Shop till you drop

I am taking my three daughters (plus one friend) on a shopping spree today. We are leaving this morning and not returning until they have spent 100.00 a piece. Given those statistics, 1) we'll be gone all day because they can't make decisions, 2) a hundred dollars doesn't go far when jeans are an average of 25.00 a piece, and 3) momma won't be sane for long.
See photo here of a cute pair of jeans that the "young uns" are wearing these days:

How much do you think these cost? (Not knowing the name brand will make or break your answer...)

They are: $39.50! Of course, the name brand is Abercrombie & Fitch. No, we won't be going to that store today. I mean, seriously. My girls could only get three items and their hundred would be gone. Three items??? How in the world are families supposed to survive? I know what you are saying to yourselves: "don't shop at expensive stores". I don't. But still, things aren't cheap these days. Take this, for instance. In a sporting goods store in the mall, the Husband and I found shoes for the son on sale. If I were to find three pairs of shoes at the same price for the three girls, we'd still be looking at $120 for those three pairs. This doesn't factor in any clothing for the bodies, just the feet. Wow. Tough being a parent now, isn't it?

For the sake of a good friend of mine, I'll quit talking about the money part of the shopping. I'll move on to emotion. I want my girls to look good. I do. It's natural, isn't it? My oldest, Mak, who is entering seventh grade (which is housed in the same building as the high school in our town), is such a tomboy. She owns a pink shirt for the first time since toddlerhood. I am worried about this transition into teenager land. If she wears her normal athletic boy shorts and ratty T-shirts to school, she'll be pulverized. But will she care? Who knows. I just want her to be cute. Fashionable. Perhaps that is my problem to get over. Yeah, it is.

Cam, the middle daughter, is more girly. She won't wear skirts to school daily or anything like that, but she wants to look feminine now. She is growing rapidly and will be the tallest girl I have in the end. She, like me, hates to try things on. She is very body-conscious, as am I. It isn't any fun to not fit in certain sizes. She is big for her age; she's just like her aunt on her dad's side. Big shoulders, built like a brick sh**house. Tough world when you're built like that. We'll survive today, though. She likes fashion.

And, last but not least, Clovis. The baby. At age eight. She is the diva, as some of the family calls her. She can walk four miles in high heels and not waiver a bit. She HAS to have matching items, and is picky beyond belief. Pink is her signature color. She is cutting edge and wants to be like no one else. She may like the looks of something on the rack and then try it on and complain about how hideous it looks. Walking on egg shells is what I equate shopping with her to. It is rough and tough. She calls the shots on her outfits. If she doesn't, then she flat out won't wear it. She'll wear her pajamas to school first. Honest! One day last year I came home from school to find her still in the same shirt and sleeping pants she went to bed in the night before. I asked what happened and she said she couldn't find anything to wear, so she wore her pajamas. That Daddy let her. See what happens when Mom isn't home to scream at her? She wears pajamas to school. I was mortified. For about four minutes. Then I got over it. At least she didn't wear a nightgown with striped panties underneath for all to see. I would've gotten a phone call at work for that one!

So, ladies, moms: Pray for me as I go out to battle. The school shopping wars are on and it might get ugly. Peace, love, and chicken grease.