Hobby Lobby.

This morning we ventured to one of my all time favorite stores. In Provo, we used to go there a lot. And I'd purposely leave my wallet in the car. It's one of those stores where I can easily load up and walk out with everything I didn't need, but my house and children would look adorable.

Lately it's been hard to go anywhere with the girls. Aoife's getting 7 or 8 teeth right now, we like to nap in the mornings, and Claire is two. Enough said. But I was determined. My poor girls have been bowless for so long. Tomorrow we're having a little bow making party and needed to restock my supplies.

Here's how this little adventure went down. When we left, the sun was rising, and it looked like it was going to be a nice day. On days like that, I sometimes let Claire wear her Elmo slippers out of the house. We were going to drop Ross off at work, do a little grocery shopping, and then go to Hobby Lobby.

The rain started to fall as we were leaving the grocery store. By the time we arrived at the prime destination, the ground was one massive puddle. Not thinking, I took Claire out of her car seat and set her on the ground. I might as well have set her in boiling lava.So there I am, a baby in each arm running through the parking lot. One laughing like she's on a roller coaster, the other wailing because her stupid mother didn't think enough to put real shoes on her child.

Claire's been inside Hobby Lobby more than enough times to have my, "do not touch anything" speech memorized. Once Aoife's settled in the cart and we start making our way to the ribbon section, Claire holds out her hands and says loud enough for everyone in the city to hear, "No touch!" Claire gets just as distracted as I do in that store. We wander and meander and make sure we see EVERYTHING on the way to the ribbons. I start handing spools and bags for Claire to toss in the cart, while Claire comments on how cute a particular shade of green is. We make our way down the length of the store, stopping occasionally while Claire sits on a shelf with her Rapunzel doll and tells me to "have fun" like she'll see me later.

While we picked out headbands, I turned for a minute and when I turned back Claire was GONE. I thought she was just around the corner, so I threw some clips in the cart before I started the search party. She wasn't around the corner. In fact, she was GONE. My heart stopped and relocated somewhere in my butt is sunk so low. I ran up and down the aisles like a mad woman saying her name, though not loud enough to start a scene. Then I heard something fall and shatter a few aisles away.

My thoughts went from "Someone took my daughter" to "I really hope that wasn't something that costs $200" I made my way in the direction of the shatter. (Poor Aoife in the cart must have felt like she was on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride) and was glad to see it wasn't my child who had caused the damaged goods, but back to feeling frantic because my toddler was still missing. Then I heard her giggle, and saw her pig tails flying as she ran down another aisle. The stinker was intentionally running and hiding from me.

Aoife and I cut her off, and sent Claire into a squealing/laughing fit. And now I will be investing in a child leash.