Running errands with a bunch of little munchkins

I have no advice in this department. Here's what I do; bring an older kid (they are 11 and 14) and leave her in the car with the littler kids while I run inside and take care of things as quickly as possible.

Yesterday, however, I had the opportunity to take my 4 littlest ones to Taco Bell. I wrote about it here, as part of the "Life doesn't suck as much as I thought Thursday" meme from Mrs Fussypants. She, by the way, rocks.

Being alone in public with a 7, 5, 2 and 7 month old was kind of.... like being unexpectedly poked with needles. In your sleep.

We're standing in line and I ask everyone "Burrito or Taco?" They all answer (at the same time) and I replay each voice in my head as they carry on so I can take an organized tally. 1 burrito with no sauce and no onion, 1 burrito with no onion and 1 taco. I plan to impulsively get whichever value meal catches my eye when we get up front. I send 7 yr old to reserve a table for us & tell the other girls to stay with me. They all leave in different directions. There's no clean table to be had so they all return to me to report their findings in the investigation.

We get to the front of the line & they're still talking about wrappers and trays and cups and someone didn't eat a whole burrito.

Then, they see a sign up front with other meals, we end up getting 2 chips& cheese, 1 burrito with no sauce and no onion, and I get a value meal with a mexican pizza & two tacos. I treat them with a mango/strawberry juice.

The lady takes forever to come clean a table for us. If I had baby wipes with me, I would have cleaned the table all by myself. I hate it when I go to the register to say "Please just give me the towel and I'll wipe it down myself" and she says- as if she's sparing me the trouble of wiping the table- "Oh no, it's OK, I'll do it (when I'm done with this...) I don't mind wiping a darn table down, I mind standing up in a dirty dining room while the kids run around because there's no where to sit. To be honest, I could have cleaned every one of the tables faster than she did anyways. While I waited for my food. Whatever, moms can do that sort of thing.