The Adventure of Hansel and Gretel

(AKA: Margaret and Sons at the Grocery Store)

What was I thinking? Oh yeah--we were out of milk. And Smith's is close to the kids' day care. So I picked them up after work (when we were all hungry for dinner) and we trekked to the store.

Dear Smith's General Manager if you happen to be reading:

PLEASE bring back the kid-sized grocery carts! I promise never to let my 3-year old careen down the isle behind one, instilling terror in all your customers, again. I promise to wipe it down with clorox wipes when we're done. Or at the very least, get more than one car-cart. The one in your store is always occupied when I'm there. That screaming you hear each week? That's because my kids see OTHER kids having a ball, driving through the store. Yes, more than one family shops at your store at a time.

Sincerely, a soon-to-be WalMart shopper, where at least the food is cheaper.

P.S. I'm really sorry about the puddle of water near the front door. My 20-month old threw his sippy cup to the ground. What can I say? He was angry about the cart situation.

So I loaded Eli in a regular cart and gave C.J. instructions to stay close. Yeah right. He quickly found the Animal Cookies--those pink and white ones with sprinkles. Well, since we were getting 2 gallons of milk and 8 boxes of pasta for free and eggs at half off (I'm a couponer), I could justify the $3 purchase. Plus, it might keep two kids quite and still at the grocery store. I opened them up and handed them out, and set the bag next to Eli. For a few minutes, the kids were angels.

Half way down the pasta isle, I noticed pink and white animal cookies on the ground. Wow--another out-of-luck-with-kid-carts family must have discovered the same solution! Really? Nope. My bag of cookies was split at the bottom. There was a trail of pink and white and sprinkles down 2 grocery isles. And worse, the cookies were already half gone.

After some rationing and lots of bad behavior from both kids, we finally checked out. The cashier graciously told me I could go get another bag of cookies AND, she gave the kids each a sticker. So nice. But when I realized, AFTER I had paid, that I had forgotten to give her my stack of coupons ($5.75 worth!), she sent me to wait and wait at the customer service center. So much for my quick store run. At least we had lots of cookies for the drive home.

And to think I have to do my REAL grocery store shopping tomorrow... I think I'll hire a babysitter.