Bonus: How to Shop With Kids

Just had some adorbs pictures to post. (YAY iPhone!)

I have two kids, who are two and five. This can mean exasperation when shopping together. My daughter is an awesome shopping partner and totally tells me how I look in things. My son? He'd pretty much rather get immunizations than come to the mall. Unfortunately, their mother is a shopaholic so they end up at the stores with me more often than not. We've learned to deal with. Mama gets the shopping shakes when she hasn't been for a while.

But we make it fun. I shop with my kids by:

1. Bribing with pretzel bites and lemonade.

2. Allowing my son to watch "Go Diego Go!" on my phone.

3. Doing my best to endear my children in the hearts of women who work retail so they don't hate me when my son licks the mirrors.

4. Yelling at my son to stop peeking under the fitting room walls like a creep. Then apologizing to strangers.

5. Parking by the play structure and bribing my children for the entire time.

6. Chick-Fil-A. This is also fun for me. Not so fun when the salesperson informs me that they've run out of the skirt that I want but I can take the size 2 from the mannequin. I have just eaten eight pieces of delicious chicken. Ohhhhhh dear. (PS I totally bought it and then vowed to stop eating Chick-Fil-A..... until tomorrow.)

7. Going for frequent rides up and down the escalator. Sorry, Macy's.

8. Bringing my husband, who can get the kids gumballs while I hum and haw over large purchases. By "hum and haw" I mean purchase without thinking and then panic later.

9. Two words: Disney. Store. Speaking of large purchases.......

10. Employing the buddy system. Yeah, we're like seven feet across and no one can get by us. But I do get audible "awwwws" when people see my kids happily holding hands while we walk through the department store.

Awesome.





We have got this DOWN.