Oh, that’s right.  I never had an organized Mother Award.

Today I decided to take the kids on a shopping expedition to Wal-mart and Aldi.  They were okay with that as long as it didn’t interfere with their library story time.

After we were all loaded and the vehicle was running I realized that I forgot the drink bottles I wanted to take along.  ”That’s ok,” I thought.  ”We’ll stop and get some lunch with drink and they’ll be fine.”

Halfway to our first stop the two oldest had to go to the bathroom.  The third one might have but she wears a diaper and I didn’t ask.

Did I mention that this is the first time I left the property in a week?

At Wal-mart we parked beside Memaw’s car.  They insisted that we find her, but I made them stop at the restroom first.

We had a grand old time wandering through the store and then watching an employee restock the fish tanks.  I refused to stay there the whole time he unloaded two carts full of bags of fish.  I’m so mean, I know.

I checked the time after we were back in the vehicle and realized that I had 45 minutes to shop in Aldi, get them lunch, and make it to story time.  Wasn’t gonna happen.

We whizzed through Aldi while they reminded me that the Police Chief was going to read the books today and they didn’t want to miss it.  If it wouldn’t have been for that police chief I might have been able to sidetrack them.

On the way from Aldi to the library I realized that we hadn’t brought the bag of library books and DVDs.  I say we, but really I forgot.   I just make them gather the books and lug the bag out to the truck.

We scampered into the library with the Police Chief on our heels.  Praise the Lord that my stomach didn’t growl.

I felt terribly guilty at delaying their lunch, but they insisted on story time AND coloring before going home to eat a microwaved hot dog.  After all, their friends AND the police chief were going to be there.

I think I’ll stay home for another week.