Why...

...would I ever think taking my kids shopping was a good idea?? 

Today was one of those days that I wonder what the hell I was thinking when I made some of the decisions that I made throughout the day.  The day started very early, after a very late night.  Yesterday was one of my brothers highschool graduations and it lasted over 6 hours...yes, that is right - 6 hours and 15 minutes!!!  We made our way to my Dad's house for visiting at about 10:30 p.m. and stayed there until about Midnight.  I was up at 6:30 a.m. today because Natalie had to get to Lloyd for 4-H Expo, where she had to be on her horse at 8:00 a.m.  Thank goodness that she can drive herself, and the horse spent the night in the stable in Lloyd, because all I had to do was make sure she got up and out of here in time. 

My kids had spent the night at my in-laws last night, because we were at grad, so thankfully they were not here to start grating on my nerves until a little later in the morning!  I climbed back into bed at about 7:00 and dozed until about 9:00 when I got a call from Greg's mom, sounding very worried about something.  She had good reason to worry, as Greg's Dad has had an infection in his leg that won't go away and today it took a very bad turn and they had to get to Edmonton right away...so we had to get the kids right away so they could leave.  Greg ended up going with them to Edmonton, where they will spend at least one night, and will see what tomorrow brings.  After picking my kids up is where this story gets interesting!

After I had brought the kids home, I got Mark and Grace both to try on some summer shoes that I had bought at Payless just yesterday (without them being with me), and as luck would have it, they didn't fit...either of them.  I decided that I should just take the three of them with me to Lloyd and get them shoes that fit them properly, so we set off on what I thought would be a nice day in the city!  Ha!

We were going to go watch Natalie ride, but by the time we got there she had only one event left and she wasn't sure what time it would run at, so we decided to forgo the show and just go shopping for shoes.  We went to McDonald's first - the one with the big playground in it - and my kids had a blast!  I sat all by my lonesome as my kids ate their lunch on the train and played in the playgrounnd.  We only had one mishap when Grace tripped a little girl (by accident) and I could here her mother yapping about it!  Once they had their fill of french fries and fun, we skedaddled out of there and made our way to Payless.  My kids have never been in a real actual shoe store before, just places like Wal-Mart & Zellers, so they thought it was pretty cool to see all the shoes there!  I had no idea Mark was such a shoe man!  We quickly found Mark a pair of summer runners that he does not need socks for and we moved onto finding Grace a pair.  This was were the nighmare began!  She tried on every single pair of shoes in her size and she just couldn't seem to find the right pair.  "This one's too itchy", "This one's too tight", "I can't run in this one", "This one pinches my toes", blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!!!  I was sweating and irritated when Mark and Will came around the corner wearing flip-flops and begging me to buy them!!  Will had found a pair for about 6 dollars, but Mark had to pick the really expensive ones - $27.99 - and they were womens!!  He LOVES them though because they are "soft" and he had to pick to the white ones with black soles so you can't see the butterflies on the sole quite as easy as you can with light coloured soles!!!  They had their BOGO sale on, so I decided that since the boys were both so in love with their new flip-flops, I would let them buy them!  Grace still had no shoes in hand and my patience were running thin.  She tried on Hannah Montana, Barbie, Camo, Glitter, Wedge, Runners, Slip-on's, Strappy, Dressy and even fur-lined loafers...but nothing was going to work!  I told her it was time to go because her mother was about to blow up, so it was best for everyone if we just paid for what we had and got the heck out of there!  I grabbed a pair of flip-flops for Natalie just to make the BOGO work best and went to the till.  I was standing at the register getting my wallet out when I heard a small voice behind me say "Mommy, my penis is big"!!!  I tried to remain calm, cool and collected but there were a lot of people in that store and when I turned around, my three year old has his penis sticking out of his pants, and yes, it was big!!  He then went on to say "Mommy, I need you to look at it"...that really doesn't sound good when you are standing in a shoe store with your son showing off his erection...so I just said "No baby, you just leave it alone and it will go away, and please pull your pants back up"!  I passed the cashier my AMEX card gathered up my children and hightailed it out of the store!

Once we were back in the vehicle, I told them we would go to Wal-Mart and if they were really good, I would buy them each a new movie, and of course Mark had to try to sweeten the deal a little by asking if he could also get a new DS game and a t-shirt he saw there once.  I said no-way-jose, but as I was about to find out, I was in a very generous mood today...or maybe it was just a way of saving my sanity!  We entered Wal-Mart with everyone if good spirits and headed over to the birthday party section (because Grace's birthday is this month) and we ended up buying a crap-load of birthday supplies for what is now going to be a "Hannah Montana-Barbie-Princess-Mermaid" themed birthday party!  All of the Hannah Montana stuff was on clearance, so I made out really well on that.  My mood is always brightened a little by a good sale, and that most likely explains why my children got all that they got today!  We wondered over the the movie section where Will picked out a Thomas movie (of course) and Grace picked out a Barbie movie (of course) and Mark spyed the Wii games (the cheap ones) and so he got a new game instead of a movie.  We then went to the toy section where we had to buy Grace's best friend a birthday gift and thank goodness she found her a doll in the first 20 seconds of being in the toy department...cause if she decided to look for a gift like she looks for shoes I probably would have left her in Wal-Mart all by herself!!  We had a look at the shoes in Wal-Mart and surprise, surprise, they didn't have a single pair in Grace's size!!  We actually found one pair that she would have taken, but they didn't have her size and I just don't think her feet will grow one full shoe size over the next two months!  Mark made his way over the t-shirts and found the one he has been thinking about for months now - a Star Wars Lego shirt - and since I seemed to either be in a good mood or losing my mind, I told him to add it to the pile in the cart.  After the kids each picked out a Baby Bottle Pop and I grabbed my self an Oh Henry, we finally left Wally World and set off for home...home sweet home! 

The minute we walked in the door I sent Mark downstairs to play his new Wii game, I sent Grace off to watch her new movie, I sent Will off to watch his movie and I finally sat my butt down and took a deep breath! 

Moral of the story...don't be stupid!!!

SJ