Are Burlap Sacks Acceptable?

I was totally inspired by Maggie's post. As in, I have lengthy thoughts and as I wrote the longest comment I have ever written, and realized I had yet more opinions/experiences. So it ballooned into a whole post. Which is convenient because I am a little swamped with THINGS lately and have no energy to be creative.

This season I am in a quandary; as I am searching for a summer wardrobe for the girls, I am finding the gap in other kids' sizes and my kids' sizes growing a bit insurmountable.

In the past I have had a bit of a routine. In winter, I buy about six or so pairs of jeans from Old Navy. (by the end of the season, they all have holes in them. However they are (a) very reasonably priced and (b) seem to have the best fit for the super skinny, yet tall-ish twins) Then I gather a rag-tag-bunch of long sleeve tees. Mostly from the outlet store down the road (yay, outlets!) who have Gymboree, Carters, and now Gap. I also get a lot of it online from Old Navy, whenever they are having a sale and free shipping. In the summer, the girls refuse to wear anything other than skirts. So I get skorts- with the little pants underneath. It makes me feel better when the girls are flying around, and would otherwise be flashing the world their panties and whatnot.

In any season getting dressed is a whole ORDEAL. The girls have lots of OPINIONS, (usually they want only dresses, all the time) yet are still ardent about matching each other. I've tested this theory by having them dress in different rooms, and no decisions were made until each knew what the other was planning on donning that day. So they match. I usually have to pay more for the clothes because exact duplicates in the same size are impossible to find on clearance or in consignment stores.

I've also tried that- getting different stuff, super cheap: a couple shirts were immediately deemed "the good ones" and the rest were basically a punishment to have to wear. (dramatic sob) I seriously ended up stopping the madness and just throwing out everything that didn't have an exact duplicate. I've heard plenty of "let the kids express themselves as individuals" stuff, (mostly from old ladies who want to talk parenting-strategy in the aisles of grocery stores) but my kids aren't like that. They WANT to dress the same... or they just don't want their sister to be wearing a "better" outfit.

So you are beginning to understand the extent of the clothing insanity at our house. Yeah... lovely.

Well this year I went on a blitz while the girls were in preschool. Came home, and tried it all on- NO GO. The 4T skirts were still a bit loose on the waist, but bordering on mini-skirt territory. (not age appropriate length!) The 5T was so large, it perched on their hips, and promptly fell to the knees. So I'm stuck- Old Navy and Gymboree used to be a better fit for the skinny ones, but have lately adjusted their sizing. (at least I am guessing) Now I am screwed. On short sleeved shirts, I am fine- last year's models mostly all fit. But bottoms wise? I have a pair of last year's bermuda shorts, that due to their recent growing (up, not out) just look like regular shorts.

Little Man? Totally different territory; He could not care less. Not one iota about what I put on him. I was lucky enough to stock up a bit on 2T and 3T from Thred Up, which used to be awesome for me, but is now moving away from box swapping and onto some "concierge consignment" nonsense. I hate it when good companies totally retool business models that worked for the consumer. (this consumer, anyway) Annoying. In any event, Little Man is pudgy and a bit more normal-sized for his age range. With his curly bed of hair, he usually looks pretty dapper.

The twins? Ideally, they would fit a 3T waist, 5T length. Oh, and I never do their hair. This is why I went with a short bob. I'm even re-thinking growing out their bangs- clippies are being lost and abandoned at an alarming rate.

I may have to branch out and find new shops that make clothes more suited for my bean-pole-children. There is only so much I am willing to stress about a 5 year old's wardrobe. In fact, right now they are still wearing last year's spring/summer pajamas. Which is awesome as I just dropped $60 on bigger sized warm weather pj's for Little Man.