Sticky Fingers

I tagged along on a shopping trip to Park City with my sister and my mom yesterday. I didn't have any shopping to do, but I thought it sounded like a fun outing. My two littlest boys that get to share the bulk of the day with me tagged along, too. David felt like a king being able to watch cartoons on the drive up (Jodi has a DVD player in her van) and Brig did his part to make the trip enjoyable by sleeping the whole way up. We parked and headed for the clothing store that was the main reason for the trip, but got sidetracked at the Croc store when we saw the sign for the summer clearance. My mom has a pair of Croc sandals that she loves so we thought we would go take a peek to see what the clearance section had to offer. David saw a section that contained an entire wall of red kids' Crocs. He pointed to them and said, "These are really cute!". I agreed with him and continued to look around. We didn't stay long browsing for Crocs, and continued on to the next store. We walked around and shopped for another hour and a half or so, then headed back to the van to be sure we would have time to eat lunch and make it home before the kids returned from school. I took Brig's car seat out of the stroller and got ready to collapse it and put it in the trunk, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but...you guessed it. A tiny pair of red Crocs. I was mortified, yet grateful that we realized it before we made the trip home. I am usually the responsible parent that makes sure that the child who has done wrong makes amends by apologizing (or in this case returning stolen goods). To be honest, it didn't even occur to me this time. I think I'm still in survival mode where I have to remind myself of the most basic things. My mom returned the Crocs while I buckled Brig and David in the car. We did have a lengthy discussion about stealing on the way home, and a follow-up discussion with Dad to make sure he understood why it was wrong and what to do in the future if he thinks something is "really cute". (In David's words, "We have to pay the lady". We did try to explain that the answer will not always be 'yes' and if that's the case he will just have to put it back.) This was our first experience with stealing (as far as I know), and I will definitely be more aware in the future, especially in stores with lots of really cute things.