Just one more day...

and our summer vacation is over! I really hate for school to start. i will miss my babies being here with me during the day! Even though sometimes they drive me straight up the wall it is always sad for me when we start a new school year. We went shopping today to pick up a few last minute things...one of which was a pair of shoes for Leighton. He was in desperate need since his foot has grown yet again. He picked out a pair of black Puma's after shopping at several stores. When we were on the way home Jacque pulled them out of the box to look at them and to lace them up and she told Leighton, "now, I told you Leighton, you can't be running around acting crazy in these shoes." I asked her why and she said, "well, these are nice shoes!" She then commented on the shoe laces and how she thought the shoes would look better with another pair to which Leighton countered, "huh, I can just wear them without shoelaces." "No you can't!" she replied, "these are not Etnies!" Etnies are a brand of skater style tennis shoes and Leighton has owned a couple different styles. In fact, he had stuffed his size 9 feet into an old standby pair that were his favorites. He has worn the heck out of these shoes (sans shoelaces) and they are old, ugly and stinky. Don't ask me why i haven't thrown them out...I have no idea why. They do come in handy to wear to the barn I suppose. I told Leighton, "you know, maybe you should have gotten another pair of Etnies. Those have certainly held up well." He turned to Jacque and they gave each other that "ewwwwww" look and he said, "no, I kind of don't like Etnies anymore. They're too fat." Big sister Jacque put her two cents in as well, saying, "yeah, mom, Etnies are ugly and besides, Leighton needs some grown up tennis shoes now. It's time for him to grow up." We had a good laugh about that.

Later when we got home, I shared the conversation with August and he started laughing and said, "Jacquelyn is the one who needs shoes without shoes laces. Remember those curly ones you used to make her wear?" Now that really got us to laughing! Remember these?



Jacque was terrible about taking the time to tie her shoes and when she grew out of the Velcro shoes it was a constant battle between us. When I found the curly laces it solved our problem...they didn't need to be tied! I remember at one open house at school the teacher told me, "I have no problems at all with Jacquelyn. She's a wonderful student and such a sweet little girl. If I could just get her to tie her shoes!" I couldn't have agreed more. I could just hear the other kids at school whispering to one another about my baby girl..."see that girl over there, she NEVER ties her shoes!" as they rolled their eyes to the back of their head. Jacque has always marched to the beat of a different drummer when it came to clothing. Perhaps she was just making a fashion statement! When she was little she changed clothes all day long and it was usually something straight out of her brother's closet or drawer. Yep, she liked his clothes better than hers and if it was winter she wore tank tops and shorts. Summertime? Expect to find her in a sweat shirt, blue jeans and cowboy boots. I did more laundry in those days than I care to remember. She had another odd trait too. She hated the bed sheets. Well, maybe she didn't hate them, but, she did love taking them off the bed. Everyone's bed! It drove me crazy! She even took other people's sheets off their bed. I remember one day I picked her up at a friend's house after a play date and the mom asked me, "Why does she take the sheets off the bed every time she comes over?" I had no idea then and I have no idea now. Maybe I should google it one day. There might just be some hidden meaning. Who knows!?

In any event, all of them will be starting school on Monday. Two in college and two in high school so I guess it is appropriate that Leighton will start school in his new grown up shoes and thankfully, Jacque has learned to keep her shoes tied, lol!

Until next time...