Why my twins don't match

I'm not one of those mothers who makes sure we all match for pictures. Not that I think it's bad, or silly, I'm just not that organized. I don't care if you picked a plain black or white t-shirt I could (almost) guarantee you that not every single person in this household had one. I could also definitely guarantee you that if you found a shirt that we all had that matched, I probably wouldn't care to wear mine in a family portrait. Call me vain, but I'm the one that has to look at the damn thing for the rest of my life. I searched high and low for some matching outfits for all of us for our Christmas card family photo this year, and to no avail. I couldn't find ANYTHING. My boys had a BAZILLION (yes it's a word, I checked) adorable cute winter-like Christmasy sweaters, not one that matched. Since they had a bazillion of them I was not about to go out and buy matching ones. I'm a frugal of sorts. So, what did I do? I made sure not one of us matched, and it came out wonderful. I have twins that are two and a half, a one year old daughter, a eclectic techie husband, and then me so, lots of color, and mismatch-ness defines this family. That's where I came up with my little family portrait saying on my sidebar there (go look), because seriously without the chaos of family you really aren't living.

I long to be the house with all the kids. I want to be the mom who's kid's friends all call "mom". Who love to hang out at my house because it's "cool". Not cool because I sell them beer or pot, but because it's cozy and relaxed. Comfortable. As mentioned in pervious posts I'm a life-like-the-movies type of dreamer. I don't want fame or fortune, but just that overall joyful feeling of realness. I think that completely makes no sense at all, but it does in my head. I want that chaotic life, but that you wouldn't trade. Busy with activities, outings, vacations, friends, dinners, movies, family, and all that fun good stuff families are made out of. I wanted at least three kids, which I got, and that is a big reason why. Family is very important to me no matter how much they get on my nerves. I grew up in a big family, and wanted to have a big family. If it weren't for these knots around my tubes I'd have more, but alas three was the decided number. (Note: I just realizes this entire paragraph has nothing to do with my twins not matching or family pictures, guess that's my niche getting off topic. Go me.)

Because I'm the frugal gal, my kids wear a lot of hand-me-downs. Which inevitably means they do not match. Don't get me wrong, again, I think it's adorable. When able, I certainly do make them match. Even with hand-me-downs they typically coordinate. We humans have a hard time straying from being creatures of habit (we buy one shirt we like it, we buy it in 5 other colors). My kids get their hand-me-downs from some of the richest people in the Silicon Valley, so I'm not going out of my way to complain that they don't match. My step-mom works as a personal house cleaner (yes, maid) for the richies in the Bay Area of California. She brings us stuff that has tags on it, and that cost more than my entire wardrobe. The Little Miss has a box full of Juicy Couture dresses and True Religion jeans anxiously awaiting her to turn 2T. I better start watching more kids. I can't have my daughter out dress me at age 2. Just kidding (completely). I am extremely thankful for the clothes we receive that I could sell to pay our car payments and still get my nails done that my daughter will play in the mud with.

Before the twins were born I couldn't decide how I wanted to be. Do I have them always match or not? Isn't that strange? Am I weird for even caring or entertaining such a question? I don't feel weird. It's not like I ever told anyone, before now, that I thought stuff like that. They matched a majority of their infancy due to everyone's new baby gifts that mostly matched. Now I find myself trying to decide who wears what? That is why I love that they pick their own clothes, and I happily let them. Because no matter what thought I ever entertained about matching or non-matching I always told myself no matter what I did, as soon as they were old enough to have their own personalities I'd let them decide, and I do. Each are both very different in their styles as well. The only type of people I do judge (but I really don't) are the ones who are adamant against having their adorable twinsies match. Just because your mom made you and your "Irish twin" sister dress alike until you were 17 aren't your kids problem. I'm just not black and white like that though. In fact I'm so stuck in the gray area I actually take the time to think these things out. In the end sometimes they match, sometimes they don't.