Shopping Trip

I find it mildly amusing that the same Mall where I once slipped Dave my phone number is now where we chase after our soon-to-be 5 offspring. I guess there are some benefits to living in the same place you graduated from high school. (Or at least some entertainment value.) One of the things I used to just love about this mall was the children's play area that they built shortly before my 9 year-old was born and where I spent many happy hours watching them play while they were little. Fast-forward ahead a few years and now three out of my four kids are "too tall" to play there. I hated it when other 'big kids' invaded that space when they were little, and I'm a big stickler about letting any one of them in there now. Natalie and Caroline don't mind so much, they would rather shop with mom. Tristan can also take it or leave it, though he's a little sad I won't let him play; and Elisa is still drawn to it like a magnet.

Since all the kids have suddenly become too big for their clothes (and Dave is still working weekends and getting overtime), we decided to hit Penney's and The Children's Place (we're big spenders here-what can I say?). Unfortunately, The Children's Place is adjacent to the play place. Tristan very quickly picked out exactly what he thinks he will wear this summer while the girls tried on endless ensembles. We dragged Elisa past the pit-of-no-return with the promise of new shoes from Payless (like I said, big spenders). That worked. But I've decided that I hate shoe shopping with her and Caroline. Caroline hates the look of anything that fits and the fit of anything SHE picks out. By some miracle, she still left there with shoes tonight. Elisa loves all things gold lame' and otherwise impractical, but we finally found some church shoes for her. (No, they weren't gold OR plastic-no one was more surprised than me.) Tristan spotted some tennis shoes a half-size bigger than what he has now (as he needed when we went in there), but that look almost like the ones he had on. Again, this took him about 5 minutes. Natalie isn't as picky as her younger sisters, but she about brought me to tears when I checked to see if she had gone from a 3 1/2 to a 4, and found that she is now a size 5. Wah! Who gave her permission to grow up? I know it wasn't me.

She and Caroline were all about taking her (Natalie's) gift card for Justice (formerly known as Limited Too) and finally spending it. I know their prices are supposedly lower now, but they still aren't that low. I'm glad we had a gift card. Caroline found a pink shirt that she didn't hate (she's "all about the blue" right now) and Natalie found a scarf and then an outfit to match it because "scarves are my signature accessory, Mom." They kill me, those girls do. I had hoped that Dave would take the younger kids from Payless to the play place, but he didn't. Instead, he wanted to go to dinner but first he wanted to leave me standing in the middle of the mall with four kids by myself while he put our bags in the car. Oh goody! Fortunately, one of my former YW from church came in and we got to chat with her while waiting for Dave. She recently moved into her own apartment and started attending the Singles' Ward, so I was THRILLED to see her. (And also, now I feel old when my former YW are old enough to do those things.)

After dinner, Natalie and I made one last stop at Penney's for shorts/capris/etc...that were affordable.  We scored! We found bermuda shorts for $11.99 in all three girls' sizes. (As usual, I found all the shorts I needed for Tristan at the OKC consignment sale.) I got out of there with two pairs of shorts for each girl for under $100! Now I feel like everyone is outfitted for the warmer weather in clothes that actually fit them. My joy over the Penney's find was short-lived when it came time to extract Elisa from the play place though. Ultimately, we dragged her out both sockless and shoeless while she threw a fit.  I would say, "It won't be long before ALL my kids are too big for the place." BUT surprise baby #5 will just be getting started in a year or so. Oh well, at least Elisa will still want to play with her.