What Were We THINKING?

Everyone went down for a late nap today causing them to sleep later into the afternoon than usual. We didn't unearth Joey from his crib until 5, and the girls got up sometime around 5:30. I thouroughly enjoyed all of that time to myself, but as the clock ticked away, so did the idea that the kids would be in bed early enough for me to watch Octomom at 8. So we needed something to fill the time between dinner and bed...

After everyone was fed and changed Ron and I decided that we'd take a family trip to Borders. Getting in the car at 7pm with three young children who are normally in bed at that hour was our first mistake. Not putting Joey in a stroller while at Borders was our second mistake. Not stocking up my bag with a single package of animal crackers, gummies, or even a lolipop was our third mistake. Get the picture??? Joey ran through the store faster than we could keep up with him. He touched everything, he yelled everytime we came near him, he was like an animal that had spent a lifetime in captivity out of his cage for the first time.

We should have left. I know that. But somehow I've gotten to the point where I'm not all that embarrassed when my husband and I make complete idiots of ourselves as our children cause an obnoxious scene in a public setting. So I stayed the course. I was determined to not leave the store with what we went in for so I made all 5 of us (and many strangers) suffer through the madness. But let's not put all the blame on poor little Joey. None of my kids wanted to be shopping in a bookstore at 7 o'clock at night. After finding the book that I wanted to buy, I finally grabbed hold of Joey, propped him up on my hip, pushed the stroller through the checkout line, sent Ron and Olivia back to the car, and made my purchase. I even remembered to use my coupon! HURRAH!

Once everyone was back in their respective carseats and the minivan turned out of the parking lot Ron said, "We are either really stupid, or really brave." I replied, "I'm thinking a little of both."