Am I In Hell Or In The Grocery Store

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For me, beating my head against a wall ten times would be funner than grocery shopping with two kids. Typically, I go to Winco where it is cheapest. The down side to Winco is that you have to be careful when you go. If you go anytime after 11 am it is busy and the worst time is at the first of the month. If you go then you will be there for three hours.

I have mastered the best times to go but I can not master how my children act. Gabe, my oldest, is pretty helpful. He enjoys bagging the fresh fruit and often even helps grab stuff of the shelf. He even helps me put the stuff on the conveyor belt at the check out line. Although it takes twice as long he insists on helping me bag it up as well. It does tend to cost me for all his help. He likes to pick out foods he likes and even though they are not on the list if it is healthy he usually gets it. If he is a good boy he gets to chose one non healthy snack as well.

Now, Hayden on the other hand is where my grocery shopping nightmare begins. Hayden always starts out in the shopping cart. He sits there looking ever so cute for roughly 7 minutes. Then all the commotion starts. Hayden refuses to sit in the cart and if forced to the store manager will likely ask me to leave due to the large amounts of crying. It is not an always chore to push the cart around with one hand and carry a baby in the other hand. It does not get easier as the cart gets fuller either.

While we run through our grocery list getting the items needed as quickly as possible I actually find myself breaking a sweat. Seriously, I am getting a work out while grocery shopping. I have had enough at this point and I start grabbing two of everything hoping to prolong my next trip to the grocery store.

We are nearing the end and oddly enough Gabe held up real well. I, however am getting dead arm and really could use a glass of water.

As I put the groceries on the conveyor belt the cashier is ringing them up faster than I can unload and start bagging the food. She starts putting my groceries on the other side too. Oh brother! This is a lot of work. Finally the cart is empty enough to sit Hayden in the basket part and start bagging up the food. I am only able to put a few bags in the cart before Hayden starts to climb on the food. Now the remainder of the food must be bagged with him in my arms. Finally it is done!

Now we get to load it in the car! That is not so bad since I can sit the kids in their car seats.

Unloading and putting it all away... that is a breeze after the experience I just had.

What do you do to keep your kids happy while grocery shopping?