I am a photographer that owns my own photography business. Strasburg has always been a company that I could trust when photographing my own child or making a recommendation to a parent for a children’s clothing store. What makes their clothing nice to photograph is their quality, style, and attention to detail. The majority of their styles are a single color, that helps to not cause a distraction from the subject in the photo. When you look closer (or from a photographer’s perspective, zoom in) you will notice the fine details in their clothing; maybe a bit of smocking across the top, or embroidery, or a nice trim. As with all nice clothes you need to pay special attention to the washing instructions, not all items can be tossed into the same load of laundry as the jeans your kids play in. Also, their clothes never go out of style. So, from a photographer’s point of view, Strasburg has excellent clothes to choose from for your next family portrait!

There’s a first time for everything, right? We have loved marking our daughter’s firsts since her birth in the summer of 2008. Her first smile, her first Christmas, her first word, her first steps . . . On and on we stopped to notice and cherish her firsts.

Well, this past week, she had a first that though we didn’t necessarily cherish the moment, it will go down in the book as a first (and hopefully a last!)

Our daughter decided that it was time for her first visit to the emergency room. She decided it was the day to climb out of her crib, fall and break her arm.

We rushed from pediatrician, to pediatric orthopedist, to pediatric emergency room. After a long day, she had a bright red cast, and we had another first to record in our book.

A week later, she has fully recovered (aside from the cast.) She runs around like she’s been wearing it forever and is accomplished at doing everything with her one good hand. I, on the other hand, am slower to recover. I still feel traumatized and exhausted from this first. However, I am most grateful that for the excellent care she received and for the fact that it could have been much worse. We are fortunate, and blessed and one day will look back at this first and laugh.

-Lisa

Enjoy 25% off Heirloom styles, 15% off Seasonal styles, and up to 60% off Clearance!

If you’re looking for that perfect First Communion, Flower Girl, or Christening Gown, take advantage of 25% off.

Easter is quickly approaching, so don’t miss getting 15% off brand new Spring styles that have just had their debut – and some that are "pre-sale only" so you can save before they even arrive!

Clearance is filled with deep discounts, and even deeper savings when you shop in our store locations.

Please remember that we’ve done the math for you in advance, so prices shown on StrasburgChildren.com are the sale prices you will receive!

Savings not valid on shoes, accessories, or promotional priced items.  Clearance is price as marked, not an additional 60% off current price.  Sale valid February 10 – 21, 2011.

I’ve been interested in photography has a hobby for as long as I can remember; at least since I was in elementary school (that means 20 years). Thinking back to my first camera, can you believe how much cameras have evolved since then! My first camera was a Mickey Mouse camera that you had to buy separate flashes for. The flash mounted to the top of the camera and you were able to use it about 5 times and then it needed replacing. Of course there were also actual rolls of film that had to be processed and cared for. Then, in the year 2000 I bought my first digital camera. It was the first time I had heard of digital cameras, and it was pretty neat to actually see my pictures instantly. I purchased a 2.0mp digital camera, and it was not cheap! Today, the camera phones have higher megapixels than that! What’s so funny, as a kid I thought for sure we would be using flying cars by now (like the Jetsons), but I would have never thought about such advancements in cameras and phones! Now we have a phone, with no cords, that we can carry around everywhere, with its own camera in it, and even access to the internet! To this day I still have a love for photography. There’s something magical about the way a machine can click a button and a moment is frozen in time, and passed on for many more generations to see.

So, have you ever tried to herd butterflies? Neither have I, but I bet it would be about the same as trying to keep up with our two youngest grandchildren. Jathen is 20 months and Ella is 16 months. Ella and her family recently moved to Tennessee, so we don’t have both of them at the same time too often. When Ella comes to visit we always try and have Jathen come over to play.

We were able to get them together for a play date recently and when he came in the door and saw Ella the sweetest smile spread across his face! He was so happy to see her. (When Jathen hollers “Ella” it always makes me laugh, because I hear Marlon Brando hollering “ Stella” from the movie “On The Waterfront”.) They played with toy cars, fed and rocked her baby dolls, looked at books, and played hide and seek, played duets on the piano and chased each other around the house until they were both exhausted.

While I was trying to finish things in the kitchen, Popsicle was in charge of watching them. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two little images dart through the kitchen towards the back stairway. Popsicle was nowhere in sight. (Seems he was trapped in his recliner with two miniature schnauzers on his lap). When I got to the stairs, Ella and Jathen were almost halfway up. Of course, when they saw me, they went faster, laughing all the way and squealing with delight! The chase was on! After all the exercise, our butterflies took time for a snack and posed for pictures.

Janet

I think in this economy we are all trying to save money, right? I’ve always been a fan of coupons. As a child, and still to this day, I love getting the Sunday morning paper to see what great coupons will be there for the week! (Don’t even get me started on the excitement of the after Thanksgiving Day newspaper!) So, I clip the coupons out, check online to see what is on sale that week, and then look for any online coupons that I maybe able to add to other discounts. I seriously love shopping with coupons. Standing in the isles, doing the math in my head as I total the discounted price plus the manufacturer’s coupon, plus the store coupon, plus the competitor’s coupon! Who wouldn’t enjoy that? Yea, I suppose your right, the nice person at the register that has to go through and find all the discounts, and the person standing in line behind me, probably do not enjoy my coupons as much as I do! If you are one of those two people, I apologize. But, to the bargain hunters out there, you know the joy of saving money I’m talking about!

Did I mention I got some excellent bargains this month online at Strasburg? 25% off clearance and free shipping! I couldn’t pass that up!

-Courtney

Many years ago, country music stars Barbara Mandrel and George Jones sang a duet titled, “ I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.”

I liked that song because being from the South I really could identify with the lyrics. Like Barbara, I remember “singing with Roy Rogers when the west was really wild”, I remember “listening to the opry” (for you who don’t know – that is the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville), I remember” circling the drive-in” (oh how embarrassed I was when my father drove us around the local drive in restaurant . . . but he went the wrong way. . . on purpose). I remember “seeing people puttin’ peanuts in their cokes “, although to be perfectly honest I never knew exactly why!

Which brings me to “going green”? If you are confused and wondering “how on earth did I go from Barbara Mandrel to going green” here’s how: “I Was Green When Green Wasn’t Cool”.

I remember saving grocery sacks and putting them in the kitchen garbage cans. I remember seeing my mother and grandmothers save the vegetable scraps to put in the garden or flower beds. I remember drinking soft drinks out of glass bottles and then guess what we did with the glass bottles? We took them back to the grocery store where the cashier would give us money aka “a deposit” for returning them. I remember when milk was in a glass bottle and delivered to our door by a “Milkman”. I remember when babies wore cloth diapers and every yard had a clothes line where we hung our laundry to dry. Very few people had clothes dryers. We never had “disposable” anything. Everyone did it out of necessity, not to be “cool” and we had never heard the phrase “eco friendly”.

Then one day we had something new and wonderful that was going to make our lives so much better and make our world a better place. It was plastic. We had plastic dishes, plastic grocery bags, plastic garbage can liners, plastic milk cartons and plastic soft drink bottles. The world went plastic everything! Disposable diapers replaced Birdseye cotton diapers and life changed for all of us.

OK, now you are asking “what does this have to do with my blog entry title?” As Barbara and George sang “ Now look at everybody trying to be what I was then” . . .”what you see ain’t nothing new”. . .” they call us country bumpkins for sticking to our roots”. See, everything old really IS new again! Barbara and George . . . there may be another hit country song in here somewhere!

Janet

This winter has been especially snowy in NYC. Last night we got about 19 inches and this morning my daughter was excited to have our snow day pancakes and to go out and play. Since she is two and half now, she really loves the snow. Our city neighborhood was turned into a winter wonderland and the laughter of happy children could be heard everywhere, especially since they all got a rare snow day from school.

Lots of people are complaining that they are sick of snow, but we are enjoying every flake. There is a calmness and beauty to our neighborhood when it is blanketed in the white stuff. In a few short months it will be hot and humid and people will be complaining of the heat, so for now, we will keep enjoying the wonderful world of winter!

-Lisa

My husband says I have a portable soapbox in my purse that I can bring out at a moment’s notice. He’s Right! I admit I have little problem getting on it about anything I feel passionately about!

I read an article in the paper last week that said it is not important to teach our children to write in cursive. It went on to say it didn’t matter if a child could write the letter “q” correctly. It said all a person needs to know is how to write their name in cursive. Sorry folks, but I don’t agree.

Many of us (including me) are lost without a calculator. Now they want to mess with our handwriting. Are we becoming so technologically advanced that we are now in danger of becoming behind? It reminds me of something I once heard, “that person is so smart they are stupid.” Hmmm?

I feel we are already losing our ability to communicate effectively by not talking face to face or speaking to someone over a telephone. It saddens me to see young people and adults “text” each other instead of talking to each other. Could it be that is why some children become isolated and unable to fit in with others, because their main form of communication has been electronically? I don’t know, I am not an expert, but it does cause me concern.

I feel a child needs to learn many things and in many different ways to become well rounded! We all love to take our children places such as museums, art galleries, musical performances, the zoo, etc., giving them a variety of life experiences. I think communication is just as important, whether it is written or conversational.

Simplicity is not always a bad thing. I like simplicity in fashion and most of us long for a less complicated lifestyle. Let’s make sure we remember to teach our children the simplicity of readin, ‘ritin and ‘rithmatic!

Janet

My kids’ birthdays are less than two months apart, and they’re both on either side of Christmas.  It makes for a lot of events and planning during the holidays.  This year I decided to have a combined birthday party for the two of them since they are so close in age and mainly have all the same friends.  It was such fun, and it’s going to be tempting to do it that way every year!  I’m sure they’ll let me know when they’re finished sharing their birthday party!

The theme for the party was a luau which had been decided months ago since they are obsessed with all things Hawaiian after all of our vacations there.  It’s super easy to go with a Hawaiian theme since there are so many decorations, so I was happy with their choice!  I got started with just some standard palm trees, fish, and flowers and then had some custom items made to make the party a little more personal!  I loved how this theme worked so well for a combined boy/girl party as well.  I kept the favors simple; the boys got some wooden sharks on wheels that I had custom made, and the girls got precious handmade flower clips for their hair.  I always come home and throw away the goody bags from parties because they’re full of candy and toys that fall apart.  I probably didn’t spend more for these lasting favors than I would have filling up bags for everyone.  They were all a hit! 

We have a great party place here in town that has indoor inflatables.  To make the theme and the location make sense together, we invited people to come "island hopping" with us!  The kids (and adults) had a blast!  In fact, one of the dads there told me it was his favorite place for kids’ parties.  He even came in from hunting early that morning to be able to go with his three kiddos!  My sister and my mom pretty much only came out of the bounce houses and off of the slides long enough to sing "Happy Birthday" and eat cake! 

All in all, it was a fantastic party!  The kids and parents had fun, and boy, did the kids nap well that afternoon!  I can’t believe my babies are another year older!  Everyone says how quickly time passes, but I don’t think it’s ever quite as evident as it is when you’re watching your own babies grow.  Cherish every moment!

- Tiffaney