EC 2011: The Car Seat Shuffle? Just Dance!

July 20, 2011

As a parent, I've learned that something as simple as leaving the house to run an errand is a bit more complicated with children. Even on the best of days, there's never such a thing as just running out the door. When you are traveling out-of-state, using other people's cars, shuffling carseats in the 110 degree heat only to realize you only brought one of two locking clips to properly secure said carseats into the 1980s vehicle. . . Well, you begin to wonder if it's even worth trying to leave the house that day.

On Wednesday, we had the chance to spend some time with Jess' baby nephew Zach. He is adorable, and my girls loved having a smaller child to pay attention to. However, having three children in our possession required three backseat spaces in the car, and Jess' only had two. So we figured we'd do a car swap. Simple enough, right? After I unsuccessfully tried to shuffle and re-secure carseats for an hour, Jess' sister Tammy came to our rescue and signed on as our second chauffeur for the day. Problem solved!

We first stopped off at Foster's Market to pick up some yummy sandwiches for lunch. Then we drove over to Grandma Nancy's work (Jess' mom's) and invaded their staff room. I'm glad we got to spend a little more time with her-- and help show off her new grandson too. While at her office, my girls provided the entertainment. Ally danced around and told stories. Cora asked to go to the potty, and proceeded to sing and chat while she pooped. I'm sure the people in the waiting room could hear everything, and they were probably rolling on the floor with laughter on the other side of the door.

After lunch, Tammy graciously volunteered to be our babysitter so Jess and I could do a little shopping. We dropped her and the three children off at Jess' and ran out the door. And, sans children, we were able to leave quickly and without any complications. Imagine that!

Jess accompanied us to Taunja's for dinner that night. We had shrimp, and also pasta with cream sauce and bacon. Yummy! T has always known how to treat me right. You can never go wrong with those ingredients. It was fun to catch up some, but we didn't have enough time for all the in-depth conversations we could've had.


We spent part of the time chatting, and part of the time discovering the joys of "Just Dance" on the Wii. Taunja turned it on, handed Ally a remote, and the fierce competition began. T won in a landslide, although Ally says it was the other way around since she spent the whole event believing their status bars were switched. Somewhere in the middle of the dancing Brittany came home, so we got to visit with her, too. We cooled down with some Italian water ice, T got a head massage, we quickly perused a book about smashed fairies, and then it was time to leave my beloved T again. Don't worry Taunja, we promise to be back. Ally's been practicing her moves for a rematch. . .