My sneakers. Hannah’s. Carter and Ethan’s shoes. and Ava’s toddler pair.
I know my kids’ and their shoes so well, I can tell you just exactly where each of them will wear their shoes out by the time they’re done with them. The boys never grow out of shoes, they always wear them to threads first, the treads almost completely gone. Carter wears a hole in the top next to his right big toe. Ethan’s hole shows up on the sole of his left foot. And they can each work their way through a pair in a matter of months. Hannah’s last longer, but she’s tough on the backs of her shoes, she walks on her toes and she has a bad habit of slipping them off and on without untying them. Ava’s shoe breaking point is yet to be seen, but it’s only a matter of time.
I love that I’m at this stage where I know my kids this well. Motherhood has become so intuitive, ironically just in time for half of them to enter puberty in the next couple years and change the game on me completely.
But that’s a subject for another day.
Since summer break starts much later in Washington, my kids don’t go back to school until after labor day. This makes for an easy August, spent outdoors, swimming in the sound, and just enjoying the mild PNW summer, while prepping for the coming school year at our leisure. Ava doesn’t start preschool for another year, but she still wants to be part of the pre-school bustle, so every year we buy a cart full of school supplies, times three, and new clothes and shoes for all four of them. It’s a pricey month in the Robinson household to be sure, but I still love this time of year…
It makes me want to send someone a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils…;-)
Shoes are one of our first purchases for the kids’ back to school line up. I think of my kids’ shoes like tires on a car. Everything is riding on them, err… running on them.
When it comes to shoes, I want them to be cute, but I also want my kids’ to feel free to play, and play hard while they’re wearing them. I want them to be kids in their clothes and shoes, and I want those clothes and shoes to embody who they are a bit.
When Payless approached me about highlighting their new retro Kangaroos sneaker line I was thrilled. My mom always took us to Payless to buy shoes when I was a kid, and now that I’m a mom, I do the same thing. I love that I get style and quality for a great price. (So important when you have a lot of kids)
I was dying when the box arrived with our Kangaroos in them last week. (so were my kids) I love the cute retro look of them (hello throwback to my childhood) and that I can tuck a house key and some emergency money in the little built in pocket for them and not worry about it getting lost, because, well, #kids. But these aren’t just novelty shoes, they’re legit performance shoes and all of my kids told me how comfortable they were to wear, “like standing on a squishy cloud,” Ethan said. They loved walking and playing in them. Ava’s worn hers everyday for the last week.
I’ve still got a mountain of school supplies to buy and new clothes to pick out for everyone, but…
at least I know they’re starting the year out on the right foot.
;-)
Also, how much longer do you think I can’t get away with matching my kids? I’m hoping for at least 5 or 6 more years, but I’m thinking these days are numbered…
*created in partnership with Payless Shoe Source.
