Go ahead, laugh at me

Yesterday.

My girls joyfully got dressed up in the morning in their new, coordinating Christmas outfits bought on sale at Gymboree so that they would look prettier than pretty for their winter concert as school. Concert was to start at 1:30 PM.

1PM: Braden has a meltdown. Twenty minutes later meltdown was still going on and Braden was feeling feverish again. (The day before he had been sick with a fever and body aches.) We decide that Scott will stay home with the boys while I go to the winter concert with my mom.

3PM: We are home, concert was a success. Gwen wants to paint with permanent acrylic paint. I say only if she changes clothes. Gwen doesn't want to change out of her pretty dress, so opts to color instead.

3:15 PM: I walk into the kitchen to see Gwen not coloring, but painting with acrylic paints. In her dress. Said dress is visibly covered in red and blue paint. I point out paint spots to Gwen, remind her what I told her about painting in her dress, tell her that I think her dress is ruined. Gwen sobs and runs to the stairway to cry.

3:16 PM: Scott comes to the kitchen to see what the fuss is about. Calls Gwen to the kitchen and tells her that he will try to get the paint out. Sobbing stops.

3:25 PM: After much scrubbing and the trial of different soaps and detergents paint splotches on Gwen's dress have not so much as faded. Dress is certainly ruined and we gently inform Gwen of this travesty. More sobbing ensues and I promise her that I will buy her a new dress.

4:30 PM: Gwen and I look at dresses on-line. I suggest that she get the same dress that she already had. Gwen would prefer something else and points out a fluffy tulle dress way out of my price range. After going back and forth with her about dress options for 15 minutes I decide I will brave the mall after dinner to find a new dress from Gwen. By myself. No kids.

6:30 PM: Gymboree. They do not have anymore size 6 of the dress I had originally bought for Gwen. Nor do they have anything else cute in her size. I headed for Gap Kids. In there I find a gorgeous outfit that Gwen could wear even after the holidays and decide that the clearance rack has such good deals that I will buy Regan another outfit as well. I also went into the regular Gap and managed to find a pair of jeans that actually fits me! Not on clearance, but oh fricken well. They fit and they make my ass look smaller than it actually is!

7:15 PM: Head to the cashier to pay. Oops, I left my wallet at home! Home is 30 minutes from the mall! Yay! Put my purchases on hold and head out of the mall pouting.

7:25 PM: In the van. Holy crap, I remember that I am almost out of gas. Not sure if I have enough gas to make it home, but I am driving the van, meaning that Scott can't come with the kids to give me money to put gas in. I leave the mall parking lot with visions of running out of gas on the high bridge over the St. Louis River.

8PM: Home. I made it. Girls are disappointed that I have no cute clothes in hand. I decide to grab my wallet and drive the 30 minutes back to the mall rather than go up again the next day, mostly because I really want my new jeans.

9:20 PM: I am finally home again with purchases in hand. And ready to crash so I can do it all again the next day.

(BTW, if this story is giving you deja vous it is probably because I regulary forget my wallet and nearly run out of gas, because I am cool like that. Last year at Christmas time I went to the mall with the intentions of shopping and eating lunch with Gwen and Braden while I was 38 weeks pregnant, only to realize that I did not have my wallet, nor did I have any gas in the van. Scott had to leave work to come put gas in my van and give me cash to buy the kids lunch. Further, this past spring I went to the mall with all four kids and actually ran out of gas in the mall parking lot. As in, the van died. In the middle of the parking lot. Somehow I managed to re-start it and pull into a parking spot, only for it to die again as I drove into the spot. Scott was meeting us at the mall that day, thankfully, so he ended up having to go buy a gas can and then gas to put in my van so I could drive to a gas station. Aren't I cool?!)