One More I'll Never

I forgot to add this one to my I'll Never post.

"I'll NEVER drive a mini-van!"

I always said I would be an SUV mom not a mini-van mom. This weekend we bought a sweet Grand Caravan from the Davis's and it is a sweet ride. I can't wait to start piling the kids in. We drove down to Brian Head yesterday to pick it up from them which was a treat in itself since we got to hang out for a little while. The only downfall was driving home in the snow - it has been nice here for a month and the one day we had to drive somewhere was the only day with bad weather. The kids are so excited about "their" new car and we even made them promise to keep it clean and not leave sippy cups and food in the car. We'll see how long that lasts!!! This car is heaven sent and will only get better this summer when we have 4 kids in car seats. Thanks John and Brooke!

Flashback Friday

Since Todd is in NYC I thought I would flashback to my New York days today. Back in 1992 I was a flight attendant for TWA. After 5 weeks of training in St. Louis I was stationed in New York. Finding an apartment in NYC was a beast and very expensive so myself and 5 other flight attendants all got a room at the Best Western in Queens. We didn't spend a lot of time there since we were always out on flights. My first flight was to Berlin. After living in New York for a year I moved home to St. Louis and did the rest of my flying from there (6 more months) before I came back to BYU. My parents weren't happy when I quit to go back and get a degree they really liked the free flights.


Me, Rebbecca, and Tami
This was during training. We had to practice going down the slides and climbing out the windows so we had to wear these jumpsuits over our business clothes.


Tami, David, Rebbecca and I
This was at our graduation when were officially flight attendants.


Tami and I
We only worked together twice and this was an empty flight so after serving meals and drinks we were goofing off in the lavatory for some reason.


This was during a meal service on an L-1011 calling down to the lower galley.

All the Small Things

It's that time again.....here are a few things that made me smile this week.

Driving with the windows down. I love this time of the year when I can unroll my windows and enjoy the warm spring weather.

Daffodils. In my old house (my parent's current house) I planted over 100 bulbs and this week when we went over there a lot of the daffodils are up and bloomed. I love spring flowers and can't wait for the Tulips to come up too.

Easter Sunday. Celebrating the Resurrection of Christ is most definitely something to smile about. I love that my kids are aware of the true meaning of the holiday even though they don't grasp the full meaning yet I love hearing them talk about Christ and the tomb and that after 3 days he came back to life so that we can too. So sweet.

Easter Eggs. My kids each got their own dozen eggs to dye. We had a blast dying eggs and then hiding them and finding them and now they like eating them.

Soccer. Tayson started soccer this past week and in his second game he scored the only goal! Go Tayson. I even went and got him some cleats for his next game. I love how happy he is running around on the field and how proud he was of himself for scoring a goal.

Lunch with my sisters. I went to lunch with Heidi and Jeannie this week and it was fun to eat and chat. If only Sherry was here too!

Text Messages from Todd. I love how easy it is to send a quick "Hi" or "I love you" and it was even better when I would get a random picture sent to me just to tell me what Todd was up to.

Dinner and Shopping with Todd. Thanks to our awesome live-in babysitter Timmy we get to go on a date just about every weekend. This weekend Todd and I went to dinner then just over to the mall to shop and get him a few things for his trip. It is one of my favorite dates because we just talk and have fun together.

A Clean House. The cleaners came this week and I LOVE coming home to a clean house. It is one of the best things I've done for myself this year. I know I am spoiled by not having to scrub the bathrooms and floors, and I am so grateful for it. I really love the extra time it gives me to spend with the kids too - instead of spending every Saturday cleaning my house I try hard to use that extra time for family time.

George Visiting. George and his kids came here for spring break and it is so fun to have them here. We don't get to see them nearly enough and they are so much fun. Carly and Claire are so dang cute together.

Only at BYU

This video cracked me up.

http://www.deseretnews.com/photo/sslides/detail/1,5498,69,00.html?linkTrack=rotator:cvr&promoID=1875

Todd in NYC

Todd is in New York with his mom, grandma and sister Amy this whole week. We miss him terribly and every morning the kids ask me how many more days until daddy gets home. I guess I should have made some rings for them.

I don't mind Todd being on a trip without me - he has gone on a few before as have I and I LOVE my girl trips. But before I never wanted to be where he was - fishing in Alaska or hiking in Philmont for 2 weeks. No thanks! But New York....I am so jealous! All throughout the day I will get pictures in my email from his phone of what he's doing. I've received pictures of his yummy NY Pizza, The Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Empire State Building, Waiting in line to go see Hair Spray and lots of stores he went to. I'm sure there will be lots more to come the rest of the week.

We hope you're having fun Todd and we miss you and can't wait for you to get home!

I'll Never!

How many times have I said this and then had to eat my words? Way too many. Each year I get a little better at not saying this and not thinking this and realizing I might just end up doing something that I don't want to do at the time. Here are some examples of things I swore I would NEVER do.

Date or Marry someone younger than me. Then I ended up with Todd who is almost 4 years younger than me. He is definitely the best "I never" in my life.

Live in Utah, especially Provo.When I came out to BYU I was one of those girls who said I would never live here and definitely not raise my family here. I'm eating those words by choice. I love where I live and I love the friends my kids and I have here.

Send my kids to the hospital nursery when they are born. I didn't send Tayson and he was a difficult baby so we got NO sleep. I sent Luke and Claire so I could sleep and it was fabulous. This one is heading for the nursery the first night too.

Let my kids go to the store in a costume. I saw a kid at the grocery store in his spiderman outfit the other day and it put a huge smile on my face because I know this is something I have sworn to never do before and now that my kids are older I wouldn't stop them if it was going to cause a fight. So far I haven't faced this yet, but I don't care anymore. I guess Tayson's big rubber boots are worse than a spiderman outfit in public.

Buy my kids candy at the checkout to keep them quiet. What kind of a mom would be if I gave into them with candy when they were being bad? The kind of my mom I am at the grocery store. I am too tired to fight with them by that point so if it will shut them up for 5 minutes while I get the cart loaded, paid for and into the car I'm all about candy.

There are so many more that I have said and done. It's so funny to me to look back and realize the things that are and aren't important in the long run. I'm sure all of you have some great I never's too.

Happy Easter

We had a great Easter yesterday. The weather was beautiful and the kids loved dying their eggs and then hiding and finding them over and over again. The Easter bunny brought the kids a little bit of candy and new books about Christ as well as some new quiet activities for church. We found some great little puzzles of Christ for Luke to do during church. That kid loves puzzles. Claire found a bright blue egg and kept it with her the rest of the day. She kept sucking on it and it turned her tongue and mouth blue (but she wouldn't cooperate for a good picture).

Flashback Friday

The first installment of flashback Friday's is here. This is going to be harder than I thought...there are so many pictures and so many memories to relive and document. I've lived a fun filled life.

A big part of my childhood was dancing. I started dance when I was 3 or 4 years old (my mom can't remember exactly. I'm the 4th child details are all gone at this point). I danced until I was 20 years old and taught dance at "Anne for Dance" from the time I was 15 years old in order to pay for costumes and competitions. All through High School I danced 5 days a week - every night except Friday and on Saturday mornings. My favorite's were jazz, tap, kick line and lyrical but I also did ballet and pointe. Some of my most memorable times dancing were when I was 15 and we danced on the Sammy Davis Jr telethon in St. Louis (I even met him) and when we went to a nationals competition in Myrtle Beach (my senior year). I loved dancing and now I can't wait to put Claire in dance lessons. Here are some fun pictures of a few different dance events.


Getting ready for my very first recital. We did a number to "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" from the Wizard of Oz.


This is right after my performance


This was in 1985 - notice the sweet feathered front and long back in my hair (trust me it was cool in Missouri back then). Another sure sign of the 80's in this photo if you look very closely half way up my right calf you can see I have a sweet anklet underneath my tights


This was the height of my dance career. In 1990 at the end of my senior year I competed and won a Tremaine Dance Scholarship (just to one of his Conventions not college or anything important). It was such a great feeling and a month after this I left for Paris for 4 months and only danced on and off for the next 3 years before I stopped completely, unless you count dance clubs during college
Isn't my mom so cute in this picture.

All the Small Things

I've decided to change this weekly post to Thursdays...because earlier this week I was blog surfing and ended up on someones site I've never met and she had "Flashback Friday's" and I love the idea so I'm going to start doing that on Fridays. I figure it's a great way to force me to start scanning in old pictures and documenting past experiences. So get ready for that one tomorrow....but for now I will do my list of 10 things that made my smile this week.

1. Crocs: I love that my kids all wear crocs. I can't bend over to put their shoes on very easily so the fact that they can put them on all alone is fabulous. Plus when they get dirty outside I just throw them in the sink and wash them off...good as new! They are the best shoes for kids.

2. Spring: Today is officially the first day of spring. Yippee! I love the warm weather and even the spring showers. I love that my kids can play outside and I can't wait for the flowers.

3. My Kids Prayers: I love listening to the kids pray. It makes me smile to hear the things they pray for. Tayson puts a lot of thought into his prayers so they are the funniest, he will pray for things like "please help Luke to eat all his dinner" or "bless Mark on his mission to be gooder and gooder everyday". Luke prays for things like "bless that no crabs will get us" and he never forgets the Bishop, Pres. Monson or Mark.

4. Luke's Voice: I love his sweet voice. He loves to read to Claire when she's on the potty. He can't really read yet, but he has several books memorized and I love listening to him. I also adore when he says "I love you all the way to the stars, heaven, China, the bottom of the ocean and back mama" it melts my heart. Plus he still can't say his "r" sound so his words are classic like "Clay instead of Claire".

5. Guitar Hero: We got a second guitar this week and it is so much fun playing co-op or battling each other.

6. Girl Scout Cookies: Not something I should buy in my state. But we fell prey to the girls outside the grocery store. They are definitely something that will make anyone smile (except my mom of course).

7. Pay Day: It's not actually until tomorrow...but it is something that will make me smile this week.

8. Green Jello: Chelsea (my nanny) threw a St. Patrick's Day party on Monday for the kids and invited some of the neighbors over. Tayson and Luke had so much fun and there are still green balloons laying around the house. Tayson keeps asking when the next St. Patrick's Day is. It makes me so happy to see how much she loves my kids and how much they love her.

9. Sticky Kisses: The boys love to wipe off their kisses and even though I don't wipe off the kisses they give me they came up with "sticky kisses". They will kiss us really hard and for a long time and then it is sticky and can't be wiped off. I love getting them. Last night Todd was at his volleyball and basketball games so he wasn't home when the kids went to bed so Tayson put a sticky kiss on my hand and told me to give it to daddy when he got home. It was so sweet.

10. Feeling the baby kick: I love feeling the baby kick me. It isn't so uncomfortable that I can't sleep. It's fun to feel the little person growing inside me.

Look at the Bright Side

My last boss used to tease me and call me Pollyanna because I can be overly optimistic. But this past week I was thinking about a few things in my life and how I could easily dwell on the negative side or focus on the positive side. I'm choosing to look at the bright side.

Claire hasn't cried once when going #2 in the last 2 weeks. This is a huge improvement for her and I am so excited. She has had problems since last October. The downside of this one is that now she is back to square 1 with potty training, but I would much rather focus on her being healthy and happy. She still loves to sit on the potty and read books she just rarely goes any more.

The other one I was thinking about is pregnancy. The part of pregnancy I hate the most is that I put on the pounds (I'm rarely in the recommended 25-35 lbs range) I gained 50 with Tayson!!! UGH. But I am so lucky that I never get sick I don't throw up and I don't have food aversions...which is why I put on the pounds. But when I see my friends sick it makes me so grateful that I don't get sick and I try to remember that every time I get on the scale at the doctor's office.

New Shoes

I have been struggling with flats for a while now but I have decided that this is the time for me to embrace the fashion. Flats are perfect for a prego with a bad back. So I was shopping online the other day and decided to throw these in the cart (it's just so easy when you're online to add something to the cart). I got my fun new shoes yesterday so put together an outfit around my shoes (I love putting together outfits for a pair of shoes or necklace). These are the most uncomfortable shoes I own. Notice the elastic at the heels - Ouch. They are digging into my heels so bad and I have actually stooped to putting some folded up toilet paper between my heels and the shoes so I can make it through work. I'm not giving up on flats though. I am planning on breaking in these shoes by wearing them around the house with some thick socks.

What's For Dinner Tonight?

A little over a year ago my sister Heidi invited me to a party at Dream Dinners so my other sister Jeannie and I signed up for a month's worth of freezer meals. Let me just say I haven't missed a month since last February. It has made my life so much easier. Since then my sister Jeannie and her friend bought the Dream Dinners I go to and it is even better for me now. For those of you in the Provo/Orem area we are having a party tomorrow night at the store at 7:30. Don't be offended if I failed to get you an actual invitation....not one of my greatest strengths. I had great intentions!!! Just leave a comment or call me if you want to come tomorrow. It really is awesome and you get to make a free meal just for coming.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I'm wearing green and I hope all of you are too or you deserve a pinch on the bum bum as my kids would say. Tayson wanted to wear as much green as possible so he put on his Incredible Hulk underwear, his camo pants and his awesome green Yoda shirt with his green bombers jacket. No pinches for him today. Everyone in the family is wearing green except Todd (party pooper!) I'm sure the kids will give his bum bum lots of pinches after work today.

I have 2 funny stories from this weekend I thought I would add to this post.

1. We have been trying hard to get the kids to be reverent in Sacrament meeting, which is not easy. Especially with Tayson - we won't let him play, color, eat or read during the bread and water. So yesterday during church he put his "quiet" pictures down and leans over to me and says "I am just going to think about Jesus" I was shocked and so happy that finally I was an amazing mom...look at my kid! It lasted for all of 2 minutes then he said "OK I'm done". Which just made me smile. Then he said "You want to know what I was thinking about?" so I whispered "sure" and he told me he was thinking about Jesus when he was on the cross and died for us. It was the sweetest thing and it was a great moment to be a mom.

2. On Saturday some of our neighbors brought their bunny out for the kids to play with so my other neighbor Lucy came over to get my kids to enjoy the bunny too. So Tayson, Luke and Claire all went outside to see the bunny. Claire was especially excited. Shadow of course always goes outside with the kids (thank goodness all my neighbors have big dogs and none of the kids are scared of him). I was watching to make sure Claire was ok and the next thing I know Shadow has his face in the cardboard box the bunny was in and the bunny is doing this high pitched squeal. So I start yelling at him while I mustered up all my speed (which isn't much even when I'm not prego...I'm more of an endurance person than sprinter) and I go running across the yard to the neighbors house to get Shadow while he chases and nips at the poor bunny in front of all the kids. I finally get over there and tell him to go inside which he ignores since I'm not alpha to him. Thank goodness all my yelling at the dog got Todd out there so fast so he could call Shadow. Luckily the bunny was fine and just very agitated by the whole thing. Which meant none of the kids got to hold or play with it. The worst part was that all the kids were yelling "stupid dog" since apparently that's what I was yelling. And then Tayson kept telling me that "stupid" is a bad word and I shouldn't say it. I felt so bad. The best part was that Lucy told Todd and I that we should see if we could take our "stupid dog back to the pet store" it was so funny.

All the Small Things

I've decided that every Friday I'm going to do a post on ten things that made me happy during the week. This is my version of counting all my blessings and then on days when I'm seeing the world as a hard place instead of a happy place I can read these posts and remember how many things I have to be happy about.

My Parents: This week Chelsea (my nanny) is on vacation so my mom is watching my kids. Everyday I have come home to wonderful surprises like having all my wash done, my garage cleaned out and swept, all the dishes done, a clean house and very happy kids. I don't know how my mom has all the energy but she is so good to me. And my dad has been running carpools and errands all week to help out too. What a blessing to have such great parents and living so close is an added blessing.

Spring: The weather this week has been great. No snow and most of the days were sunny and warm enough for my kids to play outside.

Red Shoes: I wore my fun red shoes this week and I just love them. Everyone should have a pair of red shoes to spice up any outfit.

Kelly: My 16 year old nephew moved in with us this week for a few months. And it has been so fun to have him around playing with the kids and I love having another built in babysitter. I am so lucky that I have 2 free babysitters who my kids love.

Bikes and Rain: One morning this week my dad came over to the house to bring my mom something and he rode his bike. He saw that it was getting ready to rain so he wanted to beat the rain. Watching him ride away as fast as he could reminded me of when I was a kid and would try to out bike storms in Missouri. I smiled all day every time I thought about it.

Blogging: I love keeping up on my friends lives and I love having somewhere to write down my thoughts on a regular basis.

My Heating Pad: Everyday this week I have relaxed on my bed with my heating pad and a good book and it makes my back feel so much better at the end of the day. Hopefully I can make it 17 more weeks without my back going out!!!

Sleep: This week has been a great week for sleeping. The kids are healthy and happy and have been sleeping great which means I get to sleep great and that makes me happy!

My Calling: I have the best calling in the church - I am a Relief Society teacher and I teach the 2nd week of every month. I love the lessons and I have grown so much over the last year in my calling. I've also loved that my calling has helped me develop relationships with so many great women in my ward.

My Pink Fuzzy Bathrobe: It is just so comfy I love it.

Flamingo Fobia

I just got an email from my friend Darin about his new album. Darin was at BYU with me and he was the lead singer of SOFA. Good thing I already put him on my celebrity post. Check out his music!

Equality in Parenting

This morning was a HUGE morning for us. Luke woke up dry so I hurried and put him on the potty - we sat there for a full 10 minutes and nothing. So I let him get off for a few minutes and had to go in the other room for a few minutes so he wouldn't see how upset and disappointed I was in myself for not being able to potty train him. Then I stuck him back on the potty with a full glass of his favorite drink (strawberry milk) and told him he had to drink the whole thing before he could get off. He wouldn't even sip it (I'm sure because his bladder was way too full) finally he let go and went and trust me he went and went and went. I've never seen a kid with such a big bladder! Then I got Claire up and she sat on the potty and went too. What a great morning. The funny part however is the reactions to their successes. They both got "special" stickers on their potty charts and I told them how proud I was of them. Then Luke got to pick any toy he wanted and I just kept telling him how proud I was of him. My mom was over since she is watching the kids this week and just laughed at how much more praise Luke was getting than Claire and she said "isn't it hard to have equality in parenting?" It made me laugh and think about the truth of it and how many times when I was little I would tell my parents "that's not fair...so-in-so got to do this and I don't." We live and we learn.

All in a days work

Most days being a mom who works outside of the home isn't too bad. My job is very relaxed most of the time so I can take off if I need to for the kids doctor's appointments or anything that comes up and I live really close to work. But I have to complain just a little today (we all deserve it every once in a while). This morning came way too early thanks to day light savings time and on my way to teach my spin class the clock in my car said 4:32 am - UGH! I quickly changed that at a light so I wouldn't have to think about it. I got home around 7 and after my nice hot shower really just wanted to climb back in bed for 30 minutes until it was time to get Tayson off to school. But there was way too much to do. So I went around the house and gathered up all the sippy cups and got everything in the dishwasher, folded and put away 4 loads of laundry (my fault for not finishing the job on Saturday), changed 2 poopie diapers, got the kids dressed, pulled out a dinner to thaw, and somehow managed to get myself ready and dressed to get to work as close to 9 as possible (I actually made it here at about 9:07 am). Thanks to Todd I didn't have get Tayson breakfast or get him dressed and ready for school. Lucky for me it's a slow day with no meetings today so I can spend the rest of my day relaxing while working on the computer instead of chasing the kids around. :)

A great week

The sun is shining and it's a beautiful day...no I am not going to take my kids for a walk. I have had a great workout week, back to 5 days - thanks to having Traci back among the living and some great advice about taking iron (which I started last week and it has made a world of difference). I bought a hot new pair of maternity jeans so I can have skinny days again. The kids are healthy and sleeping all night long and life is GREAT! Sometimes it's just all the small things that make the good in life outweigh the bad.

Funny quote from Tayson this week: "You gotta big bum and you weigh a ton." He said this to me when I got on his case about using too much toilet paper when wiping and he said that's how much you use mom. So I told him I have a bigger bum. I learned my lesson with that comment - give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile!

The Boots

For some reason snow boots are only on sale in Utah until the end of October. During January and February when we were hit with snow 5 out of 7 days a week every store had swimsuits but NO snow boots. Anyways, my brother Steve was taking his boys sledding so he invited Tayson and Luke to go along with them. Of course my boys had no snow boots since I didn't prepare last fall for the heavy winter we had. Todd and I were both at work so my parents ran them to Wal-Mart to get them boots. No snow boots...but there were some sweet rubber galoshes. Luke's fit him great, but the next size up from Luke's were size 5 adult which my mom bought for Tayson so he would at least have something. This would have been fine if they were only used for sledding. However, they have turned into their favorite shoes and I had to force Tayson into different shoes every morning before school. His boots are hilarious and he can barely walk in them, but he wears them every chance he gets. He LOVES his boots. Yesterday they both wanted to go outside to play since it was sunny and not too cold (high 30's) so they put on their boots. We had them pose for a quick photo op when they came in from playing. Yep, Luke is wearing basketball shorts with his boots and Tayson's really do go up to his knees. The second Luke took his off Claire put them on and then stood in the same spot ready for her picture too.

Technology

It amazes me how much technology is in my kids lives. We have a lot of gadgets in our home because of Todd. I love this picture of Claire. We were trying to get ready for church and she wanted lots of attention, so being the great parents we are Todd gave her his iPhone and she watched a movie sitting on the bed while we finished getting ready. If we are out at a restaurant or anywhere the kids are bored we hand them our cellphones and they play games or watch movies - it's fabulous. The kids can get around on our home computer so well it amazes me and right before we left on our cruise I told Tayson I would take lots of pictures for him while we were gone and he said "are you going to put them on the Internet for us?" It is just so funny to me how different life is for them than it was for me growing up. We couldn't even get my dad to put a radio in the car when I was little so on our long family road trips all we could do was sit on the floor (not in seat belts or car seats of course) and play games like slapping each others wrists. Oh the good old days.

It's Potty Time

Mornings are usually a little hectic for me. I got home from the gym this morning at about 7:15 and the boys were already awake and downstairs playing so I had time to jump in the shower and try to start getting ready. Right after my shower I heard Claire talking in her room so I went to get her out of her crib. She wanted to get dressed right away rather than kick it in her jammies like most mornings. Then she just hung around me while I tried to put on makeup. In no time it was 7:45 and time to get Tayson dressed, fed and off to school. On his way up he banged his knee on the door frame which caused him to be completely incapable of walking - he's so dramatic. I of course can't carry him up the stairs without killing my back so I woke up Todd to have him carry Tayson upstairs (it just wasn't worth fighting with Tayson). When Todd went downstairs Tayson was feeling well enough to run around playing with Luke so he ended up having to walk upstairs all on his own. :) He was really good this morning and ate 2 bowls of cereal and got dressed fast so we had a few minutes before he had to walk to the bus stop so he yells "it's potty time!" Tayson got Luke and Claire and headed back into the bathroom where I was still trying to finish getting ready. We got Luke on the big potty, Claire on her potty seat and Tayson grabbed his Diego folding chair and Todd's guitar and started playing a "potty song" for them and singing to them. It was so hilarious to me.

Tayson loves potty time and is always encouraging Luke and Claire to go sit on the potty so he can do the robot dance, sing them a song, read them a book or just be silly for them. Of course it gets pretty crowded in the bathroom when the whole family has to be in there. I love Tayson's enthusiasm with potty training. If only Luke and Claire would go potty!!!

Wal-Mart

So I am not one to shop at Wal-Mart - it's too stressful for me. The aisles are too small and there are too many people. I have been hit by people's carts one to many times so I avoid it as much as I can. Last Saturday I was on the go all day trying to get a few things done (like going to breakfast with the girls and buying some new maternity clothes) but I absolutely had to go to the store before my big fun date with Todd that night (we went to see "The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee Contest" - so fun!). I was completely out of trash bags and diapers...so no waiting until Monday.

So I thought since Todd was home with the kids all morning while I did fun stuff I should let him go play volleyball in the afternoon. So I took all 3 kids to Wal-Mart for a "quick" trip. Yea right. First we got there I get all the kids out of their car seats and through the parking lot only to find no shopping carts. So we all head back out into the parking lot. Since I only have 2 hands and 3 kids it can get a little crazy in a parking lot and one option for the boys is to hold my back pocket so I know they are close and where they are. This is Luke's favorite way to walk in a parking lot and while we went to get our cart he kept pulling on my pants until I swear they almost fell down! So we got our cart which only sat 2 and was so big it was hard to steer and headed into the store. Because it only had 2 seats Tayson just stood next to Luke's seat and they were so close there was no way to keep them from constantly touching each other.

We made it through the food section with only a few extra items that I would normally not buy thanks to Tayson being my "runner" and loading up the cart. On our way past the diapers and over to the toys I was telling Luke to stop touching Claire and she was yelling at him when I ran into an old friend who I haven't seen in over a year. Just how you want your friends to see you....3 kids out of control! She has 5 of her own kids (lucky for her they were at home) so she just laughed with me at the insanity. We had to get lots of toys for the boys for their book and potty charts (yep, I am all about bribery), and the kids were amazingly good during the toy shopping part of our trip. Then we headed to the checkout and I ran into my sister (good thing I showered and wasn't wearing pajama bottoms since I always run into people at Wal-Mart). I let the kids each buy a treat at the checkout so we made it through without any huge meltdowns. Then when we walked outside some huge wind and rain storm hit and we got soaked and almost blown away in the parking lot. I am so the mom I swore I would never be before I had kids....I just sat there while they fought in the shopping cart then I even bought them treats to keep them quite! Oh well we got our diapers and trash bags. I swear I am never going anywhere near Wal-Mart again on a Saturday, especially with all my kids!!!