Tears at Wal-Mart

We had a busy day today. We just found out that the boys will be in my SIL's wedding party on Saturday. That gave me eight days to find dress pants, dress shirts, shoes and schedule haircuts. A bit of a time crunch. Managed to spend my Saturday at the mall getting pants and shirts.

So, this morning, after haircuts, we went off to Wal-Mart to see if we could get a pair of shoes fancier then runners that wouldn't hurt the pocket book as they will only wear them once. Lucked out, found two pair of black fancy shoes that fit. Then the boys asked if they could get some running shoes for school. I was feeling like I could take on the world so I agreed. Hey, may even save me a trip!

Ryan quickly found some Spiderman shoes in his size and went to work on trying them on.

Matthew quickly found some Chaotic shoes that came with trading cards. (He is in to trading cards these days). Unfortunately, they seemed to be too small for his brace. Tried on the next two sizes up. Too big for his unbraced foot. I said maybe we should try a different shoe, this kind was too narrow for the brace.

Then the tears started.

"Mommy! Why can all my friends get these kind and I can't?"

He crawled into my lap and cried and cried.

I was silently asking too, why does everything have to be hard for this kid? Why does he have to have so many life lessons like life is not fair at such an early age.

I told him when he settled down we would try the shoes again and Mommy would work really really hard at jamming his brace in it. His eyes looked at me so sad when he said "But how can I do that myself at school?" I told him that perhaps his teacher can help out.

We tried again, with all the strength I could muster, we managed to get that shoe on. Matthew beamed.

Another life lesson learned by me. If the shoe doesn't fit, shove it even harder.

So the boys are now outfitted for the wedding minus black socks...which I forgot about.

Here are my handsome boys. Matthew looks rather shell shocked.


Yes, they have 'faux hawks' just for fun today.

And Ryan striking a pose... watch out girls!

Oh, and that is my dress hanging just behind Ryan. I think our colors will all work.

The boys are now outside playing in the sandbox, content as can be. Crisis averted yet again, Chaotic and Spiderman shoes ready for school in two weeks.