(remembered from August 2009)

Finally, it was Hayden’s turn. Corey was a sophomore in high school, and Joey was finishing up his last year of middle school. I was just happy that Hayden would have Addi on the bus with him for at least this first year. Just like Corey was with Addi, Addi is in fifth grade and his little brother was starting school.

Our little town finally got a Target (and I admit I am in there at least twice a week, but that is a whole other story), and Hayden loves this store. It’s funny actually, but he was so excited to get to pick out his school outfit. It was a Friday, Roy’s “off day,” (our shopping day?) and Hayden came into our room at about 7am. The summer sun was just starting to peek into the room.

“Can we go to Target and Costco now?” I heard this, while being tapped gently on the cheek.

“Hayden, really? Honey, it’s like… 7 in the morning. Let mommy sleep for a little bit longer.” I pleaded with him, knowing it would do no good.

“Mommy! What if my shirt is gone?” Now keep in mind, Hayden had no idea what his shirt would be, but he knew it might be gone. I sighed and got out of bed.

“Shhh…” I held my finger to my lips, “Let’s let Daddy sleep for a little bit longer, k? And then we can go to IHOP for breakfast.”

“Yes!” Hayden gave me a high five and ran out of the room, slamming the door, which of course woke up Roy.

“What’s going on?” He asked me while trying to pull the covers back up.

I leaned over to give him a kiss and told him to go back to sleep. He grunted at me and rolled back over. I got up, put my nightgown on, and went downstairs to find something to tide over the younger boys. Dean was crying, so I grabbed him out of his crib on my way down. Hayden and Addi were already awake and sitting expectantly on the couch.

“Addi, are you going with mommy and daddy to run our errands?” I asked him, knowing that more than likely he would want to stay home with his older brothers.

“Do I have to?” He asked, and I could see the wheels turning. If he stays home, then he might get to play a game or watch a movie he wants, but if he comes with us, he gets breakfast out and maybe a little treat.

I shook my head, and put Dean in his booster seat, “No, you can stay with your brothers, but you have to be good and listen to Corey. Are you going to do that?”

“Of course!” He looked at me like I was an idiot for even questioning him and asked if he could have cereal.

I got Addi his cereal and gave Dean a little waffle to tide him over. Hayden asked for a poptart, so I opened a pack and shared it with him.

“Do you know what you want to wear on your first day?” I asked Hayden smoothing his sweaty bangs off his forehead.

“No, but can I get a Bakugan?” He asked.

I sighed. Bakugan are little balls that pop open to reveal little dragons or animals when they touch metal.

“We’ll see. But remember we need to get you something cool to wear on your first day of school.”

“Ok, but I really want a Bakugan.” Rather than get sucked into this back and forth with Hayden, I gave him a kiss and walked back into the kitchen to see what Dean was doing.

Around 8:30am, Corey stumbled down the stairs and grunted at us. I told him to get something to eat and to keep an eye on the little boys, so I could run and get cleaned up.

“Do you want to go with us?” I asked Corey as he rummaged around in the pantry.

“Where?” He muttered at me.

“I need to run to Costco and then Target.” Of course, Costco is about 35 minutes away, and like Addi, I saw the wheels turning.

“Do you need my help with anything?” He asked finally coming out of the pantry with a box of Frosted Flakes.

“No, your dad is coming with me. If you want to stay home, you know the deal.”

He nodded and I ran up the stairs to get cleaned up. I walked into our room, and Roy was just starting to get up. I ran into the bathroom and heard him curse at me.

“HEY! You’ve been up here all morning, don’t blame me!” I yelled at him through the door knowing he was upset that I snagged the bathroom first.

“Yeah, open the door, or I won’t go with you.” Boy, did he know me or what?

I unlocked the door, and smiled at him while he grunted at me and pushed past me. MEN! I turned on the shower, and put my glasses up.

“Where do you need to go today?” Roy asked, and I heard the sleepiness in his voice.

“Just Costco and Target. We can go to Maru if you want.” I knew dangling the fish store in front of him would work to my advantage.

“Cool.” And he turned on the bathtub. Just then I heard our bedroom door crash open.

“Mommy!” The whine was starting to creep into Hayden’s voice, so I quickly jumped in the shower, leaving Roy to deal with him. Cowardly, I know.

“What, Hayden?”

“Can we go yet? I put my clothes on.”

Roy told him to be patient and that we would leave as soon as we were ready.

“Well, are you ready yet?” Hayden persisted.

“No, Hayden. Mommy has no clothes on, and Daddy is in his underwear. Relax, we won’t be long.” Roy responded.

Hayden nodded at Roy and ran out of the room. I finished up in the shower and tried to hurry Roy along in the bathtub. I wanted to get to Costco, get the shopping down, and start heading home before Friday traffic clogged up the road. I dried off, and Roy and I ran around getting dressed… me fixing my hair and him annoying me with his cologne. I asked him to get Dean some clothes, while I finished up with my makeup. I brushed my hair and looked around the room. Satisfied that I had everything I needed, I ran downstairs to meet the guys.

“Hey, Mom.” Joey called to me from the sofa.

“Hey, Joey. You coming with us?” I already knew the answer, but we always ask.

“Nah, can I just stay home?” I said sure and walked into Roy’s office to get my purse. “Where’s, Hayden?” I asked coming out of the office into the family room.

“Here I am!” He came downstairs. Now, I will say… at home, I don’t mind if he runs around in his pajamas all day. He plays outside in his GI Joe costume and his dad and I are cool with that, but when we go out, I like the boys to look nice. Today Hayden came downstairs in red knit shorts… still in good shape, but faded as all get out. He was wearing a bright yellow shirt… still ok, but over his shirt he had put this little hoodie he loves. It is a sort of teal blue with no arms, but it was tight. His shirt is all bunched up undearneath it, but the real star of the show here were his socks.

“What are you wearing?” Corey asked him, not even bothering to hide the smirk in his voice. Of all the boys, Corey is the one that likes clothes. I looked at him, and saw he was looking at Hayden’s black socks… and on closer inspection I saw one sock had Darth Vadar on it and the other had a robot monkey on it.

“Clothes.” Hayden answered proudly. Roy laughed and turned to look at me, knowing exactly what I would say, but he cut me off.

“Hayden, come on, buddy. Why don’t you just wear your Crocs?” I assumed Roy figured we could at least get rid of the mismatched socks.

“I will.” And he ran off to get them, “Ok, I’m ready! Can we go now?”

I turned around at Hayden’s voice, only to smile, because, sure enough, he had his Crocs on - the wrong feet of course - but he was still wearing his socks.

I asked, “Hayden can we please take the socks off? And the vest too?”

“Ok, can I get a Bakugan if I do?” The boy is crafty. I’ll give him that.

“We’ll see.” And I admit to holding my breath, hoping that answer would at least get us out the door and into the car.

“Fine.” And with that he took off his blue vest and his mismatched socks and ran out the door, leaving them in a small pile on the floor in the foyer.

“I got ‘em.” I said to Roy as he stepped over them with Dean in his arms and walked out to join Hayden.

I threw the clothes into the laundry room and shouted instructions to the older boys, “Be Good! Corey don’t be a bossy jerk, k? Be nice to your younger brothers. Joey, help out Corey and keep an eye on Addi too. Addison! You listen to your older brothers. No fighting! And please don’t just play the computers all day, get some lunch at lunch time.” At this point I could see their eyes glazing over.

Corey smiled at me, “Mom, it’s cool. We know the drill. See you later.”

“Ok, ok. Love you guys!” I called as I was shutting the door.

I pulled up short to see Roy in the passenger seat of our Prius. Figures! I think I do about 70% of our driving, which doesn’t bother me for the most part, though the smirk on Roy’s face did.

“I was going to drive anyways.” I told him as I got into the car.

“Sure you were.” He couldn’t keep the baiting tone out of his voice.

“Bite me.” I threw at him and started to laugh when Hayden giggled in the backseat. “Ok, off we go!”

We drove the 45 minutes to Costco, which I bypassed and turned into the parking lot of IHOP instead. I was so looking forward to some warm pancakes and hot coffee. We went in, were seated, and placed our order a few minutes later.

“Are you excited to pick out your new outfit for school?” Roy asked Hayden as our food was set in front of us.

“Yeah, but Mommy said I could have a Bakugan!”

“Oh really?” Roy asked. He says I spoil Hayden, and I admit it… I do. When he looks at me with those big liquid eyes, and says “Please Mommy.” I don’t like to say no.

“Yeah, I need a new one. But I will get a new outfit for school too. Maybe at Target.” He had it all worked out.

We paid for our meal and hopped back in the car, got buckled up, and headed over to Costco.

“This isn’t Target.” I could hear the whine creeping back into his voice, and knowing that if it continues, it would grate on my last nerve.

“Hayden, be good, buddy, k?” Roy asked him, though Hayden, even at five, knew Daddy wasn’t asking him to be good. He was telling him or else.

“Ok. Can we go to the Bear Store?” He asked me coming to take my hand, as we got out of the parked car.

“We’ll see.” I told him and tucked his small hand in mine. I know he likes Build-a-Bear Workshop. Even I like it, but we have SO many stuffed animals in the house.

We walked around the mall for a bit. I probably wandered into Hot Topic looking at things for the older boys. I might have even bought them a few shirts. We hit American Eagle, New York and Company, probably Game Stop, and then finally we wandered into Costco. Costco is my friend… one of my best friends. With a large family, especially one with growing boys and a husband that loves meat, a warehouse store is the way to go, and in my book, Costco is the best. But, it isn’t pretty when we go there - sure every once in awhile we get out with only dropping $150, but it’s usually more like $300 or more. If you pay attention, you will notice Roy wander away when the last item is rung up. He just wants the check to clear. He doesn’t want to know the details.

We finally packed up and headed to Target. But I decided to steer towards Old Navy, just in case.

“I don’t like this store.” Hayden wasn’t even in the door before he started complaining. I mean, let’s just put it out there, nothing will ever beat Target for him.

“Well, Mommy just wants to look, ok? I just want to see if we can get you some shorts.”

“Fine,” he sighed and followed me around, his face lighting up when he saw a large vending machine with bouncy balls in them. I left Roy to rummage around in his shorts to come up with some quarters, while I tried to find shorts in Addi and Hayden’s sizes. Hayden finally got a ball, and he and Dean bounced it around the store, while I tried not to give Roy the evil eye for letting them do that.

“Ok, let’s go.” I took the shorts and a few things I got for Dean and attempted to hurry them along… anxious to pay and get to Target, so we could get home.

Target… I love it! It’s one stop shopping as far as I am concerned. The clothes are of better quality than other stores like it, and they have some big name designers do limited edition lines for them. I mean, let’s face it, a piece from his Target line is the only way I can afford Gaultier. We walked into the store and grabbed a cart. I steered everyone straight ahead, down the aisle with women’s clothing. Hayden opened his mouth, and I just knew what was coming out.

“Give me a minute, ok, Hayden? Mommy just wants to see if they have anything on sale.”

“Ok, maybe Daddy can take me to the toys?” He looked at Roy with hope in his eyes.

I nodded at him and told him I would meet them over there in a minute. I probably found something to add to my closet and wandered over to find the boys. I reached the toy section and slowed my strides, I could hear Roy telling Hayden he could get ONE Bakugan and that he needed to hurry because we had meat in the car. Before I reached the aisle, my three guys came out and started toward me. Hayden was holding a Bakugan, his little face happy and relaxed. Dean had an Elmo in his arms and a smile on his little cherubic face.

“Ready to pick out an outfit?” I asked Hayden as he reached me and gave me a hug.

“Yep!” And he took off in front of us, already familiar with the layout of the store.

We reached the boys’ section, only to see Hayden already holding a black polo shirt with little white skulls on them.

“I found my shirt! Can we go pay now?” Hayden’s desire to play with his new toy was clearly evident.

“Hayden, this shirt is way too big for you, honey. Just relax, ok?” I put the extra large polo shirt back on the rack and picked out his size. For some reason, I too am a fan of skulls, and I was digging this shirt. He had the shorts we found at Old Navy, but Roy was browsing through the basketball shorts, probably looking for something for Joe. Finally, we made our selections and headed to the register to pay. After we paid and loaded up everything in what little room we had left in the Prius, we headed back towards home.

“Did you want to go to the fish store?” I asked Roy, who was now driving.

“No, I’m good. I think we spent enough money today.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Roy knows fish stores bore the crap out of me on a good day. I settled in for the ride home, laughing with Roy and signing along to the radio with Hayden. About 45 minutes later, we pulled into our driveway and beeped the horn, which is the signal for the older boys to come out and help unload the car. After things were put up and dinner eaten, Roy and I relaxed on the couch. I have no doubt that he said something to me regarding Hayden going to school, and pretty soon, Dean would follow. But I wasn’t listening. Hayden is my baby, my fourth baby, and the idea of putting him on the bus and watching him wave to me from the window made my heart hurt.

Roy always asks why it doesn’t get any easier to send the kids off to school, and the simple answer is… I don’t know. But honestly, I do know part of the reason - it’s a reminder to me that time is going by too quickly. That each day the boys need me less and less. That Corey turning 18, Joey getting his driver’s license, and Addi going to high school are milestones that are just around the corner. And one day, I will wake up, turn over to see my beautiful husband lying next to me, and I will know that I won’t hear any little feet running down the hall. I won’t have a little boy seeking out the warmth of my arms. Roy and I will be alone. And at times we will celebrate, but I know the day will come when I will be alone, and the quiet will get to me. I will miss the chaos and the screaming. I will long for the wails of “Mommy!” and the sweet, wet kisses of my little boys. I just hope that no matter how big they get, no matter how old they are, they will always have some time for their good ol’ mom.

And in the meantime, I will try to remember that day is just around the corner and not lock myself in the bathroom to hide from them.