Awesome!

wander aimlessly,

that's what we did today. and

it was so much fun!

mall walking with kids -

usually not so great.

are you really mine?

no fights, tears, or pouts.

i even got to shop for

a new vera b.

Today has been nothing short of AWESOME! And if you know me, then you know that very rarely do I say the word awesome in connection with an outing with my kiddos (unless it's being used negatively - G and E were awesomely bad). My gal pal Jennifer and I decided to take the kids to the mall for some exercise (ok, we needed some relief from a nasty case of Cabin Fever). We figured a lap or two would tire them out a bit, and we could enjoy a quiet afternoon to ourselves. What was supposed to be an hour (or less) trip turned into three hours!! The kids were AWESOME! They walked nicely, held hands, listened, touched next to nothing...they were just awesome! Gabriel and Samuel usually end up arguing/heckling like little old men (picture Waldorf and Statler from "The Muppet Show"), so J & I were waiting for their "act" to begin. It never did. Elliott usually starts whining and being, well...a 2 year old girl. She didn't. Janna was so good that I kept forgetting she was in the stroller.

The walking itself was great, but the real test came when Jennifer and I spotted Crabtree & Evelyn. We wanted to drool over the latest Vera Bradley bags, and we were giving the kids a solid 3 minutes before they started going nuts. The woman in the store was AWESOME. She kept the little ones entertained while we tried on bags. So of course we had to buy something (25 minutes later). Jennifer purchased herself an awesome Daisy Daisy Hipster, and I bought a Raspberry Fizz Wristlet. I have created a monster - I got Miss J. a V.B. wallet for Christmas, and now she's addicted!!

Children's Place was next - they were having AWESOME sales (I got the girls a pile of fleece and stuff - I couldn't help myself. Some of the stuff was $2.49!!). The kids were great in there, too. They touched, but they were behaved. Gabriel and Sam tried to get us to buy them some "sweet camouflage" pants.

We let them throw pennies into the fountains (which was probably the highlight of the day) - something I don't think my kids had ever done. Then they all ate lunch like they had never seen food before. And because they were so AWESOME, we had ice cream! Never a treat I give the kids during the day, but they deserved it! Then everyone got to have a ride in a car or train. By the end of our trip, all 4 kiddos were exhausted. But still extremely happy. Mine are still sound asleep right now, and I know that Sam took a nap for Jennifer, too. We may have to make a trip to the mall every Friday!!