Why do I torture myself?

(so I know I don't have an oriental little girl, but this picture was the best! LOL!)

I try to be a good mom. I try to do fun things with them. Sure there are days where there is just nothing going on and we end up just playing around the house or in the garage. But then there are days like today...I wake up thinking "I have a few places to go, it would be fun to bring the girls and get them out of the house today." WRONG-OOOO!

The outing was a success -meaning I got everything I needed done.period.

Was it a fun outing? Was it smooth sailing? Was is like how I imagined it would be.......me, dressed up and accessorized for the day, the girls in cute outfits and hair pretties, my hair flowing in the breeze, bounding joyfully from store to store checking off my perfect boxes on my perfectly outlined "things to do" list.........EEERRRRRRR!!!! PUT THE BRAKES ON!!! Because it was SOOO not like that.

We started off at the mall, it's was time to clean the jewels, we were there no more than 3 minutes and the meltdowns began. Claire pooped and for some strange reason, the diaper bag was missing a key componant to a diaper change - the wipes! I felt frazzled and unprepared wondering how am I going to change a poopy without wipes and I am not driving 15 minutes home to get them! So I leave the jeweler and walk to the OPPOSITE end of the mall to find a family size restroom so that all of us and the double stroller will fit in. Evelyn needs to use the potty - great, help yourself - and I begin changing Claire with watery/soapy paper towels! Sorry Claire!

After the bathroom trip, we make the long haul back to the jewelry store only to pick up where we left off with our meltdowns. Thanks to my friend Meg who came along for our adventure today, the girls were somewhat entertained with cheerios and gold fish while we all waited patiently to finish things up at the very busy jewelry place! Then it was off to Michaels.

I am so excited to say that I am crafting with girlfriends tonight and I was super excited to pick out my stuff that I was going to make (I will post my craft a bit later when it's complete). So into Michaels we go and into the cart goes Claire. Well, she didn't like that very much and she fussed and fussed until I finally let her down -which was immediately regretted! She took off down an isle and darted to the front of the store- the child is a speed demon and she was out the automatic doors in a heart beat!!! I grabbed her and went back to Meg who was watching Evelyn while I chased Claire through and OUT the store.

Finally I am happy with what I have chosen for my craft and we are ready to check out and leave! Then it starts with Evelyn - a temper tantrom because she is not ready to leave and she wants to play hide-n-seek with Megan in the store! She gets put in timeout in the store on the floor - yes I picked an isle and we sat there until she was done. I just wanted to leave, but I was so close to just paying for the stuff that I didn't want to leave and then have to come back again!! GRRRR! So we fought it out in line and Meg took the girls outside while I finished paying.

Finally out of that store and there's one more stop to make - Target. My girls LOVE target so surely they will calm down in here. All I needed was diapers, so Meg said she had the girls and told me to just run and get the diapers. So I speed race to the BABY section and there's no diapers!! CURSES! Now, the reason I am confused and out of place is because this was a Target I have never been in and it's one of those Targets that has the diapers/wipes/bath section at the front of the store SEPARATE from the baby section - don't ask me why! So I take a deep breath after a LONG irritated sigh and I book it to the opposite side of the store desperately looking for diapers and praying that the child I just heard scream from the other end of the store is not mine!!

I find the diapers - now, where's Megan and the girls?! Ha ha!

Now I go looking for my friend and my daughters in a store I am unfamiliar with. EUREKA! I found them - it wasn't that hard - and then we go to check out.

We make it back to our cars and give our hugs and say our goodbyes to Meg (THANK YOU MEGAN IT REALLY WAS FUN!) and then we headed home.

Really? Did I just take my kids to THREE stores all in a row? I was exhausted the girls were exhausted and as I was finally sitting in the car ready to pull out, I look down to my right and guess what I see? The wipes case...right there on the floor in the car. Not that having the wipes would have made this outing any easier, but I just had to laugh as I remembered Claire's soapy, naked little bum getting cleaned and patted down with stiff paper towels. LOL!

The good news - we all survived and now I remember why I wait until the husband gets home to run my errands - without 2 kids in tow!