Preston so that is what I focused on. I got 10 pairs of shorts, 4 pairs of pants/jeans/cargos, 5 shirts, 2 PJ sets, a package of 12 pairs of socks, and 4 new baby outfits!! 26 items of clothes for $71.39, my day of shopping for the boys was under $100!!!! I was so excited!

This is my haul--minus the pajamas they wore last night and the shorts Preston is in now. Oh and I forgot to include the baby clothes in the pic, I had already started putting some if it away.

The solid t's were $1.59, everything else was $3.99, with the 20% off they ended up being $3.19 a piece! The most expensive item was the "Big Brother" T-shirt which was $6.00, which seemed like so much when everything else was so cheap, lol...funny how perspective changes so quickly! So if you have little ones that need some new duds...get to the outlet malls...I just wish I could shop for myself! ;)

Is it the hormones or an I just being emotional....

So I woke up this morning emotional...and I am not an emotional person. It's like I just want to sit down and have a good cry. I don't have ups and downs even when its that time of the month. I usually have a pretty even temperment. I like to think in the shower so while I showered I kept thinking what is my problem, why is everything bugging me today. The other problem is sometimes you can't blog about the things that are bothering because people read this...and I don't want to offend just vent. The rational part of me says this is a good thing because tomorrow I might feel completely different about the situations...but today, I just want to cry! Yes, I know its pathetic, and I keep thinking what the heck--I never do this! So I am blaming today on hormones...
**Ah that felt good to just get a little off my chest** thanks!

Garden BBQ

We have a wonderful Garden at my parents house, we have rows of blueberries, tomatoes, zucchini, squash, beets, carrots, lettuce, spinach, okra, cucumbers, and corn. My mom planted a whole row of cucumbers...the rows are 25 ft long...so you can imagine how many cucumbers we have. I have picked over 300! Luckily we have plenty of friends that are happy to take some. My favorite is the zucchini and squash grilled with light olive oil, salt and pepper...mmm! Here are some pics of our regular evening dinner during the summer. I LOVE veggies-delicious!




































The boys enjoying ice cream cones with orange sherbet. It was their reward for attending all 3 hours of church. Believe me I think this was the first Sunday in weeks we have made it through all 3 hours.

Oregon Zoo

As you can tell there are 2 different visits to the zoo. Nikki, Ashton, the Boys and I had a great trip to the Zoo in June. We had a great time, the boys loved it! This last week I had a lot of sewing to do, so Jim and Grandma Joclyn took the boys...how wonderful it was to have a day to myself! I didn't really get any sewing done instead I spend the day with my Grandma Leta...it was a perfect day!

Preston loved feeding the Lorikeets! I was shocked how comfortable they were with little hands. The boys also loved the baby elephant! She was born last August...and has been a crowd pleaser.