There are some things you may never have known about me... and I know you're going to find them shocking. But there are two things in this world I really despise: shopping malls and shoe shopping in particular. But yesterday we took all of the kids to synagogue, and they were all cute and adorable, but it was clear that they all need new shoes. We've never actually bought them shoes, and we do have some hand-me-down shoes but mostly in sizes too small or too large. So... I made plans to take the kiddeos to the outlet mall today to purchase some shoes! And I informed my husband of this plan this morning right before feeding him my traditional Sunday morning pancake breakfast. (I swear, next week I'm making waffles. Honest. I'm so sick of pancakes it's not funny!)
And so, after an aborted morning nap and sending the J-man off with his grandmother, we packed up a lunch, rounded up jackets for all the kiddeos, smooshed a pile of diapers in the diaper bag, looked in vain for my shoes (failed and used a different pair instead), put two strollers in the car, and packed the kiddeos into carseats. And off we went to the outlet mall. (Seriously, do you have any idea what kids' shoes cost these days?? Gah!) We'd never been to the outlet mall near us, but we figured it was worth a shot. We left about an hour later than my original plan dictated, but having triplets means being flexible, right? Of course right.
We parked by the food court and arrived just about noon, and went in and sat down for lunch. We figured if the trio was sated they might not torture us too much in the shoe store.
Sam was not feeling terrific, as he's got a cold, complete with runny nose (as you can see), so he was content to pick at his bagel and occasionally shove a piece of pasta in his mouth. But he consistently threw his turkey and other delectables on the floor.
Nevertheless, he was happy to pose for a picture, runny nose and all. :)
Eliana never misses the opportunity to smile. She was tired from the aborted nap (in fact, she was the only one who DID try to nap, and unfortuantely got woken up a bit prematurely, poor thing). But she ate so nicely at the mall, and I was so proud of her. Until her bagels started landing on the floor. Then I stopped being quite so amused...
Abby smiling up at me. She also enjoyed throwing her food on the floor - but she first had a really good time blowing air through the tubes of rigatoni that we brought. It was fun to watch! :)
I had a hard time getting a good picture of her today because she kept trying to grab the camera every time I tried to get a picture... She was so excited to see me taking pictures!
After we finished eating lunch, we put everyone back in the strollers and rolled on down to the Stride Rite outlet. Fun times! We put fear into the hearts of the Stride Rite Employees as we glided in and asked them to please measure the tiny little feet of our tiny little trio. Of course, my three couldn't make life easy on me, could they? Oh no. They all three wear a different size. (And Abby's feet are two different sizes!). They didn't have the shoes I wanted for the girls, but I did get them cute white and pink sneakers (slightly different styles so I wouldn't mix them up, since they are different sizes. And I got a pair of brown shoes for Sam. They are all so cute in their new little shoes, but no one wanted to stay still for pictures...
After the shoe store, which involved us buying the shoes, realizing I'd reversed the sizes (Ellie should have had wide, Abby should have had medium, but I did it backward), returning the shoes, repurchasing the correct sizes, and then finally leaving the store, we braved walking across the hall to the Children's Place to Purchase the J-man some jeans. He blows through jeans like, um, insert some really witty interesting metaphor here, okay? So even though my mother just purchased some new jeans for him, I knew it couldn't hurt to pick up another couple pairs. Besides, it gave me an excuse to pick up two stripey sweaters for the girls at $3.99 each. Not too shabby. :)
The kiddeos were EXHAUSTED. Poor little Abby fell asleep in the stroller and Ellie and Sam were fighting hard against the inevitable. We whisked them off to the car where Abby promptly woke up and refused to fall back to sleep and Sam immediately fell asleep for the whole ride back. Ellie didn't sleep but she at least stayed happy and calm. When we got home, I put everyone in their cribs (Sam barely stirred) and Abby RAGED against the idea of a nap (as per usual), but everyone got a nap. When they woke up, we took them out to dinner, because we were feeling particularly brave and adventurous.
And finally, we returned home and the J-man was returned to us - at last:
And this is the exciting life that we lead.
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