It's possible one could say I kidnapped my family this afternoon. Midday I texted my daughter and said I needed groceries. She said she also needed them. And then I threw the family in my car and almost didn't give them back. I had thought I was up for a day alone, with the Park residents off at their various classes and obligations, yet when presented with company to hang out with, I insisted that they stay as long as possible.
We did the two cart method at King Soopers, but even that nearly went off the rails. It didn't take two minutes inside the store before the big kids were dramatically throwing themselves on the floor, because they thought it was funny. Almost immediately, one smacked her face on the polished concrete and bruised her lip. Thankfully there was no real lasting damage. They were plopped in the second cart, and there they rode for the rest of the trip. I got to push the baby around, trying to persuade him to drink a little from his bottle, thinking that was what he was fussing for. Turns out it was because he was ready to sleep again, and the only way he was happy was when the shopping cart was in motion. So I got an extra long walk, doing laps of the store while my daughter filled her cart up with essentials.
We drove around for an extended time between dropping off her groceries and mine, to give the entire carload of children a chance to sleep, while they are of an age when the rocking of a car is the quickest way to induce a nap. We drove past several 5-10 acre parcels that are out of my price range, even if the kids and we both sold our respective houses and moved in together. There was one that we could probably manage in a pinch, but the house on it is way too small for a multi-generational living situation, so we kept on driving the kids through their nap, and let it fade into memory.
The kids will be here every weekend soon, and if I am going to be ready for that kind of chaos, I will need to throw a lot of stuff into storage to keep it safe. Not sure where that organizational energy will come from yet.
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