Back to school shopping- our style!

To those of you who know me well, you know how much I dislike shopping, that includes shopping for clothes, the house and groceries. Internet shopping is the best invention ever and is my preferred way to shop. For some reason, I just don't have the shopping gene. As a teenager, I hated it when my friends wanted to go to the mall. I don't know where this hatred of shopping came from, perhaps it was because for the first 12 years of my life, we lived so far from shops that it was a twice a year event to go to the city and shop (before Christmas and for back to school clothes) therefore I never practised, or maybe because I wore a school uniform most of the time and didn't need to shop for fashion, or maybe it's because I never have any money, LOL. In any case, I was forced to go out into the world and shop with my boys this week. It's crazy to think that we are doing back to school shopping already, where did summer go? But last year I waited too long and we were scrambling at the last minute to find those "essentials" (ex: red 1" binder filled with 100 sheets of loose leaf college ruled paper). The school supply list from the boy's school seems to get longer each year. This year we are actually providing printer paper and Clorox wipes.

So, armed with the printout of the supply list and accompanied by two grouchy boys (they hate shopping as much as I do), we headed out. First stop was Walmart where we dropped $70 on school supplies but it felt great to check everything off those lists. Next up was the big Mall. I explained to the boys that we couldn't just shop online because they seem to grow bigger before my eyes and it's important to try clothes on. I tried to sound convincing as I told them this would be fun. We shopped for about 30 minutes, found a few shirts but the enthusiasm just wasn't there so we made a stop in the food court. This lifted our spirits and fueled us for the rest of the mall. I am proud to say we left with 2 hats, 2 backpacks, 10 shirts, 4 pairs of shorts and 2 toffee apples (thank you Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory for the mid afternoon sugar boost). I didn't buy one item for myself but mom, you will be so proud, I even went into stores like Ross and Marshalls (I usually have an anxiety amidst those disorganized racks of clothing, and what the heck are "knit tops" anyways?). I tried not to think about the credit card charges and congratulated us on a successful shopping trip.

Now that is out of the way, we can enjoy the rest of our summer. Next up is my birthday celebration at Wet N' Wild which is a big waterpark. This is a family blog! And a trip to So Cal to the beach!
In the meantime, this little guy is keeping us busy. We are petsitting our friend's tiny Yorkie. He is adorable but so tiny. I was so worried he would get stepped on around here, he's like 1.5 lbs full grown, and I won't let him outside by himself in case a bird of prey flies off with him. We are loving how cute and snuggly he is!