My LORD!

So I didn't get any pictures at the field trip because it was a crazy mob scene of 4 year olds and Dylan. Yikes!
There were other siblings along for the trip who were around his age, so I didn't feel weird about taking him. There was even another baby!
But, Dylan is clearly a handful, so my attention was focused on him and not, I repeat NOT on the cute firemen. Not at all!

Here's the recap.
We started out at school where the kids got a sack lunch and then sang some songs while we waited to go over to the fire department.
This was a WALKING field trip, the FD is right around the corner from the school.
So, picture about 40 four year olds all holding onto those ring lines like from "Jon & Kate Plus 8" yeaaaah.
Then add in the five or six younger siblings, the two babies, all the moms, the frazzled teachers...
It was quite a scene.
When we got to the fire department all the kids got to climb up into the cab of a fire engine and check it out and then come right back out the other side.
My kids loved this part.

Then we climbed up these HUGE stairs (which made me sort of queasy) and watched a movie about fire safety featuring Donald Duck. I'm 99 percent sure that I watched the same movie when I was a kid.
This time around though, I noticed that the movie featured a very young Mark-Paul Gosselaar and I think Brian Dunkleman. Weird. Very weird.

During this part of the field trip, the baby got restless so he nursed in the back of the room. Dylan demonstrated the fire safety techniques he learned from the film by crawling all over the floor, presumably to avoid the invisible smoke gathering in the upper half of the room.

Then we had to go DOWN the big giant stairs, which was slightly MORE quease-inducing and made more than a few kids freak out.

Then a fireman slid down the fire pole, to the delight of all the kids. I think some moms will be scrambling to change Halloween costumes at the last minute after THAT display!

After that it was all over and we walked back to the school without incident.

I let the kids play in the playground for a while, but school was over and we left after about a half hour of playing.

This is where the story gets ugly.
I stopped off at the store to pick up some meat for dinner. I had $7 in my wallet and some PayPal money.
I picked out some chicken breasts (on sale, 50% off!) and almost 6 pounds of hamburger meat for about $10. Not a GREAT deal, but not bad.

I got up to the register and found $2 left in the change return. Thank you self checkout!

As I got ready to be a booper, Elizabeth demanded a push pop as compensation for the lollipop she let her brother have her brother stole from her and ate in 5 seconds.

When I went around the checkstand to get a push pop, Dylan stole an apple off a nearby fruit display and bit into it. I didn't NOTICE because Elizabeth started yelling about how she changed her mind and wanted a donut instead.
No donut! No way! Push pop only!

I scanned my items, still oblivious to the apple theft. And tried to pay. My card wasn't working...I slid it through again. Didn't work. Again. Nothing.
Gah!
I put my $7 and the $2 from the change return into the machine. Then I slid my card. That time it worked.
I'm bad at math I guess and overestimated my PayPal balance. Oops!

During that melee, ELIZABETH shoplifted an apple and started eating it!

"What are you doing!?!"
I had already paid, had NO more money and my kids were eating forbidden fruit!

The manager gal came over and said "It's ok, they can be samples."
So nice.

I did give them a good harsh talking to out in the car about not stealing.

"You cannot steal apples from the store!"
Elizabeth said "But I was hungry" and took a bite of the apple.
"So! You have to PAY FOR the things you want!"

Ugh!
I gave up trying to teach them this fine point and just started the car and headed home. I think I'll leave the rest of the lecture to their dad. I'm exhausted.

They were gooood apples though.