Do You?

Do you let your children dress themselves?

I do. 

A lot.  

They both chose green.

Not always of course, there are occasions when I get to choose and/or have the veto-power.  

(Like flip-flops in the rain.)

Lincoln wearing crocs and a tank top.  In the rain.  With jeans.  In February.

But most of the time during the week, they choose.

Looking good.

Here's the thing, when I taught Kindergarten, there was a particular round-faced cutie pie that always came to school a disheveled mess.  

This girl had pony-tails sticking out of her forehead and was mismatched from head to toe.  

But, she couldn't have felt more beautiful.  

Her mother told me she let her choose her own clothes and didn't ever have
problem with what she wore.
I loved it!
She was allowed to express her creativity through her clothes.  

The confidence she felt was evident. 

Certainly much different from the (mostly) girls and (occasional) boys who would choose to sit out of an activity rather than get their shoes and/or clothes dirty.  

Or had the most lovely, on-trend get-ups, but were too uncomfortable to play in them.  

Polka dots and leopard.

Lila + Lincoln tend to choose outfits that they think match.  Green shirt, green underwear and green shorts for instance on my dude.  Or striped shirt and striped skirt for Sis.  

These always leads to rocking outfits let me tell you.  

Or sometimes Lila likes to wear her Christmas dress to Target.  

And Lincoln wears his football pants.  (Carrying a football of course!)  

Sometimes Lila wears her ballerina dresses or Lincoln wears all red like Lightening McQueen.  Lincoln's favorite shirt has a gigantic stain that I cannot get out.  

It doesn't bother him for one second.  

But here is the thing for me.
They could care less what others think about what they are wearing.
They feel special.  

And I'm sure sooner rather than later, they will start making choices based on what they feel others will think.  

We all do.

So until then, our children will be the ones letting their personalities dictate their adorableness.  

And not their threads.

And it's 2 less battles I have to fight each morning.
Win.  Win.

Roma

Rome was amazing.  

It was just so, so amazing.  

Brian + I fell in love with that city.  

It reignited our desire to travel.  It made me want to learn to speak Italian.  

It makes me want to read history book after history book.  It makes me want to drink stronger coffee, much more wine and indulge in loads of gelato.  

Every day.

We had the very best vacation.  

It kinda feels like a dream.

We took a bunch of pictures.  Here are a few.

Taking off child free.  Ahhhhh.

 Our super-hotel under that gorgeous super-moon.

Gelato every single day.

My imagination ran wild seeing this place.  

Yum.  

This place again.  Wow.

It rained one day.  Oh, I am sorry, did I say rain?  Check that--POURED.  And we were in the middle of some ruins with no shelter to be found.  I am completely soaked from the knees down.  And everywhere else as well.  The rest of the time high 70's and gorgeous.

Wine + maps.  Several times a day.

Relaxing.

Throwing my coin in the Trevi fountain.

The Pantheon.  This place...my.

Vatican City was incredible.  So much beauty.

Us.

Us.

 Us + (more) gelato.

Alright that's enough.  

I could be here all night showing you pics of more amazing-ness.  But then I would be THAT person who made you look at every picture of their vacation...Zzzzzzz.

If you ever get the chance, GO TO ROME.

You will not be disappointed.