Family Style

The family that wears Vans together, are fans together. I think that's how the slogan goes, if I remember right. A few notes on how we each got our hip shoes:

Rex -- Gymboree indulgence. Way expensive for baby shoes, but gift card + cuteness = baby style.
Ryan -- Christmas present 2011 from they Sycamore's.
MK -- Christmas present 2007 from Kurt and Jenn. I don't wear mine out nearly as fast as Ryan.
Jenna -- Christmas present for Marielle in 2007 also from Kurt and Jenn, now passed along to Jenna.
Marielle -- Swap shop. Scored on the very day that she found herself the only family member
                  without a pair of slip-ons in the closet. 

Other somewhat related notes:

• Marielle is wearing a pair of socks that her Grandma gave her.  For some reason she thinks that they are vintage hand-me-downs.  Marielle asks me each time she wears them, "Did you know Grandma wore these socks when she was a little girl?"  I should correct her, but I think it's funny.
• If you look carefully, you'll see that Jenna is wearing two different skirts.  The top skirt is getting a little short, so Ryan tried to convince her to wear some leggings underneath.  She refused, since wearing pants is so "un-fancy", and put on a second skirt instead. 
• My own choice of brown pants, white socks, and black shoes is highly questionable, but the morning of the picture the kids insisted I wear my vans right as we were heading out the door. Since we'd been been trying to get out for the last 30 minutes, I just rolled with it.  Then Ryan wanted to take a picture and immortalize my inability to color coordinate, so I just smiled and thought "Well, no one will ever see it."  Until today when I, myself posted it on our blog, and have been trying to come up with witty excuses to rationalize why it was OK, and have finally come to peace with the fact that no one really cares, so I should get over it. There, I'm over it. 
• Ryan has another pair of Vans that are bright blue checkered. He likes to wear them with a matching bright blue button up shirt. The colors are identical so he makes a really vibrant impression wherever he goes. It deserves a blog post of it's own.  I'll see if I can trick him into posing for a picture next time he wears them.
• Rex LOVES shoes.  A barefoot Rex you'll hardly find, but if you do, he'll shortly be bringing you a pair of shoes to place on his feet.  I hear there's a new business plan where you pay a subscription and you get a new pair of shoes sent to your home each month.  Let's make sure Rex doesn't catch wind of it.