The GIFT of New Shoes!!!

We’ve been incredibly pleased with the girls’ PE curriculum.  Especially in elementary school, I just remember playing on the playground during PE, with the occasional game of dodge ball awarded us now and again.

In contrast, PE these days is a serious subject!  Their PE teacher is simply amazing with how she incorporates learning about the human body in ways that are so much fun.  And our always-active girls are even more inspired to move and groove, as evidenced by the “exercise videos” they like to make at home.  HA!

The girls don’t participate in the running club, but still they have opportunities to log running time each week.  For every 5 cumulative miles they run, they get a little token.  Baby A logged over 30 miles this year, and Baby B, over 20!

I had a hunch something different was up a couple of Thursdays ago, based on the invitation to parents to attend the morning meeting for a special announcement.  I could not have imagined what happened, though.

The girls’ PE teacher had entered their school in a contest from New Balance, touting their curriculum and how running and being active is a part of every day for their students.  Of all the schools in the COUNTRY, the girls’ school WON! 

AND…the unbelievable part is that New Balance gifted NEW SHOES to EVERY student, EVERY teacher, and EVERY staff member…even the bus drivers got new shoes!!!

The girls still don’t quite realize what a huge deal this is, but they do love their new shoes!

The kiddos didn’t have a choice of colors, though, and the girls’ shoes are identical.  Baby B came up with the idea to get different colored laces.  Viola!

When life gives you identical shoes, add some different laces!

And even more special is that these shoes are the girls’ first TIE shoes.  They’ve been able to tie a bow for the past couple of years now…but [frankly] this mama never wanted to give up the speed that Velcro provides in getting in the car each morning.

So far, the girls are tying their own shoes, and doing a pretty decent job of it!  They’re still working to get their knots good and tight.  (I thought it was so cute that A told me proudly after a recent outing, “I didn’t have to re-tie my shoes once!”)

This is such a special treat for our girls and ALL the kiddos at their school.  I know one day they’ll realize how incredibly cool it is – even beyond their first pair of TIE shoes.