I Love My Children Very Much

But today I was reminded why I do not like to go shopping without them.

Jake and Rebecca needed new winter boots, Nate needed a new pair of gloves, and Max- well he just went along for the ride because he's a bit young to be left home alone.

It took three stores to find two pairs of acceptable winter boots. It's always been a challenge to find snow gear down here in the Virginia, but it was particularly difficult due to the recent winter snow event that resulted in the shelves being bare.

The first store was a complete bust boot wise, but I did score on some crazy cheap wrapping paper and Nate found some gloves he liked. He also found a dozen other things he wanted. Max wanted to go to the bathroom and then needed water. We then shuffled outside and headed to the next store which was conveniently located next door.

At the second store Rebecca found a pair she really, really liked. The store was down to one box and miracle of miracles it was her size. As she slid the boots on she declared them to be sooooo comfortable. Yay! One pair found, another to go. Meanwhile Nate found more stuff he wanted. I herded everbody outside and into the car and at some point Rebecca scraped her knee.

A short car ride across two parking lots we arrived at store three. Rebecca was issued a band-aid and we all went inside. After extensive searching we found the one pair of boots in Jake's size (9 wide for those keeping score) and he actually liked them. Then Nate wanted more shoes and Max was again dying of thirst. At this point I was mentally done with the whole thing and just wanted to get out. After I paid for the boots I literally said "Now that you have touched everything in the store it is time to leave."

So it may have been more efficient to take all four shopping, but I won't be doing that again for a long time.