Have you ever had one of those parenting moments when you realized you were one of those parents? You know, the ones who are irresponsible? The ones who you secretly cackle at and console yourself when you have an oops moment, because at least you didn't do the same thing they did.
Nope? Just me? Well, anyway.
A few months ago we had the pleasure of hosting some of our best friends as they visited from Jacksonville. Jesse and Rusty had been working off and on during the week on a new apothecary table for us to use as an entertainment center. {Thank you, Pinterest, for introducing me to ana-white.com and her wide array of "easy" to follow plans for countless pieces of furniture that I'm pretty much in love with and convinced I need. My husband thanks you from the very bottom of his heart. No lie.}
So, they needed a few accessory pieces for the table and Megan and I wanted to do some shopping anyway, so we added Lowe's to our list of places to stop. We had agreed: Megan and I would take Laney Kate and Jesse and Rusty were on Ball Boy duty. Great plan, right? Only those who've experienced the pleasure of going to town {yep, we have to go to town 'round here} with the Ball Boys will fully appreciate NOT going to town with the Ball Boys. They hate to shop. They are hard to wrangle. They want new toys. They aren't usually bad but I already get enough of "Oh, wow, you have your hands full" comments from strangers anyway. But, I digress.
Jesse and Rusty argued that it was only fair to divide the Ball kiddos equally. Cassie and Megan take 2 and Jesse and Rusty keep 2. We ended up with Camden and Laney Kate. {Insert: this is really just a set up for me to say this was all Jesse's fault. ;)} So, off to our first stop at Lowe's.
On the way to Lowe's Megan and I heard the muffler come apart on our Suburban. Its not a super big deal, but causes it to be loud and we don't want the stray (piece? part?) to get caught on anything, so we just have to pop it back together. I wasn't sure if it would be hot after driving, so I told Megan we'd do our shopping and then fix it before we left the store.
I was thrilled to find the items I needed on clearance in Lowe's. But, Camden was, um...a bit of a pill in the store. When we got to the car, he was in need of some discipline. So, I opened the driver's side door and put my things down so my hands would be free to dole out said discipline. Then I told Camden to get in his carseat and get buckled. You should know that he rarely obeys this directive on the first time, but this time he did.
I got Laney Kate in her carseat, shut the door and proceeded to try to fix the muffler. It was a little harder than I thought and I *might* have had to stop Megan from crawling her pregnant self UNDER our car. But a few minutes and several giggles later, voila.
I went around to my side and pulled the door handle. Locked. With my keys laying in the front seat and two children buckled into their carseats. Oh, and my cell phone was laying next to the keys. Crap. Apparently, during the discipline sesh, Cams accidentally hit the locks with his flailing arms. Go figure.
"Camden," I yelled through the door. "Try to get unbuckled and come open the door for me." He tried and tried and tried....and then tried some more. He can get himself buckled, but he can't undo it. After trying and failing lots of times he gave up and started crying. Megan and I are both standing with our faces pressed to the window and talking into the car, and we are getting questions like, "Are you locked out?" {Um, just for the record, I will not be asking anyone that question in the future.}
Finally, some guy came over to try and help us. He said sometimes the keys from the same manufacturer will work. But, of course it didn't work for us. That would have been too easy. So, we calls the police for us. Yes, the police. And they sent the firemen.
Yes, the fireman. You know, the ones in the small, inconspicuous truck? The one that doesn't have sirens and lights? You know...except the exact opposite of all that. In the middle of the Lowe's parking lot and with a crowd gathered around. It took them for-e-ver to get it unlocked. They tried the driver's side door, then the passenger's side door, then back to the driver's side door before it finally unlocked. Oh, but then the car alarm went off. Seriously, there was no escaping the humiliation.
At least they were nice about it. And, thankfully, they didn't ask for my name and address to turn me in for child abuse or neglect. So, thats a plus.
Once they were done, Megan and I got the heck out of dodge in a hurry. Once we were away, I was able to laugh. BUT, you better believe that I called Jesse to tell him all about what HIS son had done. He just laughed in a a way that said, "Better you than me." Mmmhmm. Megan told me that the story needed to be a blog, so here ya go, Meg. This one's for you!! :)
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