Really short.
So when Leanna got a gift card to JC Penney for her birthday, we only had to pay half what we otherwise would have (in cash) on her clothes. And it was lots of fun to take Leanna shopping, just her and me - very girls-day-out with someone old enough to have an opinion more specific than "black or purple please". Giggling about not having to use our best manners (though we still had to use restaurant manners) because Grandma C was not with us. Fun times.
When Abby's dad pitches in for camp and school supplies and girl scouts and gymnastics, it's amazingly helpful. He doesn't just pay his $x.xx in child support; he takes her shopping at Target and makes sure she has black-and-purple notebooks and pencils, and that her backpack isn't too pink-and-girly.
When the Hubs' parents go garage sale shopping, the younger kids are outfitted for at least most of their school clothes. Grandpa Joe came all the way from Clarkston to deliver same and spend some time with us, took us out to dinner. And even though Leanna's school clothes are mostly taken care of, they brought some of those too (there was a certain amount of disappointment that she doesn't get to look at them all now, because we didn't want to get them all out and then pack them up to return them to her mom's (plus whatever Hubs' parents got me that's too small; they may fit Leanna)).
Oh yeah, clothes for me and Hubs too. Nice. Very nice.
And then my mom, who buys the kids stuff - socks, underwear, etc - throughout the year, is their primary child care provider, and basically the go-to-gal for almost any grand-parental need, is going to get the younger two haircuts on Monday.
So all of this, together with the good services of friends-with-baking-skills, the happy happenstance that two of our three have summer birthdays and therefore outdoor parties on the cheap, etc., we may just scrape by. Thanks, everyone, family, friends, the universe, whomever. It's appreciated.
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