Yesterday was our very first trip out shopping with all of our children!! When I only had one child it was no big deal to pick up and go somewhere. At the time I felt like it was a major undertaking but in hind site it was a breeze. With each additional child it has become more and more difficult. Here is my checklist to leave the house:

1. I have to remember to pack a diaper bag for at least 3 small children.

*This means Diapers for Baby girl and Biggoo (this our pet name for BB), a sippy cup for Biggoo, change of clothes for Wee wee, Biggoo, and Baby girl. Refill wipes. Make sure there is a pacifier in bag.

2. Snacks for everyone and juice boxes for #1 Son and Wee wee.

3. Make sure there is a least one toy for each in the car

*if not search toy box, bedrooms and playroom for perfect toy to take along...then fight with #1 son about why he can not bring his baseball bat for a ride in the car.

4. listen to children fight over where each is going to sit. Even though their car seats are secured and not going to be moved.

5. load all four in the car, buckle seat belts and car seat restraints.

6. Listen to "are we there yet?" for the entire duration no matter how long or short a trip is.

7. Be asked a hundred times to either turn the music up or down or change the storybook tape etc...

8. Stop at least halfway to "Go potty"

9. Listen to my two older ones fight about everything...."he's looking at me" "he's spitting at me" (that one is usually a fabrication of her imagination) "she took my book" and it goes on and on.



If Daddy is with us then he joins the chorus as well. It is more shouting to stop fighting and don't kick the back of my seat and the ever popular just be quiet till we get there....(like that will EVER happen)

The whole time I am thinking this is crazy we should just stay home. Because this is just the car ride to get there.

So, yesterday we decided to go to the mall. We had a relatively easy ride for most of the way. So I can not complain because I know it could have been so much worse. We had a decent time a the mall until I decided to go into the Disney Store. I thought it would be nice to let the kids pick out a toy since we so rarely get to buy things from higher end stores. So I turned them loose in there and told them to pick something out. Wee wee did not have too much trouble she eventually decided on two little kitty cats from the movie Aristocats. #1Son However, had an extremely difficult time. He wanted a Power Rangers gun......we don;t let him watch Power Rangers so that was a big fat no. Then he wanted a set of squirt guns that had buzz light year on them...they were$20. I said no we can buy much cheaper squirt guns since they all always break anyway. He started to through the biggest fit in the store. I guess he forgot who his parents are!?!?!? I tried to convince him that if he could not find something that he really wanted (besides a gun) then we could go to a different store to get him something. No, he could not grasp that concept. Luckily for him when I got in line he found a water doodle pad with Buzz Light Year so that worked (especially since it was $7). But from then on through out the mall, my children behaved worse and worse. It is a good thing we only go to the mall 2-3 times a year!

So needless to say by the time we got home yesterday I was exhausted!! So today we are staying home.

OK I wrote all of this earlier....then the power went out!! So there went my plans...again! I planned on blogging while the kids ate breakfast then getting them dressed and outside so I could clean the house. I am not nearly as Brave as Lauren to post before and after pics.....too embarrassing......my mess is MUCH worse...lol. Anyway, the power went out and with no lights and no water (our well pump is electric) I did the only thing any sane mother would. I got them all dressed and went outside to play. Well, they played and I weeded the flower beds and raked the edges of the yard. It felt pretty good to be outside. We had a picnic lunch out on a blanket in the yard and Daddy surprised us and stopped by the house during his lunch break today!!! Now they are all down for a nap and I should be cleaning my house, but here I sit enjoying the quiet and feeding my Internet addiction. Oh what is a SAHM to do??? I know wishing is not going to get this house cleaned. I wish I were bestowed with the powers of a Genie. Then I could just blink away the messes. No such luck I am not even blessed with great organizational skills, hence the huge mess we live in. Oh how I miss the days before kids when I could clean once a week and never really have too much to pick up. But gone are those days!!! Oh well, I guess I better start doing instead of thinking. I am such a procrastinator!!