Two words -- Grocery Shopping

It was a rainy day here, so we really didn't do a whole lot.  We stayed in our jammies until noon, ate leftover blueberry pancakes and watched cartoons on the tube.  I have to say that I don't like most of my kids TV shows, but I laughed really, really hard at Phineas and Ferb this morning.  I read, wrote and dozed.  It was really a very, very nice day until I realized (insert ominous music here) that we were running out of milk and juice.  (Dun, dun dah...)  So I grudgingly showered, got the kids dressed, made a shopping list (which I never stick to) and we headed to the grocery store.

We started the trip fairly successfully.  We picked out the shopping cart that has a kid-sized car attached to it.  Danny "drove" the car and Joey decided he was going to push.  We got into the vegetable aisle and all I needed was corn, carrots, peppers and bananas.  It took us 20 minutes to get those items.  You see, I timed the trip wrong.  Moms everywhere know this.  Timing is EVERYTHING.  Because I didn't see our milk/juice shortage until I made lunch and we had a dr.'s appointment in the later afternoon,  I had no choice.  If I wanted to get the shopping done today, it had to be during naptime.  Ugh!

Joey decided that it would be loads of fun to pretend Danny was a race car driver and then push him up and down the aisles as fast as he could.  Of course, this was fun for them both until they almost knocked over a small child walking with his mother.  I then had to pull Joey's driver's license and take over the driving duties.

We continued on our shopping expedition and had to stop at the bakery for the free cookie.  While I really appreciate that all grocery stores offer the complimentary free cookie to each of my children, I just question why they couldn't offer a free apple or bag of grapes instead.  My children do not need any more sugar than necessary and once they have their free cookie, they keep begging for another and another or even better, they want to buy a package of cookies to take home.

Then we went to the fish counter.  I've had a hankering for some grilled fish, so I wanted to look at the salmon.  As I was looking, the boys were fascinated by the lobsters.  If you don't live in this part of the country, let me explain.  We have a fish tank full of live lobsters in each and every grocery story.  It is sort of like going to the aquarium as you're buying your fish.  They lobsters crawl over each other and all around the tank.  Danny then decides he's going to place an order and asks the man at the fish counter if he could get the 4 lbs lobster for him to take home.  He told the man that he was going to name him Nemo.  At 8.99 per pound, that would make Nemo worth about $36.  We were not  buying a $36 lobster to put in a fish tank that we don't have so he could have a pet.  I tried to convince him that kitten's make much better pets than lobsters and he had a new kitten at home.  He wasn't convinced and proceeded to have a minor melt down on the way to the meat department.

In the meat department, Danny was fascinated by the hamburger.  I was looking over the chicken the next cooler over and when I went back to the meat, I notice that several of the packages had little fingerprints poked through the plastic into the meat.  Good thing they were having a special on ground chuck because we now have a whole freezer full of it.

After we got our meat, we finished up with the last few items that I needed to buy.  We had a spill buying pickles and had to call for a clean-up on aisle 11.  Joey tried to "help"me and dropped a jar of sweet gherkins as he was slam dunking it into my cart.  He told me after that he thought that it was plastic.  Ummm... No...

We wisely passed by the eggs even though I really should have bought some and went into dairy.  I noticed that Danny was acting sneakingly suspicious and then I noticed that he had opened a small container of chocolate milk.  "I was firsty" he told me.  So I told that it was not okay and I needed to have the carton.  He grudgingly handed it to me and then got upset as I tried to squeeze his pudgy legs into the front of the shopping cart.  He really is too big for the seat, but I had no other alternative at this point.

We finished our shopping expedition and checked out, had a minor meltdown in the car on the way home because they couldn't have the cookies that they begged me to buy after getting the free deli cookies.

I hope that after reading this you don't think that my kids are poorly behaved because we have had several shopping trips with absolutely no incidences where they've been angels.  They were just tired, I timed the trip poorly and I pushed my luck by trying to do a full shopping trip when I should have just run in for juice and milk.

Thank goodness my cousin Kelsie was at the house when I returned home and helped me get the kids in the house and the groceries put away.  She stayed with Joey while I took Danny to his appointment.  Kelsie is the bomb!!

Today ended well.  Kids were in bed by 7:30, asleep by 8:00 and I am chillaxing and about to watch a movie.

Life is good.