Birthday Shoes

It's been a minute since I've posted. OK...it's been more than a year and a half. There were a lot of reasons I stopped posting, and I don't know how often I'll post now, but I've been having the urge to do so for awhile and figured I'd give it another go. Plus, my mama gave me some money for my birthday and I got new sandals, so clearly this is a reason to post!

They aren't anything fancy, but they're comfortable and they'll be great for summer (which is already here...it's been almost 90 the last 2 days). I also learned something interesting with these shoes: You know how I HATE the thing between my toes on flip flops. Welllll...apparently the heel strap helps mitigate the annoyance. Who knew?

In other news, I have a post-Easter cold. I got a nasty sore throat on Tuesday and now I'm coughing gunk out of my lungs. I used to almost always get sick after Christmas and Holy Week when I was a pastor, but maybe my body just doesn't like high holy days, even as a lay person. 😄

Ladybugs

I need something to make me smile today.  2 years ago I posted Doodlebug shoes in honor of KAH's birthday.  Of course, it's his birthday again today, which makes me smile.  Although I can't believe he's 24.  He was born when I was 18, so for this year we're inverse ages.  I posted this picture on Facebook this morning:

This is from when I used to do daycare for him and his sister, and this is how I tend to think of him (although I DO realize he is a grown man with a job and a life, of whom I am incredibly proud).  I have a small obsession with small children in overalls, so dressed him in them as often as possible.  

So that's my doodlebug.  I already did a doodlebug post, though, and there weren't a lot of options, but doodlebug led me to ladybug, which makes me think of The Bean, which also makes me smile.  So today's post will be ladybug shoes, of which there are lots.

 

These are very sweet.  I might even wear them if they came in my size.

I would totally wear these in my size, but only if there was a small child (or several) who had matching pairs and we used them for puddle jumping!

 

So cute.  But dang those are some big eyes.

I'm thinking my mama could totally make these in a variety of sizes.

Ribbon laces!  You know I'm a sucker for ribbon laces.  In fact, I wore my coral canvas shoes with the ribbon laces just yesterday. 

I love all the colors on this.

See?  I should post more often as this one has given me several things to smile about.

Dr. Seuss

It's Dr. Seuss's birthday!  Hooray!  You might remember from last year that I'm rather fond of Dr. Seuss.  I mean, how can you not?  I figure after last night's plethora of words tonight's post can just be awesome Dr. Seuss shoes:

I would like a pair of each please.  You can deliver them to my fort.

Whew!

Today was a VERY busy day.  Double A, The Bean, The VH, Flower, Pippi, Tink, and Laughter were all here for Holidays!  Holidays is the tradition we started when DJ was 4 (she's 19 now), and try to do at least once a year, where we celebrate a bunch of holidays in one day because I'm usually not home for most of them.  So today we did:

Easter.  Each kid gets to dye 6 eggs, then we send them off on an errand and I hide the eggs (obviously it's too cold for the bunny to come do it).

 

Thanksgiving.  We eat Thanksgiving dinner, but very pared down.

We celebrate birthdays.  Each person gets a cupcake.  We've started doing only 1 candle for each, because between 7 kids and 4 adults, it would have been something like 304 candles.  11 are easier to light and blow out...

 

4th of July.  We got outside and do sparklers and smoke bombs.  There isn't always snow like this year, so this time we got to toss the smoke bombs in the snow and watch the results. 

Halloween.  We do face paint and the kids trick-or-treat around the house.

St. Patrick's Day.  We do a treasure hunt with clues to follow to find the Leprechaun's lost gold (gold wrapped chocolate).

Are you exhausted reading about it?  Because it's exhausting doing it!

 

We then all wore our matching owl pjs to the movie.  Because I am a dorky aunt who makes her nieces do stuff like that.

 

The movie was Moana, and it was a lot of fun.

Finally, today is Shoetopia's 4th blogiversary!  I think this shoe is hilarious and adorable.

Everyone is supposed to be spending the night, but sadly Pippi had a horrible headache all day and decided she wanted to go home after the movie, and Tink decided to go with her.  The VH has family stuff tomorrow so she couldn't say over.  I still have 4 kiddos sleeping over, though.

Speaking of kiddos, all of my nieces are amazing, but can I take a minute to brag on Double A and The Bean?  They still love to do Holidays, but they are also great with helping with the younger kids.  They're great with kids in general, and love hanging out with their cousins.  They are patient and kind and loving, and it makes my heart happy to watch them.  But now my happy heart and I are going to bed.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Today would have been my Grandma Sylvia's 99th birthday.  I've posted before how her birthday marks the beginning of Christmas for me and how those traditions are still foremost in my head this time of year even though it has been a very long time since we actually went to her house for Christmas.  This was one of the pictures I posted on Facebook this morning:

Is it weird for me to say that my grandma was kind of a dish?  And that coat is amazing.  In honor of that coat, tonight's shoes may or may not be vintage, and may or may not be from the time this picture was taken.  None of them are suitable for snow.

 

I love these.  I would wear them now.

I might not wear these now, but I am imagining the vintage outfits I would pair them with.  My imaginary closets are uh-maze-ing.

 

I would wear these too.  What a delightfully sturdy heel!

Ooooh, I'm not sure I could pull these off, so I'm thinking they'd have to go in the imaginary closet with some more fabulous outfits.

 

Love.  Outfits.  Closet.

A world of yes.  I want these  in real life AND for the imaginary closet!

Tonight I made an angel food cake to celebrate the birthday (yep, baking-fest 2016 continues), and I wore one of Grandma's shirts.  This shirt to be exact:

I miss this lady.

Happy Birthday, Flower!

I got sidetracked yesterday and didn't post.  It's because I'm in Montana and there were nieces to play with and a seester to hang out with, and I still had to get some work done, and in the midst of all of that I forgot to post.  Yesterday was Flower's 11th birthday, so she was going to be what I was grateful for.  Of course, I'm thankful for her everyday, and today we had her family party (last night she had a couple of friends over after school and Holy Giggling, Batman!), so I figured she can still be my grateful inspiration for tonight.  Since I was last home her favorite color has switched from purple to blue (be still my heart), so tonight's post is 11 pairs of blue flowered shoes in honor of Flower:

Flower has the best giggle.  Sometimes it will just burst out of her and it makes me smile every time.  I'm an awfully lucky auntie to get to have her for a niece.

Today was awesome because I got to see Mom, Dad, the brother, Double A, The Bean, and the auntie.  I've spent the last 2 nights at the seester's, so now Mom and Dad brought me to their house after the party.  It was also just a little bit of a rough day because when the whole family is together I realize more tangibly just how much I miss out on by not living closer.  So I get homesick even though I'm home.  And I miss the hubby.  I have issues.

Happy Birthday, Hubby!

Today is the hubby's birthday, and he is what I am grateful for today.  We've been together for a little over 6 years now, and we've certainly had our ups and downs.  Some days he drives me a little bit bonkers and I want to kick him, and I know some days I drive him bonkers back.  When push comes to shove, though, we've go each other's backs and for that I am very grateful.  Plus, he makes me laugh with his goofy sense of humor.  So tonight's shoes are inspired by the hubby.  I've already done a post with our last name, so today I'm using his first name.  Which is just weird because he doesn't go by it, and refuses to answer to it, but I figure the shoes don't mind one way or the other.

These look like something the hubby would wear.  He likes suits, and he has a couple of pairs of wingtips to go with them.

 

Black shoes are definitely his preference.  Kind of like JG...no wonder they like each other!

Oh wow.  I can't see him wearing these, and I can't say I would blame him.

He wouldn't wear these, either, but I might.

Boy shoes are all well and good, but not very exciting, so here's some hounds tooth for me.

Oooh...and I love this one!

Happy Birthday, hubby.  Love you to the moon and back!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

As you probably gathered from the title of this post, today is my dad's birthday!  I wish I could have been home to help him celebrate, but at least I got to talk to him on the phone both today and yesterday, so that helps.  Look at how cute we all were once upon a time:

(the tiny one is me).  I'm assuming Mom was taking the picture as she isn't in it?

Anyway, as I often do, I looked up shoes by name, although this time I went with Dad's middle name just to see what came up.  His middle name is Emanuel, and unfortunately only girly shoes showed up in that search.  Sorry, pop.
 

But stripes!  So yay!

And polka dots!  More yay!

Kind of plain, but cute, and good for work.

Ditto.

I'd like to see these on, but I think they might be cute.  The color is fun at least, and ankle straps have potential.

 

I'm intrigued by this one.  It might cute?  It might be over the top?  It might have a spider web on it?  It's interesting.

Emanuel means "God with us" (think Advent), but I decided not to search for God shoes today. At any rate, Happy Birthday, pop!  Sorry I couldn't find any manly shoes named after you.