One of those days

Spencer has been taking a gymnastics class this winter and his final performance coincided with the last day of school for the girls, which made it a hectic, but fun morning.
Since his birth Spencer continues to be a freak of nature. Considering his parents' gene pool (no offense to all of you relatives out there) we're not sure where it comes from. Spencer has some serious muscles and is an athletic kid. His teachers were amazed by him - he was far beyond all the kids in his class, and this was only his first time taking a gymnastics class.

It was really fun watching him!

While we were at the Little Gym, David ran up to me in the middle of the routines saying he needed to go to the potty. So we HURRIED, got him on the potty just in time, but not pointed in the right direction and my leg and the floor took the full force of his urgent need to go, until I got him aiming down. (We have since been practicing going standing up and he likes to aim his 'little hose' [greatest euphemism ever, thanks to cousin Mary] to spray the water.)

Following the gymnastics showcase we needed to go to Target. It was right across the street from the gymnastics and I wasn't about to drive all the way home to change and haul everyone back. This was my first time this summer (and hopefully a rare experience) taking all 4 kids to the grocery store at the same time, but we needed new summer shoes for the oldest of each gender, so I figured I would just grit my teeth and get it over with.

So there I was, with my fire-hydrant pant leg, trying to help my kids pick out decent shoes. (Can I just say here that Target let me down for the first time in 10 years? Not a great girl selection in shoes this spring.) While we're looking for the right sizes, the child who doesn't need shoes (Emma) is happily walking around in turquoise patent-leather gladiator sandals, the boys are not going for the generic shoes but begging for the light-up Spiderman sneakers ("because they make me run REALLY fast, mom!") and I'm trying to swallow the fact that Catherine has really grown 2 shoe sizes since we last bought her shoes.

Then while we pick-up the necessary groceries Spencer keeps asking why we aren't buying "the super-absorbent Ultra Charmin" or the Juicy Juice with antioxidants "because this will boost kids' immunity mom!" And I'm feeling the guilt of letting him watch just a little too much television over the past few days.

Finally we get home after a super busy morning, get everyone fed, my pants changed, David down for a nap, the older ones playing with the pre-arranged post-last-day-of-school playdates and I'm ready to sit down and sew or something. Then I look outside and see Emma wearing the turquoise gladiator sandals! My first thought is that she somehow smuggled them out under her shirt and I have a thief on my hands. When I ask her about it she timidly says, "I just put them in the bottom of the cart."

Well, I've had plenty of times where my sneaky children put stuff in the cart, and because I'm a sneaky mom I always find it and stealthily hand it to the cashier saying "We aren't really getting this Transformer today." This was the first time I actually bought something I didn't know was there! I allowed her to keep the sandals (partly because the tags were cut) because she always gets the hand-me-downs, but I told her if she ever does it again, she's paying it ALL out of her allowance.
Clearly I need to find some other way to do my grocery shopping this summer with out bringing everyone with me. Last summer I got to the point where I kept pulling food out of our food storage before I finally had to cave and go to the grocery store.