Mission Impossible

(Insert funky movie theme music here) Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to drive to Jonesboro, McDonough, and Lithonia with five teenage girls, one three year old, and an infant. Once at your final desitination, you are to navigate crowds, find elevators, and simultaneously hold said infant and Build-A-Bear box, push a stroller with three year old inside, and manage to NOT knock down clothing displays and small children. That's right...you are going to the mall. The day after Christmas. By yourself. With a busy three year old and an infant with a stroller aversion. In short...if you accept this mission, you are insane.

Hello...my name is Lisa. And I am officially, unequivocally, undeniably crazy. Because this is how I spent my day yesterday. Last year, I had Hannah in the umbrella stroller. I did the drive all over the greater Henry County area to pick up Sarah and Maddy's best friends, then made the short drive to Tanger. Where I leisurely shopped the amazing sales and picked up a lot of cute things for Hannah. Cold, but hey...it was shopping, one of my very favorite things to do...especially if I am shopping for the kids. When the girls asked if we could do it again this year, I thought....sure, it wasn't that bad last year. Charlotte is a good baby. I can do this.

Excuse me for a minute....
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

OK....so, anyways. This year, they wanted to go to the mall, and the closest, safest mall was Stonecrest. So after spending an hour and ten minutes getting everyone picked up, we started the thirty minute trip to the mall.

Here is Maddy, Sydney, and Olivia...pre-shopping. Sarah's friend, Rachel, didn't want to have her picture taken, but they were indeed there.

And here is my sweet big girl about a half hour into the trip. Before she threw up. Yes. You read that right. THREW UP. All over her cute new outfit, her carseat, the floor of the car. Carsick.
Once we got everything cleaned up, we finally got to the mall. The big girls went their way and Hannah, Charlotte, and I headed to Build-A-Bear. I thought she would love it, but I had forgotten that the stuffing machine makes a loud noise...and that loud noise terrified her. She did put the heart in.

And "wash" her bear

And pick out clothes for her. Here she is with Princess in her box at check out. (And just for the record, this is NOT the super cute outfit. This is the "outfit that you always kept stuck in the bottom of your diaper bag for emergencies that you haven't ever had to actually use" that really makes her look like an orphan child)

After trying to navigate Kohl's holding Charlotte, who would scream hysterically every time I put her down, and knocking over a display of Christmas dresses, and bumping into a small child, I gave up and we headed to the play area. Which was far more fun than any other part of the trip and about 1000% less stressful.

And once again, lesson learned--I am no super-mom and way way way too old for this!