First Impressions

We're making quite an impression here in our new town. I'm afriad that since we're living in a small town now, people will recognize us more. On Monday I took the girls to Hobby Lobby to get 2 small Christmas trees for their bedrooms. While we were there, Claire had a huge meltdown (ok, a temper tantrum really) because she wanted to hold the star for the top of her and Amanda's tree. When I said no, I wanted to put it in the cart (each girl was already holding their ornaments for the tree), she simply lost it. Completely. The store was quite crowded, so I was trying to make my way to the front with the choo-choo wagon to pay and Meredith bumped into a display of metal trays and canisters. About a dozen came crashing down. And I mean crashing! Nothing broke, but it sure was loud. I guess we didn't have enough people staring at us already. Claire finally calmed down and we paid for our things. As we were leaving the store, a customer in line commented how cute the girls were. The cashier said, "Oh, you should have seen them when they were little and they used to come in here!" Hmmm... guess she had me confused with the other triplet family in town. On the way out the door, Claire had another huge meltdown, this time because she wanted more gold fish. All the girls had finished their snacks, and I had already told them we would get more when we went to Walmart next. Everyone else was okay with it, but not Claire. So I walked all the way to the very end of the parking lot with a screaming child. More stares...

In the car, losing her sunglasses for having a fit made an impression, so she quickly calmed down. The trip to Walmart was fairly uneventful, if you could call pushing a cart full of groceries and a 4 year old while pulling a 3 car wagon full of 2 year olds uneventful. The last time we went to this Walmart, Claire was belting out her version of "Jesus Loves Me" as we walked down the cereal aisle. Since we're in the Bible belt now, everyone seemed to enjoy it. :) No kidding, there are about 20 churches within a 5 mile radius of our house.

Those weren't the only fits for Monday, but lets move on to Tuesday. It was Meredith's first day at her new preschool. One fit before getting in the car because she can't find the teddy bear. I offer another bear, No. A baby doll, NO. A Christmas penguin. NO NO NO!!!! Okay, well it's time to go so Meredith's not late. Amanda chimes in, "We don't want Medith to be late!" so off we go with screaming Claire. I had promised we'd look for the bear when we got back, but that wasn't good enough. Finally calm, we get into the car but she's mad about her coat taking up too much room. It was in the low 40's so we needed a coat, but Claire didn't think so. I manage to buckle her in and off we go. After everyone else got their waffle, she finally calmed down and asked for hers. We got to Meredith's school and everyone did great while I dropped Meredith off at her class and talked with her new teacher, until the director was talking with me just before we left. Claire had another meltdown b/c she wanted to hold my hand... no pick me up. PICK ME UP!!!!!

We left the church where Meredith's school is and get to the car. Another fit b/c the coat takes up too much room. We drive to the bread outlet and have a talk about how to behave. Everyone promised to stay with me and help carry the bread. (The store is too small for the wagon.) They did great, until the end when I asked the girls to each put one pack of snack crakers in the cart. Claire wanted a second on. I told her we were all done and ready to push the cart to go pay. Nope, she wasn't ready. So another screaming, rolling on the floor fit. I just let her do it while I paid since no one else was in the store. Good thing I bought a lot of bread, since the lady that worked there probably doesn't want to see us back anytime soon.

So how's that for making a first impression where ever you go? I should say that when happy, Claire is the happiest, most joyful child. She just has the extremes on both ends mastered. And she's not the only one to throw a fit, she's just topped the charts the last two days. Can I blame it on the 2 year molars? Melissa's got all hers in, Clarie has 2 in working on #3, and Amanda has 1 in working on #2.

About that bread store... I was pretty excited! For $21.15, I got 6 loaves of bread, 1 bag of English muffins, 1 bag of bagels, 1Boboli pizza crust, 1 jar of blackberry jelly, 2 2-lb bags of fruit newtons, 3 big packages of snack crackers, and the cashier threw in a 'green bag' and 2 small packages of croissants. Wow! I hadn't inteded to buy 6 loaves of bread, but b/c I spent $20 I got to pick 3 more things from the shelf by the register. Then I got a punch card where if I spend $9 more I get a free loaf of bread and a free snack cake... Not too bad! Greg made a trip to Albertson's to look for "rotten meat" - that's what he calls the meat that's been marked down b/c it expires in a day. He spent $60 and got 2 racks of pork ribs, 2 3-lb packs of extra lean ground beef, 2 seasoned pork tenderloins, 4 2-lb pack of boneless chicken, 1 large beef roast... and I think that's it, though I'm probably forgetting something!

I promise to post pictures soon. Very soon! :)