Swimming Fun, Pizza Overload, Thrift Store Finds, and Back-to-School Fashions!

Yesterday, we had a great time visiting with Mom and Dad in Tuscaloosa (and also my two nephews). The day was very HOT, so it was a good day to swim--which we did for about two hours and which I paid for with a nasty sunburn! The kids had a great time! I love these pics of Garrett, Matthew, and Delaney in mid-jump (every picture I took seemed to show them on their way INTO the pool and not actually IN the pool. LOL)



After swimming, we ate at Cici's Pizza--one of the girls' favorite places to go (and I think one of Dad's too!). It's one of those all-you-can-eat pizza places; a place where you go and, even with your best intentions, end up eating 7 pieces of pizza, cheese bread, AND a few slices of dessert pizzas. Places like that really should be outlawed! (But it was GOOD, if not totally inappropriate and gluttonous!)

Then it was time to go see what treasures we could find at the Salvation Army! Let me just tell you right here that my mother is a thrift store fanatic and can find the BEST deals! She has the nicest things in her house that came from thrift stores (and consignment shops). And I LOVE to go to thrift stores, especially to look for books. (And, lucky for us, it was 25 cent book day today!) And now I've decided to start looking for stemware at the thrift stores on a regular basis.

I am ADDICTED to stemware--it is truly one of my favorite things in the world and I have a ton of glasses (wine glasses, ice tea goblets, champagne flutes, martini glasses, dessert glasses, whatever I can find I love!). Well, today I found these treasures . . .

They are the coolest glasses. I guess they are champagne glasses, but they have the most unique stems on them. If you turn them sideways, the stems actually like look the Christian fish symbol! They are just too cool and I just love them. They were in perfect condition, AND they were just a quarter each! How about that? (Now to find a place to put them . . . I'm running out of space!)

After resting back at the house for a while, Mom decided that she wasn't up to shopping with us (she'd told the girls that she would buy them each a back-to-school outfit) so she decided to just give us some money and let us go shopping ourselves. (She really was too tired from all the day's activities and she has to be careful about overdoing it!) So, the girls were VERY excited about getting to go clothes shopping!

First, we had to meet up with my friend Angela (she lives in Northport, so any time we go down that way we try and see her). We met at the Mellow Mushroom for dinner and I ate what had to be the BIGGEST Greek salad ever! (and it was the "small" salad on the menu!). It was SO yummy! (And so was Angela's roasted red pepper-bacon-onions-feta cheese pizza that she created. Double yummy!)

Then, it was off to the mall and JC Penney's. My girls LOVE to shop for clothes, so they had a great time! (Even Sydney loves to try on clothes; it is TOO cute!)

We quickly learned that several things are in style this year for back-to-school fashions. They include--

tunics (long shirts)
bermuda shorts
gauchos
anything polka dotted or stiped
screen tees with cool, random, freestyle designs on them
layers
hoodies
tube tops and halters (although those won't be worn to school! LOL)

The girls found some great stuff and some great deals! Delaney got a pair of bermuda shorts and two shirts, and McKenna got four shirts. (And yep, Sydney found some things too-a shirt and a dress. She calls one her "baseball shirt" although it really has a basketball on it and calls the dress her "fancy dress" although it's really just a casual dress. But, again, TOO cute!)

The girls are in style, for sure, don't you think?



I've told the girls that we can go next week--on Payday, and before vacation--to get a few other things for them. Delaney wants to go to Justice, and McKenna wants to go to Platos' Closets and Rue 21.

The plan for today? We are cleaning out drawers and closets, finding space for our new clothes and getting organized for the school year coming up. (I may even try and clean out my closet--which will be a HUGE undertaking, but something that needs to be done.) We can clear everything out and donate it to our church's clothes closet. Will be a good thing!

(By the way--big blogging news! LOL My dh, Gary, has started his own blog. You'll have to go check it out: www.garykwray.blogspot.com. It's looking good so far!)