Summer Days.

Yes, I'm quite literally hanging out with the monkeys! This is the top of the kids' playset where a green tarp is supposed to hang. I told Emily it looks like she is roasting monkeys!



As Eva napped and Emily was enjoying "quiet time" in her room late in the afternoon Sarah and Wyatt did this for almost an hour:

Honestly, it was not spontaneous. I laid out the blanket and coaxed them into selecting 5 books each from a shelf that has not been visited in a while. They played along and it worked for me. I'm going to try it again today!

OK, then the reason for Emily's quiet time. Eva was napping, my other three were playing in the backyard, or so I thought. A red blur caught my eye out the front window. I instantly thought of the red shirt I knew Wyatt was wearing. Could it be? No! My doubting self flung open the front door and ran to the sidewalk. Yes, my three little angels were almost to the corner of our block, running at full speed! Without any shame or hesitation, I yelled as loud as I could:

EMILY! NOW!

After Emily, the instigator, was safely in her room the others confessed to me that the intended mission was to run around the block. Sadly, that just can't happen without Mom and/or Dad these days. When I was her age...well you know how it was. Different.

Our backyard gate has a combination lock. Having it just makes me feel better. Emily does know the combination, we thought we could trust her. We still do, I'm not going to run out and change the combination. For now, I'm choosing to believe that this was a one time lapse in judgement that she won't be repeating. After a few hours in her room, she brought me these two items:

The card reads, "Dear Mommy, I'm so sorry that I tried to escape out the gate. I promise I won't do it again. Love, Emily"