Listen to the words of my new theme song playing while you read this

What possessed me to take the three screaming maniacs to Walmart by myself, I am still not sure. Regardless, I took them. As soon as we walked into the store, all choas broke loose and it was a downhill battle from the get go.

I am desperately in need of new jeans and have yet to find ones that I like. So, I thought that I would give Walmart a try. While in the fitting room with four pairs that would end up my batting zero streak, the kids were having a competition to see who could bang on the walls the hardest. I was trying to calm them and still keep track of the contents of my purse that Kelton was throwing about the fitting room.

We then walked over to the bedding section where I needed to get some pillowcases for our family that is in town for the holidays. Kaeson seemed to think that it was “Bouncing Off The Walls” and commenced jumping into all of the pillows. I was trying to grab him and keep Kelton from now throwing the pillowcases out onto the ground.

If that wasn’t enough, we headed over to grocery to get my favorite drink mix in (everywhere else it is sold for twice the price.) I now have Kelton screaming to be picked up out of the cart, Kyra crying because she has run into several clothing racks because she is not paying attention, and Kaeson is throwing a MEGA meltdown because I mentioned that he might be in need of a nap.

At this point, a Walmart associate approached me to ask if I needed help to finish up my shopping trip. They were kicking me out of Walmart! Who gets kicked out of Walmart. Embarrassed, furious and now near tears, I raced to the self checkout line and got out of the store as quickly as I could. I tossed my purchases into the back of my car and threatened the kids that they only had 15 seconds to put on their seatbelts. I told them that if they talked on the way home, they were toast.

Then, the calm came. A song came over the radio that I had never heard before. The song by Lonestar called “Let Them Be Little.” As I looked in the rear view mirror, I saw Kyra quietly looking out the window, Kelty playing with a toy and Kaeson nearly asleep. My thoughts then turned to when they were born and how quickly the last few years have gone by. My anger melted away and compassion and love filled my heart.

Yes, we will have days like this. It seems like we have more and more of them all of the time. However, I only have a short while to keep my little ones little. I only hope that I can learn to manage these situations better!