these boots were made for stomping

A few days ago I came across a blog written by a dear friend of mine, whom I think is the Queen of blog-land and an extremely talented photographer and writer, not to mention a fabulous Momma. This particular post was in a weekly series titled Fifty-Two on Fridays. From my understanding this weekly post merely begins with a simple topic, word, phrase, thought, etc... and you can interpret it how you see fit. So this week it was about shoes. As I read the sweet words she had written about her little guy getting his own pair of special red shoes, I immediately thought of my Rylie girl. If you know anything about my Rylie it's that she is feisty and full of life. Some may even say that she is down right stubborn and strong willed just like her Momma. And in my opinion she may very well be the best snuggler in the world. Any way you slice it there is no doubt about it- to know her is to love her. Lately, her greatest love has been a pair of black cowgirl boots (not to be confused with cowboy boots). I am not quite sure where they came from, but Rylie has attached herself to those boots and will not let go. Even though they are two sizes too small she is wearing those boots into the ground. I just have to smile because she gets so excited when she puts them on all by herself. "Mom look I stomped my foot real hard and it went on".

This past week Rylie and I got to spend some rare quality time together. It is not as if we don't hang out every day, but this was a special day. The weather has been beautiful the last few days and we couldn't resist soaking up the sunshine. Ace was taking a nap and I decided that housework could wait so we headed to the front yard for a little bike riding. The boots were given the afternoon off and traded in for "bike-riding shoes". Rylie started off on her Dora big wheel then decided that she wanted to try Madi's big girl bike. So we got out Dad's tools and set to work modifying the big girl bike to fit little girl legs. It wasn't long before we had adjusted the seat and Rylie was off riding on her own down the street. It was such a big deal for her to be on that big bike and I was honored to be the one to share that "first" with her.

It wasn't long before those boots found their way back onto Rylie's feet, where I'm certain to see them as long as she can cram her toes into them. These boots are just another reminder that my little girl is growing up. So tomorrow I'll do my best to help her stomp her feet into those boots and see how many more adventures we can have together before they don't fit anymore.