One of the grocery stores around here will triple your coupon amount once a month. Well, this past week ended up being one of those times, so I figured out what was going to be the best deals, cut out my coupons (68 of them), loaded Jillian and Beckam in the van and drove 20 minutes to the nearest Harris Teeter grocery store in the pouring rain. Since you can only use 20 coupons at a time, I took my first set in, got my kids situated in the cart (or hanging on the cart in Beckam's case) and ventured off on my treasure hunt. Grocery shopping is never fun, but especially not when you are looking for specific items, while worrying about keeping your 4 week old covered up and away from germs, and keeping tabs on your 2 year old who when you are walking somewhere doesn't want to walk anywhere but when you stop to look at something suddenly feels the great urge to run. Long story short, we made it to the check out counter where the nice cashier began talking to Beckam about how he got his black eye (that's a whole other story). In the meantime Iwas organizing my coupons and running my debit card, while translating toddler language. We got the groceries in the cart, told the workers "bye," stopped for a balloon, and headed outside when I heard someone yell "Ma'am!" Apparently I had forgotten to finish my card transaction and so it's back to the counter to run my card all over again. When that was taken care of we headed to the doors once again and were about to make a run for the car in the rain when again I heard, "Ma'am!" I turned around to find a man following behind me, holding out my keys in his hand. "I wouldn't have got far without those," I said and then thanked him as we headed to the car. At this point I decided that I needed a break, so I put the groceries in the trunk, the kids in the van, and got in the front seat to call Nate. I told him the story and he suggested that I not make another trip back inside and that he'd do the shopping later. But when I got off the phone with Nate I decided that instead of having him make three trips in to the store, the least I could do was make one more go at it. So, I got the kids out of the car and made a run for the store, trying very hard not to be seen by any of the workers who had to chase me down the first time. I made it through the store and got the things that I needed and decided that I'd head to the self-checkout line to assure that I wouldn't see my previous cashier. I ran all my items through, handed my coupons to the attendant, who then had to call for a manager. While we were waiting the previous cashier walked by, patted my shoulder, and said "You're back." Slightly humiliated I replied, "Yes, just trying to save my husband a trip to the store." After about 15 minutes the whole coupon thing was figured out, I loaded my groceries in to the cart, found Beckam and let him choose another balloon as we exited the store. As we headed outside I took a deep breath, feeling slightly relieved that I completed the daunting task, and we made a run (for the last time) through the rain to the van. Just as I opened the trunk I heard an all-too-familiar, "Ma'am!" I looked back at the store doors and saw the attendant holding a bag and yelling, "You forgot your eggs." At this point I wanted to just get in the van and drive away never to return, but instead I put the kids in their seats and ran back to the store to retrieve my eggs. When I got back in the van Jillian was sceaming because now I had WAY exceeded my shopping time limit and it was time to feed her and Beckam was demanding a "fuit sack." Needless to say, we made it home by only making one pit stop to feed the starving infant.
So, was it REALLY worth it? You tell me -- I unloaded 10 bags of groceries and paid under $35. Will I do it again? Maybe at a different Harris Teeter, when it's not raining, with no children, and when my brain is completely intact (so probably not anytime soon).
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McCade had his first full-day of Kindergarten on the 28th. I worried about him being gone from 7:30am to 2:30pm every day, but I quickly found that all day Kindergarten has been a blessing to our family. Even though Mac is a huge help around the house, just being down one child during the day makes a big difference. Mac is totally loving school and looks forward to the day when his mom will finally allow him to ride the bus (I'm not sure that day will be anytime soon). From day one Mac's teacher dubbed him as "the kid with the coolest hair," which Mac is totally proud of. 
Beckam is all about his new-found giganitc personality. The way he talks, his expressions, his passion for sports, and everything else just makes us smile. While Beck can say most anything now, his talking reminds us of a caveman. (i.e. "Dad. Play. Ball. Huh.") He can dribble a basketball, throw a baseball, catch a football, and bat with the best of 'em and while he's not a fan of watching T.V., if it's turned on it has to be on a ball game of some sort. 
