confessions of a mcdonalds-aholic

Ok. I am ready to admit something. I frequent McDonalds. You can find my black X3 in some Mc Donalds drive through at least twice a week. Is it the hot and crispy french fries combined with the best diet coke ever that keeps me coming back, or is it the mere convenience of a fast and easy meal on the road? I have convinced myself that feeding Ally happy meals is actually kind of "healthy". I mean, apple dippers, chocolate milk, and McNuggets....that's pretty nutritious right?

Last month the toy in the Happy Meal was a teeny beany baby. Pictured on the Happy Meal box were all 30 of the different "teeny beany babies" they would be giving out. You'll never guess what number 27 was....drum roll please....a teeny beany FLAMMY! If you are new to the blog you may need to read a few older posts to follow along.

So there she was, a mini flammy. Ally just stared in awe at the box. Being the OCD personality that I am, and in my quest to be World's Greatest Mother, I was determined to get Ally not only just the teeny beany flammy but all the cute little animals pictured on the box. It's crazy I know, especially coming from someone who can't stand stuffed animals. So be prepared, what you are about to read may scar your opinion of me.

I ate McDonalds for three weeks straight. I almost titled this post Super Size Me. I told my mom if Happy Meals did their job, I was going to be extremely HAPPY. First though, I had to figure out my game plan. There was a total of 30 different animals, so they probably gave out a few at at time, and would probably finish in about three weeks. I was relentless. Every golden arch I passed would leave me thinking "I wonder which animal THEY have."

Ally was totally into it. We'd get into the drive thru line and her eyes would just be fixated on the sign that showed all the little animals. And EVERY time she'd ask me, do they have Flammy? Of course the answer was no, since Flammy was #27. But she remained hopeful every time we'd pull up to the second window to pick up our order.

One particular very HOT night, my mom and I went to Walmart at like 11pm. It was one of those over 100 degrees days. My kids were in bed and she called to see if I wanted to go with her to get a fan (which by the way when we got there the fan aisles were completely empty). My house was like an oven so I happily hopped into her nice air conditioned car and headed to the W. She was the only one I had confessed this teeny beany baby sickness to, and since we are so alike, she was also participating in the RACE FOR THE MOST BEANY BABIES. We did our shopping, and stopped in the McDonalds inside the W to see what animal they had. I, of course already had it. My collection was growing rapidly. But since we were out and about, why not stop by the McDonalds in the parking lot?

Big mistake.

And this is the point Dan needs to stop reading.

We drove through and instantly turned into those annoying customers who ask what toy is in the Happy Meal. To our surprise the guy was super nice and rattled off a bunch of animals we didn't have. Ok what to do. Camryn was with us, so that made three of us but we needed more than just three Happy Meals. We were actually hungry, but not for the 12 we ended up buying. You read that right. We purchased 12 Happy Meals. We ate 3 but the 9 others we only asked for the toy, the chocolate milks, and the cheeseburgers. If you are still reading Dan, here's the answer to the 9 cheeseburgers you found in our refrigerator. But I have a good explanation for the neurotic crazy person I turned into. McDonalds had pre-sent the toys to the stores and marked certain weeks on them. They were supposed to open the correct week and give out that particular toy. Well the guys working offered to open the boxes and get us out what we needed, INCLUDING one particular flamingo. My mom and I sat there almost fighting over which one of us would give it to Ally. I know the whole thing is absolutely crazy, but I was able to finish out the McDonalds beany baby crusade in one visit.

I walked into my house that night around 12:30 am, thinking Dan was fast asleep. I saw the lights on and couldn't believe he was still up. I showed him my little treasures, and although he probably won't admit it, he got a little excited. Are we not the world's most cheesiest parents? Getting excited over a McDonalds toy? Does it sound like we need a little more excitement in our life? I guess we just know how much our daughter loves her silly little flamingo and both couldn't wait to see the look on her face when we gave it to her.

Instead of waiting I set her new little toys on her nightstand so they'd be the first thing she saw in the morning.

I wanted to just sit and stare at her, and wait for her to wake up so I wouldn't miss her cute little face, but instead I found this at 5 in the morning...

and at 8 in the morning....

So there, there is my crazy confession. I've never obsessed over getting McDonald's toys before, but I'd do anything for my little girl. Even if it means eating 30 cheeseburgers.

Just pray Cinderella never comes to the Happy Meal.