I took all eight of my kids to Costco today. It was a first. The kind of first that was apparently palpable, as someone offered to take a picture of all of us as we were all exiting the van and getting babies into carts. I took her up on it, and have some very cute pictures of all of us that of course I can’t post on here. Ugh. Such a bummer. But, trust me, it was pretty cute.
We did a GIANT Costco haul, buying lots of doubles of things, thinking ahead to the weekend we’ll spend at camp. We bought lots of things we’ve been out of for a good long while. Some convenience things. Lots of snacky lunchy things. Some baking stuff. Wipes. Condiments. It was a solid haul, and we came away with most of what we came for. No lettuce. No snap peas. No dried strawberries. No english muffins. No propane, though that one was on me. Still. After spending a fortune and hauling three carts and eight children through the store, we came out with more than enough!
Once we got back to town, we dropped Dekker off at a prearranged event, and went home. The rest of us unloaded all the groceries and everyone got a job. I got all the babies in and stuck a couple in high chairs. I made a bottle for the smallest one, and tried to get them all settled and eating. Rowan started doing his usual afternoon job – dishes, while Laela, Solly, and Wavy started to unload the groceries. I helped with that, too, but not too much, as a certain little lemon drop needed my assistance quite often. Once my unloaders were done unloading, they put the fridge and freezer stuff away, and I promised to put the rest away. Laela ended up volunteering to feed the lemon drop the end of the bottle, and at that point, I realized my Waverly had totally snuck off and dodged her job.
So I earned a helper! Hahaha! She and I organized every item that had come into the house. We made the pantry make sense. We opened packages and put them in better containers. We cut boxes open so we wouldn’t have to when the time came to open them up. And then Wavy did laps and put aside all the things we will take to camp in their own box elsewhere in the house. When that was done, she took the garbage out to the garbage and the recycling out to the recycling.
Being that she had unfortunately lost most of her free time, I cut apart a couple batches of granola bars that I made the other day and had her wrap them up for the freezer. She worked really hard, but it was that final task that brought out the remorse. So it felt like a win, but it wasn’t mean or horrible. She wasn’t alone even once through it. I don’t know. It felt like a success somehow.
I will admit that right now, I’m sick to my stomach, barely able to sit up to write this post. Which is very disappointing :/ Because while it was a decent undertaking, I truly enjoyed taking all the kids out!! So I’m bummed my body is responding so badly, but I have no regrets!
If I knew any of them would ever see it, this is the part where I would thank all the awesome people in Costco today who celebrated my large family with me, not once making me feel judged or like we were an inconvenience. It felt like a warm group in there today, and I’m really grateful that it played out so nicely 💜
It will not be the last time! I sure love those kids!