Sneaky Snackers

You’d think I’d have learned by now that just because I’m not SEEING my children get into trouble that they aren’t actually GETTING into trouble.

Usually, as in most households, the pre-dinner hour here is one of the craziest, as kids are hungry and cranky and I’m trying to get dinner on the table.  One recent evening, my cooking process was positively pleasant.  I had only Danny nearby playing in the sink  (although I didn’t know at the time that he had flooded the cabinet and floor below!), and I could hear the three big kids upstairs.  I was so busy congratulating myself on giving birth to kids who played so well together that I didn’t stop and ask myself whether that was an entirely rational conclusion.  Just as I was about to call the kids down for dinner, Becky appeared in the kitchen looking a little sheepish. 

“We ate the whole bag,” she said with a guilty grin.

“What bag?” I asked.

“The new snack you bought.”

Uh oh.  I had just bought a very large bag of Veggie Straws at the grocery store.  I had talked myself into thinking the snack was marginally healthier than the Goldfish the kids usually eat for a snack, but it certainly wasn’t healthy when consumed in excessive quantities. The kids had apparently spirited the bag upstairs to eat in their room (they know they’re supposed to eat all snacks at the kitchen table).  So all the happy murmurs I had heard upstairs weren’t the kids playing – they were the kids eating!  Before I had a chance to confront the offenders, Jimmy came downstairs wearing only a shirt.  When I asked the girls why Jimmy wasn’t wearing any pants or underwear, they said it was because he had been in the bathroom pooping earlier.  And then Jimmy piped up that when wiping himself (not his strong suit), he had gotten a dirty finger that he neglected to wash.

So while I was upstairs washing and re-washing hands, I failed to hear the oven buzzer, and ended up burning dinner.  It was edible, but the kids didn’t quite have room in their stuffed stomachs for actual dinner, since they were so full of their clandestine snack. 

But even though my dinner preparation was only peaceful because my kids were too busy flooding, snacking and pooping to be underfoot, it was peaceful nonetheless.  And at least now I know they like Veggie Straws!