Shopping with kids is bad. Very bad.

Today I took the kids with me to a few stores. I had in mind when I left the house to actually buy the last few Christmas presents that were on my list. Eddie and Alexa had on their minds to play and laugh and have fun.

I first went to Bed, Bath and Beyond. It was in this store that I realized that there are just way too many breakable items within reach of small hands. Small hands that are attached to small children who are too young to grasp the concept of the words shattered, shards, or "QUIT BEFORE THEY THROW US OUT OF THE STORE!" I don't think I've ever paid attention to just how many things in this store are breakable before. Until my children got there, and started knocking things down. We left without buying anything. It was for the best.

We went to JCPenney next. In this lovely store, I only found one item to buy. I was actually quite busy moderating a fight over the one seated store stroller that Eddie and Alexa both thought that they needed to sit in. Mind you, when I bring my own double stroller, or single stroller for that matter, neither one of them want to sit in it. I end up pushing around a big bulky empty stroller through the store navigating through the small aisles and clothes racks as the kids walk by my side. So I didn't bring it. And instead, they fought. The entire time I was in the store, I was the lady with the screaming children. I made them take turns. While the kid sitting in the stroller was enjoying his or her ride, the other stood on the wheel. Which made it very difficult for me to actually push. Then the standing child would smack the sitting child, because that's just the appropriate thing to do. And then either one of them would scream. Because they were jealous, or the other one was bothering them. *sigh* I paid for my one item and left.

We then tried our hand at Target. My kids love that HUGE big red buggy that two kids can climb into the back of, and stand in or sit down. My son thinks it's his big pirate ship. Or so he claims. I told him that if he climbed on top of it again, that I would have to abandon it and we would just walk. Well he did it again. And this time he was OK with it. It was Alexa who fell apart. She screamed like I had just ran over her foot. She was so mad at me for leaving the buggy there, she almost laid down on the ground. I told her that she could stay right there with the buggy if she wanted, but I was leaving. She screamed for another 5 minutes on and off, but she eventually got over it. I think it must have been nap time, because she got cranky again pretty soon after the buggy incident. I'm not sure what I went in the store to buy, as my concentration was wrecked with my little angels and their perfect behavior.

I think I am going to have to plan just one more trip. No kids. I have no idea how I get anything done with these kids. Shopping and kids just doesn't mix. Ever.