summertime finds.

my love affair with clothes was evident at my 3rd birthday party when i piled all the beautiful textiles that i had received as presents around me and pushed away the toys that remained.  yes, my parents were in trouble and they knew it.  however, they were saved by the fact that i am not very fond of shopping and i never have been.  there is something about it that is tedious and stressful and i absolutely hate trying things on....  until i get home.  then i'm all about it.  is this weird?  i'm convinced that it means i was born to have a stylist and personal shopper.  so far that theory has not panned out.  anyone with me, lol?

anywho, for this reason and because i don't know any mom that has time to shop around until their hearts content for themselves or their brood, and because we thought it would be fun, stacy, jana, jane and myself got together and devised a plan for a children's summer styles photo shoot.  we figured that, if we each went to a couple stores to shop for our munchkin's, we would come up with a fun variety of items and be able to take some great snaps with the kids.  sort of funny now that i look back at it because it ended up being a totally nutty day and the kids {at least the boys and toddler} didn't exactly cooperate {not sure why we expected them to do otherwise} and we only got to about half of the outfits, but stacy did an amazing job and totally captured the energy of the kids. 

oh, and most importantly, we shopped with price and accessibility in mind.

c  h  e  c  k    i  t    o  u  t   -   l  e  f  t    t  o    r  i  g  h  t  :

TILLYgraphic t and tulle skirt {my fave because it's not too fluffy} h+m, headband and converse target.  TAVINvest and shorts from children's place, polo shirt is chaps from khols.  ESPENt and polo h+m

CHLOEflower armommy, tank justice, shorts macy's.  TAVINtie gymboree, graphic t foreverXXI kids, suspenders h+m {men's section}, shorts children's place.  ESPENgraphic t and shorts h+m, hat fuego.  OLLIEgraphic t and collared shirt target, shorts from children's place.

CHYLYEdress and orange tank jcpennies {on sale $4.99}, plaid shorts gymboree, flower armommy.  CHLOEtank jcpennies, plaid shorts gymboree.

CHLOEflower armommy, dress old navy.

OZZIEgraphic t h+m.  GAVINt and hat h+m.

GAVINandOZZIEalmost everything from h+m.  black and white striped cardigan foreverXXI kids.

CHYLYEwhite top and hat justice, bracelets fuego, flower necklace jcpennies.

{love the kids playfulness in these pics...  totally humoring us i think.}

GAVINhat, CHYLYEdress target, leggings justice.

there you have it!

we would love for you to leave a comment and let us know what your fave summer style is for your kids.

xo . rae . vp + mom . armommy

the door bumper.

we have new pics of our door bumpers.

tilly decided to help out with the photo shoot.

as only a one and a half year old can.

+ i'm glad she did.

new patterns too.

big apple {new}.

blue lattice.

lovely birds.

navy gingham {new}.

white linen {new}

daisy chain.

totally useful.  totally helpful.  totally great new {and old} patterns.

for more details and to purchase, visit our shop!

http://www.armommy.com/

enjoy a beautiful day...  the weather is gorgeous here and i'm wishing we had a pool.  hmmmm.

xo . rae . vp + mom . armommy

Welcome to the second installment of ARMOMMY’S monthly meals plan.  If you missed the first month, let me explain the program.  I (Jane) learned early in motherhood, more specifically as food preparer, that if 4 o’clock rolled around and I had no idea what to have for dinner, my late afternoon became a time of stress.  I was not trained to plan and budget meals, and it is one of the single most time and money savers you can do.  You see, I came from a home where my mother was overwhelmed by the task of feeding a family of five.  A good dinner might have been a pound of hamburger fried in a pan, served with catsup, white bread and butter, canned peas and canned peaches.  Just so you know, my mom was a great mom, and we all grew up happy and healthy, so it didn’t do us any harm.  However, I wanted a little more excitement (and nutrition) in the dinners I fed my family, so I created a list of about 10 to 15 recipes that everyone enjoyed and I cycled them through each month and filled in with new ideas or sure-fire ideas such as toasted cheese and tomato soup.  Also, I have always felt that an occasional dinner of Cheerios never hurt anyone.  All that being said, here are the recipes for this month: there are 2 soups, 2 crockpots, 2 salads, 2 pastas, 2 15-minute meals (not including cheerios), 1 cook-with-kids idea and 1 great pot luck or ‘contribution’ idea.  Try a few and choose what you like and be sure you have ingredients to make your 10 to 15 meals around most of the time.  Stock up on each ingredient when you see them on sale, and 4 o’clock will be a much more pleasant time at your home.

j u n e R E C I P E S

bummmmmmer!

maybe you have heard already, but it's been one of THOSE days for ARMOMMY!  to give you some background, we moved our office into Lux It Studio + store front in Sumner this past week.  totally exciting, right!?  well, not to be a downer but this morning i woke to some terrible news....  our studio had been broken into.  we spent most of this morning gathering serial numbers, talking to the police and getting the word out, but now it's time to make lemonade out of lemons! SO, what do you do when all your stuff has been stollen????  have a SALE of course!  check out the below image and come out and support.  also, if you are interested in participating as a vendor or making a donation for the raffle send me an email: rae@armommy.com

BLESSINGS . rae . vp + mom . armommy