Shop 'Til You Drop

Today was the day. The day I know I'm going to spend money, sweat like crazy, pray fervently for the sizes I need, and hope we all come home in one piece. It's back to school shopping during tax free weekend.
I had a friend of the family tag along today. Natalie is 13 and eager to help. So her task today was to herd the kids if they strayed, and keep Gabriel happy. She did a fabulous job too-- thank God for those little graces God sends our way.

We started at Kohls, and headed straight to the boys department. Our Joshua can only wear Sonoma slim fit jeans. Not baggy, loose, carpenter, regular, or relaxed fit. Only slim fit, and believe me, we've tried them all. And all different brands too. Last week, I'd found 4 pairs in slim fit, and in Joshua's size (7x) We found one more today, and it will have to be enough.

Rebecca and Christina needed slim fit jeans too. I think retail stores should be like those buildings where the ladies' restrooms have 2x as many stalls as the men's restrooms. They need to make more jeans in slim fit. They obviously have not made enough for my family. We lucked out and found enough in their sizes although Christina's have an elastic waistband and I'll have to take them in for her just a bit. And then we found bermuda shorts in denim and twill for Christina (on the clearance rack!). Thank God bermuda shorts came back into fashion. I cannot bear shorts that are so skimpy on length, they barely cover a child's behind. Even David says, "No girls of mine are wearing 'daisy dukes'."

Of course, the girls needed a few long sleeved tee's, and we found some, "2 for 12", so Christina got 2, and Rebecca got 4. They each got matching tees, in a purple print and a pink print. Yes, I've encouraged it, but I'm glad they enjoy dressing alike. Who knows how much longer that will last.

Lastly, we hit Payless for shoes. I had the great fortune of all my kids destroying their tennis shoes over the summer, but thank God (another small grace), it was BOGO time. We found shoes everyone liked, but Christina wanted Tinkerbell shoes, "just like Becca's." We had to call the Woodlands Payless and put her shoes on hold. Gabriel got a pair of shoes too, since with the BOGO, his were only $6. (yes, score one for mom!)

Then we drove through Chick-fil-A for lunch. The one on I-45 was so crowded, we decided head to the one up on FM 2920 instead. By now, Gabriel was crying, his way of saying, "I've had enough shopping--and I'm hungry!" He'd been an angel up unto this point. We make it home, and the kids and I chow down. Shopping makes us really hungry! After lunch, the kids wanted to try their shoes on again. I realized Joshua had picked out a pair of size 2's, but he'd measured at a 2 1/2. Oops. I wasn't paying attention was I? So we'll have to try a 2 1/2 when I go back to get Christina's shoes. No way am I paying money for shoes that are too small. Then I noticed one of the shoelaces on Gabriel's shoes was nearly shredded in half. Oops again. Guess that means 2 pairs of shoes are going back.

The only thing I didn't find today was denim shorts for Joshua. Kohls was cleaned out, so I'm saying a final prayer that we'll get some tomorrow, hopefully on sale or clearance.
Overall, today was an 8 on a scale of 1-10. But now, I have a headache. Think I'm going to get some ibuprofen and take a nap!