Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

Shoes used to be one of my favorite things. If I went to the mall I was almost sure to come home with a new pair. Strappy sandals, elegant heels, sparkling flats, or fun flip flops. In recent years though shoes have become practical.  I only buy what I need and I stick to the basics: black heels, brown flats, plain flip flops. And to top that the combination of shoes and kids is about to drive me insane. From my oldest to my youngest  we have a shoe crisis.



With my oldest the problem is that she only wears tennis shoes. From jeans to Easter dresses she insists that they go with everything. I can't tell you how many times we've gotten to church and I've turned to look at my beautiful daughter, her hair neatly brushed, a lovely top, nice pants and her old grubby tennis shoes. I'm constantly trying to convince her to wear more appropriate shoes but her reasoning is "no one looks at my feet."

My 9yr old son's problems stem from not tying his shoes.  At least 10 times a day I'm begging him to tie his shoes. His shoe strings are always in tatters and the day always comes when they've been destroyed to the point they have to be replaced.  It's bad enough he needs new shoes every 4 months because he wears them out or grows out of them but to have to replace the shoe strings in between is just down right frustrating.

Then there's C, my 7 yr old. He can't find one of his tennis shoes right now. His solution to that was to wear his basketball shoes. Which was an acceptable solution until he left them outside in the rain. So today I sent him to school crying in his crocs (which of course 6 months ago was all he would wear).

Little K (age4) is another story. She has plenty of shoes and loves to wear them all. The problem she never wants to wear the ones that actually match with her outfit and often spends forever trying to find the pair she believes would properly finish her look. Most days this ends with tears as that pair is MIA.

My 2 yr old doesn't care much which shoes he wears but he can never seem to remember where he left them.

Shoes - those things I use to love have now become a constant headache. Whether I'm tripping over them, arguing about them or searching for that one missing one they just don't bring that smile to my face that they once did. And the new puppy running off with them isn't really helping.