if you've ever wondered...

in case you ever wondered what it is like shopping with four little boys all just 7 years apart - let me paint you a picture.

first, it is just constant noise. from the time we all jump in the car - constant. noise. singing, talking to each other, talking to me, banging on the window, laughing, arguing with each other, playing the evil witch, me saying a bajillion times, "boys, stay with me" or "sorry, you can't have that today" or "don't hit your brother", ect. and it isn't all bad noise - it is just not quiet. like, at all.

second, it is constant motion. i don't know why my kids can't keep their hands to themselves. do other mothers have this problem? not only do they constantly touch each other and try out some spin moves in the middle of an aisle while someone is coming in the other lane, but, -usually bryce- can't help but touch everything on the shelves. there's also the jumping off and on to the cart, sliding underneath the cart for a ride, wrangling little nash trying to escape from the safety of the belt in the front of the cart, and so on.

and then from time to time things like this happen: i do most of my shopping at aldi's, an awesome discount grocery chain that requires that you "rent" your shopping cart for a quarter and bag your own groceries. i am totally cool with that beCAUSE the savings for our family usually exceeds $50 a week. how awesome is that? so i had a cart load of groceries and just as i was pulling into the bagging station, nash decided to throw a fit about staying in the front seat of the cart. the buckle was broken so there was no way for me to make him stay there and bag my groceries at the same time. and since i am not really into head trauma on a toddler who just won't sit still and might fall out of the cart, i just decided it would be better to strap him into his car seat and then bag my groceries at the back of my van. i heaved the loaded shopping cart to the door and threw my re-usable groceries bags right on top. holding a squirming nash, and three littles jumping and skipping at my side, we set out to make our way to the van.

but this day had below average temps and a whipping wind, so when we walked out my re-usable bags all flew across the parking lot. i tried to grab them but they flew out of range as quick as could be. my older two boys screamed as loud as they could and took off after them, arms flailing. i panicked because all i could think of was they were going to run out in front of a car but i couldn't get the words out in that few seconds so i just started yelling, too. the three of us sounded like this: "aaaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaHHHHHHHHHH". bryce started jumping up and down and laughing this weird high pitched laugh/scream. "AHHH ha AHHH ha ha ha AHHH" and nash, whom i was still holding, thought it was a funny game so he starts jumping up and down in my arms and just shrieked "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH" banshee style.

every single person in that parking lot turned to look at us and when they saw what was happening, those good samaritans came to our aid and chased down my kids who were chasing down all the bags. any prospect of a car hitting one of my kids came to a halt because the scene would have stopped the most oblivious driver to wonder what the heck was going on.

by the time all the bags were retrieved, i was cracking up nearly to tears. nash was still laughing and jumping and being all silly, and the boys were walking back to the van with all the bags, feeling triumphant. the nice patrons were laughing and shaking their heads at how funny the scene was and waving and nodding at my generous shouts of thanks.

i detained nash by strapping him in his seat, made all the boys get buckled and then borrowed triston's gloves (that barely fit over my whole hands) to load all the groceries into their rebellious bags and then set out for walmart to pick up a few items my discount store doesn't carry.

the other thing that you can count on with a car-full of boys is competitions on who is the strongest or who can carry the most bags in. so when we got home, i just sat back and let them do all the hard work, adding my two cents to motivate them to get every single bag. little nash was ready for a nap after all that excitement and after putting in a movie downstairs for my little helpers, i finally got a chance at some peace and quiet while i put all the groceries away.

just until they were ready for snacks, though, which was all of like, 20 minutes. :)