Mommy Lesson #15(ish): Don't Tell

Moral: Keep it a secret.

Okay, so I KNOW this already, I've practiced it SO many times.  Still, sometimes it just doesn't happen the way I plan.  A while back, we were planning on visiting a friend.  I told the boys before we left the doctor's office.  We walked outside and guess what - nasty snow.  I did not want to stop to play on the way home.  I had 2 very disappointed boys.

Today?  Yes.  Today... I needed something (anything) to motivate my troops to get ready for the day.  I said to Monkey, "we are going to the "star mall" today to play with your friends."

(the star mall is the one with Macy's, he identifies it by the Macy's sign)

We drop Mr. Crum off at work just before 8 every day that we use the van.  Malls do not open at 8am.  I knew that when I told him, but did not expect the reaction that I got when we had to drive past the mall to accomplish another task (we needed to print pictures - I thought we'd go to Walmart - for future reference, their photo labs open at 9, not 8).  THEN we had to drop off my time card.  Yikes.  There was a lot of wailing, sobbing, screaming.. and that was just me.  Okay, is it time yet?  Nope, our play date is 10:30 and it's not even 9 yet.  Ugh... I really needed to finish some work on the computer this morning.  SO - we went to McDonalds.  This is usually a joyous occasion - did I mention that we've already passed the star mall going in 2 different directions?  How about the fact that McDonalds is across the street from the mall?

We ended up going to the mall much earlier than our friends.

What a morning!
My 3 year old screamed (multiple times) "I NEED Go to mall!"  I wish I could record him saying that so that a few years from now I can pull it back out and say, "see - you need to go, it's for your own good!"