Our home

I thought since I posted some pictures of Halle's new room a few days ago, I would show you what the rest of our "home" looks like. We have been living with my in-laws since last August (when we moved back to MI). They have a big home, and our family has taken over the basement-which is more like an apartment. Halle took over one of the real bedrooms in the house, so that's why her room is so big!!
We would obviously love to have our own home, but we are extremely grateful for what we have been blessed with here at the DeLange's residence.

Here's what our place looks like:

Living Room

Living Room

The Kitchen

The Dining Room

The desk area

Our bedroom- It's not as cool as Halle's, but it does the job

The fireplace in our room

Another view of our room

The Bathroom

Parker's room area...It's a complete mess, but I didn't feel like cleaning it just to take a picture

Dressing (our kids) for Less

I'm all about finding a good deal on clothes, for me and my kids. Even if I had all the money in the world, I think I would still find it really hard to spend a lot of money on an article of clothing. I can't remember the last time I bought something for full price. I always search the sale racks, shop at outlet stores, or shop at Target (my absolute favorite store).

Kelly from Kelly's Korner wrote a fun post today about dressing cheaply throughout our recession, so I thought I would play along as well. Because I spend most of my money and time shopping for my kids (it's way more fun shopping for them than for myself), I thought I would mention a few places I like to get great deals for little ones, while still having them look cute and in-style.

#1. Target (you had to know it was going to be # 1 on my list)- They have some of the best prices around and adorable clothes. I usually get all of Halle and Parker's basic clothing there. They always have really cute clothes for girls. I usually find really good deals on the clearance rack- 30-75% off. We just bought Parker a new pair of shoes that look identical to some adidas ones for $6!! Even when paying the normal price though, everything is still really inexpensive.

Girls' dresses $12.99-16.99

I love Converse shoes on kids!! Only $19.99

They always have cute tops for girls.

Basic shorts/tees for both boys and girls are $4-6 dollars each, and will go on sale for $3 each

Most boys' shoes are $9.99-14.99

#2. Children's Place- I can't say I always find things I like in this store because sometimes their clothes are a little wild, but they always have great sales. Once you get on their mailing list, you are always receiving 15% off coupons, which you can use on top of the sales already in the store. Most of the time, anything that is on sale ends up having an extra 20-25% off that price as well, and if you use the coupon, you are walking away with clothes for barely nothing. I have spent as little as $1-2 on shirts for Parker. I just bought Parker a whole sweatsuit-pants and sweatshirt for $5 total! Can't beat that!!

Jeans for both boys and girls are $12.50-16.50

I buy all of Parker's pj's from here. On clearance, they are as cheap as $3-5 (which is when I buy them), but usually their deal is 3 for $25!!

#3. Justice- for girls. When we lived in Charlotte, NC, a Justice store opened up about 5 minutes away from where we lived. Halle was always wanting to go there. I liked it because their clothes were just like Limited Too's, but cheaper. Now all Limited Too stores have switched over to Justice (no one can afford LT prices during the recession), so we have one close by us now in MI. I can't say their clothes are really cheap, but they are good quality, cute, and if you get them on sale, they are a good deal. If you get on their mailing list, you get 30-40% off coupons quite freqeuntly. You can use it on sale items as well, so it makes for a good deal. We just bought Halle a bunch of clothes for summer and spent $6-10 on each item after coupons.

#4. Gap Kids/Baby Gap/Gap Outlet- I love Gap for kids. I can't say I find myself much there, but I have always thought their kids clothes are cute. I only buy stuff when it's on sale, and if you wait long enough, their prices get really low. I have found $40 pair of pants for less than $10 before. You just have to wait it out though. Sometimes when you buy an item, you get a survey on the bottom of your receipt. If you take the survey online, you get a code for an extra 15% off your next purchase. It only take 3-4 minutes to take the survey, so it's worth it.

So, there's the top 4 stores I shop at for my kids. I love to dress my kids nicely, but I never spend a lot doing it. Why break the bank on clothes that will only fit them for a few months? If you are really looking for a good deal, always browse the sale racks, never buy anything full price, use coupons, and above all, be patient- it will go on sale at some point!!

**I have posted a link on Kelly's blog. You can go there and see where others have blogged about finding great deals on clothes.

Halle's New Room

Halle's New Room
We spent most of Friday afternoon/evening and most of the day on Saturday working on her room. The majority of our time was spent taping around doors, windows, the baseboard, and for the black stripe around the center of the wall.

We are really pleased with how everything turned out and I didn't spend a ton redoing her room (which is a plus). I pulled out my creative side to make a few accents for the room and we used some things we had lying around the house, so the paint was our only major cost (and it really wasn't that much).

Halle is super pleased too!!

This is her NEW room looking in from the door to the left
Looking in from the door to the right

Here are some before and after pictures

Before-desk area

AfterI just put some zebra scrapbooking paper on her tack board

The window seat
I made these valances myself. I bought solid black valances from Walmart and hot glued zebra ribbon and hot pink feathers (from JoAnn Fabric's) to the bottom of them

Before- bed area, except Halle had already put her new bedding on before I took this picture. Her old bedding was light purple with pink/purple flower sheets

After
Before- I took this frame from my room
After- I just put covered the matting with zebra paper. We are going to change those pictures out and put some more recent pics in

Before- her letters
After- I free handed the stripes on each letter and then painted them in. It took me a couple nights to get them done, but I love how they turned out


Before- vanity areaAfterOur $5 find at TJ Maxx. She holds necklaces, hair clips, pictures
Halle LOVES her new room!

A glimpse of Halle's Extreme Bedroom Makeover

Halle's room has been in need of a makeover for quite some time. Although the pink and purple flowers are nice, she has had them for the past 4 years and everything is faded and looking old/worn.

Old beddingSo, this past weekend, Halle and I went out shopping for a couple hours on Sunday and came home with new bedroom stuff for her room. We usually aren't that lucky to find something we both like the first day we look, but we already had an idea in our minds before we left, which made it a lot easier.

We got a solid Black comforter from Target
Hot Pink Sheets from Target

This super fun Zebra pillow (from Target, of course)I have been working on quite a few projects for her room since we got all this stuff. Needless to say, black, hot pink, and zebra are what I'm working with. Every day this week, I have spent my evenings working on different projects. I'm not showing them now, so I won't ruin the full effect of her made-over room (pics to come after this weekend). We don't have school on Friday, so I am going to begin painting her room then. It's a huge room, so it's going to take me a while. I really want to have everything done this weekend though... We'll see...I am really excited about it!! Pray I don't run into any snags along the way, or mess up royaly while painting.

Halle's Dinner

Tonight Halle made dinner!!! She has been dying to make dinner since she got her very own cookbook for her birthday!

She decided to make French Dip Sandwiches Pasta Salad Strawberries and Red Pop/Root Beer Floats for dessert
We tweaked the recipes a bit (from the book), but Halle did all of the cutting for the salad, she layered all the sandwiches, set the table, and cleaned up after dinner.

It got a little hectic while we were fixing the sandwiches because you have to really watch them so they don't burn (I kind of burnt the first batch), so I forgot take any pictures of Halle hard at work.

Here are the recipes for the dinner Halle made:

French Dip Sandwiches

1 loaf Italian bread (in grocer's bakery)

1 lb Roast Beef- I had them cut it paper thin

Italian seasoning packet

Butter

Provolone cheese

Beef Boulion cubes

Slice loaf of bread in half. Smear butter on inside of both pieces of bread. Sprinkle Italian seasoning over bread. Stick on pan and broilon Low for 1-2 min or until a little crispy- really keep an eye on them. Remove from oven. Add roast beef and cheese to each half. Broil again for 1-2 min or until heated all the way through. Put both halves together, cut, and serve warm. *I wrapped my sandwiches in aluminun foil and put back in oven (turned off) to let stay warm.

Use Beef Boulion (directions on package) to make au jus sauce for dipping.

Pasta Salad

1 pkg. Tri-color pasta noodles

Cheese, cut into cubes

Cherry Tomatoes, cut in half

Onion, chopped finely

Broccoli, cut in pieces

Italian dressing

Cook pasta as directed. Drain. Add all other ingredients- add as much or as little of veggies as you like. Pour Italian dressing over top, cover, and refrigerate until serving.

Strawberries

Buy strawberries at store. Cut in half. Sprinkle with sugar.

Root Beer Floats

1/2 gallon of Vanilla icecream

1 2 liter of Root Beer- A & W is the best!

Scoop icecream into glasses. Pour root beer over top. Enjoy!