shop-a-thon

i did something today that i don't really recommend to anyone. i went shopping for a bathing suit. with both girls. like i've said before, they give a pretty detailed play-by-play analysis of what's going on in the dressing room. fortunately, they are very complimentary and generally make only positive comments. they just make those comments very loudly. i tried to keep them occupied today with tic tacs while i tried on clothes. it worked fairly well...as long as i could change clothes faster than they could eat the tic tacs. we went to seven stores in two different malls. i felt bad for dragging them all over the place, so we stopped in the mall's play area to run off some energy. for the first time ever, my two were the biggest kids there. they were able to walk across the balance beam alone, climb in and out of the cars alone, and they knew not the leave the play area. i even got to sit on the bench and relax. i didn't have to intervene a single time. the first time we went there, i spent most of my time chasing each one back inside the play area. how times change!

today, i'm thankful for:

1. my new, black bathing suit

2. my husband, who stopped on his way home from work to pick up something from the mall that i wished i had bought while i was there

3. my kids' patience and cooperation today at the mall

4. a vacuum cleaner that works again

5. tic tacs!