Saturday, May 14, 2011

seriously

why i am not the fun parent:
i'm a stickler for bedtimes, but on thursday i allowed the kids to play in the backyard for a little extra time before they needed to go put jammies on and get ready for bed. in the course of about 30 seconds we went from happy-go-lucky children joy-riding in the lovely springtime weather to this:

scarlett normally doesn't drive the jeep, she relies on reagan or the neighbor boy to cart her around but this night she decided to take the wheel. she immediately drove the jeep into the creek in our backyard:
this picture is a little deceptive. there is about 5 foot drop from the yard to the creek.
and the jeep had flipped over in the process so i had to summon my bionic strength to lift it and flip it back over.
the kids were still under the jeep when i got to them. i sort of screamed like a little girl watching her barbie dolls melt. BUT, on a positive note, i have never ran faster. i wish someone had been timing me.
miraculously, no one was hurt even though the creek is full of rocks and the water is deeper than it looks. when i jumped in i sank down in the mud until the water was up to my knees. all i could think of once i stuck the landing was :

a. how many snakes might be in the creek

b. this is why i don't let the kids have fun

c. thank goodness i wasn't wearing anything nice


i had to find a happy place as i was hauling the kids out. which is super hard when they are whining and asking question like, "why aren't you strong enough to lift the jeep out too?"


this is going to be on our redneck christmas card:
if only i had been my normal kill-joy parenting self and sent the kids to bed i would have avoided 
1. hosing them off in the front yard in front of the entire world.
2. having to explain to my neighbors the screaming(well, this time anyway)
3. explaining to my other neighbor why i needed some help pulling a jeep out of the creek
4. hoping that he will still send his kids over to play with us.
in the end, everyone was fine except for scarlett's extra boogery nose.

9 comments:

Emily C said...

heidi, you never cease to entertain me!!!
"c. thank goodness i wasn't wearing anything nice" --- lol!!

modernmom said...

And how awesome is it that you ran and got the camera while the kids were in this state? LOL Also, that is one amazing boogey nose. Tell Scarlett she wins.
So glad you weren't wearing anything nice. (That was actually my first thought.)

Nicole Bolinger said...

too funny! You ALWAYS make me laugh! I loved the (B) this is why I dont let kids have fun...I hear ya! :)

Jenna said...

The whole post was funny - other than the real danger for your kids -but the best was when "screamed like a little girl watching her barbie dolls melt." Hilarious.

Julie said...

Oh. My. I would have had a heart attack! And Yes, there would be lots of screaming. I'm so glad you got them out with your superhuman strength :)
I will remember this next time I think about delaying bedtime...Just don't do it.

Steph and Glen said...

wonderfully written, as always! glad everyone was ok and hope you wiped scarlett's nose before putting her to bed..... ;) thinking of you guys from sunny florida!

Meredith said...

I love this. Not that it happened, but how you convey the story. Your feelings are exactly how I would have felt!

I am so glad no one got really hurt!

Shellyhectic said...

How scary!! I am so glad something so scary turned into a bit of a comedy. I bet your heart was beating a million miles a minute! Hero mommy!

Holly Niederhauser Larsen said...

I think it looks like fun. Let's skip bedtime again!