A Better Week, Starting with A Better Attitude

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving.  But yesterday's grocery shopping excursion to Target, Costco, and Ralphs (followed by another trip this morning to WalMart and Vons because a few of the necessary Thanksgiving meal ingredients were not available at the other three stores) with all 5 kids in tow was more than a little stressful and tiring.  Last night, after 4 1/2 hours in three different stores, trying to convince the kids that Target is not the best location for a game of tag, constantly telling the kids that they couldn't have a sample at Costco because there were only 3 or 4 samples set out on the tray and I knew what would happen if less than all 5 boys got to try one, repeatedly telling the over-tired boys to sit down in the cart, stop climbing out of the cart, and hold onto the cart in Ralphs, and one tipped over grocery cart with Courtland in it (but I did catch the cart before it hit the ground, so he was just fine), I was done.  I actually had tears come to my eyes at one point after all that (but I didn't cry) -- not so much because of what a big job it was to do all that shopping with kids that didn't quite cooperate for that many hours, but because I had gotten frustrated with them so often in the stores.  And because I always look forward to days off of school so I can do fun, relaxing things with the boys like hiking, going to the library, or going to the fort, but they had a day off of school and we ended up spending most of it shopping for groceries.

But I've decided to have a better attitude and hopefully the rest of our Thanksgiving week will go better.  Today is already looking much brighter.  This morning I had a visiting teaching appointment where we met at a playground, which Isaac and Courtland enjoyed, and the moms got to sit and talk for a bit, which I enjoyed.  And while we did that my three older boys got to go do a little soccer clinic that our friends' 12 year old son did for his little siblings, which they really loved (and I even found all their old soccer socks and shin guards, and we happened to have three pairs of cleats that happened to fit them just right, stored away in one of our many bins of boys' clothing).  After a not-so-exciting trip to two more stores this morning to find the last of the ingredients for the Thanksgiving food (I was relieved -- every year I am afraid that they will stop making one of the uncommon ingredients for my favorite Thanksgiving dish, a special salad that my great Grandma Moore used to make), and then I'd be really bummed, but I was able to find everything -- it only took 5 stores.  Then we headed home and the boys were being whiny and I was starting to get frustrated again, and then I just cooled off and took a little break from them while I ate lunch.  Then I went and helped them get started on an extra big chore that I had asked them to do (they are saving money in their "Christmas jar" to get Christmas gifts for family members, so they've been asking for extra chores that they can do to earn some money).  Anyway, I worked on it with them a while, then I went to make the fruit salad for Thanksgiving that you always have to make in advance for it to taste just right, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had finished the entire job without anymore help (or nagging) on my part, without fighting with each other, and they were just playing a card game nicely together in their bedroom.  So I told them we can go to the fort.  They're all ready to go, so I'd better get going.  I'm glad today's turned out to be a better day.  Oh, yeah, and on Thursday we get to have Jennie & Dalin, and our good friends Brook & Jonathan Dixon, and our new friends Chelsey & Brian Haffen over, which sounds like the perfect size group for a great Thanksgiving, so we're excited.  So many of our friends here are either traveling or they have family nearby, that originally I was a little bummed because I thought it might just end up being us and maybe one other family, and we're so used to having a nice big group of friends for Thanksgiving (plus it helps to spread out the cooking among a few more people too), but with 4 families it has turned out to be just right.  It should be a great week!