Shoes, Shoes, and more Shoes!

I feel like I am buying the kids shoes every month. This summer alone, Larkin has gone from a size 6.5-7 in April to an 8.5 by mid July. Considering you pretty much have to buy the shoes in half sizes, that's 4 sets of shoes! That's one reason why I love the crocs- they come in a size range. Granted, sometime they seem way too big or way too small, especially if they are in that awkward in between size (they wear a 7.5 and crocs come in a 6-7 or 8-9). For the most part though, I feel like these are the only shoes with a little longevity! That said, I feel like they can run/jump/walk/etc... better in shoes with a bettere soul and support. Larkin is into her "Fancy Nancy" shoes (Fancy Nancy is her favorite book these day which is about a girl who love to be fancy and gets frustrated because her family isn't fancy at all). She only wants to wear shoes that are bright with some sort of sparkle. Her opinions on her shoes are really pretty funny. Today, she wore hud's old bumble bee galoshes everywhere (in my opinion a poor shoe choice for a day in the mid 90's!). Hudson had been a little easier. In the last year, he's only grown from a size 11 to a 12, so I feel a little better about getting him shoes. He picked out a pair of Nike shoes today because he thought they would make him run faster and jump higher than his friends. He's got this inner competitiveness that I just don't know what to do with. Regardless, I think it was a good choice for him. Shoes are also one of those things that I feel guilty going cheap on. I want to protect their arches and give their feet support... you know, all those things they convince you of when you are in Stride Rite. I don't want to be that parent who ruins their kid's feet! So we usually end up going for the sale shoes in the good stores. Luckily, Brooke is still going around barefoot everywhere.
On another note, Brooke was diagnosed with hand foot and mouth disease... poor little BrookeBrooke has 3 little sores on her throat... sad. I'm glad to know that her lack of sleeping for the last three nights was for a reason though and not a phase she is going through. She has literally been waking up every hour crying. I'm so so so very tired!! Hand foot and mouth sounds so disgusting, probably because it sounds like that deadly hoof and mouth disease that cows got... wasn't that a bad thing there for awhile? I can't really remember, but alas I think it just sounds gross. On top of all that today I woke up with one eye swollen shut. It's freaking poison ivy on my eyelid and right under my eye.. yeah that's right... a nice addition to the dark bags of no sleep under my eyes... an itchy, red, swollen shut right eye. Sadly, that's my good eye, so I can't see very well either! Good times. I vow to never weed the back yard again, and I curse my hubby for not telling me I was weeding poison ivy while we were in the backyard together. I just hope the kids don't get it. It could be worse though I guess... it could be pink eye.