January 2, 2012 - 100 Pieces

Today I braved Toys 'r Us because they had a sale.  Bringing three kids to the toy store is not a wise idea.  It is almost impossible to leave the store without buying more than you intended to purchase.  I was going to buy a exersaucer (Evenflo Exersaucer Triple Fun - Jungle - Evenflo - Babies"R"Us) for the Baby.  I checked it out online, but the shipping rates seemed unreasonable, so I figured a quick trip to the store would be the way to go.  The Girl had a gift card from her birthday, so she could get something.  But the Boy didn't have his gift card.  Actually, I intentionally left it at home so that he could use it later in the spring when the stores had the good stuff back in stock!
So I found the exersaucer and the Girl picked out a cute RC car from My Little Ponies.  The Boy saw these Angry Birds toys, I managed to talk him out of the bigger one, and therefore only set myself back $10.  The RC car of course maxed out her gift card (well, went a tiny bit over). Then when you added the cost of the battaries needed to play with it, I was well over the card.  But what can you do?  At the check out the register stopped working, and the Baby started crying, so I had to change registers, the exersaucer box was big and bulky and the Boy and the Girl were very interested in the ride on machine with Pooh and Tigger in a boat by the exit to the store (so they were no help!).  Anyhow, I changed registers and cashed out, while the Baby cried.  The I drove home while the Boy fed the Baby a bottle (it's nice to have that kind of help sometimes:))
One of the great features of this particular exersaucer is that it folds up for easy storage and travel.  So you can imagine my surprise when I got home and opened the box, there was about 100 pieces in the box which had to be assembled.  It took me most of the afternoon, but I got it together, thanks to the help of the Boy.   The first time I put the Baby in the fully assembled exersaucer he cried of course.  I know he will like it later once he is just a tiny bit bigger. 
The lesson I learned today, is never take your kids to the toy store unless you intend on either buying them a toy or leaving the store with crying children!