Just call me Laura Ingalls

Day 13.

Wow, it's getting really cold outside. Right now the weather channel online says it's 5 degrees, feels like -6 degrees. I believe it. Today we didn't have real plans except for I need a few groceries - minor things - mostly produce. So, trying to be a good local business supporter, I decided to walk the kids down to Open Produce, a pretty new, really cute and tiny (really tiny) produce store that also has some grocery items as well. It's only 1.5 blocks from our house, so it's very appealing for that reason alone.

I didn't realize it was THAT cold out. And the smart mom that I am didn't put mittens on her children. My reasoning - it's 1.5 blocks away. We'll walk there, warm up while getting groceries, walk back - it will take what - 15 minutes? A nice outing to get a little Vitamin D and exercise. And won't they have fun in the snow? Those were all the thoughts that were going through my head, and all the thoughts I later cursed.

Poking a fondue stick at my eyeballs would have been more fun than that outing. As soon as we walked out the front door, the madness started. I let them each pick out a color of reusable bag they wanted to bring to help carry the groceries home in. Dylan had dropped her purple one somewhere inside and was beside herself. I refused to go back in because I knew we'd never get back out. So, we trudged along, and she was already in tears. Turn the corner from our block (20 steps out the front door) and she slips on the ice. Sweet.

This walk to the market was the LONGEST walk I have taken in a long time. Oh wait - but the way back was so much worse. We got our groceries (after them whining from hunger, me giving them bananas, Dylan drops hers, etc.), got out the door, and that's when the real fun began. I have never been so desperate to see my front door. Dylan wouldn't walk. Noah wouldn't walk. They both started crying because they were so freaking cold. And I was carrying three bags of heavy groceries (they had a lot of stuff on sale). Who's genius idea was it to walk sans stroller?

As I dragged (literally, dragged) a hysterical Noah down the sidewalk, barely holding onto my groceries with my ice-cube fingers, I got drastic. I started imagining I was a pioneer and I was strolling across the prairie trying to get back to my log cabin. This is no joke - that's how pathetic I felt.

So for today,

I am grateful we made it home safely to the log cabin, and no one got hypothermia.