TGIF: New Shoes Edition

Don't you wish you could just bottle this kind of self-confidence? Ellie models her new sneakers.

In case you were wondering, it was "Fairy Tale Character Day" at camp today. For Ellie, the decision was obvious and easy (well, as easy as it can be to choose just one princess dress). For Leo...the choice was more complicated.

And so, I give you Super Grover Leprechaun Boy (hard to tell but he IS wearing a cap AND a Leprechaun hat left over from St. Patrick's Day festivities). I just knew that cap would come in handy someday and resisted the urge to put it in the giveaway bag during one of my recent, weekly clutter purges which really ought to be done daily.

And because that wasn't exciting enough, it was also New Shoe Day: sneaks for Ellie and Crocs for Leo. Here's a testament to how important online shopping is for our family. Last week the strap on one of Leo's sneaks broke. He brought it to me and instructed me to "Call the mailman."

In other news, how is that Crocs can be so hideous on adults yet so adorable on little kids? Don't even get me started on the tiny turquoise pair I put on Harry the other day, hand-me-downs from a friend.

I am absolutely giddy about Leo's Crocs (yes, my life is that exciting, try not to be too jealous). His feet are kind of freakishly wide--we don't secretly call him Barney Rubble Feet for nothing--and not only is he notoriously difficult to fit, he's, hmm, how shall I put it...very attached to wearing shoes that light up. He's owned a variation of these for the last three years (mostly because they are one of the only pairs of "light up" shoes that come in extra wide). Ask me how I feel about the fact that my son owns exactly two pairs of shoes: sneakers and rain boots (seriously, he's that difficult to fit and that intent on the "light up" factor).

But Leo has "water play" at camp and if all goes well we'll spend a lot of time at the pool in the coming weeks, so he really needed some type of shoe that could be worn around water/get wet. The last time I attempted Crocs on him it was an utter fail--not only were they too small (narrow) but he broke the strap in the back almost instantly. But this time, we started talking about getting Crocs and he tried on a pair of Ellie's that are too big on her but they fit Leo! And he liked them! And did I mention they don't light up and he doesn't care? He asked for orange and his wish was my command.

Did I also mention how awesome it is to have big kids who can put on their own new shoes (see below)? That's been the case for some time, but we hit another big milestone this week: both big kids can strap themselves into their car seats. Can you imagine what it will be like when Harry and Lucy can do that? That's when you'll see me in the front seat kicking back with a cigar and a brandy. I mean, what will there be for me to doooo?

Leo took this photo this morning. Not the best picture but it's just so "us," I had to include it. Happy weekend to all!