{ Little Rituals-The Washing of The Shoes }

It’s funny to me how we have these little rituals that we do. They aren’t traditions, or holidays,… I don’t know that I would even call them habits. They are just those things we do again and again that paint a picture of what our life was like at a certain time, or show our personalities, or what we value as important. I have lots of those little rituals around here. I wonder why I don’t write them down as often as I should. I think after a while they become so common place that I don’t even see them as important anymore, they are just what we do.

I love thinking about them though. Some are silly. Some are essential. Some are just…so us. I think I am going to try to write down a few each month so I don’t forget what those special little rituals were at this time in our life. When I was sifting through some pictures from last year, I came across these pictures from my spring cleaning spree. I was so glad that I had taken the time to document this little ritual.

This one ranks up high on the scale of “not-so important”, but it still is part of our life right now. Washing shoes. I feel like our kids are so hard on shoes. It seems they run them into the ground-with very few survivors that ever make it as hand me downs. With 7 kids I try to make them last as long as I can by doing an occasional shoe cleaning party. I partly think it’s just my OCD side coming out, or maybe I just get so fed up with dirty floors from all of their dirty shoes even though we try hard to take our shoes off in the mudroom.

Whatever it is…it has become a ritual for me at least. Maybe I just like the story all these shoes. It shows the story of our life right now.

Crocs are still “in” around here. I think anything that is quick, convenient, and easy to slip on and off is in. It is commonplace to have a bite or two taken out of them these days compliments of our dog Simon-note the green crocs with a little nibble taken out of the top. Please know I am only doing a forced half smile about this little fact. The chewing phase that doesn’t seem to be ending with this dog is pretty much driving me crazy.

Tennis shoes. Oh the struggle. I have the hardest time to find shoes that can go with just everyday outfits the girls have –not athletic shoes, just regular tennis shoes. I feel like they never fit right. It’s too tight. It rubs the back of my foot. They just don’t work. Nonetheless. I still wash them to make them look like new in hopes they will find their way into their shoe wardrobe somehow.

    

Flip flops. The shoe of choice. Besides barefoot, which is pretty common too. How I love flip flops. I just wear them until they are literally falling apart. The pair below is my favorite right now. I pretty much wear them year round, wash them up good when they get too dirty, and then wear them some more. I am really a cheapskate when it comes to shoes, and these flip flops were a bit more than the regular Old navy or Target $5 special, but so worth it. They mold to your foot and are just so comfortable. I need to find some more because I can tell these are started to wear out on me.

The kids are a huge fan of flip flops too. I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t survive in any other part of the country that we actually had to wear closed toe shoes for any length period of time throughout the year. Look at all those clean shoes. I little ritual I have come to love.