The entire personal item thing was when men started arguing that women got to carry a purse (which by now had grown into a sack) and they could only take one bag, so eventually the term personal item was developed. They use vague descriptions of about it's size so you don't bring a 22 x 14 x 9 carry on and another 22 x 14 x 9 personal item onto the plane.

you should have no problems, as noted above just remove them, put each one in a bin for screening.