Knock Down, Drag Out

I've been in a whirlwind since getting back from Africa. I was in a fog for three straight days. On the fourth day, Aaron and I were wide awake at 5am for another three days. It was actually nice because we'd both get up together and have almost an hour of talk and tea time before he'd have to start getting ready for work or one of the kids would wake up. Since those days have passed, somehow I meandered back over toward the fog. So in light of that, I wanted to share a funny Walmart story that is totally unrelated, but hopefully you will get a kick out of it.
One day I decided I HAD to go to Walmart and since I had all four kids with me at home, I HAD to take them all. Mistake #1. I was obviously in the fog that day. I traveled over to the kids' clothes department and began looking for a size. The boys were running around and I figured that as long as no one was around, they weren't bothering anyone, so I let them go. Mistake #2. Mazie is at the age where she has decided she no longer wants to sit in the front part of the cart, she wants to stand inside of it. That day she didn't want to be in it at all. Her brothers must have looked enticing with all the running around they were doing. To let me know that she wanted out, she began squealing in a very high pitched tone. I was deep in thought trying to pick the perfect size and tired of the squealing, so I asked one of the boys to get her out of the cart. Big Mistake #3. After a few minutes of quiet, I hear a woman yell, "Hey!! Stop that!!!" I knew immediately my boys were the culprits. I looked her way and found one of my boys dragging Mazie down the isle by her feet, face down! He quickly picked her up and her poor little face was filthy dirty, her expression dazed and confused. The woman looked at me with shock and disapproval and all I could do was laugh. She rolled her eyes and walked off. I laughed the whole way home.
I'm sure every mother has had one or more of those days. I have found the best thing to do is laugh first, discipline later.