a mall trip that will NEVER happen again...

There are NO pictures in this post, so bare with me...

Some friends and I decided we'd do a little school shopping today, the day started off great-kids getting dressed, Mommy drinking my coffee before the boys woke up :)

THEN, we started heading to the outlet mall that was about an hour away, we had to follow each other, because unfortunately FIVE carseats don't fit in one suburban! We get a phone call from my friend who was following me, and she says "Oh no, the baby just puked all over the carseat, I'm pulling over"...Oh holy cow, so we pull over and wait for the next phone call that was, "Well, we're heading back home, she puked again and I gotta get home, IT STINKS!"

So, I am totally phobic of throwing up, so I was NOT a good friend and I did NOT help her. Instead, we pushed on and headed to the mall anyway...

"BIG MISTAKE...HUGE!" (name that movie!)

We are almost to the mall and my one year old starts screaming for his blanket, which I forgot at home because I had 9,000 OTHER things to pack! So, we get to the mall...things are going good, Bass Pro Shop is keeping the kids highly entertained and now we're off to find school clothes, right? WRONG! We start off at the Gap, where my three year old takes every hat off of the rack and plays chase through each rack of clothes in the ENTIRE store! We leave. We go to Children's Place, he again plays chase through each rack of clothes in the ENTIRE store! We leave. "Hey boys, let's go eat at Rainforest Cafe"...um, not my three year old! HE SCREAMED AND KICKED AND YELLED...at this point I think I was about to have a heart attack, everyone was staring, I was sweating...I mean, A LOT of sweating!

Jacob : "I'm afraid of the elephants...please Mommy"

ME: "Jacob, they aren't real, they are pretend, just made of plastic"

Jacob: "Noooooooooo!!!!!!!"

So, we end up in the food court (YUCK!) right beside the carousel. I had made up my mind, NO CAROUSEL because of the rainforest fit, but I gave in ONLY because I knew my little one year old would love the carousel (a weak moment!). Okay, now another fit from my friends child who happens to LOVE rainforest and he now wants to go back! So, we finally decide its time to go, we're exhausted, we've shopped VERY little and all FOUR children are beyond tired! Then my heel gets run over by my friends stroller (don't worry, I forgive her!), she had to grab her baby boy out of the stroller because he was screaming, her three year old had a blister, so he wanted to ride in her stroller, so here we are, walking through the mall, she's holding her 30lb. baby, I'm pushing her three year old, she's pushing my one year old with her other free hand and Jacob is walking beside us, crying!!! Oh whew, we get in the car to head home and we're driving out of the mall parking lot and I look back and my one year old is NOT buckled in his car seat!!!

Oh YES people, THIS DID HAPPEN!!

WOW, perfect ending to a mall trip that will NEVER happen again :)

Anybody ever had a day like that??! Here's hoping tomorrow is a better day!