Today the kids and I went for lunch and Christmas shopping and tonight, my stomach hurts from laughing so much.
The plan was for the kids to take turns shopping for each other, but I still had a couple of things to pick up. Not easy to do with the three kids in tow, so I asked them to hang out on their own for a bit. My 14 year old son immediately responded, "Why, did you drop the ball on the presents this year?" I didn't know whether to laugh, feel guilty, or scold him for his sass. I couldn't help it, I chose laughter and sent them on their way.
But while I was trying to finish up my shopping, my brilliant kids, knowing I tend to worry, texted me "We're alive" or "Still alive" at least every five minutes. Kind of hard to focus on the shopping when you are laughing like a fool every few minutes.
And when we were shopping all together it didn't get any easier. I have no idea why my kids are incapable of walking in a straight line or of keeping their hands to themselves. They were shoving each other, bumping into me, tripping on each other's feet, and veering in front of me as we tried to walk through the crowds in the mall. Today's experience should have been totally irritating, but honestly it was so much fun. My kids are clever and fun and such good company and today was amazing. Or maybe that's just the Christmas spirit talking...