The Wal-Mart Disaster 04/27/09

Okay, for all of those loving, concerned people who often have asked me, "Don't you ever get out of the house & take the kids anywhere?" -- This is for you!!  Let's take a stroll down memory lane.  Walk with me, won't you...

Things have been going well lately.  I've even managed to venture out with the little angels a few times without wanting to do anyone major bodily harm, so today seems like another good opportunity to practice a little more human interaction.  (Wait a minute, I've got this little feeling that something scary lurks ahead in the shadows.  It must be my imagination.  What could possibly go wrong?  Out into the wide, wide world we go.)  The pantry's a little low, so let's take a little trip to Wally World.  Normally, Alex has one cart with the kids while I have the groceries in another.  I'm not crazy enough to actually think that my children are going to listen to me & of their own free will walk calmly along the cart with only me there to threaten them should they decide to venture off on their own.  Therefore, I follow the usual protocol; I push one cart ahead of me with the kids tucked safely inside & pull one behind me with my groceries piling high.  The trip of course goes as one would expect -- "Mommy, I want that!", "I want down!", "Wait, wait, go back.  I need to see that again.", "Are we finished yet?"...  Finally, I've had enough.  To the check out area we go!  I get everything on the belt & reach for my debit card.  Wait!  What do I hear?  Cry, scream, wail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I look back at my darling children who are now on the floor, of course, next to the cart that is now on its side.  They turned the cart over doing bodily injury to all on the way down.  Sean has blood pouring from his forehead, Makayla is screaming much more loudly than anyone else, & Zach is holding his side.  Within about 10 seconds, I had at least 6 Wal-Mart employees at my side.  We met the manager, assistant manager, & who knows who else.  They brought band-aids, cold packs, gauze, & just about anything else that they could think of.  Remember:  I have all of my groceries on the belt.  Do I tuck my tail & run?  Of course not!  I put Zach & Makayla in the cart with the groceries.  I tell them that they'll be fine, they're not even bleeding.  Sean goes on a hip while I keep the gauze on his forehead.  About this time, I remember that Alex was expecting us to pull into the Sam's parking lot about 10 minutes ago.  So I call him to ever so politely inform him that we're on our way home, & he can make the necessary purchases from that store.  I'm done!!!  On the way home, I make a call to our family nurse, Aunt Simone, to see if any trips to the ER might be in order.  Everyone lived through the experience.  But just in case you're tempted, please don't try to convince me that outings are necessary to my existence.  I'll survive much more happily without them, & my children may not survive at all if I venture out again.

The pictures don't look all that impressive, but believe me when I say that those little cuts were intent on expelling as much blood as possible.
Zach's battle wounds.  He still thinks his side hurts weeks later...
Remember, my little princess was the loudest screamer of all.  This is all that she had to show for her loudness!