When I was a little girl (before my whole anti-mommy phase) I used to dream about having two little girls of my very own that I would dress in matching outfits. I think in my mind they were actually twins. I was going to name them Jessica and Elizabeth, like the Sweet Valley High twins. Thank goodness that dream didn't come true!
But I did end up with two beautiful girls. When the ultrasound technician said those fateful words ("It's a girl!"), I immediately envisioned matching everything. Matching church dresses. Matching jammies. Even matching dolls.
When I finally got my head out of the clouds and grounded myself back in reality, I remembered that we have a $0 budget for such things. And we were actually fortunate to be having another girl, as it meant not having to buy ANYTHING new. Whew! On a single-income salary, that was a blessing. So much for matching anything.
As it turns out, I've not been disappointed about the lack of matching clothes. Shaelyn has her own sense of style and would be difficult to persuade to wear a certain outfit on a certain day just because her sister was too. And since Rachelle HATES getting changed, I hardly ever get her dressed. She just wears the same footie jammies for 2 days, then I put her in fresh pair after a bath. Who needs matching clothes?
Except that I really wanted the girls to have matching Christmas dresses this year. (Grammy to the rescue!) I envisioned beautifully posed pictures of the girls - perhaps Shaelyn kissing her little sister, or Rachelle holding her big sister's hand. Their hair was going to be done just right, with roses glued onto clips that I made for just such an occasion. And somehow I was going to be able to take these gorgeous photos before we left for 9:00 church.
You know the rest... Of course the photos didn't happen before church. Of course the roses kept falling off the hairclips (but the clips surprisingly stayed in their hair). Of course the beautiful poses didn't happen. I wasn't even able to get the girls to stay still long enough for me to snap a solo picture a piece, much less something with them in it together.
After re-gluing hair roses and following them around the house for 40 minutes, this is what I ended up with. Considering the circumstances (and that these are my children - the most active kids on the planet), I think they turned out pretty well.
Maybe I'll get those beautifully-posed, matching-outfit photos when the girls are in high school.
