Shop 'Til You Drop

I've been gone the last few days. Cheryl and I took the girls school shopping for new school clothes. I always look forward to school shopping. Cheryl took all of the pictures so I will have to leave it to her to give you some photos to view. I hope to post some pictures of the girls in their school clothes soon.

Wednesday we left for Lindsey's apartment. On the way we saw 17 small brush fires along the freeway. It was very eerie to see so many fires. Emma, who has always been very nervous around fire and anything to do with fire, probably gave herself an ulcer worrying about all the fires.

We spent some time in Old Navy first. They definitely had a better selection on Wednesday than they did on Sunday. They were having a 40% off kids sale so we did very well. After Old Navy we shopped for shoes at Fred Meyer, Target and Payless Shoe Source.

Thursday was our definite "shop 'til you drop" day. We met Christina at the outlets and hit Gap first. We all found things we really liked. I think Christina and Cheryl both found some things for themselves at Gap. After the outlets we headed for the mall. Emma's favorite store is Abercrombie and she was really looking forward to shopping there. We walked out of the store with a big fancy bag with 3 cute tees that cost more than everything we got at Gap. I guess that is the price of fashion. I know though she will enjoy her tees and Tori said as we left, "I have my first Abercrombie shirt".

After the mall we headed to Christina's with four tired girls. Yet, when we got there all four girls found their second wind and had a great time with the boys. So much fun that when we tried to put the 7 of them to bed in the same room, they couldn't quite get settled and we ended up with kids spread out in all areas of the house, including the hallway.

On Friday, we spent time at a science museum. The girls had a great time and really enjoyed all of the hands-on science exhibits. Emma is always fascinated by the exhibit that has babies from all stages of development in the uterus. Tori loved the rockets, which I think were Aubrey and Alyssa's favorite. I really enjoyed the balance exhibit. There was a volunteer that had Christina and I standing against the wall with the side of one foot and shoulder against the wall while we tried to pick up our other foot. We both found it impossible, but a had a great time trying to figure out we could get it done. After the museum we headed to IKEA. The kids all played in the play area so we 3 adults shopped without any children. After IKEA we headed back to Christina's for dinner. By then we had some very tired children and after some "melt downs" all girls were asleep by 8:00 pm.

Saturday we spent the part of the day shopping at the mall. Both Alyssa and Emma really wanted to go back to Abercrombie. This was one of the stores they didn't mind trying on clothes. In fact, Emma went around the store picking out different things to try on and then wanted to be in the dressing room by herself so she could come out and show me. We ended up in the room together, it's just faster, but she was having a great time. After the mall went to a Splash Pad at a local park. It was fun to watch the kids just be silly and carefree. After the Splash pad we had dinner and then we had a birthday party. Christina had planned a party for all of the kids. Such a great idea Christina. Emma and Tori really enjoyed it. Each kid got to have their name part of the cake after we sang the last part of Happy Birthday to each one of them.

We headed home on Sunday wiped out and broke, but happy. I had a great time shopping, but even better was the time spent with Cheryl and her girls and Christina and her family. Thanks Christina and Matt for the great hospitality and food. I'm waiting for the bill :) Thanks Cheryl for sharing the school shopping trip with me.