Food meets floor

Joseph and the blueberry muffin

Last week at Costco I had both of the kids with me.  But lucky me, it was "sample" day.  Last time there were samples at Costco it was a huge hit and kept the kids entertained and even provided lunch.  Hoping we would hit another gold mine we cruised through the food isles trying to get the three items I had come to Costco for. Literally.  First sample. Chips and salsa.  Rebecca starts whining: "I want some chips, I want some chips." Joseph starts screaming. I'm sure he was saying the same thing as his sister.  A lady was talking to the sample lady.  "Don't worry, your day will get better."  I grab my first sample of chips and salsa and hand it to Rebecca.  I grab another one and hand it to Joseph.  Rebecca: "Ooops, Mommy, I spilled."  She has salsa all over her legs.  I reach down to give her a napkin.  I turn around.  Joseph had dropped his chips and salsa on the floor and was screaming.  The lady who had just reassured the sample lady that her day would get better looked at me, my kids and the salsa everywhere and said: "Or maybe not."  The sample lady starts to head over to clean up my mess, but as supermom I am faster and get to the floor with napkins in hand despite my screaming child.

Next sample.  Something hot and Mexican.  The new sample lady is telling me the rules: "You have to take it for your children, they can't grab it themselves and be careful, it's very hot."  Okay, okay, I'm responsible, just let me take the sample so baby Tetradactyl here will stop screaming.  I blow on the sample. Temperature seems okay.  I hand it to Joseph.  He tries to put it in his mouth.  It drops and lands on the floor.  Another one bites the dust.  We're feeding the trash can today.  I can't find two of the three items I came for.  Joseph is screaming his head off.  Rebecca is trying to get in and out of the cart.  A man looks at me and says: "Believe me, these are the EASY years."  Little does he know my kids will be PERFECT teens.  

A couple of days later.  I was preparing dinner for the missionaries.  I decided I had to do something with those blueberries while they were still good.  So I started to make blueberry muffins.  Rebecca had a friend over.  Suddenly the friend was moody about something, so I told them they could come help me with the muffins.  But I was in a hurry and having a 4 and 3 and 1 year old help you bake when you're in a hurry is never a good idea.  They spent most of the time washing their hands and getting their chairs into the kitchen while I stealthily kept putting in the ingredients.  They helped me stir the dough.  Somehow things got out of control.  I don't even know what happened.  Suddenly the two girls were in the bathroom without their dresses on washing the kitchen floor mat in the sink, a tomato was squashed all over the kitchen floor and my new container of chocolate covered mints had also gravitated to the kitchen floor.  So I got the girls out of the bathroom before there was an even bigger flood, had them get dressed, sent them back to the neighbors house (who luckily took Joseph for 15 minutes, too), cleaned up the tomato, the mints and got the meatloaf made while the muffins were cooking. Phew.  

Just thought I'd add this post to balance the times I just talk about how cute and funny my kids are.  Did I ever mention motherhood is messy?