Friday, May 21, 2010

TJED For Teens Bookclub


My dear (and hilarious) friend Juli and I are mentoring a bookclub for Teens this fall.  If you know a teen in my area who'd like to participate send them our way.

TJED for Teens Bookclub

“You were born with a great mission and purpose in this life.  The future of the world depends upon your generation finding its genius….”

For
Youth aged 12 -17

Prerequisite
Buy and read TJED for Teens by Oliver DeMille and Shanon Brooks.  These are both musts.  We will reference the book throughout the year and each person will take notes and track their progress in their own book.  This means siblings each need their own copy.  We sell the book for $18 or you can buy it online.  It’s a quick read, only 146 pages long.

Class Fee
$18 (for the TJED for Teens Book).  If you already own your own copy of the book the Class Fee will be waived.

Mentors
Jennifer Jarrett and Juli Kirry

Schedule
We will meet the 2nd Thursday of every month from 7:00pm – 8:30pm in Sept, Oct, Nov, (skip Dec) Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, and May.   There will be additional optional meetings on the 5th Thursdays in September and March.

Location
Juli Kirry’s home in southwest Everett

The Booklist
This will be based on the Teen 100 list outlined in TJED for Teens.

To Register
Contact Juli Kirry 206-910-6578 jkirry@gmail.com
Or Jennifer Jarrett 425-367-4660 jenjar2001@gmail.com

Friday, May 14, 2010

Keeping House and Raising/Homeschooling My Kids Can Be Done in Tandem

I have had an amazing, life-altering, paradigm-shifting week.  Over the last month I’ve been particularly stressed out and overwhelmed by my efforts to balance cooking, cleaning, and teaching my children.  I’ve questioned whether it was possible to do it all as my standards for cleanliness have continued to slip and even considered the possibility that I’d just have to live in a dirty home for a few years.  Well, Hallelujah, I was wrong.  It is possible.  It can be done.  During this month I’ve also listened, and re-listened (like 4 times) to a couple lectures from the TJED 2010 Forum and then read more from the speakers’ websites.  What they were teaching finally came together in my mind and I really “got it.”  I must emphasize it took me several times through their lectures and writings before it started to make sense to me.

Beginning on Tuesday I began applying what I’d learned and I just can’t believe the amazing results!  My house is cleaner than it’s been in years; my family is happy, peaceful, and content; my relationships with my kids have improved and Isabel especially made progress this week in learning how to work without complaining, my kitchen is full of healthy, homemade food; and I feel like a great wife and mother. 

Here are the two lectures I’ve listened to so many times now:

A Journey Through Core Phase by Keri Tibbetts, and her website where you can register and then receive her free e-book http://www.headgates.org/

Teach Your Kids to Work Their Little Britches Off by Lara Gallagher and her blog http://www.lazyorganizer.com/blog/

I have realized that I was struggling before because I had a false paradigm about the way things could or should be done in my home.  I’m reading Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits right now for bookclub and that has influenced my thinking too.  He teaches that before we can make any progress with managing our time or working more efficiently, we have to make sure we are working on the right things, that our paradigm is correct.  He likens operating under an incorrect paradigm to using a map of L.A. to try and navigate New York City (or something like that, I probably have the cities wrong).  Once you find and use the correct map or paradigm, everything opens up and you can be effective.  That is exactly what my experience this week was like.  I found the right map!  Wahoo! 

I’m going to summarize my old paradigm or false beliefs vs. the new truths I’ve learned and accepted from Tibbetts and Gallagher.  I can say that for me, this is really working and I believe it’s true but reading my post is probably not going to help you much unless it inspires you to go and listen to what these ladies have to say and then find your own way to implement the principles (assuming you come to believe they are true too).  No ones situation looks just like mine so lots of what I’m doing won’t apply to other families – but I believe the principles are true and you can find a way to apply them to your unique situation.

Might also be helpful for me to remind you what my situation is:  My husband and I have been married for 12 years and have adopted our 3 children.  Isabel is 6, Chloe and Liam are 18 months old but act more like 14 or 15 month-olds (they were born 4 months early and are still catching up).  We are homeschooling our kids in the TJED or Leadership Education model.  We live in suburbia and my husband has a full-time job away from our home.  I had brain surgery last fall and still need a tremendous amount of sleep to be functional (9-10 hours each night).  Thank goodness all my kids sleep 12-13 hours/night and the twins nap 2-4 hours during the day!  A lot of the terminology I use comes from TJED.  Core Phase refers to children ages 0-8 + or – several years.  Love of Learning Phase refers to children ages 8-12 + or – several years.  These are developmentally based and every kid develops differently.

My False Beliefs
1.     To fill Isabel’s love tank I must spend a significant amount of time reading or playing with her.
2.     It’s not right or possible to ask Isabel to do more than personal chores and a few, small family chores each day.  Someday when all my kids are older I will finally be able to teach her how to do all the cooking and cleaning I want her to know how to do and “get my promotion.”   (This is a reference to Cherie Logan’s statement that a Mom with older children who is still doing all the cooking and cleaning missed her promotion.)
3.     Isabel should be able to go do a simple chore by herself, without my supervision.
4.     Because it took her so long to do it, it wasn’t reasonable to ask Isabel to make her bed, clean her room, and get dressed before breakfast.
5.     Core Phase children should be read to for hours and hours, several days a week in order to inspire them to progress to Love of Learning Phase.
6.     At this point in my life, while I am homeschooling young children, it’s not possible to have a clean house.
7.     At this point in my life, while I am homeschooling young children, the only time I can really read to myself is early in the morning before the kids wake up or after they go to bed.

My New Truths
1.     Spending time working together and talking for several hours each morning totally fills Isabel’s love tank!  And after working so hard she is ready to go play independently for the rest of the afternoon.
2.     Core Phasers 4 ½ yrs old and above need to spend the whole morning working alongside Mom.  It develops the character and work habit they will need to later do the hard work of learning to read, write, and calculate.  And Isabel has never been happier than during this week of 3-4 hours of cleaning and cooking with me each day.  I see my “promotion” on the horizon.  When the twins are about 5 I will have 2-3 years (before Isabel moves to Scholar Phase) of supervising the family work while my 3 kids actually do most of it.  I finally feel like I’m really teaching Isabel how to work and she is feeling so proud and confident.  She’s happily envisioning the day when she can do everything on her own without my supervision.  She’s been saying things like, “Someday I’m going to be a good Mommy because I’ll know how to do all the chores!”
3.     Until a child has had a lot of experience working alongside Mom and learning how to do things with her, they won’t be ready/able to consistently do chores on their own, unsupervised.  My expectation that Isabel go clean her room and make her bed by herself wasn’t consistent with what she’s ready for and that’s why it would take her so long.  When I figured out a way for us to be together while we both cleaned our rooms and made our beds, she felt so much happier and motivated.  Our bedroom doors are directly across the hall from each other.  We put a gate up in the hall so the twins can’t get to our doors, open the doors and then talk while we work on our rooms.  Isabel likes to race me while we make our beds.  For almost all of the other work we do, we’re in the same room, working alongside each other at different tasks.
4.     Now that I’ve figured out how to motivate Isabel to get her personal chores done quickly, we can be at the breakfast table with personal chores done by 8 or 8:30 each morning.  That is early for our family.  I’ve made an effort to be at the table with her this week and we’ve started having our devotional at the table each morning.  It feels better this way. 
5.     Core Phase children should spend the morning working alongside Mom, with time for a daily devotional fit in, and the afternoon playing.  Work and play, in large quantities, is what will prepare them best for Love of Learning phase.  Being read to is important but daily devotional (focusing on our core book), 30 minutes of story time during the day and 20-60 minutes of evening family reading are sufficient to inspire a desire to learn to read and love books, if the available books are classics (worth reading and studying multiple times).  Seeing Mom and Dad read and study will also inspire this desire.
6.     It was such a thrill this week to discover how wrong I was!  With the way I structured our time this week, Isabel and I spent 3-4 hours each morning cooking and cleaning together.  I used to aim for keeping the kitchen sanitary, most of the time, and cleaning the bathroom before anyone came to stay from out of town, and I did a lot of cooking/baking but usually felt like I couldn’t keep up with my family’s appetite.    This week we have kept the kitchen clean all day, every day; cleaned the bathroom and maintained it; mopped the kitchen floor; vacuumed the whole house; emptied all the trashes; dusted; washed windows; and prepared tons of healthy food.  My fridge and cupboards are full of good stuff and we’ve had great dinners every night.  I didn’t think it was possible.  I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish next week.  I feel so much happier and my husband has really noticed.  He feels much more relaxed and peaceful when he gets home from work.  I’ve never seen Isabel so consistently happy and we’ve had no real discipline issues.  The twins seem just as happy as before – I don’t think they’ve really noticed. 
7.     Now that I’m getting so much work done with Isabel during the morning I can work on other things like bills, email, phone calls, reading and writing during the afternoons.  I don’t feel guilty or like I’m neglecting anything or anyone.  I hope the twins hang on to that afternoon nap for a good long while.  I know the transition period while the twins are not napping but also not playing independently will be tough but I’m not going to worry about that right now.  I am so loving today!

In case you want the detail, here is what our new day looks like:

·      Wakeup – if early enough, Mommy exercises and showers
·      Make Bed and Clean Rooms, get kids dressed
·      Make Breakfast with Isabel, have devotional around the table (song, prayer, pledge, scripture memorization, read from the Bible)
·      Isabel and I clean the kitchen together
·      Isabel and I spiff up the bathroom together (my mom’s term – it means wipe down the mirror, counter, sink, and toilet)
·      Twins go down for a morning nap if tired, if not they play while all this is going on.
·      Isabel and I do the days work for 2-3 hours.  I have a stack of cards with chores on them and I chunk them up into 5 groups, one group for each day, that becomes the days work.  These are all weekly or monthly chores.  If we are only going to be home for 3 or 4 days that week I’ll divide the cards into 3 or 4 groups and we’ll work longer on those fewer days.  I anticipate adding lots of chores to this stack – I know we can actually do it now!
·      Isabel and I make lunch.  We all eat lunch.  Isabel and I clean up lunch.
·      The twins go down for a nap.
·      I read to Isabel for about 30 minutes
·      Isabel goes to play outside or in her room for the afternoon while I work on the computer, make phone calls, or study.
·      I call Isabel in to clean up what she’s been playing with.
·      Isabel and I make dinner, set the table and help the twins clean up their toys.
·      Daddy comes home, we eat dinner.
·      Isabel and I clean up the kitchen while Daddy gets twins ready for bed.
·      We read as a family for 20-60 minutes.  The twins may go to bed during this time if they are tired.
·      All kids go to bed.
·      Mommy and Daddy read and talk and get to bed by 10pm.

To me, this is a beautiful way to live!

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Toys for My Kids

One of my friends commented on my clothing post and asked for my toy philosophy.  I was going to respond in a comment back to her but found I had more to say than I thought.  This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately and I much less certain about my thoughts on this but I'll share where I'm at right now.  My toy philosophy is still evolving.

I think it's important to remember that I homeschool my kids so our home environment is also our school environment--that fact influences my thinking on this subject a lot.  Also, this is what works for me - I don't think everyone should or will want to do it the same.  The goals of my toy philosophy are to limit mess potential and clutter and promote creative and imaginative play and learning.

1.  Keep toys contained and locked.  When kids are little (babies and toddlers) clear plastic bins with lids are sufficient.  When they are able to open the bins then moving the bins to a locked closet is a good idea.  I don't have a linen closet but I do have a toy closet.  It's more important to me to keep the toys inaccessible without my help.  I bought a wire closet system to fit my space and then measured the height of toy bins and set the system up to fit my containers.  I'll post a picture if I can find it on my other computer.  (Can't find the usb cord for my camera right now - so annoying!)  This closet contains 90% of Isabel's toys and materials for craft/science projects and I installed a flip lock at the top.  In addition, she has a dollhouse, tinkertoys, and blocks in her bedroom closet.  We keep most of the dollhouse furniture in the closet.  We also have games at the top of the coat closet.  Having most things in the locked closet really limits her ability to make a mess.  I usually only let her have 1-2 containers of stuff out at a time, even when friends are over.  On ideal days I remember to have her clean everything up before dinner.  On many days it sits overnight and she has to do it in the morning before we have devotional.

The twins toys are in bins in their room and it will be time soon to figure out a closet option for their stuff - maybe an armoire for their room as I don't have any more closet space.

2.  Only Keep As Many Toys As You Can Contain.  At least twice a year, usually around birthday and Christmas, we go through Isabel's toys and get rid of tons.  I put a few things in the storage shed for younger siblings to use someday but most of it gets donated.  I try to purge before her birthday and Christmas so there is empty space waiting to receive her new toys.  We only keep as much as will fit in the toy closet.  She knows the drill now and has learned that you don't really miss the toys you get rid of.  She's also learned how to prioritize her toys.  We purge without tears or trouble.  During the rest of the year we have the 1-in-1-out rule.  If she wants to add a toy to the closet it has to fit or she has to get rid of something to make room for it.

3. Don't Keep Junk.  I don't know where it comes from but junky little toys seem to appear from nowhere and inundate our home.  You know the kind - little, plastic, useless toys that break quickly and clutter your home.  I think Fast Food Restaurants (yes, I do go to them every now and then, less lately), The Dentist, and Birthday Parties are most responsible.  I give Isabel 48 hours to play with these type of toys and then we throw it away.  She's used to this and doesn't have trouble with it.  I also make sure that I never, ever buy these types of toys.  It's tempting when you are filling stockings, easter baskets, and birthday party bags but I refuse to do it!  I don't want them in my home and I doubt anyone else does either.  I consider them a waste of time, money, and space.

4.  Buy Books, Bandaids, and Art Supplies Instead.  I hardly ever buy toys.  The last time I can remember buying anything was over a year ago (Tinker Toys).  Grandmas and Grandpas have so much fun buying toys for the kids that they keep us more than stocked up.  When I'm shopping for Christmas, birthdays, stockings, and easter baskets I buy books, art supplies, and other things that I wouldn't normally buy my kids like over-priced character bandaids and fancy character toothbrushes.  Santa is famous for these at our house.  I also buy the music for ballet suites on CD for Isabel - she loves these.  I find these things get used a lot more and add to my kids' lives rather than cluttering and overwhelming them.  My kids are not used to getting much besides books on a regular basis and I only get a very few things for birthdays and Christmas so I think they appreciate gifts a lot.  I love the chapter about Christmas in Little House in the Big Woods.  It really puts things in perspective for me.  Those kids had nothing but they didn't feel poor and they truly appreciated their Christmas gifts.  They understood what makes a happy life and it wasn't things.

5.  "Dull and Lifeless Toys".  This is a new idea I'm still mulling over but I think I agree with it for the most part.  I got it from a TJED 2010 Forum lecture by Keri Tibbetts: A Journey Through Core Phase.  Tibbetts only gives her kids a small assortment of what she calls "dull and lifeless toys."  This means no batteries, lights, sounds, or buttons.  She even says no to toys that come in a set with lots of pieces and are scripted or designed to be played with a certain way.  She believes that kids will supply the creativity and activity to make the dull and lifeless toys fun.  By giving children scripted and entertaining toys we stifle children's creativity and their desire to do the hard work necessary to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic.  This is really important for me to consider as a homeschooler.  As I said, I'm still thinking about this one.  I want to listen to Tibbetts lecture a few more times to really understand her argument and consider it.  In her favor, she has a nine year old who learned to read at seven  and two years later read and enjoyed Ivanhoe, something I have yet to do.  She attributes this to the environment she's created in her home - I think she may be right.

I guess I'm struggling right now with the fact that my little boy LOVES toys with music, sounds, and lights.  I do see though that by playing with these he uses no creativity and does no work, just gets entertained.  I don't want to stifle his natural ability and desire to think and play creatively.  Also, this might break the Grandparents hearts if I asked them to not give us battery toys anymore.  I've always been skeptical of "educational" toys, videos, and computer games.  They seem much more like entertainment to me than education. Hmmmm......

Update:  I did decide to go with dull and lifeless toys and the result was pretty amazing.  I wrote about it here.

Saturday, May 08, 2010

TJED Forum 2010

Every spring Diann Jeppson and www.tjedonline.com host the TJED Forum in Salt Lake City.  I have never been to one but I plan on going next year, 2011.  I won (in an online auction) the audio downloads for all the classes from 2009 and was so thrilled with them that this spring I bought the audio downloads for all the 2010 Forum adult classes as soon as they were available.  Each download is only $4.  If you want more than 23 of them (I did!) it’s a better deal to just buy all of them for $95.  So that’s what I did.  If you have youth 12-18 years old, they may be interested in the youth forum downloads.

These lectures are so inspiring and rejuvenating for me.  They totally fill my tank and get me going.  I highly recommend them—not just for homeschoolers.

You can read about the content and presenter of each lecture here and then pick those that apply to you.  Here is a list of my very favorites, the ones I will listen to multiple times and I’ve included recommendations on who I think would enjoy and benefit from them.  This reflects my personal interests and the stage my family is at.  There are some great ones I didn't list that may be more relevant to you.

For Concerned Citizens
**** A Renaissance of Kings by Andrew Groft
***** Becoming an Effective Influence by Julie Earley
**** What’s Classic About the Classics by Kelli Poll
**** Stories that Build Statesmen by Marlene Peterson
**** What is Georgic’s Anyway by William DeMille  (especially for anyone with a personal mission to Feed the Hungry)

For TJEDers and Homeschoolers
**** Unity in Community by Diann Jeppson
**** Ingredient 20, The Closet by Mary Ann Johnson
***** Journey through Core Phase by Keri Tibbetts
**** Nurturing a Love of Learning by Shauna Bird Dunn
**** Nurturing Excellent Writers by Andrew Pudewa
**** Co-op Scholar Mentoring by Dr. Jesse Meeks (great for mentors and scholar phase youth as an alternative to LEMI classes)
**** Putting it Together Day By Day by Angela Baker
**** Mentoring En Masse by Mary Beisinger

For Parents
***** Teach Your Kids to Work Their Little Britches Off by Lara Gallager
***** How to Teach Kids Who’d Rather Make Forts by Andrew Pudewa
**** What’s Classic About the Classics by Kelli Poll
**** Stories that Build Statesmen by Marlene Peterson
***** Teaching Self Government by Nicholeen Peck (Love her book!)
**** Motherhood: The Greatest Call by Rachel Keppner (especially for Moms)
**** The Power of Calm by Nicholeen Peck

For Entrepreneurs
**** Launching a New Business by David Grant

For Anyone Who Wants to Achieve Excellence (or help someone else do it)
***** Get Your 10,000

Friday, May 07, 2010

New Blog about Mom School

I started a new blog to document the goings on of the Mom School me and two friends run for our kids.  Check it out: Little Acorns.

Sunday, May 02, 2010

Dressing My Kids

I have a personal philosophy on clothes buying, especially for my children because it has to be done so often.  I have a lot of fun dressing my kids up and I’m kinda picky. I have always enjoyed fashion, one of the reasons I follow The Sartorialist blog, and I’ve learned that even children can become fashion victims at their parents hands.   

I hate the mini-rockstar/tough kid style that seems to dominate a lot of kids clothing.  I want my children to look like the sweet, innocent, precious little ones that they are.  I tend toward classic styles that I could see me or my husband wearing. Ok there are a few things I put my kids in that no respectable adult would wear like ruffle bum pants, wildly striped tights, and rompers – I can’t resist.  I’d like it if my kids skipped the whole teenage dressing thing and moved straight into dressing like adults when it’s time.  Laugh if you will but I’ve witnessed kids who’ve done this and no, they weren’t outcasts.  They fit in with their peers just fine and looked stylish.

So today as I was unpacking from a week out of town I started going through the twins clothes and that turned into an inventory project which turned into a fall clothing planning session.  I know, it’s only May, but I love shopping for clothes in the fall better than any other time of year and all the new stuff will be in the stores in 2 or 3 more months.

So here is my clothing philosophy, favorite stores, and plan for this fall. 

1.     Only buy it if it’s a “10”.  One of my friends shared this gem with me.  When you’re tempted to buy something rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 and only buy if it’s a 10.  It doesn’t matter what a great deal it is, if it you don’t love it you won’t use it.  If you have the slightest hesitation, just don’t buy it.  Wait for something to come a long that you just love and have to have.  I spent 2 very cold winters in Seattle waiting to find the perfect coat.  I wasn’t willing to spend money on anything I didn’t love.  Finally in the 3rd winter I found my lovely green wool coat and I truly adore it.  I get compliments on it all the time and I’m so glad I didn’t settle for something else or waste my money on something I would just get rid of later.  I will have this coat for at least 15 years.
2.     Buy things that last.  Some clothing items just won’t last more than 1 season no matter how much you spend but I’ve found that it pays to spend a little more for high quality items that will last and to choose styles that are more classic so they can be worn years later.  Obviously kids wear things for a year or less but high quality items make great hand me downs.  5 years later, my Chloe is wearing many of Isabel’s hand me downs.  It’s worth noting that most of these clothes have also been worn by 2 or 3 cousins and they still look great.  And because most of them were “10”s I still love them.
3.     Choose your best colors.  Everyone looks best in certain colors and not as good in others.  Spend some time figuring out what colors those are for you and your kids.  Only buy things in colors that look great on the individual.  My girls look good in many of the same colors but there are some that Isabel looks good in and Chloe doesn’t, like pale pink.  So now when I shop for Isabel I try to choose colors that look good on both girls.  If you have a sort of dominant color scheme for each person it makes mixing and matching their clothes to create outfits a lot easier.

      My son looks really good in bright blue, navy, orange, and bright yellow so I buy most of his things in these colors and all his stuff coordinates.  My girls look great in orange, bright pink, yellow, red, and deep lavender.
4.     Less is more.  I’ve mentioned before that I keep my laundry in check by limiting the amount of clothing each member of the family has.  This cuts way down on laundry, makes getting dressed easier because there aren’t so many choices, and allows me to spend more money for high quality on fewer items.  I’d much rather have 2 really nice shirts than 8 cheap ones that won’t look good after they go through the wash.
5.     Have a plan.  This may sound neurotic but for me it’s fun.  I actually have a written plan of what I want to buy for each child twice a year.  I do my biggest shopping for Fall/Winter and just fill in with a few things for Spring/Summer.  This doesn’t work as well for infants because their sizes change often and unexpectedly and you can’t always predict what size they will be at each season.  Start planning once they get to 2T and can most likely wear the clothes for a year.

My plan for each child includes shoes, outerwear, 2 to 3 church outfits, PJs, and 6 everyday outfits.  Buying whole outfits is key.  If you just have a bunch of cute separates that don’t go together you’ve just got a pile of useless clothing and that person will always have nothing to wear.  It can feel expensive and time consuming to get several complete outfits but it will ultimately save you time, money, and stress.  Make sure you have the socks, tights, shoes, and belts to really make outfits.  And because I have a personal color scheme for each of my kids, it makes mixing and matching to create many outfits, easy.  So even if you only have 3 or 4 complete outfits, if each item is a high quality “10” and they all color coordinate, you can mix and match the pieces to create dozens of outfits that you love.  Many items can be worn more than once before washing.  Some little ones do get dirty every day but probably not every item of the outfit is dirty.  Maybe your son needs more shirts than pants to deal with this, for example.  PJs can almost always be worn 2-3 times before washing. 

Also if you save up and then plan to shop for a whole season all at once it’s easier to coordinate the wardrobe and get complete outfits.  Also, retailers often have sales on new merchandise in the Fall so you can definitely get all the sizes/colors you want.

And if you have a checklist of things you want to buy for next year, shopping end of season sales can be very productive.  For example I know I’ll want 2 pairs of little boy lightweight church pants in size 2 next spring so if I see some I really like on sale this summer I can get them and check off those boxes on my checklist.  It also prevents me from going crazy and buying more than I need.  I’m always tempted to get too many dresses for my girls. 

I have a friend who dresses her kids adorably in mostly designer clothes from the Goodwill.  With a plan and shopping list you can do this too.

Also, when Grandma generously sends adorable clothes for the kids, you can check things off your list and avoid buying more than you need.  Do the same with hand me downs from family and friends.  And be discriminating.  If you don't love the hand me downs or they won't look good on your child, don't use them.  Why let something you don't like take up space in the chest of drawers or add to your laundry?
6.     My Favorite Stores.  I do a lot of online shopping these days.  Here are my favorite stores for kids clothes.  I almost always buy things on sale.  The one sort of exception is Mini Boden.  Their stuff usually sells out at full price.  But if I buy things all at once at the beginning of Fall I get 15% off my order.

Mini  Boden  - this is my very favorite.  It’s an English brand that’s classic and sweet and pleasantly quirky. 

Janie and Jack – This is Gymboree’s upscale cousin.  I love the classic, tailored style of their stuff and the quality is excellent.  Tucks, smocking, and peter pan collars abound.  They have great sales regularly.

Gymboree – I don’t like this as much as the first two but I do find some good stuff here and the quality is great.  If you can figure out how to use gymbucks you can save 25% - 50%.  Also they have regular special sales for customers on their friends and family list.  Their outlets are good too if you can find one near you.

Nordstrom – I only buy things here on sale and I have to weed through quite a bit of rockstar/tough kid clothes but they do have high quality stuff that I like.  The Anniversary sale every July (I think) is all new fall stuff at 15%-25% off.  The Nordstrom Rack is great if you live by one and take your checklist so you know what you actually need.

Shop It To Me - This is a website that will send you email notices whenever your favorite online brands or stores put items on sale.  You tell them what type of clothes and sizes you want and then twice a week they send you emails with dozens and dozens of items on sale.  It's easy to scroll through the pictures quickly and check out the 1 or 2 things that interest you.  Especially useful when you're looking for something specific like a winter coat.  Just keep checking the emails until you see what you're looking for at a great price.

7.     My Fall Plan.  Here’s my plan for each child this fall.  I already have some of this stuff, especially for Chloe, and will get the rest when Fall clothing hits the stores.  If I don’t love what I see I’ll wait and watch for the good stuff to show up. 

Liam
o Sneakers
o Rain Boots
o Sunday Shoes
o 4 pairs of PJS
o Coat
o Hat/Scarf
o Mittens

SUNDAY (2 outfits, 1 of them for Christmas)
o 1 Suit
o 1 pants
o 2 LS shirts
o 1 Sweater vest
o 1 Sweater
o 2 pairs of socks

6 Everyday Outfits
o 3 jeans
o 2 pants
o 1 sweatsuit
o 6 LS shirts
o 2 hoodies  (1 of them for the sweatsuit)
o 4 sweaters
o 6 pairs of socks

Chloe
o Sneakers
o Rain Boots
o Sunday shoes
o Casual Mary Janes
o 4 pairs of PJS
o Coat
o Hat/Scarf
o Mittens

SUNDAY (3 outfits, 1 of them for Christmas)
o 3 dresses
o 2 tights to match

6 Everyday Outfits
o 2 jeans
o 1 sweatsuit
o 2 skirts
o 1 dress
o 2 tights
o 5 LS shirts
o 2 hoodies (1 of them for the sweatsuit)
o 4 sweaters
o 4 pairs of socks

Isabel
o Sneakers
o Rain Boots
o Sunday shoes
o Casual Mary Janes
o Dress Boots
o 4 pairs of PJS
o Dress Coat
o Puffy Coat
o Hat/Scarf
o Mittens

SUNDAY (3 outfits, 1 of them for Christmas)
o 3 dresses
o 2 tights to match

6 Everyday Outfits
o 2 jeans
o 1 sweatsuit
o 2 skirts
o 1 dress
o 2 tights
o 5 LS shirts
o 2 hoodies (1 of them for the sweatsuit)
o 4 sweaters
o 4 pairs of socks


Update: My sister just asked for my help developing a clothing checklist for her first baby, a little boy who should be here by October.  Here's a link to the post she did on her blog with the list we made.

Update:  Here is a recent pic of my kids in their 2012 Easter outfits.  Also, I've slimmed down my checklist some.  I'll post a new one soon.