Shop online? yes PLEASE!

I have enough trouble with self-control... controlling others just puts me right over the edge.

Audrey's really fun to shop with these days, and as she's decided it's uncouth to be caught riding in the cart and instead much prefers running around following her siblings, our shopping trips are chock-full of "Audrey, stay by the cart sweetie" and even "Audrey, where'd you go?" from time to time. Remember, she's a hider, too. But we have to make our shopping trips, so I try to go at off-hours when the store is reasonably empty and I can be a little more patient and we can all have a reasonably good time. Well, the trip to Target was originally about getting sandals for the kids, and I had the thought as we left that day that I'd seen them on sale in the Lands' End catalog at the end of the season last year but had decided to wait because on SALE they were still $20. I thought sure I could do better, but had a very specific type of sandal in mind - the rubber/neoprene kind because they're comfortable, the kids can get them on themselves and I don't worry when they get them wet all summer long. Anyway, after unsuccessful stops at Penny's and Sears (where we accidentally shoplifted a pair of pruners in the bottom of the stoller that were discovered when we folded it up to get in the car, thus necessitating another trip back into the mall to return the item in question).

So, we'd already wasted half the day by this point, and I knew I could find the item at Target so we loaded up again and headed to Orem. First stop, shoes. We were not going to be distracted while I could still keep all three kids in the cart. Audrey instantly picked out a pair of gold lame' sandals that by no means are going to be water resistant or comfortable, and will require me to put them on for her every day. But she was not to be deterred. While I was looking at something else, she managed to get them on by herself (she wasn't wearing shoes because we couldn't find a matching pair that morning) and because I thought she'd have a hard time walking in the tethered pair and soon want them off, I let her. I should have known better, that in the grand tradition of women everywhere she would be willing to sacrifice some mobility for the sake of fashion, and she waddled off after us, perfectly content with sandals still firmly attached.

The kids had been pretty good, so we wandered next past the clearanced easter clothes racks, and each girl picked out a new dress and some white tees. Audrey was so enamored with hers she wouldn't let me add it to the cart, so again off we went, tethered gold sandals on her feet and dress in hand. As we were walking past the swim display, she picked up a hat and added it to her collection, then some kind of automated bubble wand. She really looked like a little klepto by now, and the sunglasses that came next completed the picture. We stopped to look briefly at kids' bike, and we noticed afterward she had misplaced her dress. I looked all over and couldn't find it, and felt a little comforted in buying one less item.

When we arrived at the garden section, it was luckily right next to an aisle hailing the toy section that was filled with cute kids' gardening items. I let all three kids out on the aisle and instructed them to stay there while I looked at garden hoses one over. The older kids came back to the cart after a minute or so to beg for some random shovel or something, and in a numb state of concentrating on pricing and features between hose reels I didn't think about the littlest one for a couple of minutes. It was long enough.

When I finally came to the hunt began. Gratefully, it ended quickly, because my darling baby was right out in the main aisle long enough for me to see where she'd gone, but by this time she'd attracted a real crowd of admirers, too. She had found a child-sized garden cart on a bottom shelf, taken it down and gone shopping! The cart was completely full of toys, and she was pushing it up and down the aisles adding to it as her little heart desired. An entire endcap of furry little animals was in the bottom, followed by various dolls and Dora stuff. She'd stop when she got to something that interested her, pull it down and put it in the cart, then push on to the next stop. It was so funny! Well, we returned the toys with no small amount of drama (shoes, hat and sunglasses still on) and decided it was time to leave.

On the way up to the cash register we made a discovery that helped ease the pain of the lost toys, as we passed a worker pushing a cart with - you knew it - the dress on top. Audrey recognized it before I did and shouted chanting "Mine! Mine! Mine!", so we took it off the employee's hands and headed out.

It was dark when we left, and while I listened to my kids complaining in the backseat I decided on the way home it would have been a much better deal to just buy the catalog sale items by the time we spent an entire day in pursuit, and a LOT more money. I don't know why I don't just buy everything online. Having a running total of my purchases in my online cart, and the time to really think about them without screaming kids, seems to force me to be a little more conservative in my spending. On this day in particular, we wasted a full day driving around and looking, to come home with not only the new neoprene sandals, but also the gold lames, new church shoes, new dresses, swimwear and cover-ups, a package of pink tennis balls (surprise at the register!), a bubble-blowing fan that has since been stuck in both girls' hair, summer clothes for the boy and some random sale earrings.

So, all said and done, I'm sure having this day back would have negated even the cost of shipping and will be a little more realistic with myself when I say "I'm sure I can get this cheaper at..." because if it involves me taking the kids, between us that will never happen! Oh, and by the way, looking for pictures of the sandals I wanted, I found them ONLINE at Penny's - our first stop. Nothing in the store. And they're on SALE. Figures.