The Spectacle That I Am...

Yesterday...

The twins were at pre-school from 11:30am-3pm. Eden, who has been recovering from a nasty stomach virus, slept the entire time they were at school, thus I didn't get any of my errands run during my "window of opportunity" when I would only have one kid to take to the store with me. Hence, I saved my trip to Target for after school, when I had all four children in tow.

Upon our arrival at the shopping center, we passed the $1 section, whereupon three boys began begging for treats. Brock insisted that he was starving and he HAD to have the $1 box of animal crackers. I told him we could pick something up in the grocery section for everyone to share.

We headed to the cracker aisle and found generic teddy grahams for $1.50 and Scooby Snacks for $2.50. Brock and Brandon wanted the teddy grahams, and Austin wanted Scooby Snacks. I grabbed the teddies 'cause they were cheaper, and after all, majority rules, right? Austin melted down because he didn't get his Scooby Snacks.

Austin continued the tantrum while I searched frantically for plastic gift boxes for the muffins I was planning to bake for my kids' school teachers. I looked through all of the Christmas aisles...twice. I couldn't find what I was looking for. I looked through the plasticware section...twice. FINALLY I found what I wanted. By this point, I couldn't even remember what else I came to the store for, so I just grabbed the gift boxes and headed toward the register. Meanwhile, Austin is still melting down about the Scooby Snacks and Brock is scanning the bag of teddy grahams at every "price checker" station in the store....Yep. Still $1.50. The price hasn't changed since the last 24 price checkers we scanned it under.

We got to the front of the store and found only two registers open...and it's 14 days before Christmas. OF COURSE, there's a long line at both registers, and we ended up waiting next to an unused grocery belt, where Brock began giving his teddy grahams a "ride" over and over on the conveyer. Austin was still having a tantrum. He and Brock started fighting about something, and one of them ended up getting pushed onto the floor.

By the time my items were being scanned at the register, I was desperately trying to keep my composure in front of the cashier. "Hello. I'm fine. Yes, I found everything that I needed. Thank you." I couldn't allow the boys' fighting to go unchecked, so I left the register momentarily to grab two grocery carts by the store entry. I placed Brock in one and Austin in the other for a "time out". Brock thought this was a fun treat, and began thrusting his body back and forth to make the cart move across the floor. I was becoming increasingly aware of the crowds of people all around me, who I'm sure couldn't help but gawk at the spectacle we were making...and all for a stack of lousy Christmas tupperware!

Eventually, we managed to make it to the van and then I really let them have it...reprimanding and lecturing my children until I was red in the face. Only Brandon and Eden ended up having any of the teddy grahams.

When we got home, I mixed up the cinnamon muffin batter to bake for the kids' teachers and had the boys each start coloring a Christmas card to give with their gifts. I was looking forward to a nice evening home with my kids since the past several nights I have been busy with other commitments.

While the muffins were baking, I started fixing dinner...sweet and sour meatballs...something my kids actually like! At ten minutes to six, I got a call from Nancy, informing me that she wouldn't make it to the 6pm branch choir practice at the church that night. CRAP! I had completely forgotten about it...and I'm the accompanist!! The muffins still had 15 minutes to bake and the church is 20 minutes away. I panicked. My children still had empty tummies, no shoes or coats on, but I threw them all in the van, pulled the half-baked muffins out of the oven, threw the meatballs in the crock pot to keep warm and sped to the church. I got there 15 minutes late for choir practice.

Justin met me at the church and brought the kids back home to eat dinner. By the time I returned home that night, it was bedtime, the sad little muffins were still sitting on the counter with their middles sagging at the bottom of the pan, the Christmas cards were still half-colored on the table, and Brock hadn't even started on his homework. I decided it would be best to just bag it all, send the kids to bed, and look forward to a fresh start in the morning...