One of Those Days

Today has been one of those days. I know that you all have had them and know exactly what I'm talking about. You know, the kind where nothing, and I mean nothing seems to go right. It all started with our morning swim lessons. We were greeted by strong winds at the pool which made for crazy hair and freezing children exiting the water. Nobody was happy about that. With wind whipping my hair I tried to warm the two older kids just as Will decided that he wanted to go swimming. He proceeded to sit down on the wet concrete, with his clothes on mind you, and tried scooting into the pool. Thank goodness I caught him in time, but that meant I had to drop the towel I was trying to cover Mae with. Oh, we were not happy campers.

Then I had the bright idea that we would go to Target. My friend Carrie said she wanted to go too. So we thought we would leave after I got the kids changed. No problem, right? Wrong! When we got home I instructed the children to go upstairs change out of their wet bathing suits and into dry clothes and then bring their wet "stuff" down to the laundry room. As I packed a few essentials in the diaper bag, Mae came down naked with a purple shirt and purple non-matching shorts. So, I took her back upstairs and pulled out a very nice appropriate dress. She had a fit! "No, I don't want to wear that!" she cried. After convincing her of how pretty she looked and reminding her that her cousins loved to wear dresses she relented. Then came the hair brushing. You would have thought I was scalping them both. Finally, after the biggest to do in the world we were out the door and in the car on our way to Target.

When we arrived at Target they were so excited. We were going to have lunch in the little cafe in the store. When we walked in they started running this way and that. Then they climbed on the bar stools and said, "We're going to sit here, Mama. Is that OK, Mama. We like these chairs, Mama." They must have thought I was at the back of the store because they were screaming this as loud as they could. After finally figuring out what everyone wanted to eat and drink I had to change the order because someone wanted an icee instead of a coke. The girl behind the counter gave me the cups to fix the drinks while she prepared the food. I started getting the drinks fending off Will's little hands trying to grab every drink I filled. Finally everyone (except Me) had their drinks. I sat Will at a table and then went to get the food. I gave Mae and Will their hot dogs and John Russel his chicken nuggets. Then I turned to get ketchup and I heard a scream. I turned to see Mae's purple icee covering the floor and one of her legs. I wanted to cry. After cleaning her up as best I could and moving them to my table we started to eat. Mae kept looking at me like, "How could you have done this to me?"

It was now time to shop. With chicken salad stuck in my throat I cleaned the table. We then proceeded to the dollar section. The kids asked for every little thing. "Mama, I really need this American flag hat!" Now, I can't blame them. Target has a way of making you think you really need all this stuff. I have the same problem. We were able to escape this section of the store with a pack of three little American Flags. (Hey, we really will need these come July 4th)

We then made our way around the store to the toys. I decided to let Will down to play. I wanted to see what he might be interested in because his birthday is coming up. That's when I realized that I'd been running over my big toe with the cart. Ouch! I didn't notice at first, and it wasn't that it was a big deal. It just started hurting because I kept doing it over and over. I don't even know how or why it happened. Just chalk it up to going to Target with kids. As we looked at all the toys I thought, "Eww what's that smell?" Then I quickly realized that Will had pooped. My friend Carrie watched the two olders while I went to change Will. If only I could find the bathroom. I asked a lady in red and she directed me to the front. Well I went to the front but it was the wrong side of the store, so I walked to the other side carrying Will the entire time. (I didn't want to make a bigger mess!) Now, my back was killing me. Thank goodness the bathroom was nice and clean.

Will was changed and fresh and it was time to move on from the toys. This was amazingly done with ease, but them we entered the little gardening area with the kids gardening stuff. Oh my, it was like the dollar section all over again. I did, however, find some great Father's day gifts. So, after making our way around I remembered that I needed ice trays. Well, I couldn't find them anywhere in the kitchen stuff. After asking another lady in red she informed me that they were located on the other side of the store. Maybe another day I thought.

It was time to go. Everyone had had enough. We made it through the check out with only two incidents of asking for gum and three for hotwheels cars. Pretty impressive. The children must have been tired. We arrived at the car and the olders climbed in as I pushed the cart over to the little receptacle running over my toe one last time for good measure. I then put Will in the car. I think he actually fell asleep before I had his car seat buckled.

People tell me that I'll miss my children being little , and that I'll get bored when they are older. I know this will be true someday. Probably sooner than I would like, but please don't tell me that today.

Now, I think I'll go soak my big toe!