Why I like to grocery shop alone...

After this mornings adventure with the exploded diaper I was feeling pretty brave and adventurous so, I decided rather than waiting until Mike got home to do do our bi-monthly grocery trip I would take the boys along and do it this morning. I could end the blog there as you can imagine how the rest of this is going to go but, I'll share the details. You never know there might be some surprises along the way.

First I think you should know that I am an overly organized grocery shopper. I have a list with all possible items on it that we buy and I check the items as we need them. The list is divided into categories (fruit, vegetables, meat, produce). Taking it one step further, the categories are listed as the grocery store is arranged for example produce is first and toiletries are last. (I'd be happy to email you my list if you would like. Just give me your email address.) I can't take full credit for the creation of this list I actually adapted it from one that I found on Microsoft Office's webpage. Enough about my list. I also meal plan, almost always grocery shop by myself, use coupons, and challenge myself to get the best deals. It's like this weird little game I play with myself.

So here I am today entering the grocery store with a 2 year old, a nine month old, a diaper bag, jackets (it's raining outside), and of course, my list.

Let's start this trip with the cart. I decided that Ray is more than ready to sit in the regular seat in the cart. He has never done this before (mainly because he doesn't go shopping that much) but he absolutely loved it and was entertained through the entire store by people watching. Sam on the other hand is who helps make this story more interesting. He talked about driving the car (the one at the front of the cart) the entire way to the store. Of course he also brought along lion and a guitar that plays music for entertainment. When we got inside the store he wanted nothing to do with the "car". I put him in it anyways so we could at least get out of people's way. He was screaming, "I want out, I want out". Of course people were giving me the look. I decided I wouldn't be offended but use this as a teaching moment for Sam. I calmly knelt down next to him and calmly said, "You can ride in the car or we can go home. Which do you want." He not so calmly replied, "I want out, I want out." Crap, It didn't work. We have to at least get milk. Oh and some bananas for Ray. I'll go fast.

So we get over to the milk (Organic milk by the way has come down $0.20 since we started buying it in January.), Sam is still screaming to get out, and this nicest little old woman says, "He sounds like I feel; I wish I could get out of here too." This made me think for a minute. The grocery store is full of nice friendly people on a Friday morning right? It should be okay for Sam to walk through the store. "Sam, Do you want to walk? You have to stay with me the whole time or you'll have to get back in the 'car'." "Okay, Mommy. I walk." And walk he did, with his lion, guitar, and giraffe raincoat on. He only nearly ran into a couple people's legs or carts but they all thought he was cute. :)

Sam walked almost the entire store with out wandering more than a few feet. He got back in the "car" for a while to have a granola bar and a juice box then he wanted right back out. He even found some new snacks, Wonder Pets fruit snacks, Dora fruit snacks (They are actually Diego. He says they are for his cousin Bella. They are so thoughtful at 2; last week Bella bought Sam a lunchable at the grocery.), and George (the curious monkey). I'm pretty sure those product placement people know what they are doing because the fruit snacks were right at his eye level. He's only had fruit snacks a couple times and he thinks they are candy. I think he was more drawn to the characters but he actually called them fruit snacks (maybe he read the box, who knows).

So on to the check out lane. Thankfully we didn't have to wait. Sam even handed the lady his Wonder Pet snacks (he had been carrying them around the store) with out any discussion about how we have to pay for things. Did I mention we do a big grocery trip twice a month? Yeah, that's a lot of groceries to put in the cart once they are bagged. Ray was kind enough to hold the bags that had the produce in them, Sam was done with the "car" so, that got filled up too. And the check out lady had a horrible tooth ache and TMJ so I talked to her about the dentist that I went to last week and will be going to on Monday for a fun time (root canal and crown) that happens to be right next door to Giant Eagle.

On to the parking lot.... I decided I would carry Sam and push the cart one handed to eliminate any darting in front of cars or tantrums mid parking lot over leaving. This was going fine until the clementines took a spill in the parking lot and before I realized it I started to run them over with the cart. Haha. Thankfully a nice couple stopped and picked them all up before I could even start to do it. If you're a parent at the grocery store with two little kids, you must depend on the kindness of strangers!

At the car.... I put Sam in first with some fruit snacks. Then I went to put Ray's carseat carrier in the hatch back trunk cause it's easier to load him that way and I realized that the double stroller that takes up just about the entire trunk was in there - oops! So, I folded down the front passenger seat, put the stroller there, loaded Ray, loaded the groceries, almost forgot about lion and the guitar that were still sitting in the "car" part of the cart, decided to get McD's for lunch cause after all this and still needing to put it away I was spent. Then I realized...

I forgot to buy eggs.