On Thursdays, the older girls are gone from the house all day, from 9 AM until 9:30 PM at their home away from home, the dance studio. I tend to not plan field trips or outings on Thursdays because of this, I always want them to have the choice of joining us in the things we do. I decided this morning that I would take the kids that were here with me to Walmart and let them pick out gifts for whichever of their siblings they had drawn in our family name drawing. It worked out well because Cade needed to buy from Brett, Jacob for Emily, and Grant for Luke, all of whom weren't with us. The only difficult purchase would be William buying for Cade, since Cade was with us. I thought the whole thing through and decided that I would let Cade show Will a couple of things he wanted and then I would have him wait in the next aisle with Jacob while Will decided what to buy. I would then send Grant to the front of the store to check out with William while I waited in the back with the other kids, because we had additional shopping to do. Grant was told to double bag the purchase, put the receipt in the bag and tie it shut and then come back and rejoin us. The store was quite busy and after waiting about 10 minutes and having every child kidnapping story I could remember run through my head, I decided to go to the front of the store, just as Grant was finishing tying the bag in a knot! Will was smiling and holding the change. Purchase complete, now to get on with our shopping!

We ended up spending about another hour shopping and then went to check out. We ended up in the same lane Grant and Will had checked out through earlier. The lines were long, the kids were being kids, I was chatting with the woman in front of me when I hear the cashier say,

"Ma'am, are those your children?"
"Yes" I answer, turning quickly to see what they must be destroying to elicit such a question from the cashier
"I just want you to know that your boys checked out through this line earlier and they are two of the most well behaved and well mannered children I have ever met. And your older son, he was so wonderful with the little one. You certainly are doing something right"

OK, so knock me over with a feather. I am sure the smile on my face must have been HUGE and the glow to my skin rivaling the best glow ever! Of course we were no sooner in the van than Sophia was screaming about her gum and that everyone else was only getting ONE piece, but that cashier's words still resonated in my head!