& how old are you?

Yesterday was a long, long day for us! It was our 'trip into town' day. Town is nearly 45 minutes away, so when we go, we make a day of it. & yesterday I had a lot that needed to be accomplished. I let the kids eat lunch and nap before we left, thinking this would make the day less stressful. When in reality, it just meant that I didn't leave the house until 3 and we didn't get into town until almost 4!

I stopped to fill up on gas & grabbed myself a water from inside. The kids were preoccupied watching Shrek in the back as we trudged off to our next stop. Paso produce to stock up on their 20lbs for $12 sale! I was not missing it this week! I spent a whopping $15, loaded the kids back in the car, grabbed them snacks from the back, and got back on the road. Slo bound for Costco! This is another 45-60 minute drive from town, thank God that I am blessed with 4 different country radio stations. I get to play them off against each other and never hear a single commercial!

Costco is always an adventure because it doesn't matter what day of the week it is, the place is always packed, and by this time in our trek, the kids are starting to get fussy. We got out of there in record time & without a single meltdown. My only battle wound was an old man who I said 'excuse me, I'm sorry' to as I moved my cart in front of his, and he continued to say 'don't be, baby', in front of my (almost) 4 year old. While I cringed with disgust, put my head down and tried to plow through the aisle, she yells back to Jimmy 'daddy, he said mommy's a baby!'.

After that excursion we packed everyone back up and headed into town again. I had been promising Lexi for two day's that I'd take her to the park, so the park it was. On the way back down from SLO, I realized I had completely forgotten to pack Lukas a bottle. So I made a pit stop at Target, ran in and grabbed a $.99 bottle, a couple travel boxes of organic chocolate milk & some teddy grahams. I ran out to the car & told Jimmy to hook Lukas up with a bottle, grabbed Lexi a chocolate milk & some teddy grahams...and we were off.

By the time we actually arrived at the park it was about 630 and it was starting to get dark. I told Lexi she only had a few minutes and to go play. Jimmy took Lukas over to the toddler side of the park as I sat and watched Lexi do her thing on the bid kid side. A few minutes later he got a phone call from work, plopped Lukas in my lap, bottle in tow. I sat on the bench with him in my arms as a man walked up next to me. 'How old is he? About 14 months?' Im always so happy when people are dead on with Lukas' age since he was a preemie. 'Yes.' I answered. 'He just turned one in July, he was our little preemie'. I figured that would be the end of our conversation, but as I placed Lukas on the ground so he could walk around, the man said with a very curious tone '...and, how old are you??'.

I was totally taken back. I hate it when people ask that, assuming I'm a young teen mom. I had half a mind to tell him it was none of his business, but decided to come up with something more entertaining. '23', I said, as I could tell he was surprised. He quickly came back with 'wow, you started early'. 'Yep', I said, 'and that's my almost 4 year old on the monkey bars', as I walked away with a grin to tell Lexi she had 5 more minutes.

He came back over to where I was standing. Intent on asking more questions. Man, some people are so nosey! '& you're married!' he said, noting my ring. It always upsets me when that's a shocker to people. Marriage is just not a priority in our society anymore. He continued to tell me how I could have 8 kids, because he started when he was 34 and his oldest of 4 was now 12. 'Wow, that makes you 46!' I said, giggling inside. 'You're the same age as my mother.' I continued, with a little bit of 'tude in my voice. I gathered up my firey redhead and headed back to the car.

King of the Cart

Maybe that'll teach him. ;)