Yesterday's Tragedy

First, Happy New Year! We had a few friends over to celebrate the start of another good year. We ate a ton, played some 'Just Dance,' made a lot of racket at midnight (We sent the kids outside with pots and other noisemakers at 12), and had lots of fun. The kids were so excited to stay up late, I didn't think we'd ever get them to bed. Matt and I were cleaning up and went to ask them to get in bed. We found them sound asleep in their own beds with the lights glaring.

So Monday, we decided to take down all the Christmas decor and clean up a little. It include a request for the kids to clean out the mess in the van in preparation for our next trip. 2.5 hours later and a LOT of playing, they were done. It wasn't until yesterday, that I realized they had left the lights on inside the van, thereby depleting the battery. We of course were in a rush to get somewhere and I was lucky to have a friend nearby give us a jump. After driving around for 30 minutes, I parked out front a Target to run a couple errands. Sadly, the van did not start when we returned and I had left the jumper cables in the garage in our rush to get out. So we spent another 45 minutes trying to find someone to give us another jump. Then we spent another hour or so getting the battery replaced at Sears. On the way home, I realized the lights were still on inside the van (Love it!). Today, I discovered that our mail key was missing and learned it had been dropped (ACCIDENTALLY) into a shopping bag during the cleaning. It happened to drop in the same bag that I threw away yesterday. So now no mail and lesson learned...do not ask kids to clean van without close supervision. I think I'm getting a double raw end of the deal.

In other news, Lola, who two months ago was given rides in a laundry basket by sweet older brother, is now pulling up on her own...on her way to pushing those laundry baskets.Do you think I'll be able to count on her to do the laundry?