I'm not that girl.

I was in Target the other day, stopping off at the in store Starbucks (beyond handy, let me tell you), 'rewarding' myself for making it through the store unscathed and somewhat sane. 

Except I was alone, so justifying the 'reward' was slightly more complicated, but I managed to come up with a good reason why I could still get my Mocha...it wasn't all that complicated really - I am very good at self reward so I have a top 5 list of reasons "Why I Need a Reward" but that is certainly for another time.

It was then that I realized.

I just went shopping. 

Alone.

While the kids were in school.

I used to be the girl (we will say girl cuz lady sounds old and I don't want to be in that category yet) who had to take 3 kiddos shopping with me. 

ALL. THE. TIME.

Back when the twins were still in a stroller and there were no carts at Target for small kids, so I had to purchase only what I could carry or stack on top of the stroller. I was NOT going to drag a shopping cart behind me, push a stroller and keep track of a toddler. Not this girl. There is nothing strong enough at Starbucks to justify that amount of ridiculous.

As they got older - and by older I mean 3 - I let them walk. That was nearly fun 1 in 10 times. 

Then Target invested in the "I have more than 1 kid that needs containment" carts...we tried that. Once. Y'all, do you know those have kid seats that FACE each other? So yes, they could just sit and kick each other. Boy THAT was fun.

Walking it is.

But the other day while doing my 1 cart shopping I noticed 2 different mom's trying to juggle and struggle with not only the kids in the  'kick your sibling cart', but with driving of the actual cart itself. 

I just stood and thanked my lucky stars that I never really got on board with using that cart.  We evolved. I bribed bought popcorn to keep them occupied while we shopped and frankly it became easy and routine (yet, still I rewarded myself..obviously...)

But it made me realize just how drastically my life has changed in the last 3 months. 

I am no longer home schooling. It is bittersweet. 

We no longer read our read-alouds on the couch each morning in pjs.  I don't write curriculum or spend time inputting and researching next weeks work. We no longer go to the library and bakery on Fridays together. I no long can get laundry done regularly because I am at work 3 days a week and the other 2 seem to fill up with stuff. I have to wear something besides shorts or yoga pants to work.  We won't even discuss dinner and when or what we eat...

But I am a girl making a transition. Our life has changed and the path is what it is supposed to be and adapting is all we can do! 

But just so you know, this is what it means to be an adult...(by Mini P age 6.5yrs)

I think I have accomplished that  :)

Cheers!