They Should Put a Ball Pit in Every Grocery Store

One of the joys of our summer is our Wednesday trip to the library. There's always a cool presentation, prizes for reading, and stacks and stacks of books (though I wish they'd hide the Scooby Doo mysteries. I'm so sick of that dog!) One of the woes of our summer is the grocery trip that follows. My sister-in-law recently posted an adorable story about their little girl having a run-in with an angry mama and her boys at their grocery store. If it weren't for the 10 hours that separate us, I could swear that mama was me! Here are the highlights of our recent grocery runs:

- Immediately upon arrival wanting to check out the summer toy display for eight HOURS.
- Sneaking around trying to hide behind aisle displays, then popping out and expecting me to act surprised even though they tiptoed right in front of my cart
- Sitting on half empty shelves, pointing to price stickers, and declaring, "Look! I cost one nine nine!"
- Calvin getting lost on one of his hiding expeditions and being brought to me by a kind grandmotherly type (who, I'm sure, wanted to pin a marvelous mother medallion on my shirt)
- If they're not hiding (or lost in) the next aisle over, someone always, always, always touching the cart or being within1/8 of an inch of being run over.
- Saying, "I WILL run you over," right before an employee rounded the corner. Are grocery store clerks mandated child abuse reporters?
- Wondering out loud (loudly) who that lady was that just stopped to talk to me (when I totally couldn't remember her name or how I knew her!)
- Max pointing out every item that we have at our house. "Coffee! Daddy havs coffee at our house, Mommy!"
- "Can we get this?" 8 billion times, frequently followed by, "It's on sale..." They know their Mama so well. (When we ran out of salad dressing at supper recently, Max said, "We can get some on sale, Mommy?")
- My favorite weekly visitor. One boy gets behind the other and they become (and refer to themself/ves frequently as) "Four Arms," the grocery superhero, who helps load items (wanted or not) into the cart. He's faster, they insist, because he has four arms, duh! Too bad he also has four left feet.
- Purchasing the below-pictured gems within the first minute of one trip (stupid summer toy display). They were $6 a piece (that's four weeks' wages for Calvin!), but they just HAD to have them. Needless to say, they were banished to the cart within two minutes of our arrival. And I was just thinking we needed a few more weapons around here...