Oh what a day!

I had the day off today and thought I would take the kids to get their pictures done since we hadn't since Jayden was 1 month old. I had to go into work for a bit in the morning to do a quick partial inventory so the kids ate their breakfast at my store while I worked entertained them. I'll have to remember how much of a hassle it was trying to coral them and get them to eat rather than trying to rip the store apart. More cheerios got crunched into the newly cleaned carpets than into their tummies.

I should have given up and just gone home but since the mall didn't open for another hour and we were going to do pictures at Penneys we went to Target to waste some time and money. I can't leave Target without getting Starbucks. The kiddos didn't want their juice and cheerios. They wanted my carmel mocha Frap. And man did they want it. I got a purdy new comforter set in an effort to make my room a little nicer. (It looks great with my new lamp and sheet set. Hmmm now I just need to paint the walls, get a new dresser and put up some pictures.)

I got some shoes and clothes for the kids on clearance and we headed for the checkout. Why is that kids always do this huge freakout at the checkout. It happens to me every time. I changed Trevor's clothes in the car because I found the cutest outfit for him that matched somewhat with what Jayden was wearing. Freaking out the whole time.

Again I should have given up. But those pictures were going to be taken!

At Penneys there were a ton of people and I hadn't thought ahead to make an appointment so it would be an hour before we could get in. So we wandered the mall. I got Trevor yet another pair of shoes that looked better with the outfit than the ones he had on. We ran into CVS and got some cereal bars for bribery a healthy snack. I spent some more money that I didn't have on a cute necklace. (But it was on sale!!!)

We went back and waited. And waited. And waited. Trevor entertained himself by dumping the box of crayons they had on the floor not once but 3 times. There was ALOT of them. Once he tried to step on them and grind them into the carpet but I reminded him he had done enough damage to carpets at my store! He tried to color on the chairs and on the wall when I was tending to Jayden who was confined to the stroller but starting to get antsy. Luckily I noticed before he did any damage.

Finally it was our turn. The last time we went to Penneys they had the table that kids sat up on and the camera on a tripod. I guess they don't do that anymore. Trevor was free to run on and off the backdrop freely. He didn't really want anything to do with having his picture taken, which is why it's been over a year since we've had them done. We tried getting him to play catch. She managed to get only 2 pictures of him, though they aren't great, at least they were pictures. Most of the time he was running from the girl and pointing at her saying, "No Pi-tur!" with and angry tone and matching scowl.

While we tried to get Jayden to sit still for her pictures Trevor rummaged through their drawers and props. He brought me all kinds of photo albums, magnets, key chains, etc. Jayden though a little easier to photograph was unsure about this crazy girl making strange noises and wouldn't sit still either. The first few shots were of her clinging to my leg with a scared half smile. Luckily she warmed up a bit and we were able to get a few great pictures of her.

I really wanted to get a few pictures of the two of them together. I tried to get Trevor interested in the bench that Jayden had been sitting on and they started fighting over it and smacking each other a bit. So I found another bench and fished out a cereal bar. I didn't even think to take it out of the wrapper. This luckily all happened while they were on the backdrop so she was able to quick snap a picture before Trevor realized it and ran away leaving a trail of crumbs on their backdrop.

I really wish I had thought to take it out of the wrapper before handing it to him because the only picture of the two of them looks like a Honey nut cheerio advertisement. They both snarfed it down like a couple of hungry wolves. Duh, they didn't eat hardly anything for breakfast and it was quickly approaching lunchtime.

Trevor was losing his cool pretty quickly so I handed them another cereal bar and thankfully that kept them both busy while I picked out and paid for the pictures. On the way to the car Trevor threw a huge fit and threw himself to the floor in the middle of the store and I tried the walking away thing and he would run to get around me and throw himself down right in front of the stroller. He did this 3 times so I had to pick him up and carry him out while still trying to push Jayden in the stroller. This continued with kicking and screaming all the way to the car.

Once in the car he thrashed and screamed all the way home. I tried turning on the radio and he only screamed louder and kicked my seat. When we got home the tantrum continued and he was trying to fight with Jayden. So he got put in timeout while I made lunch. He was red and covered in sweat by this time.

His antics were then mirrored by Jayden so now I had two kids having bloody freakouts, not staying in timeout and trying to smack each other around. Gahhhhhh.

Finally lunch was ready and though there was crying and whining through it, it was at least better. Finally it was nap time. And all was finally quiet for two blissful hours!