I have a SERIOUS weakness for adorable clothes for kids.  Who cares what I look like….my kids need to be stylin’.   Vintage Couture Inc. and sent us a few pieces to review and we love, love, love it.  The quality of these clothes is just amazing.  The imprinting of the fabric is so vivid and bright that it just stands out in a crowd.  The dress straps are adorned with rhinestone accents (what little girl doesn’t love a little sparkle?!)    The pieces are easy to mix-and-match which helps to stretch the wardrobe dollar just a little more.  My daughter oooh-ed and aaah-ed as soon as she saw what was in the box!   The boys’ items are cute, too.  With a fun cowboy look, these have a flair that is so different from the typical dinosaurs or trains that I usually find on boys’ items.  Vintage Couture clothing is worlds above the average kids’ clothing company. Plus they have Mama stuff, diaper bags, hair pretties, and more!!  There is a tween line too, but it’s pretty limited in choices.  I’d like to see that expand because I can see us shopping there often. My daughter is just about to size out of the regular clothing sizes.  Right now they have a fabulous BOGO sale going on so you need to check it out while supplies last!

What do you love in the winter catalog?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

My family enjoys playing games together.   Our family game night tradition isn’t exactly established yet, since our two little ones are still young, but we enjoy doing games together.  We try to play together at least once a month, building memories with a bowl of kettle corn and a lot of laughing.  Even before we had children, we got together with friends to play cards or something like that.   I prefer the quickies (Zingo, Candyland) while my husband likes the longer games (Scrabble, Monopoly, Life.)  My daughter doesn’t really care what games we play as long as she WINS!  Now that my son is almost 3 years old, he is starting to get in on the action, too.  Recently we started playing Zingo with him and he is really good at it!

Playing games is not just fun, it’s great for opening the doors of conversation with your child.  There are also the added benefits of teaching your child good sportsmanship, taking turns, etc.  It’s a fun budget-friendly way to spend an unplugged evening at home.   Don’t have board games to play?  Don’t break the budget on getting them.  We have built up our small stash at yard sales and Goodwill.  Better yet, swap with a friend.  Trade your used books or toys for some board games and both of you will have something new (to you) to enjoy with the family!    When I read about Kook Ee Game on Mama Does It All, I realized that there are probably lots of other–newer–games out there that we haven’t tried.

I’m curious, what are your family’s favorite games? I’d love to hear about them!

(This post contains affilliate links. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.)

The Tricities has recently been catching on to the local deals thing. New websites such as Save Right Now and Daily Deal Tricities have encouraged me to try some new restaurants and salons.  These Groupon-esque sites offer a local deal at a discounted price so if you catch it on the right day you can really get a bargain.  Another site that I like is Kingsport Deals which has a variety of local coupons you can print.  If you haven’t picked up the Little Coupon Book, definitely grab one next time you see it.  You can also print out the coupons online.  It has a decent variety of local coupons that usually expire within the month.

Recently I came across a pamphlet called The Tri-City Saver and was really impressed by the coupons it offered.  [Read more…]

My Daughter’s Legacy secret word list:

July 25: restaurant
July 26: eating out
July 27: drivethru
July 28: budget

Probably the biggest saboteur in my budget is eating out.  Yes, I had to google the spelling of saboteur. But let’s stick to the point here.

Scenario #1:  My family is always on the go.  We sometimes go weeks without doing a “real” grocery shopping trip.  As I’ve said before, I’m not a huge stockpiler, so I don’t have months of beans waiting in the pantry in case of Armageddon.  If the disasters of 2012 indeed hit, we’ll be finding the nearest Extreme Couponer in our neighborhood because it’s not me.
Scenario #2:  we have food in the fridge but I’m not there to cook it.  Rather than force my kids to wait until 10:00 pm to eat, we make the conscious budget-killer choice to eat at a restaurant.
Scenario #3:  I’m just too lazy to do it, even to eat out at home.

To make this a little less painful, I’ve attempted to compile a list of Tricities restaurants that offer discounts   Having the chance to get kids deals at restaurants softens the blow of a dinner out on the budget.  Maybe no one else reads it but me; still, I’ll have a handy-dandy reference in case I need to justify a meal out of the house one night. 🙂    These discounts were valid recently; always check with your specific location to see if they honor it before you load everyone up; nothing like expecting a yummy restaurant meal only to have it dashed from your plate.  And that’s just for mom; imagine what it’d do to the kids.

Let’s just clarify that most of the kids’ meal pricing comes with the requirement of buying at least one adult entree with it.

Monday:  Chick Fil A–free chicken sandwich with church bulletin

Tuesday:  Fazoli’s kids meals=99 cents

Wednesday:  Applebee’s kids meals = $1.99

Thursday:  Picadilly–(my kids’ favorite!!)  — kids meals 99 cents all day

Friday:

Saturday:  Picadilly kids meals 99 cents (11 AM – 4 PM only)

Sunday:

Daily:
Atlanta Bread Company—kids get a free cookie with kids’ meal
Perkin’s—kids get a free cookie with kids’ meal
Golden Corral—kids under 3 eat free, ages 4-7 (?) have reduced price
Sonic–1/2 price drinks from 2-4 (so head over on your way home from school!)

I’d LOVE it if you’d help expand this list!  If you know of more deals, please let me know.

If you don’t live in the Tricities area, check out this list of other restaurants that offer discounted meals.  You just might find something in your neck of the woods!

(I received no compensation for this post. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.)