Pumped Up Kicks

On Monday, October 1, I took the boys shoe shopping at the Badorf Children's Outlet in Manheim with Mamaw from her house after Joshua got out of school. He had somehow misplaced a sneaker (how do you lose a shoe in a clean house?!?!?! We found it weeks later INSIDE our office rocking chair - what!?!?!) and when he went to put on the new ones I had bought him for school, he complained that they were too tight. Caleb put them on and said they fit great. I wondered if they ran small - and yet Joshua had tried them not even two months before that when we had purchased them and they were a little big or "great for fall."

I thought it was worth a trip to see if the woman could measure all three of the boys' feet and figure out the mystery of why the new shoes didn't fit. Mystery solved - Joshua grew from a 12 in the spring to a size 1 youth (skipping size 13, which is what I had purchased in July/August when there was a sale at Olley's Kids Shoes). No wonder his size 2 soccer cleats fit with his shin guards and socks on!!!

He tried on several pairs of shoes and fell in love with the "shiny" ones. They were my least favorite, but they were still the high-end brand Tsukihoshi shoes (which my kids love - flexible soles, extremely light weight, and great for wide feet!) and still machine washable (my requirement) and still a sample price ($25 per pair vs. their normal $60-$80 a pair). He insisted that these were the ones he must have, so I bought them for him.

Caleb's feet measured at a 13!!!! I was also shocked, since he was an 11.5 last spring. I put away all 11-12 shoes out of their room, and he can wear the brand new 13's that I had purchased for Joshua (he wasn't just choosing them because they were big brothers). I also found in the up-front bin a pair of 13.5 and a pair of size 1 youth for $3 each of the Tsukihoshi brand, and I grabbed both pairs. These give them an extra pair to wear in case theirs get wet or muddy, etc. GREAT DEAL!!!

Unfortunately with their feet growing so quickly I also don't have snow boots or dress shoes for the boys either, but at least they've got something that fits their feet to wear to school and sports. Tricky shoes for tricky dudes!

The song reference in the title is "Pumped Up Kicks" and in the actual song it says "All the other kids with their pumped up kicks better run better run, outrun my gun, all the other kids with their pumped up kicks better run better run, faster than my bullet." Joshua heard the song once and I heard him re-singing it with his own words (or what he thought the song said): "All the other kids with their pumped up kicks better run better run, OUTRUN MY BROTHER!!!" I loved it. It still makes me smile. Indeed, Joshua's brother is a fast kid... Haaa!!! Now they both have pumped up kicks! ;-)