Tie Up Shoes

Spring Break is coming to an end in the next few days.  This year marks a new season with three not so little boys.  Each year we take a hike up to Multnomah Falls.  Here we are all for just a walk, barely, up to the bridge and back.  Little boys, one in a front pack just a few months old.  It took lots of work to get out on these adventures with little boys, but we wanted to keep ourselves moving even with little boys.

 This was last year. Only Ethan made it to the top. I had to go back down with the two younger boys. And believe me I was not complaining at all.

 This year not only did they all make it to the top, but now they go down another trail and continue.  Not much hand holding these days as Papa teaches the safety of hiking.

Corssing over little creeks and waterfalls, these boys often do double the steps with the back and forth.  I love that they are now old enough to take on hours of hiking.

Definately a new season for our family.  The boys now hardy hikers and endless energy.  Mom, well working on the energy part.  I am an older mom and admit that sleep is my best friend just to be retsored and refreshed to keep up with them. 

The time with lots of small children is so hard some days.  I always knew the timeline of hard work.  Five years per kid.  That meant I was signing up for a total of nine years from when the youngest would be five.  And it's so true. The first five years of training our children in the ways that they should go is constant and never ending until it's nap time or bed time.  Putting in that time yeilds the next 10-15 years of fun and reminding of what they have learned concerning their behaviors. It's easy.  Even as I write this, the boys are off playing, chatting away in the distance.

I wore bright white tie up shoes yesterday for the first time in years.  I have had these shoes for five years. Perhaps it's just me and my mommy style, but they seemed like a good idea when I bought them. Only to realize that time really only allowed slip on shoes. Especially after getting three boys into clothes, socks, shoes, coats, hats and then for me...quick slip on shoes.  The time to lace up my own shoes seemed pointless. So now five years later I am wearing tie up shoes. It feels like a new pair of shoes. I like that the The NewYorker has tie up shoes on the front cover of their magazine. The colors of my bedroom. I might need to order this cover in a framed picture. How cute are these white tie up shoes?

These shoes are going to cover a lot of ground in the next year.