The Culbertson Crew: Murphy's Law...at the Mall

First off, I didn't bring my camera to document today's mishaps at the mall, so you'll just have to imagine the scenario in your head. To provide a little background: on Saturday, we are taking some family pictures with a photographer, and of course I'm trying to find the perfect coordinating outfits for all of us to wear. Normally, I would NOT be waiting until the last minute, but we were having a hard time getting in touch with the photographer, and finally, Tuesday night, she emails back (after I sent her about four emails, getting slightly more "stalker"-ish with each email.).

Since she had not gotten back with me earlier, I was sort of thinking that maybe the photo shoot was off and I was so concentrated on the birthday hoopla, shopping for outfits got pushed to the back burner. Well, here it is, two days before the shoot, and I'm frantically trying to find something cute to wear! I know that we will all wear jeans, so that's settled, and I found a cute little top for the girls that I really liked; Paul is no problem because he can wear pretty much any color to coordinate with all of us.

Today, I set out to the mall to find something to wear. Well, five minutes out of the car, both girls started slightly fussing and wiggling in their stroller. No fear! Handing their sippy cups to them, I figured I had at least another 30 minutes before trying to figure out another distraction. Oh no, that was not in the cards for today. About 3 minutes later, the fussing turns into crying. I'm like, "Seriously, I JUST got to the mall after a 20 minute drive; give me a chance to even WALK into a store!" Where was Daddy when we needed him?

I started scrambling around, did manage to try on a couple of tops at one store, but between the crying and throwing of toys/keys/clothes/cell phone/jewelry (basically whatever I could distract them with), it wasn't too easy to see if I really liked the top or not. Growing more and more frustrated by the minute (I think all of us were at this point!), I start power-walking around the mall, zipping into stores and trying to find something that might work. This little sweetie (Claire) was egging on the other little sweetie, making it a super fun day for Mommy!

As the crying escalated and stares started coming my way, I just gave a huge, "Humph!" and stormed out! Of course, as I'm making my way out of the doors, we all get hit in the face with an arctic wind that must have blown in while we were inside, making the whole excursion even more perfect because we all had jeans and just a longsleeve shirt on - no jackets in sight. So I start running with the stroller into the wind, almost sink into a deep puddle of water, and finally get the girls loaded in the car. I'm sure I was making people chuckle if they saw me.