Play me a tune

Julia and August

We are now the proud owners of a piano. Emily has shown interest in wanting to play for a little while now. The older girls play violin and we were preparing for the youngest two to start those this year. Emily said she really would rather play piano. We had one problem, no piano.

I searched for a couple of months on Craigslist and Freecycle. There are many free pianos out there but finding one in acceptable condition is not as simple. Each time I sent a message to someone they informed me the instrument was already taken. We all prayed about it and just trusted that we would get one when the time was right.

We have learned that you can pretty much get any large item for free if you’re patient enough. People would rather give away something than try and move it or sell it. We’ve received many nice blessings this way. A king-sized-bed, hot tub, double BOB jogging stroller, wheelbarrow etc….. And so we waited.

Two weeks ago I finally received an answer to a free piano Craigslist Ad. There was no picture, which made me nervous. Adam stopped by the man’s house after work to check it out; he called me and said it looked perfect. It was older but looked nice inside. It is smaller, I don’t know much about pianos, but I believe it’s called a spinet piano.

This past weekend we were able to pick it up. It fit perfectly in our minivan after the seats were all removed. We are professional piano movers now, you know. *wink* I was a bit impressed with it when I saw it. It was much nicer than I had expected. I was told the brand was a good one too. I really know nothing about pianos, but this one is a Story & Clark.

The kids are all very excited. August and Kiley got right down to learning how to play themselves. They already know how to read music and have said the piano has been easy to learn. They have been nice enough to show their little sisters what they’ve learned so far. It still needs to be tuned, but sounds pretty good considering. We are very thankful for God’s blessing and Emily can’t wait to start lessons in a couple of months. I will now have three violinists and a pianist. I really enjoy listening to my children play music; I have always had this dream of my children playing Canon in D  for me on their instruments. I can't wait for that day. 

DO YOU EVER WEAR PANTS?

The title "Do you ever wear pants?" was a question asked by the girls' violin instructor yesterday. Kiley said "we used to". She quickly responded with "You all always look so nice, it reminds me when I was a little girl, we always wore dresses. I think people used to care more about how they looked." I thanked her, not having expected her to say such a nice thing.

Before I begin here are some of my reasons for ditching pants for skirts/dresses:

• They are SO MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE, Can you say "FREEDOM"?
• It looks so much nicer
• They have to be laundered less
• I have noticed more respectful treatment from strangers/store workers
• I want my clothing to be pleasing to God
• My husband LOVES all of his girls in dresses
• Countless compliments on how nice my family looks. How nice, sweet and well behaved my children are.
• God commanded "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God" Deuteronomy 22:5
• If you've had babies and your belly has not gone back to normal, you don't have to try and squeeze into pants. Dresses hide it. "YES!"
• Less worry about your butt and thighs being too big and others noticing. They are covered. "WHEW"

This blog is about OUR choice for OUR family. This is a conviction that has been placed on my heart. This decision has taken prayer and discussion with my husband. He is all for it. He loves it. Please understand we do not think differently about any other girl/woman in pants. Please don't misread.
(Whining) Emily and Julia started it. As soon as they were old enough to talk/point they have worn mostly dresses. Last summer they began to ONLY want to wear dresses/skirts. August and Kiley started to follow in their footsteps, asking for more dresses/skirts.
I noticed when we started at our "new" church last year that most of the women and girls wore only dresses/skirts. How beautiful they always looked.

Modesty is largely absent in our society. I used to think "ugly" when I thought of modesty. Frumpy fat and ugly, right? Nonsense. For 6 months now the girls and I have slowly began to transform to a more modest tone of clothing including wearing skirts/dresses daily. Believe me, I am only 30, I do not want to be ugly or frumpy.

(The photo is of Kiley. Isn't she just darling?)
It has been harder and harder to find "little girl" clothing in stores. I'm guilty, I confess of the "skinny jean". Which we have now thrown away. I didn't like those on my daughters from day one. First, my girls are way too skinny for skinny jeans, then it made them look "older" and they acted a little sassy. It's funny how clothing affects attitude. Since wearing dresses/skirts, they are not acting sassy or walking with an attitude. They actually act/look like sweet young ladies. There is just something gorgeous about little girls who look like little girls.

"Isn't it harder for them to play in dresses and skirts?" I haven't noticed anything harder. They are playing just the same. In fact we needed to get undershorts/leggings to cover their unmentionables, since they still like to rough house.

We have set up a small rule of thumb: All skirts/dresses must come to the middle of the knee or below. Shorter skirts and dresses are not very attractive, in my own opinion.

"Wow, don't you feel weird wearing dresses everyday?" Um NO! In fact, I'm much more comfortable. If you haven't noticed girls still wear dresses. Women used to wear them daily, and they looked so much nicer. I can't begin to tell you how much more positive of a response I receive from people when we are all dressed nicely, than if we were all in sweatpants.

This has not been a difficult transition. In fact I don't think I've worn a pair of pants in at least 4 months. I haven't even thought about it. I have found that I LOVE wearing skirts. I actually have worn skirts quite a lot in the past, just not daily. Ask my closest friends, I have ALWAYS had an issue buying jeans that fit me.

It has been fun buying skirts and dresses for everyone. Since we are on such a small income, the 2nd hand stores have been AWESOME! I have been able to clothe all of us girls in dresses/skirts mostly from these stores. Can you say "SUPER CHEAP". Um, don't turn your nose at me, we have found awesome quality name brand stuff for just $1 or $2 an item. Can't even tell they were worn. I find it funny that it is so very difficult to find dresses/skirts for older little girls at regular retail stores. Mostly, they are all very short.
Kiley was right on with her answer to the question: "Do you ever wear pants?"
"We used to"

Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

Secondhand Shopping Awesomeness

I think thrift stores get a bad wrap. Or maybe my old childhood fears of someone saying "Yo mama shops at the Salvation Army, Kmart & Payless Shoes" still haunt me. Ha! Of course after I was laid off and decided to stay home we went from really well off, to one small income, I had to re-learn how to shop.

Another reference to the Duggar family in the same day. Their family motto is "Buy used and save the difference". They rarely ever buy anything new, and they pay cash for everything. They have no debt, none, not even mortgage debt. Anyhoo, thrift store shopping is how they clothe and shoe their 19 kids. They are always nicely and modestly dressed.

Our town has about 5 or 6 secondhand stores. Some are better than others. The chain thrift stores like Goodwill tend to be a little expensive. Who wants to pay $10 for a used kids dress? Um, not me. I go there sometimes, and have found great deals, but I prefer to give business to the Church run stores.

Clothing a bunch of kids can get expensive. Especially with the smaller ones seem to grow out of clothes faster than they can wear them out. I have found some super great items. In fact most of what I find are expensive brand names. I have purchased two Janie & Jack items with combined retail price of $93 plus tax, in like new shape for only $4.00. This also helps our environment by reusing and not creating more trash. We should all be good stewards of the earth God has created for us.

This week I purchased 9 items from my favorite Buenas Vidas Youth Ranch Thrift Store (Saturday's everything is 50% off). For the little girls, 2 dresses, 2 skirts and 1 sweater. For the big girls 1 skirt and 1 dress and 2 skirts for myself. Not that I really care too much about brand name items but sometimes it's exciting, especially when you know how much someone else paid for the item you just bought for a dollar. The little girls clothes were all Gap, J&J, Gymboree & Old Navy, all places I can't afford to shop. The big girls items were nice quality brands too. All the items were in just like new condition.

I LOVE LOVE figuring out how much money I saved. I added up the approximate retail price for all 9 items purchased yesterday. It was roughly $345.00, including tax. I paid $18.11 (less than an hour of work for Adam), including tax, averaging $2.01 per item. Saving my husband $326.89 approximately 2 days of hard work. He should be so proud of me. haha!

I took pictures this time, because I'm a nerd like that. I'm missing the black skirt I got for the big girls. I think Kiley wore it today. It's a long, mid calf plain black skirt.