Mission Impossible!

Well, it is that time of year again.

Sale flyers full of back to school

specials fill or mailboxes.

The aisles at Target are packed with

High School Musical folders,

Disney Princess backpacks,

and endless bins of #2 pencils,

pink erasers and boxes of crayons.

If you are like me,

your kids outgrew everything this Summer,

so you are on the hunt for savvy ways to

restock their closets with clothes they will love

without having to take out a small loan

to pay for it!

I had three kids to shop for this year

and I approached each shopping day very differently.

Bren was up first.

This is the day I looked forward to the most.

She still values my fashion opinion and is the funnest to shop for

because the clothes are so darn cute!

For Bren, research was key.

I shopped online at places like

crazy 8, gymboree, gap, Lands End, and Naartjie.

I filled up my online shopping carts from what I liked at each online store

and then printed them out to take with me.

If I found better deals out in town, I bought them.

If my online sales were better,

I purchased those deals when I got home that night.

Bren and I hit 11 local stores and had a very prosperous day.

I found great deals on cute stuff and came home that night to purchase

just a few online items that were better buys.

She's all set.

Michael was next.

All he wanted was a bunch of t-shirts and a few pairs of jeans.

We were able to get all of that plus a great hoodie

and a pack of new socks from visiting just three stores.

He is so easy and fun to shop with.

He knows the value of a dollar and

kept a careful eye on the budget I had set for him.

He wore basketball shorts so he could try everything on right there

in the middle of the store!

We didn't mess with a single dressing room line,

He just pulled those jeans right up over his shorts!

I told him that he gets that from his great grandmother.

My grandma does the same thing.

I've helped her pull on and off countless sweaters

right in the middle of Macys!

Michael was very proud of the outfits we got for

a little under budget.

He laid them all out on the living room floor and

showed them off to Zachary, Madison and his dad.

Although I definitely believe that clothes don't make the person,

it's nice to love what you wear,

and I love seeing my kids feel so good about themselves.

My third and final shopping trip was with Madison,

my 13 year old daughter.

Madison loves clothes,

but hates the whole process of picking out what goes with what

out of a store full of options.

It helped that we made a list of must haves before we left

so we could stay focused on what we had to get.

I've definitely learned that she has to absolutely love something

or I'm just wasting my money on it

because it will sit in her closet with tags on until it goes out of style.

So, shopping for clothes or shoes with Madison is definitely a challenge,

but shopping for undergarments with her

is mission impossible!

{Can't you hear the theme music playing right now?}

I felt like we needed to be dressed in all black,

lower ourselves on a wire above the intimate aparel aisle,

grab a handful of bras and panties mid-flip during our descent to the ground

and skillfully hide the offending items in our shopping cart

under extreemly non-sexual items having nothing to do with puberty or hormones

like Tide with bleach, air freshener, light bulbs and a hand mixer.

All of this to keep people from knowing or seeing

that we are in need of new undergarments!

And to make matters worse,

I wasn't entirely sure of her size.

The tag on her current bra no longer exists,

not that she would let me check for it or anything.

Madison was clearly not in the mood to

discuss anything having to do with the words

"cup", "wire", "strap", "push-up", "spill over" or "boobie",

so she was no help at all in narrowing down the

size and style for me.

She stood there expressionless,

arms folded, eyes rolling, face flushing.

Having nursed four babies and having been an active participant

in countless births of my friend's babies,

and having been instrumental in helping so many women

and their babies start off a successful nursing relationship,

I am completely comfortable with boobs.

So coming from this mindset

and in an effort to get some idea of what I'm working with here,

I try to hold a particularly cute bra up to her like I would a shirt on Bren,

but she quickly sensed the intention of my movement

and did a lightening fast duck and run followed by a horrified,

"Moooooommmmm!!!!! Stop that!".

I can't help it.

I'm a mom, it's automatic!

Besides, no one is looking!!

Left with no other choice,

(and because I'm obviously not going to chase her around the aisle

trying to size her bra),

I stand at the far end of the aisle from where she is

and hold the bra up to her, closing one eye and tilting my head

trying to judge the fit from that distance.

Well from this vantage point the bra engulfs her entire body

so this method is clearly not working.

Looks like we'll have to guess at this and sort it all out

in the dressing room.

I grab 4 bras of various sizes and styles

while Madison turns 10 shades of red and walks 5 miles ahead of me.

I'm no longer allowed in the dressing room,

so she's on her own to determine comfort and fit.

She settles on one that "will do" and we head back to the

bra aisle to grab the acceptable bra in other colors so

we will have enough stock not to have to do this again for a while!

Whether we were on the giving or receiving end of this milestone,

all of us girls have been there.

For a teenage girl,

I'm sure bra shopping in public with your mom

is not high on the list of things you want to do.

For me now on the mom side,

I'm so thrilled that Madison has the modesty

that she does.

I'm glad that polkadot bras hanging innocently

in the aisles of Target make her blush.

I'm glad that I'm her mom and that we get to share these moments together

that I'm sure we'll look back on and laugh at.

I look forward to the day when she calls me and

tells me of her own years of stepping into my role

as the intrusive mom who tries to hold a bra up to her

own horrified little girls chest!

I'm sure she'll be much better at it than I am!

So until next time,

Mission Impossible

officially accomplished!

Whew!!