You can tell a lot about a person by his shoes...

Dylan's two smallest toes were really red and swollen for a few days. He said they hurt really badly, and I was alarmed. Did he have some kind of weird infection? He was having a hard time walking, even. So I took him to the doc.

The doc's prognosis - Dylan was developing blisters, because his shoes were too tight. Oops. Bad Mom Moment #765. I wasn't paying close enough attention. Plus, Ben got Dylan these socks at the store that are clearly made for men. Ben swears up and down that they are boy socks, but they easily fit Ben's feet. When Dylan pulls them on, the heel part is on his calf. So I'm sure the socks were part of the problem, too.

So off to Payless Shoe Source we went. I measured Dylie's feet, and sure enough, he was wearing shoes a size too small. I cannot believe he grew an entire size from autumn until now. I decided to get him some shoes half a size bigger than what he should be wearing right now. I had him pick from the three cheapest pairs in the selection. (And I bought him some socks in the appropriate size.)

I think Payless Shoe Source should change their name. I don't feel like I paid less. I paid dearly. Maybe it should be called Pay Dearly Shoe Source. They're probably cheaper than, like, Famous Footwear, but still. I guess I was hoping that it was like when I was young, and a pair of Payless Shoes was $13 or so. Those were the days.

Then I glanced over at Sadie's extremely worn-out shoes. She is pidgeon-toed and tends to drag her toes when she walks. The toes were worn completely through, and I could see her socks. And Micah's shoes were in really bad shape, too.

So I sighed, pulled up my imaginary bootstraps, measured those two, and got shoes for them, too. And just about had a heart attack at the register. Sixty bucks. Yikes. Bikes.

Here are our models with their new shoes:

And I think you should see their cute faces, too:

I did cornrows in Sadie's hair that day. So cute, but wayyyyy too time-consuming. Never again.

So now I have to work some extra hours to pay for those shoes. :) That's the biz. The biz of having kids. You have to pay for them.