.: Grocery Shopping with Kids...Arghhh!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Grocery Shopping with Kids...Arghhh!

A little ‘marriage’ story before I begin with the grocery shopping story;

A friend of Tony’s from church called him the other night and convinced him to play Basketball at the church. Hooray, for my husband…he actually went out and exercised!!! Nothing short of amazing! I had quite a laugh however, when he walked in the front door, an hour later, completely out of breath and then went straight to a drawer for his inhaler!!! He desperately needed oxygen. Anyone would have thought he was 96 years old!!!

While he was gone, I rushed around the house trying to pick up the Lego, blocks, dinosaurs and airplanes strewn all over the living room floor, kitchen and under the couch. Then I got all three boys ready for bed (pyjamas on, clothes put away, teeth brushed and rooms tidied). I had to yell for a couple of minutes to calm them down since they were jumping wildly everywhere and making lots of noise. Ashton and Noah were asleep at 8pm and Hayden was calmly and quietly reading to himself in bed. When Tony came home he kindly asked if there was anything he could do. I replied, “Yes please, the kitchen” and he replied “YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN’T DONE THAT YET!” Husbands really do think that there wives can do it all sometimes! If I had been the one to go off and play basketball for an hour I would have come home to toys still strewn everywhere, kids still awake, their rooms a disaster and definitely a dirty kitchen!

Onto the grocery store;
Grocery shopping seems like quite a simple task (walk up and down aisles throwing stuff into a shopping cart and go home again), but as all mums have experienced what an exhausting nightmare it can be when you are trying to shop with all of your children.

I’m use to shopping with my boys and most of the time it’s fairly easy, particularly if I give Noah a Barney magazine to look at while he sits at the front of the shopping cart and particularly if I let Hayden and Ashton go off to the video and toy section. I do find it frustrating though that Ashton is always throwing extra groceries into the shopping cart and when I get home I realize I’ve paid $8 for two cucumbers when I only wanted one. It is also frustrating if I have to spend my whole way around the supermarket battling with Noah to sit down, but fortunately that little phase seems to have passed over now.

Last Friday afternoon I went grocery shopping with the boys and it took me nearly an hour just to get five things, when it could have taken me ten minutes if I had been on my own. First of all, I should never shop on a Friday afternoon because the supermarket and mall car park is packed full of people wanting to get groceries before the weekend. But last Friday I was unorganized and had to go anyway.

The first thing that drove me crazy was that it took me about 10 minutes just to find a park. When I finally got a park that my car would fit into, it then took me forever to work my way through the supermarket because of all the people. I finally got all my groceries scanned and when it was time to pay I realized I’d left my wallet in the car. So, I had to make the boys run all the way back to the car with me while the checkout lady ‘held’ the line (rather embarrassing). When we finally got back to the check out aisle Ashton was jumping up and down because he was about to wet his pants. After we got the toilet over with and paid for the groceries Ashton suddenly realized he’d taken his jacket off somewhere in the supermarket so we had to dodge and push our way through the aisles again looking for his jacket (we finally found it lying on top of the banana chip bin). Then when we walk out of the supermarket for the 4th time, I get slightly distracted by the front cover of a magazine, and Ashton completely disappears into thin air! So, then I have to stand outside the supermarket continuously looking around me, (second embarrassing moment) to the point where I begin to panic, until finally some 10 year old kid in the distance points to Ashton sitting on a crowded bench eating his banana chips. I finally start driving home and realize I’ve forgotten to get the most important thing on the shopping list….MILK….because Noah got his hands on my shopping list and tore it into pieces.

Lessons learned:
1. Put reins on Ashton
2. Make sure he goes to the toilet before we start shopping (although
he can never make himself go before, it’s always during!)
3. Keep shopping list safe in pocket
4. Leave jacket(s) in car
5. Check for wallet

5 comments:

Jen said...: I tried once this summer with all 4. No more. Ever. I feel for you!; July 25, 2009 at 12:49 AM
Jen said...: Oh, and the husband thing... agreed!; July 25, 2009 at 12:49 AM
Jen Kesler said...: Ahhh...I feel your pain! It is so much easier to go alone!; July 25, 2009 at 1:19 AM
Anonymous said...: On your list of lessons you learn- you got # 1 wrong....It should be:
1. Don't take the kids shopping. Make your husband take the kids shopping! ----April Bullard; August 24, 2009 at 12:14 PM
Loretta Nizetich said...: Good idea, but I don't like having to complain to Tony that he came home with the wrong thing (or forgot something on the list!) We did the shopping on Saturday afternoon as a family and the first thing Tony said when he got in the car was 'EXHAUSTING'!; August 24, 2009 at 7:43 PM

Funny Comments

Ashton walking into the supermarket quietly whispers to himself: "Please can I have macaroni and cheese, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Ashton: "I want to live with Jesus." Mummy: "Why?" Ashton: "Because he be nice to me and he gives me bread and water!"

Mummy, examining Ashton's legs, and thinking: My goodness, what hairy legs. Ashton, unimpressed with Mummy's examination, pulls away: "Don't touch them. I'm growing Daddy legs!"

Hayden gets upset at Ashton: "Right Ashton, that's it! I'm telling Jesus on you!"

Ashton with a cold: "I'm snotty as a piggy."

Hayden: "The sun is burning my eyeballs."

Hayden: "Mummy, how come your penis is missing?"

Hayden: "I get the bigger piece of cake because my skeleton is bigger."

Hayden (3yrs old) sees me get dressed in the morning and stares at my breasts with a confused look..."What thooooose be for???"

Hayden: "I don't want to finish my pizza, it's got blood all over it."

Hayden: "Ashton hit me in the heart."

Hayden learns the planets at Preschool: Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Penus!

Hayden (shopping with me and whining): "My brain hurts forever because you haven't buyed me anything."

QUOTES

Like the changing leaves of fall...My little boy is now a man.
--Author Unknown

Boys are God's way of telling you that your house is too neat!
--Author Unknown

There never has been, nor will there ever be, anything quite so special as the love between a mother and a son.
--Author Unknown

Boys are found everywhere - on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around or jumping to. Mothers love them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers tolerate them, adults ignore them and Heaven protects them. A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair and the Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket.
--Alan Marshall Beck

Something For A Giggle....

I Owe My Mother ....

My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE. "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

My mother taught me RELIGION. "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL. "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

My mother taught me LOGIC. " Because I said so, that's why."

My mother taught me MORE LOGIC. "If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

My mother taught me FORESIGHT. "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

My mother taught me IRONY. "Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS. "Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM. "Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

My mother taught me about STAMINA. "You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

My mother taught me about WEATHER. "This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY. "If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE. "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION. "Stop acting like your father!"

My mother taught me about ENVY. "There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION. "Just wait until we get home."

My mother taught me about RECEIVING. "You are going to get it when you get home!"

My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE. "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."

My mother taught me ESP. "Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

My mother taught me HUMOR. "When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT. "If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

My mother taught me GENETICS. "You're just like your father."

My mother taught me about my ROOTS. "Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

My mother taught me WISDOM. "When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

My mother taught me about JUSTICE. "One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!