When Luke and I were in college, Luke made it a habit of dressing nicely anytime he had an exam or a presentation. I thought it was ridiculous to dress up just to take a test, since my normal attire of athletic pants and a t-shirt seemed to be just as test worthy as a skirt or dress pants. In fact, about the only time I dressed up was when my sorority made me OR when all my other clothes were dirty and dress clothes were the only thing that didn't reek. Nonetheless, Luke insisted that he was better test taker when he "dressed for success."
Yes, I still make fun of him. Yes, I still wear athletic pants and t-shirts most days and Luke wears a tie and dress slacks. Clearly we were being molded for our current jobs even way back then.
Anyway, after watching Ashlee sprint across the yard earlier this morning and giggling at her attire (dress, leggings and white athletic socks with her crocs), I concluded that our children have taken after their father in most ways. And, quite possibly, their desire to dress for success could be genetic. (Insert HUGE exasperated Mom sigh)
Most days, I allow the older 3 to dress themselves. The only parameters I set are that their choices must be modest and weather appropriate. No tiny undershirts without an overshirt for the girls and no sweaters when it's 99 degrees outside. You know, so they don't dehydrate themselves by sweating out their weight with the heat index being well over 100 degrees. Gotta love the South.
At any rate, most times my older three, the girls especially, come out in some interesting garb. Once, I took them into Wal-mart after we'd left a tea-party and they had on their "fancy clothes." We got a lot of looks but, honestly, I don't care. The only time I've really paused was just after Easter when Elizabeth wore her Easter shoes and a nice, church dress to church with GAP athletic socks. Oh well. People surely understand that I have bigger fish to fry than whether or not my kids look perfect.
And truthfully, I think it allows them some control in a world where they have very little control. And, it often gives Luke and I a good chuckle when we see what they deem as appropriate clothing. Here are some examples. This is the clothing each of our older three children chose for a few hours of outside play time.
Nothing says "I'm a real cowboy" like your boots with some shorty-shorts. Right?
Ashlee loves to dress herself in "pretty dresses." Nothing says purdy like a baby pink polyester dress and your crocs. Nothing. Notice that she's also sporting a shotgun. I'd guess that would be necessary to keep the paparazzi at bay. I mean, she is a diva.
As for Elizabeth, well, she's her own girl. I mean, nothing says summer sporty casual like black sweatpants under last year's too-short dress. I think the headband-being-worn-as-a-necklace really sets off the outfit. Don't you? Naturally, you'll need to accessorize with a bat and ball. Afterall, you don't want anyone thinking you can't play ball just because you're rockin' a dress.Nighttime attire is always interesting around here. When the twins turned 4 back at the end of May, we decided to celebrate with some old sparklers I found in the bottom of a box. Since it's summertime and it doesn't get completely dark until 2am, we had them go ahead and get completely ready for bed while we waited for it to be dark enough. Sidenote: it never really got dark enough. At any rate, this is what they wore for bed that night. Please make special note of Lucas' favorite bedtime shirt also featured here.
Ashlee is of the mindset that pajamas are pajamas and no one said they ever had to match.
Apparently these are Elizabeth's favorite pajamas. It doesn't matter how many times I move them to Ashlee's pajama drawer, they always end up on Elizabeth's body. The good news is that if she ever encounters a flood in the middle of the night she is good to go.Headbands are all the rage at our house right now. Our girls even go to bed with them on and I have to repeatedly remind them to take them off. When worn correctly, my girls look amazingly cute wearing a headband.
But if one hair accessory is cute, then 3 must be cuter, right?
And if 3 are cuter, then over the top HUGE must be gorgeous. Wouldn't you agree?
Go big or go home, that's what I always say.Hope y'all have a weekend that's dressed for success.