A trip to Home Depot -a good idea?

Well, here we go...

I mean, I know that I lead a busy and fulfilled life. I am VERY good at managing my time and not getting overwhelmed. However, now and again, there ARE times when I wonder if I have actually gone mad. Our trip to Home Depot was one of them...

Mondays and Wednesdays have become precious days this month for me and my kids. I don't have to work or go to class at night so when I get home from school we can spend some quality time together. On Wednesday when I got home it was a beautiful day and I shuffled all the kids outside after the babysitter left. Side note: I could write an entire post about my wonderful nanny Karyl and I WILL! She is amazing. Even the babies are really enjoying the weather and are just getting past that crazy stage where they think it is cute to run into the road as fast as they can while you run after them screaming. It was so peaceful... the big kids riding bikes in the driveway and the little ones playing in the grass... I decided to start weeding. I mean, heck, I already decided that since I went back to school I was not going to worry about my gardens this summer but, come on, it was a great day and I have a hard time not doing something. Well, low and behold, in a matter of 30 minutes I had that whole front garden weeded! And instead of sitting back or playing with my kids I thought.. "I HAVE to get to Home Depot right now to get some mulch. If I can mulch the garden it will be the ultimate sense of accomplishment."

Soooo... feeling so overcome with motivation to make one small garden look tended to I chased all the kids into the minivan. "Seat belts on, buckle up, we are going shopping!" Of course, I was met with immediate requests to stay home from the older two. I tried to use my best Mommy reasoning skills to explain why it was so important to abandon this beautiful sunny day to head to a home improvement store. I must have kicked up my positivity just enough because a few minutes later we were on our way.

I pulled into the parking lot, got a front row spot and knew that we were going to rock this shopping trip out. Until I started thinking that is... Okay, why was I here again? Right, mulch! Okay, how am I going to get this mulch to my car? Okay, get one of those flat bed carts! Okay, what about the kids? Right, shove them all in a shopping cart and go! So I get the carts and off we go. Push the one with the kids; pull the one for the mulch. The whole time thinking... I got this. These are my kids. If I can't do this I am a failure as a mother. Yup, these are things that go through my head. We make it to the mulch somehow. I drag ten bags on the flatbed. Then I throw on two more hanging plants for good measure. I drag that flatbed to the register like it's my job. Meanwhile, I deter eye contact from at least 6 people. See, if I make eye contact it is all over. Then, I am forced to answer 27.25 questions about why I have so many little kids - Did I take fertility drugs? Are they all mine? Why would I take them all to the store? Do twins run in my family? Did I know that my daughter looked like me? Did I know that I have to have 4 car seats in the car? Am I going to go for the 3rd set? ... and so on. So, needless to say, avoiding eye contact is a good thing.

The register - SUCCESS! I see the light at the end of the tunnel. We pay, I shove all that mulch in the back of the mini van and we are off. Headline reads - "Mom of multiple multiples beats the odds again and survives a trip to the local home improvement store". Yup, this is it. Just a day in the life of me.