Parenting Penrose: Getting Ready for Preschool!

Linking up today with Andrea & Erika...

Preschool...How are we already talking about this?  I can't believe that Ryleigh is going to be starting her first year of preschool a month from now.  She will be in the two year old class, which meets two mornings a week.  I think she will really love school, and I'm so glad she already knows a few kiddos that will be in her class so she will be more comfortable from the start.

As far as back to school shopping, I've got some items saved in my Amazon shopping cart to complete her Supply List.  The fun items that I've purchased were of course her backpack (her first ever backpack!!) and a matching lunchbox.  I probably over-thought this way too much but I figured a matching set would make it easier on the teacher to know which were hers.

These were scored on sale during Amazon Prime Day:

Wouldn't a monogram look cute on the front pocket?!

Skip Hop Zoo Backpack // Skip Hop Zoo Lunchie

My tall little stringbean is in need of some new clothes as well.  Since her 2 year doctor's appointment back in mid-February, she has grown over 2 inches in height.  We noticed this when we had our kitchen granite done a couple weeks ago and realized she was all of a sudden taller than the countertops!  2T shirts are all showing too much belly so I've got to stock up on 3T tees and long sleeved shirts.  The first weekend of August is tax-free weekend in SC so I'm planning to do some outlet shopping, and also pick up some fleece sleep & plays for baby Aubrey!  I've gone through most of Ryleigh's old clothes and I'm finding that newborn, 0-3m, and 9m clothes are where we need to add since Ryleigh was born during the opposite time of year.  

Products of Penrose: Shopping the Sales - Toddler Girls

One of my favorite things to do is shop the clearance section of my favorite stores to get off-season deals on clothes.  This is especially great for fitting my $5 or less rule for children's clothing.  I just do not see the point in spending more than that on an everyday clothing item when kids grow so quickly!  There is a great sale going on now until March 4th at The Children's Place online!

Ryleigh has lots of t-shirts but needed shorts/skorts and tanks for summertime.  Everything above was $3.97 or less and I love that the items mix & match very well to create so many outfits.

We also scored a deal for a 3T warm winter coat for next year...

This Wisteria color probably would not have been my first choice, 

but for $12.25 and free shipping, it will definitely do!

And some sweet jammies for $7.25...

Another habit that I have is checking clothing clearance when I am purchasing anything from some of my usual stores, like Target, Nordstrom or Amazon.  Side note--since becoming a mom, about 95% of my shopping is done online, including groceries. It's called sanity, and I like to keep it.  

These stores have great shipping and returns policies to make that easy!

I found these cute chinos for Ryleigh at Target and thought the 3T's will work well for her this fall because her legs are so long.

After cleaning out Ryleigh's dresser and realizing many clothes that I thought she had for spring and summer were actually 24m size instead of 2T's, I was worried and knew we needed to add some items. These were the perfect finds!

Parenting Penrose: Halloween

My little Minnie Mouse had the best time trick-or-treating with her friends! We had a bunch of friends and family over to take the kids around our part of the neighborhood and then have dinner, snack, and watch games for the night.  We had some great conversation and laughs! 

She loved carrying her "punkin basset" around full of candy and glow sticks.  She would walk/run up to the houses and say "treat treat"....I guess the girl knew what she wanted!  She was so polite and would say "thank you bye bye" to every house, haha!  She also learned how to grab 5-10 pieces of candy from a bowl with just one of her itty bitty hands in a giant grab. She got one little taste of chocolate and we created a monster!  She takes after her Momma with that sweet tooth I suppose.

I mean, all the heart eyes.....We got her dressed and then took her into her bathroom to see herself in the big mirror...she thought it was hilarious! I put on her hairpiece (just alligator clipped on top) and she started cracking up at herself and thought she was the coolest thing.  I loved seeing her enjoy the holiday and somewhat understand what was going on. 

Her hair clip was the only thing that we needed to buy for this little outfit! The leggings and black long-sleeved shirt are just Garanimals that we already had, moccs were an online deal I bought months ago and she's finally growing into them, and the romper we found on Amazon a while back.  It's sized for next summer so it was perfect to go over another layer.




In other exciting news, I pre-ordered this.  Can't wait for the 20th to get here!

Parenting Penrose: Independence Day Sales!

I'm big into shopping a size up on the clearance racks.  I can confidently say that I have never purchased clothing for Ryleigh that was not on sale, on a sale rack, clearance, or hand-me-downs.  Nothing wrong with it if you do, but I just can't reason with myself to purchase at full-price when it will be worn for 6 months at best.  It was even worse the first year because Ryleigh would only wear a size for 2-3 months and with all of the clothes that she somehow accumulates ;) she would only wear an outfit maybe 5-6 times max.

So, I was very excited about this loot that I picked up thanks to some July 4th sales--online of course, where 85% of my shopping is done these days.

She's still wearing 12-18month clothes, but these are all purchases of 18-24 or 2T size....

I thought those peplum tops were so sweet, and I am in love with the sandals!  All of the items above I purchased in 2T size so she should get great use out of them during Spring, Summer & Fall next year.  The sandals I purchased in size 6, which was a little bit of a gamble but Ryleigh's feet don't seem to grow that rapidly (she's still a size 3-4 in sandals at almost 17 months) so these should hopefully get her through Spring & Summer 2016 :)

Normal Retail Total:  $131.04          Sale Purchase Price:  $47.63

I mean can we talk about a deal?!  Everything was $4 or less per item, and if you are a parent you know how insane that is for PJ's let alone name-brand PJ's.  I felt like I hit the jackpot with these items!  I got a mixture of sizes 18-24m and 2T.  I'm pretty much dying over the milk & cookies PJ's!  Such fun patterns.

Normal Retail Total:  $161.20          Sale Purchase Price:  $43.91

I can't help but think back to my baby shower when I find deals like this...The guests filled out "wishes for baby" cards and under "I hope you always..._______________" one of Ryleigh's silly Aunts wrote "shop the clearance rack first" which always makes me laugh.  So true!