Girls just love to shop

So I had this image. Rounding up my three girls first thing in the morning, jumping in the car, and heading to the outlet mall to do some back-to-school shopping. We would have a fun-filled, girl-bonding day and walk out with bags in hand and clothes and shoes galore. Then I woke up. In my real world, we didn't hit the road until 11:30am and then the dark cloud appeared in the sky.

When we made it to the mall, we ducked out of the car quick to beat the rain. I thought we would start with some shoes. How bad could that be? Explain that to one 4 year old who really didn't need to buy any why she couldn't have the hot pink suede ankle boots with a kitty cat on them. So I didn't explain and just bought them - they were only $14.99 after all. Then there is a 7 year old who has a foot size the size of a toddler so there are no "big girl shoes" in her size anywhere! She doesn't want baby shoes. The 8 year old gave up early after I shook my head at almost every shoe she showed me, but not without mumbling "this just isn't fair."

Then we hit some clothing stores. Some better than others. Fitting all four of us and a stroller into the dressing rooms is quite a sight. It amazes me that I walk out with anything. I had this great idea that I was going to take a picture of the three of them with their feet sticking out the bottom of the dressing room stall. I even brought my camera. But since we were shoved in the handicap stall, the door goes all the way to the floor. So no picture to remember this day. But I was able to use my 20% off coupons at the two big stores. So I'm saving us money, right? Thats when the thunder and lightening hit. I looked at my watch. It was already 2:30pm and we hadn't eaten lunch. Thankfully as we run through the rain with five bags, three girls and a stroller, we pass a hotdog stand. Miraculously, my daughter who detests hot dogs anytime we make them, was thrilled with the idea of a hotdog and chips. We made it in the car, into their seats and I passed out our gourmet lunch. My daughter noticed I hadn't bought one of those appealing looking hotdogs. But don't worry, I get to eat the ends of their hotdogs since they won't eat that part. That was enough to satisfy my hunger.

We were driving through the pounding rain on the way home. As I'm explaining to my husband on the phone how much money I saved today (which he didn't seem to care about) and that I didn't even buy anything for myself, my daughter decided to shove too much into her mouth, think she's choking and spit it out. As I rolled my eyes thinking about what a great day we had, like clockwork, my daughter says, "This was a great day wasn't it? You didn't even have to get angry at us." And she was right. All in all, it was a success. There was no yelling. No tears. No meltdowns. That in itself is priceless!

Now I just get to look forward to school shopping attempt #2 at the next mall. How many days until school starts?