You're Grounded....

I think every parent expects to use those words at some point in their children's life, I just didn't expect to use them when my two were 5 and 3. That's right Emma and Ian have been grounded since Sunday. Now by grounded I mean no TV, no playing outside, no Popsicles or ice cream, and a bed time of 7:30 instead of 8. It sounds like alot for kids so young but after you hear this you probably wont think so.

Sunday Dave and I were in one of those moods where neither of us wanted to do anything, so we didn't. We watched a movie with the kids in the morning, played some Wii in the afternoon, and just laid around the house. We haven't put the air conditioners in yet and it has been in the 80's since late last week. So we have had the windows open and fans going. While this has kept the house very comfortable it can get a little loud.

Sometime around 5 Sunday evening the kids went upstairs to play in their rooms. They had been up and down all day. Normally we can hear everything they do up there but with the fans going this time we could only really hear some footsteps hear and there.

All of a sudden we hear are neighbor scream Dave and I's name in a way that instantly make us think something was very wrong. Dave got to the window before I did so I couldn't tell what she was saying. The only thing I heard was the word kids. The next thing I knew Dave was flying up the stairs. By the time I got up there Dave was spanking both of the kids who were crying and he was yelling at them but none of it made any sense to me.

Once Dave finally calmed me down he filled me in on what the neighbor had said. Apparently she had caught the kids climbing on the roof of our house. Instant panic set in, I couldn't believe my kids were on our roof! They could have been seriously hurt or killed. I immediately went through their rooms and closed and locked their windows and Dave told them that they were going to be grounded for a week and to start they needed to clean their rooms.

Dave and I went back downstairs to talk about things. Everything seemed so strange, we knew there were only two roofs the kids could have been on because of their window placement. One was the one out front over the porch but our neighbor was in her backyard so how could she have seen them. The other was out a side window of Emma's room that is the roof to Dave and I's bedroom which runs the length of one side of our house but it's the side opposite the neighbor that caught the kids.

A few hours later our neighbor came over to see if the kids were ok. Dave of course asked her where they were so she took him out back and showed Dave what they were doing. Somehow the kids managed to get out Emma's window onto our bedroom roof and then in the back they transferred from it the the main roof that is over Dave's office and then goes up to the top peak of the house. When our neighbor went out to smoke the kids were running up and down the back pitch. She immediately yelled up to them and asked what they were doing and Emma said to her

"ssh we're on a secret adventure!"

At that point the neighbor told them to stay there and she started yelling for us.

I am so thankful that she decided to have a smoke when she did because God only knows what could have happen to my kids. It still makes me sick to my stomach to think about. I've been debating about whether or not to post this all week because, quite frankly, it's embarrassing. I mean what kind of parent would let something like this happen. I decided to share it one because I know one day a long time from know I will be glad I have all of the details written here to share with kids and their friends. By then maybe it will be a little funny (for what ever reason this makes me think about the time my 3 year old cousin stole my aunts car keys and he started the car and backed it out of the driveway hitting my moms car parked on the street while I was in the car with him), and two because I think I am a good parent and if something like this could happen when I was watching my kids something could happen to another good parent. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that you never know what things kids will think of and no matter what precautions you take anything is possible so just keep that in the back of your mind.

Of course Dave and I have had numerous talks with the kids since then explaining to them how dangerous what they did was and how they can never do that again. Their air conditioner has been installed because I will not be opening those windows again this year. We were also able to find out that it was Ian's idea but Emma went along with it which probably means that Ian is going to be one of those boys that is into everything. The only thing we don't know is what gave Ian the idea to do that. Every time we have asked he just says he doesn't know. The only thing I can come up with is that they though it was safe after seeing the men up there replacing our roof a few weeks ago.

The kids only have a few more days of being grounded and I am really hoping that I don't have to use it again for a few more years!