Creating a sub menu

Question

Hey.  I didnt get a reply before, so I thought I would try a fresh post so I can explain things better.
Basically, I have a navigation bar with several buttons.  When a button is pressed, a new sub navigation should be displayed in a different location.  So on my main nav, I have mouse events, and on the click event, each button points to an xml file
function mouseClickEvent3(eve:MouseEvent):void
    setLoader("XML/path.xml");
the setLoader method is
function setLoader(xmlPath:String):void{
    loader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, xmlLoaded);
    loader.load(new URLRequest(xmlPath));
And on complete, it calls up xmlLoaded which holds
if ((e.target as URLLoader) != null )
        settingsXML = new XML(loader.data);
        settingsXML.ignoreWhitespace = true;
        createMenu();
The createMenu method is where the menus are created.
function createMenu():void
    var menuItem:MenuItem;
    var i:uint = 0;
    for each (var link:XML in settingsXML.links.link)
        menuItem = new MenuItem();
        menuItem.menuLabel.text = link. @ name;
        addChild(menuItem);
        i++;
Now all the menus get created no problem.  The problem is this.  One main button produces a sub menu with six buttons, which are displayed no problem.  I then click on another main button which has 3 sub buttons.  These 3 buttons replace the 3 buttons that the first button displayed, but the last three are not removed.  Sometimes, only two buttons seem to get replaced.
What I really need to do is this.  Before any buttons are created, I need to somehow remove any buttons which currently exist.  I have tried things like this before the for each loop
for (var y:Number=0; y<i; y++){
   removeChild(menuItem);
Nothing seems to work though.  So any suggestions on how I can overcome this issue would be great.
cheers

Answer 1

Kool.  trying to follow your suggestion.  So I have created an Array outside of the function so it doesnt get recreated each time.  Then before I do
addChild(menuItem); 
I have
ary.push(menuItem);
The problem is that I cant see how this Array can help to remove items.  Before the for each loop, I have tried something like this without success
for(var j:Number=0; j<ary.length; j++){
        removeChild(menuItem);
If I do a trace on the arrays length outside the for each loop however, it is always 0 which will be the reason the child isnt removed. At the moment, I have it like this
var ary:Array = new Array();
function createMenu():void
    var menuItem:MenuItem;
    var i:uint = 0;
    trace(ary.length); //shows 0 every time
    for(var j:Number=0; j<ary.length; j++){
        removeChild(menuItem);
    for each (var link:XML in settingsXML.links.link)
        menuItem = new MenuItem();
        menuItem.menuLabel.text = link. @ name;
        ary.push(menuItem);
        trace(ary.length); //shows correct length
        addChild(menuItem);
        i++;
My original thinking was that in English, for each menuItem that is on the stage to be removed, before new ones are created.  Its like I need a reset function which will completely remove any children which are displayed.  The problem is, If I create a for each loop, I am not sure what my arguement would be.
Any further advise always appreciated.
Cheers