Wednesday, May 25, 2011

style.

if i were to take a survey about what my style is for dressing my boys and my choices were 1.) preppy 2.) punk rock 3.) sports wear...i would have to make up my own category-simple and free. or ragamuffin/orphan child. okay, that's really just their behavior ; )

for the most part, i'm pretty laid back about what my boys wear. we've been blessed with lots of hand-me downs and generous gifts from a friend the boys charmed into being their adopted aunt/grandma. tim's mom usually gives the boys a few cute outfits for their birthdays and occasionally my mom finds some really cute stuff at garage sales. i've honestly not bought anything for my boys other than a few outfits for ben when he was a baby, that honestly, we didn't even need, and socks and underpants. and their super sweet aunt/grandma even gave them socks for christmas : )

it's probably a good thing that i'm pretty low maintenance myself, otherwise i would spend all my energy trying to wrestle and battle my boys to look presentable.


sure ben-plaid with plaid covering most colors of the spectrum is very handsome.


and of course you would want a similar look for the day, max.

the winter after max was born, one of ben's cousins gave him some black snow boots that he had outgrown. ben's other shoes at the time were some really cute chuck taylor converse high tops. way cute, but a total pain in the tush to put on. so we often let him wear the easy to put on snow boots. and the habit stuck. if you saw my boys at all this winter, you would have seen them wearing their boots. bright sunny days=boys wearing snow boots. sometimes it was a little embarrassing, like at mass when their pants wouldn't stay pulled over their boots (at least making them look a little more normal) because of their constant wiggling or when they would stomp back from communion. or when strangers at the store would point them out and give me dirty looks like i was a 14 year old neglectful mom. and i would explain that they had perfectly nice non-snow boots shoes at home, but preferred to wear boots. apparently it didn't bother me enough to wrestle them into their chuckie t's or buy them other, easier to put on shoes.

but now that it's summer, ben is still suck on his boots. they're easier to put on than his sandals and he likes the fleece lining. (i think they make him feel tough. boots are more appropriate for pirate adventures than sandals.) i had max broken of his boot habit because i put his sandals on for him, but then his cousin, who he totally adores, gave him some black church shoes. now, although i'm pretty lenient about their apparel, i've always had a thing against black shoes. i let him wear them on sunday and had to admit that they were pretty cute, but when he wanted to wear them with shorts yesterday, i totally cringed. i tried to talk him into his sandals, but he was really insistent. i gave in and sent him to get some socks to wear with them and of course he came back with bright red ones. since we were just going to my sister-in-law's house, it wasn't worth the fight.


matching out the door, proud of his style victory.

as i was driving, i again cringed when i remembered i needed to stop at dillon's on the way. then i braced myself for more condescending looks about my obvious neglect and our pitiful poverty.


i had to get a picture of them both in all their glory. ben was proud of himself for matching his shirt and shorts. max's shorts he picked are actually pants that are too small and fit like capris that i rolled up. his socks, although both red, don't match. and of course, the lovely footwear. combined with their awkward prom-esque pose, maybe ragamuffin/orphan child really is the best description of our style.

7 comments:

  1. I love it...this is all too familiar...only with my Benny, it's cowboy boots.

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  2. Mary, you make me smile. I think I need to loosen up a bit in the girls' clothing choices, and if we're staying at home I've been doing a bit better. If we're leaving the house though I tend to get a bit of a spasmodic tic if they are decked out in a more "free form" clothing choice. I am allowing their rain boots on a regular basis, which makes them both happy and gives them quite the feeling of independence. Good for you for allowing your boys the opportunity for making decisions for themselves :)

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  3. oh yes, laugh. so so cute, those two little ragamuffins. i enjoy their style.

    today, joshua had to go to the laundry basket full of clean clothes waiting three days to be folded to find something to wear, and he came back with a long sleeved shirt that is too small with three large holes on the front that was headed to the RAG pile, and cutoff shorts with a broken zipper that won't stay up. he looks pretty rough. i told him "fine, until we go somewhere", but i might give in. funny, i would never let my girls dress that way.

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  4. patty-it's so true-i know i would have different standards with girls. boys are allowed to be scruffy.

    elizabeth-you always make me laugh. way to go with the rain boots. ben had a pair that he literally wore out. i had to hide them down in the trash because he took them out and acted very offended when he saw them in the trash.

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  5. Kids dressing themselves is just one of the small joys of parenting if you ask me. LOVE the plaid/plaid combos! Ira also thinks that things have to match (i.e., if he's wearing a red shirt, he also wants to wear red shorts) I just kind of figure, "eh, whatever" most of the time. He wore a bow tie to mass one Sunday with a knit polo shirt. Who am I to judge?!

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  6. I love your boys style actually. Nicholas and James are the same way. I let Nicholas wear a peter pan costume on top of highwater pants, mismatchd socks and shoes and didn't realize it until we were already in the Dillons parking lot. Oh well. :)

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  7. Good for you for encouraging them and allowing them to be proud of their accomplishments... no matter how mismatched they might be :) I tend to be the opposite, but after reading much about encouraging kids an building up their self esteem, I realize I need to let go more. For instance, today Noah is wearing jeans and long sleeves. He thinks it "looks nice" so I'm going to go with it... he'll figure out on his own that he's dressed for a winter day instead of a summer one soon enough :)

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