She's growing older, I'm growing OUT!

I love to go to garage sales! I have passed this love down to my kids too! Sometimes though we scare the daylights out of people when they see me and 7 kids climb out of a van and begin to roam through their yard! :-) Of course they are much relieved to see them behave themselves while they "shop", most of the time heading back to the van before I do. They are getting to that point where they don't want to spend their money too fast because something really neat could be waiting for them at the next stop!

A couple weeks ago, we were back at the Missouri farm and a friend asked me to go with her to a city-wide garage sale since we were in town. I was excited to get a chance to go, thinking I had missed all the city-wide sales and made plans with Michael to leave him with the kiddos while I ran off! My friend has a daughter a few years older than Sis who is almost 11, and I thought maybe Sis would like to come along and shop with the big girls! We had a great time and I was rather shocked to realize that...Sis didn't need my help! She had somehow grown up enough to do her own shopping and buying with out me! She bought some books, a few clothes and some trinkets for the little kids. Somewhere along the way she had bought a wallet and an adorable teenager-ish purse with the cutest puppy and kitten on it. I mean, one minute my friend and I are looking through some clothes and the next, we look up to see our girls, our young ladies actually, walking over to the next yard sale swinging their purses and laughing at something spoken between them. She's growing up! She's a big girl!

We had a blast that day and came home with lots of new treasures. It really opened my eyes to how much Sis has grown in the last several months. She is my little helper, a little mother and housekeeper. Today, I find her putting a stop to the fusses of the little kids, reminding someone to pick up their mess, start the day's laundry and planning the lunch. And now that I'm watching I realize that Kat who is 8 has picked out a bright flashy outfit (that reminds me of myself way back when!), cleaned up the kitchen and has the dishwasher running. Of course she was in a hurry to get out the door and have few minutes with the horses before Math consumes all her time! Naenae, just turned 7 not long ago and she too has ran out the door, but not before she changed Baby J and swept the floor!

Sis and I had our first real shopping trip last week! We were getting ready for another trip to Missouri. This time for their piano recital. Sis and I had gone through her clothes and just couldn't find anything that seemed right for the recital. We came across a skirt that brought to my mind a blouse I had seen in the girl's clearance section of Cato a couple day's before. In a sudden mad dash, her and I were out the door and headed to the store a few minutes away. The blouse was still there and she too thought it would look great with her skirt. While there of course, we had to go over the rest of the clearance rack and came up with another summer skirt and top that was adorable. As we left the store, the Dollar Tree next door caught my eye and I remembered seeing the cutest head bands there. We had to go see of course and we found a pretty green one that matched her skirt. We picked out some lip gloss too, since we were there! :-) I began thinking and asked Sis about her shoes, with the move and all the trips lately I really hadn't a chance to check to see if the girls had summer shoes that still fit. With this in mind and Wal-Mart next door, off we went on a shoe hunt. I could tell that Sis was hoping to find an older style than the normal little girl shoes. After finding a pair of white flats in within my now exploded budget, we rounded a corner and....Sis's face lit up at the sight of a whole rack of ladies dress shoes. Plain shoes with just a slight heel...a pump really. Sis knows a bargain when she sees one and any pair of shoes for $2.50! was a good deal! She got lucky and found one pair small enough for her foot. A dark dusty navy color that would go great with her new blouse and grey skirt. :-) Then, as we were leaving her new "big girl" shoes made her think of panty hose and so she asked for some. Panty hose!! Was she old enough for that too! I couldn't even think how old I was before I wore my first pair of real hose! She pointed at all the marks and scrapes on her legs from tree climbing and horse riding as reason for needing them. I knew deep down that most ladies don't wear hose because they climbed too many trees but somehow this just didn't matter. :-) It must have been her lucky day, right on the end of a sock isle was a section of clearance foot wear, and near the top, just waiting for Sis, was a pink box holding four pairs of nude hose, size A!

SO, finally after shoes, hose AND a few hair clips later! we made it through the check out and were on our way. I smiled on the way home and told her how much fun I had on our first shopping trip. Next time though, we would have to plan ahead since I was still wondering how I was going to explain this one to Dad! LOL!

The kiddos all did a wonderful job at the piano recital, all dressed up in their nice clothes. Hair all in place and faces clean! It was great. Sis had picked some wild daisies and wanted her hair put up with them. I couldn't believe my eyes at how much older and pretty she looked! Won't be long before Michael will be bringing his shot gun everywhere we go! Sis also was awarded student of the year! I'm looking forward to future shopping trips with the girls as they grow up into lovely ladies. For now though, I better get up off my duff, 'cause while they are all growing up , I can feel my backside growing too! So, we are off to mow the yard! :-)