giving up on: kids clothes

((by now I'm assuming you know what 

Giving up On Good means. 

If not, catch up here and join in!)

So it dawned on me this week when I was in the colossal process of cleaning out the too small for my kids clothes and finding the bags of the next level hand-me-downs. 


The clothes. That is definitely a good thing I've given up on. 


Before I had any kiddos, I could've sworn that one of the coolest parts of being a mom would be to dress my kiddos in utterly fashionable and hip attire. I imagined little boys in chucks and girls in tutus and accessories and cute haircuts. And then I had Elias, and I wondered if it was because he was a boy - maybe that's why it doesn't thrill me so much to dress him. I preferred hand-me-downs and second hand stores - and not for incredibly cool vintage duds either. Just the basics. Jeans that fit. Clean t-shirts. Handsome sweaters. 


But when I had Glory-girl, the sad truth was: I still didn't care. By the time Benjamin was born, I had lost any notion of having fashionable kids. Don't get me wrong! I don't want them to look like utter weirdos. The boy have a few pairs of skinny jeans and Glory just got her first set of jeggings, but for the most part - you can find my kids look less like pinterest sensations and more like.... kids. 


And I am so absolutely ok with that. 
Confession time - I'm REALLY thinking about it and I wonder if we've spent more than $100 or $200 on all our kids clothes in our five and a half years of parenting. I mean, combined. We LOVE handmedowns. And Benja gets all Elias' handmedowns and Glory has two older girl cousins who have greatly blessed her. And I know we've bought a few key pieces of clothing for them at Target over time and a few nicer pairs of shoes - but in general, we just don't buy our kids clothes. 


The crazy thing - Nick and I are kind of the same. I'd say both of our wardrobes are like 80% thrifted or secondhand, 10% bought at super cheap stores like Forever 21, 10% really nice pieces that we use for years. We just try to make our wardrobes as distinct and "us" as we can by using really inexpensive accessories. And our kids do too! You can often find Glory wearing my gypsy hat or Benja wearing a cool $1 Target beanie in the middle of summer. But we sure enough do not spend real money to try and make them look cool. Because they're not cool. They're toddlers. :) 


For us, giving up on that good has led to MUCH more money in our pockets and MUCH more peace in our lives. They don't really have things they prefer to wear. They've never "gone shopping" with any authority to pick anything out and they think hand-me-downs are the bomb dot com. 


So there's my not so dirty little secret! If you meet me in real life, my kids will not look like they just came from a photoshoot. They will (HOPEFULLY) be clean. But you'll  find them in crocks, some well-worn jeans, and a tshirt that was either gifted to them or handed down. 

And as always, if your kids DO look fabulous all the time, grace to you. 
If that's the good you don't want to give up on - claim it! 
And (AHEM) we accept hand-me-downs. 
.............


Some quick Naptime Diaries business!
- Today's the last day of the HUGE SUMMER SALE. Jump on it! 
- I'm taking three more blog design clients for June! If you need blog/small business design done - email me today - jessi connolly at gmail. 

because it's summer.

the red tape: use coupon code SUMMER in the shop checkout for 40% off your total order. All normal orders will ship before this coming Saturday. Most custom orders will not ship till June 20th unless otherwise noted. 

Well? What are you waiting for? 

Get on over there. 

Because it's summer! 

influence goes to Nashville.

I have to say, the whole materialization of The Influence Conference blesses me, freaks me out, and delights me all at once. You guys are coming! You're excited to come! We're excited your coming. The speakers are all coming! 

They're excited to be coming! It's excitement all around.

this is me. driving to Indy to join up with Hayley. Excited beyond excited!

But there is a LOT to do.
And one thing that just had to be done is we that Hayley and I had to take a little trip to Nashville. We were interested in the super cute scarves that FashionABLE is selling and we loved the idea behind their business - teaching women in Ethiopia to make scarves, giving them a sustainable business and way out of prostitution and sex slavery.
And we had visions of hundreds of women running around Indiana in October with beautiful scarves around their necks and the story of these women in their heart.

we heart fashionABLE

So went to Nashville to hear more!
And while we were at it, we figured - why not get about 10 hours of meetings out of the while we drove? AND, why not meet up with some sweet Influence speakers and community leaders while we were there?! Well, we missed some of that Nashville gals due to scheduling conflicts - we we got some sweet time with Blair. 
Amanda, Jessica, Raechel - we missed you ladies! 

these two cuties!

And so, we did.
And here are the bottom line things you need to know that were decided on that trip:

1. I really really appreciate The Tiny Twig (and I still sometimes call Hayley "the tiny twig"). After spending 24 straight hours with her, I'd like to tell you all - this is a legit lady. Her heart is more beautiful than you know and she is way wiser at business that anyone I've ever met. But she also doesn't make a move without Jesus. 

2. We really missed our partner in crime, Casey. 

It made me long for October all the more!

3. FashionABLE is going to be an important part of Influence and

 I could not be more grateful.

4. If you're looking for group discount tickets to the conference - 

email me - jessi connolly at gmail.

5. We've added two new community leaders (Welcome Gussy and Jenna!!!!) 

and a new speaker (Woohoo - Mama Pea) to our conference line-up!

6. We really like talking about Influence on our personal blogs, but we know you can't all come and you might grow tired of hearing about the conference week after week. So starting next week - there will be an official Influence blog, 

because there IS a lot more fun stuff to share:).

all these changes will be on the website soon.

In the meantime, just get excited! All that work done in ten hours of car meetings = more surprises, more fun, more plans, more prayers that we cannot wait to share with you.

come do this thing with us

May gals: Ashley, Jac, me, Lindsey, Melody, Moriah, Virginia
(Heather and Tiffany were there too!) 

The past few weeks have been fun, fun, fun on the Internet.
The Influence Conference.
#SheReadsTruth
and even Giving Up On Good.

I love real life community.
Sitting on my porch with my neighbors, standing in my kitchen with ladies from my community group, hanging out with my family.

But in the little bits between - I love hopping on twitter and knowing that hundreds of women are being encouraged and changed by reading God's word. Or in the quiet moments before I fall asleep, letting my heart get super super excited about Influence in the fall.

Something is shifting and growing.
A new community being built.
One that I pray will be formed out of the overflow our intimate community with Jesus and our real live communities where we are.

Two weeks ago, I had my group online hangout with my May sponsors and it was such a sweet soul stirring and uplifting time. We talked a little about business, a little about life, and we prayed a little. When it was all said and done - we each had a few new friends and allies in our corner.

If you'd like to join Naptime Diaries as a sponsor for June - there is an easy way to purchase sponsorship right on my blog. I have a few spots left and I would LOVE to partner with you as we leverage this internet to grow your business, market your product, share your thoughts, and most of all - make much of Jesus.

giving up on good, the pinterest parties

Alright gals, if you need to catch up - this is what we're doing. 


I was wracking and wracking my brain on what I could share to give up this week. 
I've given up on getting dressed at the crack of dawn, showering often, and being fitness-mommy-barbie.
Surely I've given up on lots of other things, but none of them seemed applicable or even life giving to other ladies. 


That's really the only point, you know? Not to tell a cool story. 
Just to give a little life. 
Because if one more person asks me how I do it all, I'll freak out. 
I just don't. I just don't. 

Anyhow, I'm cruising the aisles of Walmart scouring birthday party goods for our Benja and it hits me. This is going to be one of the most low key birthday parties on earth. It would make some pinterest-obsessed mamas sweat in their color blocked dresses and high buns. 


Oh! That's it! 

I've given up on fabulous kid events, specifically birthday parties. And other potentially-pinterested-out-events. 

We do birthdays low key and kid driven. I don't mean kid driven in that we give 20 kids the day of their wildest dreams. I mean - we think about what each kid would really be blessed by and we execute it in the most low-key manner possible. 


We were moving on Elias' birthday and all he really wanted was donuts and some time with his best friend, Elijah. We gave that kid enough donuts in the week leading up to his birthday, we probably damaged his innards permanently. Not really, but maybe. And he STILL talks about how he got to ride in the van with Elijah on the last leg of our drive to Indiana. Oh, we also gave him a BIKE when he got to Indiana, because it was about time.


Glory wanted hotdogs. We asked a few families to meet us out for a cheap dinner of hotdogs! And she got a small toy she'd been pining after and a morning date with Daddy and an afternoon date with Mommy. 


Benja is obsessed with camo--everything. Which he calls "bad guy" or "army guy" (we've explained army guys are good, but we think he means it in the urban way of "bad" as "good", you know?). He likes bad guys clothes, he wants bad guy costumes, and for his birthday party - all he's been asking for is a bad guy party. 


So we're inviting our community group over for breakfast. Mostly adults, but Benja has a special place in his heart for all the college guys in our community group. I'm pretty sure he thinks they're his best friends. AND the cheapest thing I know to feed 20 something men is breakfast so we're having pancakes and fruit and oatmeal! 

And today at Walmart we picked up badguy cupcakes, badguy plates, and badguy napkins. We'll hang some streamers and grab some balloons and I have a feeling Benja will be ENTRANCED. It will cost about $25, max. It's not fancy. I won't even look up one recipe on pinterest and there sure won't be favors. But my boy will feel loved and treasured by the people he treasures and I'm trying to talk my husband into using a little bad-guy-face-paint. 


I'm giving up on fabulous birthday parties. 
I'm gaining peace, more money in my budget, and a little boy who gets exactly what he wants. 
And hopefully a little face paint. 

(ps - if fabulous birthday parties are your thing - you should feel much freedom and excitement in them! this is only about imparting grace and embracing the things which are our things, so yay! invite me to one! please don't ask me to bring the cake pops because I tried to make those one time, and they were awful) 

What about you? What are you giving up on? 
link up below!