Back to School on a Budget ~ Clothing Edition

I get a bit obsessive when it comes to starting off a new school year. I am a planner, so I like to be prepared for whatever might be thrown our way on the first day of school. This is exactly why I despise the fact that our elementary school doesn't tell us who our kids' teacher are until at the Open House the night before the first day. But when it comes to Back-to-School shopping I can be ready when I want to be ready and spend what I want to spend, so here is my top 6 Back-to-School clothing items to buy on a budget for my kids.

1. BOYS ~ Children's Place pull-on cargo pants $15.00

 I often buy Jonah enough of these pants to get him through the year. I love that I can buy them in "slim sizes" since he is skinny and that they are the pull-on style, so he won't have any buttons or snaps to fumble with come bathroom time. The price is right, coming in at about $10 a pair when on sale and with a coupon.

2. GIRLS ~ Children's Place leggings $8.00

These come in a variety of colors and go perfectly under dresses and tunics. Lily is NOT a tights kind of girl, so these do the job and she can get them on/off by herself so potty breaks at preschool aren't an issue.

3. BOYS AND GIRLS ~ Osh Kosh B'Gosh tee's $7.00

The whole 5/6 vs 7/8 and small vs medium thing kills me when it comes to kids clothes. Osh Kosh saves the day with their easy peasy sizing of 4, 5, 6, 7 and so on. Not to mention the tee's are $7 a piece right now, and that's a deal for a good quality shirt that will last you through fall and winter (and longer if you happen to have a kid that doesn't have a growth spurt over the summer).

4. GIRLS ~ Carter's dresses & tunics $13.20

These too come in even sizes, but I just love Carter's, I have always have since my kids were infants. They have a lot of fall play style cotton dresses to choose from and the prints are cute to boot.

5. GIRLS ~ Cherokee Dawna mary jane shoes $12.99

Lily is attending preschool at the dance studio she has been a student at for the last year, so in addition to her academic class, she also has 30 mins of dance each day. She's going to be changing out of dance shoes and into regular shoes on her own each day and needs shoes that are easy to put on by herself. The Cherokee Dawna shoes are just that! Simple but cute styles, with velcro straps make for a confident little girl.

6. BOYS ~ Jumping Beans Side-Stripe Microfiber pants $7.99

What boy doesn't like to be sporty? Some days Jonah wants to wear his "comfy" pants and these are them. He can pair them with just about any t-shirt in his closet and he is good to go, whether its in the classroom or on the soccer field at recess.

Our Very Own Elf

They are 2 and 4, yet it seems as though these two children of mine have been here for an eternity. I can't remember life without them, and am grateful for their faces (smiling or angry) every single day.

Life with my 2 year old daughter has been a rollercoaster. One moment she is happy and dancing and giggling, and the very next screaming "NO JONAH NO!" and running off to pout and be grumpy. The mood swings are intense, for all of us. I am not saying SHE is the root of the arguments, we all add our own unique tension to the situations.

Christmas is coming and they both know it. I have in the past used the "Santa is watching" technique, but this year is different than years past. Each year the children understand more and more, about life, love, and particularly, one another. They know how to love on one another in a way only a young brother and sister can. They stick up for one another, think about one another, and obviously, know how to push each other's buttons.

In the last few years, I have seen a few Mom's here and there talk about their Elf on the Shelf. At first, I had no idea what it was, until Stephanie started blogging about their elf, Chazz Star. But this year, CBS aired a 30 minute movie called Elf on a Shelf: The Elf's Story and after a single viewing the kids were asking when OUR elf was going to arrive.

The movie laid out the entire idea of the Elf on the Shelf. Where he comes from, how he gets there, how he needs a name before he gets his magic, how he reports back to Santa, and how you cannot touch him, or he will lose his magic. Yes, the book does this well too, in a classic, bedtime story kind of way, but in today's age of visual learning and technology, this made it easier for my little ones to "see". Of course, we can all advocate the importance of imagination, but if it weren't for the movie (it's only 30 minutes, INCLUDING commercial breaks), our Elf, Dazzle McNoodle would never have come to be known as ours.

The Matuska Family Elf ~ Dazzle McNoodle