Ok. I believe that whatever was left of my mind, which wasn't much, went to Las Vegas for the holidays and left me behind.
My husband is working today. The house needs to be cleaned. There are loads of laundry calling my name. But I am bored. So I decided to take the girls to McDonald's for a treat, and let them play at Playland. It's a beatiful day here and I didn't want to waste it doing housework. Some schedules are meant to be broken, know what I mean? Mom, if you are reading this, I really am not procrastinating. I just want some quality time with the girls, honest.
Well, two kids turned into 4. Two 10 year olds, a 6 year old and a 4 year old. I'm still not sure how that happened. It's all kind of a blur.
I took them all to McDonald's and, naturally, they all wanted something different, each order had to be specialized. "I want the Mighty Kid's Meal Double Cheeseburger, meat and cheese only." You get the picture.
After 27 minutes, the order was taken, and the food inhaled. One of the nice things about these Playlands is that you can send your children off to play (run, scream, and otherwise cause havoc), and you can then sit at your own table in peace while making sure they don't do any major damage...to others.
What amazes me is that the faces of all of the other adults there with their children looked the same. We all wore that "deer in the headlights expression." Who the heck am I and how did I get here?
After that we headed out to Walmart to do some more shopping. Hey, I told you I was stupid. Needless to say it was, um, interesting.
"Please don't stick your finger in his (fill in the blank), you know it bothers him. I told you I want you to stay where I can see you. No, I will not buy you a bean bag chair. I don't care if you have to go to the bathroom, you already went once this morning. Yes, I really love those earrings. No, you may not have a bean bag chair. Quit running down the aisles. You may knock someone down and I don't have the time or energy to explain why my children and their friends are behaving like heathen's to the manager. No, I will not buy you a bean bag chair. No, we are not done yet. Please do not tap on the fish tanks. Fish have issues to."
Oh, and the mother of all comments that had them all falling in line next to me, quiet like all children should be. "IF YOU ALL DON'T SETTLE DOWN AND BEHAVE I AM GOING TO KISS YOU, RIGHT HERE, IN FRONT OF EVERYONE AT WALMART!"
I'm going to to look for the missing socks now.
Comments
I, too ventured to Wal-mart. I took the four year old. It would have been better to take all 6 kids. She wanted everything!!
Posted by: Melonie at December 18, 2004 06:42 PM
Ahh the old 'public display of affection' threat NEVER fails. And it's particularly effective on boys!
Posted by: DaFFy at December 19, 2004 05:21 AM
Wow...we could be sisters! I decide to do stupid stuff like that with mine, but they are much, much younger and I have to say things like you have to sit in the cart or you will fall out, no you may not walk ... okay, you can walk but you have to hold hands which is then ALWAYS followed by GET BACK HERE as I try to chase said child around a large store and capture them again and then start from the beginning :)
Posted by: mrsrum at December 19, 2004 12:26 PM
it is so much fun having kids. we have 4 but they are all grown.
Posted by: mrhaney at December 20, 2004 01:52 AM