The Art of 3

There are many things that I love about having 3 kids. It fills my heart to see how much they all love each other and there is always an abundance of laughter, hugs, kisses and cuddles. But there are things that I really don't like about it and running errands ranks up there pretty high.
My husband has no problem taking out all 3 kids- the zoo, food shopping, anywhere, but I avoid it like the plague. The thought of putting all 3 into car seats and taking them out, going in and out of stores, keeping them all happy and from running up and down aisles... I'm not going to lie; it stresses me out.
So last night when I realized Kevin was leaving for the gym and we had nothing for dinner, he said, why don't you run out and grab something. I froze. With all 3?! Okay, wait, these are my kids. I can handle this. This is how it went.
I got all 3 into the car. I hadn't driven my car all day and with it being 80 degrees out, there were some gripes about the heat, but we got out quickly. First stop was Wawa. Take out money, get salads and milk. Cole was in a mood right away and proceeded to walk into me and his sister repeatedly. We had a talk by the ice cream section and he straightened out quickly. But then he started asking for different things to which I kept saying no. When he came up to me with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, I snapped "no" one last time. He gave me puppy dog eyes and said, "I got them for you because they are your favorite." Damn, bad mommy moment. I let them all get apple slices which is their "special treat" at Wawa. Typically parents wait for good behavior to reward with a treat at the end of running errands but I love that they choose apples and find that getting them something in the beginning makes the trip more peaceful.
Everyone back in the car. I got almost to the next store when I realized I forgot to take out money. Back to Wawa, everyone out of the car, hit the ATM, everyone back in the car. The next stop was the liquor store. I warned them not to touch a thing. I walked in, picked up the first bottle of Moscato I saw and went to pay. Cole and the clerk went back and forth about the cost of wine and then she threw lollipops in our bag.
Next door was the beer distributor where we had to get cigars for Kevin. Cole went in first and announced "2 Rockys" to the clerk. He recognized Cole and laughed, grabbed our cigars, took my money and handed us candy. (Gotta love these clerks!)
The last stop was Giant. Dinner, hot dogs, marshmallows (for the fire pit) and bananas. They were good, asked for minimal additional items, made sure I got the things we needed and we were out of there.
All 3 back in the car, belted into car seats and they ran through the list of errands with me. Done!
We survived... this time...