Shopping with 4 kids....yup.

So today I decided to venture to Aldi's to grab some food for the family. Those of you who know me know that I am an avid coupon girl and therefore I usually find myself at Tops, Wegmans or Wal-mart getting the latest freebies or good deals, however, I do generally take a once a month trip to Aldi for the essentials...and for snack foods. And Aldi has shorter hours that they are opened...and no playroom. (Ahhh...how I love Wkids at Wegmans...and I am not ashamed)

This, however, was the first time that I decided to venture there with all 4 kids by myself. I highly anticipated it being a disaster and making the decision to never do this again. but I was pleasantly surprised!

I found that I am actually learning how to function with a van full of kids 5 and under and I love it. I am not sure that people around me love it, but I don't really care. I learned a few very helpful tricks today and it really helped so I thought I'd share for any of you that might be looking to make your shopping trip just a little less crazy.

1. Get 2 carts. One for Janessa and Levi (in his car seat) and the other for food. Push the one with the kids and pull the one with the food.
2. Tell Libby and Keira a few items on my list (oh yeah..you need a list) so that they could have a job and be on the "lookout" (as if I don't have the aisles memorized). This kept them mostly occupied.
3. Hurry...like you are on a mission.
4. Make sure the kids have had a snack before you leave the house! (this I have found to be the most important)
5. Make sure everyone has gone potty before leaving the house and/or clean diapers.
6. Rather than bringing in bags and bagging your groceries in the store on the counter (where the children are running everywhere and climbing onto said counter), go out and buckle all of the kids into their seats, turn the van on  with their favorite kid tunes and quietly unload groceries into bags/boxes in the back of the van.

Now...would I like to be at the store alone....ABSOLUTELY! However, that is not really an option most of the time...so I am learning.

I would also like to say to all of the ladies who gave me dirty looks for having 4 small children or the ones that looked at me like they felt sorry for me...I GOT THIS! I don't need your pity or your dirty looks. Yes, my kids have bad moments...LOTS of them...but today they were well behaved. I can do this, I will do this, I have to do this and most of the time...I LOVE DOING THIS! This is my life, these are my little blessings from Jesus and I can only hope that in my bad moments, I don't traumatize them too much! haha.

Ok...this was a very random post but I will leave you with this verse that my daddy taught me when I was little and in his Sunday School class.

 Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Now I need to go to bed...because I took 4 kids to the store today and I didn't die.