On shoes and such...

It's that time of year again...back to school shopping. The main focus for us is always on finding new shoes. The boys live in flip-flops or crocs all summer, and inevitably, towards the end of summer when I try on their shoes from last spring, they never fit anymore. Unfortunately, it's kind of hard on the wallet too because they have their daddy's wide feet and I often can only find shoes that fit in specialty shops.

So tonight I took them shoe shopping. Zac is now getting my precious stomach flu so I took pity on him and left with all three boys in tow.

Now let me just say that despite all of my boy's "boyishness", I think they would be quite happy if they were girls. Just last week Zac found Joel in our bathroom in the midst of applying mascara and lipstick (surprisingly accurately too!). Every time I wear jewelry, Jesse tells me how beautiful it is and insists on taking it from me so he can wear it. It's taken many a conversation to convince them that they cannot wear my earrings because they don't have holes in their ears like Mommy. They just don't seem to be buying it. They picked out a pink booster chair last summer when we needed another one for the kitchen table. Jesse carries lip gloss in his pocket. I think you get the picture.

This is why it shouldn't surprise me that we had an incident at the shoe store. They were both in awe of the rows of pink shoes with delicate details and plentiful bows. Immediately they started pulling out boxes saying they wanted to buy this one and that one. All the while, I am trying to focus on the meager selection of boys shoes and find at least two pairs that are size wide and don't have flashing lights or giant cartoon characters on them. And that is much harder than you think.

Eventually, I think I found something that would work for each of them, but our time at the store concluded with giant tears and tantrums because they were not allowed to buy these shoes.



Joel is wearing the faux ugg boots, complete with fur edging. Jesse is wearing the maroon mary janes with the delicate bow on top. I'm actually now thinking maybe it would be better if we never had a girl because I'm quite certain all of her things would end up in the boys' room. Poor thing. She wouldn't stand a chance.

This isn't the greatest picture because I took it with my phone. The same phone, I might mention, that I just picked up from a massage parlor. Oh yes, I dropped my phone in the grocery store parking lot yesterday. It just so happens to be next to the massage place and some kind person turned my phone into the front desk there. The receptionist then proceeded to call multiple friends and family in my contact book to try and track me down. It worked, but now everyone is jealous because I had a leisurely afternoon getting a massage.

Oh, my dear friends and family, that couldn't be farther from the truth. My day actually was highlighted by a nightmare trip to the doctor where all 3 children proceeded to scream and cry the entire time. I cannot count the number of dirty looks I got from other parents. That was followed up by an aborted mission to the grocery store (where I managed to lose aforementioned cell phone) because of aforementioned behavior from children. Obviously I was in a rush to get out of there since I just left my phone laying on the street. And let me tell you...I sure NEEDED a massage after all of that.