getting out of the house

How going to the supermarket 5 miles from my house takes all morning:

9:00 bring kids upstairs; turn on Curious George

9:03 ask Abby to brush her hair; she screams and ducks under a blanket

9:05 attempt escape to bathroom to brush teeth and put in contact lenses; despite interesting TV show Claire follows me in and walks out with a handful of tampons

9:10 vaguely register that a tampon parade is now underway; take opportunity to put on some make-up and get dressed

9:15 tell Abby she really needs to brush her hair; I have become invisible

9:25 find Claire under bed and wrangle her into clothes

9:30 attempt to brush Abby's hair; get a one brush in before she runs off screaming

9:35 get out clothes for Abby

9:45 convince Abby that it is too cold out to wear a bathing suit; settle on bathing suit under clothes; give up on brushing hair and tie the whole mess back in a ponytail

9:50 head downstairs to get coats and shoes; Abby wants to bring her giraffe in the car; Claire wants to bring a piece of her long lost crib mobile; I say yes to both

9:55 Claire finds her boots and brings them over; Abby finds her clogs and in an increasingly agitated voice, repeatedly asks 'Is this the right foot' until I say yes; she then calmly puts them on

10:00 get out coats, Claire runs away

10:05 get in car; negotiate truce regarding how to hang crib mobile piece in the car

10:10 get kids strapped in car; Abby: "Mommy, I'm hungry" Claire: "Me too! Me too!"

10:15 back in the car with bags of crackers

10:20 arrive at market

Why bother at all? Because the alternative is driving each other bat shit at home as I count the minutes until nap time.

Spring time, please come soon.