Cheryl and the M's: Retail Therapy

Today was a gloomy, rainy day. Daddy was gone, Grandpa and Melissa were still gone. The house was a mess. Michael and Maddy were crabby, very crabby. They wanted Melissa, Daddy and Grandpa. They wanted to go to Science World or the Aquarium.

Michael was quite insistant - "But Mommy - this summer - you SAID we could go to the Aquarium when it's raining and it's RAINING".

Boy - that boy has a good memory! Yes -In a rash moment in the heat of July - I had said we would "save the Aquarium for someday when it's raining". However - a 1.5 hour drive into the City, paying for parking and fighting weekend Aquarium crowds solo with 4 children ages 5 and under was NOT an option I was willing to consider.

So finally I came up with "Hey - why don't we go walk around the mall and if you are good I will take you for supper at McDonalds".

Michael and Maddy jumped at the chance to do ANYTHING but stay home and even the twins were excited to get boots on. I didn't bother to dress anyone up neatly - just put coats on over the twins non-matching grubby sweatpants and T-shirts quickly to just GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE NOW.

Now turns out the mall on a rainy Sunday afternoon is about as popular as the aquarium! Michael kept vanishing - taking off to look at other things without a word and we had to keep going back for him. We saw a co-worker of Allan's who asked where Allan was and then answered his own question "oh, right - he's in Tuscon, AZ". That clued me in for sure who I was talking to

During our mall walk - I saw a 70% off sale at "please mum" . We braved the crowded store in search of bargains. Michael became grumpy immediately - shopping for girls clothes was NOT his idea of a good afternoon! The twins became energized - clothes - cute clothes - everywhere - they strained in their stroller to pull things off racks. Now I wanted matching twins outfits - but I hadn't counted on the twins wanting a say in the matter! Apologies to Attie Gail - but the twins have Melissa's fashion sense - the pinker the better! We settled on matching pink cordory jumpers with lighter pink shirts and matching pink tights with flowers up the legs!

Maddy also was into the pink and picked Matching sweaters for her and Melissa - a bit big but only $6 marked down from $30 initially!

As time passed - the twins got more and more upset. They were trying to strip off all their clothes in the stroller! I asked if they needed a diaper change. "a- YEAH - pee pee" said Megan. "ehhhh - eehhhh" said Maribeth. Their vocalizations grew louder and louder in the checkout line and as we sprinted across the mall to the baby changing room.

It turns out their DIAPERS were fine - they just wanted to wear their new clothes! Once I got Megan into her new outfit - she preened and grinned at her reflection in the mirror. "Look at Megan I said to Michael and Maddy" "I CUTE" said Megan happily. Once in pretty new clothes - both girls remained cheeful and happy throughout the outing (actually - they are STILL happy!).

We enjoyed more time walking around the mall with the matching twins and Maddy's co-ordinating sweater - it definately lifted my spirits to get all the "oh - twins!" "oh how cute - are they twins?" comments! Not sure what that says about my character but retail therapy really worked today!

Michael cheered up with the promised McDonalds trip. Since I can't eat anything at McDonads I took myself through the starbucks drive through for a "decaf, non-fat, no-whip, grande mocha".

Let me spare anyone else the $4 - if you have to go decaf AND non-fat - don't bother. It's just not worth it!

Next stuff the produce stand - more compliments on Maddy's sweater and the twins outfits! Michael and Maddy loved helping me pick out a bunch of produce for the coming week and it was a great opportunity to work with the twins on learning the names of fruits and veggies- they even said "beets!"