My little criminals

Best Friends........that's what their shirts say....that's what they live every day, except the moments that they are fussing with each other! Well, even in those moments, they are best friends, but I need to find a different shirt that is more fitting. It wouldn't only say best friends, it would say: best friends AND partners in crime! Yep.......my two little criminals!

Awwwwww.........look at those sweet little girls........don't let their sweet little faces and smiles fool you! Don't get me wrong, they are such sweet girls they just........well, let me tell you a little story. This story is from today. Yes, we had a very exciting day. So I went to the office in the morning, and then at lunch realized I need some materials for Wed. night, as well as a few other errands to run for church. Autumn is just staying home with the girls for the summer, so they just decided to come along for the ride. We went for lunch........the girls were great! Yay!!! That doesn't always happen, so that was a nice surprise. Then we went to a store......minor meltdown, almost turned major, but stayed minor. By minor, I mean just screaming and laying in the floor refusing to go anywhere. I just say: "That's fine, stay there, but I'm going shopping" and she got up and came.....pouting, but came. Now major meltdown would have meant continuing to scream and kick in the store........me having to carry her out.......well, you get the idea! Went to another store.....the Dollar Tree. I love the dollar Tree! It makes my job as a children's minister so much fun and easier. I find so many things there I can use. So the deal was.......if they made it out of dollar tree without any meltdowns, major or minor, they could pick something out...anything in the store (that's why I love the dollar tree!) 3 of the 4 girls made it......S almost made it.....at the very end she had gotten tea light candles and opened the package. Then on to Staples.......we made it through Staples........went on to the next store......made through that store, made it to the car and H starts tattling. I don't even hear what she is saying because I just hear tattling. Then I listen.....what???? Are you kidding me??? OH MY GOODNESS............... our little S and A just STOLE!!!

They are thief's! They stole paper clips, other clips, erasers, magnets, and highlighters out of staples......oh no.......my life is in shambles cause my 5 and 6 year old children are stealers! Really. My sister Bethany stole a pack of gum when she was like 7, and we thought that was bad, but now our LITTLE children have stolen things from the store!!!!

Me: Why did you steal those? Where did you hide them?

S: I put them in my pocket.

Me: Well where did A put them cause she doesn't have pockets?

A: In my pants.

Then I just start yelling random things in a panic. Good grief why do I do that?

Me:You put these things in your PANTS?

There I go again asking questions that I really shouldn't ask.

So we go on to the next store. Let me tell you that these two little girls were PERFECT in that store. It might have something to do with the fact that every two seconds I was telling them that we were going back to Staples they better hope that the store people don't call the police because if the store people call the police they wouldn't send the kids to jail, but they might send the parents to jail so they better start praying now. I know....I probably shouldn't do that. But, I am thinking if these girls aren't scared now of stealing, then we will be in a LOT of trouble!

So we go back to THE store. I went ahead of Autumn and the girls and talked to the store clerk and told her that we were there earlier and my daughters stole something and we were there to return it.

Clerk: What did they steal?

Me: Well, they got some clips and paper clips and erasers and such from that bin over there.

Clerk: You brought back paper clips?

Me: Well, it's more about the principle of stealing not what they stole!

So miss store clerk calls the manager up to talk to them....and that is when the girls walked in.

A started to panic a little when she saw her on the phone.

A: What is she doing? Who is she talking to? What is she going to do? Is it the police?

Oh, and on our way to the store, there was a police car in the parking lot next to it. That was great when the girls noticed that police! Worked great!

The manager came up. Miss store clerk went and told him what was going on. I went up to him with my back to the girls and said, Please just talk to them and tell them it is wrong to steal and please don't be nice.

Let's just say that if you look up nice in the dictionary, this manager's face would be there. He is a nice man, you can just tell he is nice. He walks nicely, he smiles when he listens, he smiles when he talks. He is a nice man. He is probably a really good grandpa, but he just wasn't the person I wanted to scare the girls into not stealing again! He nicely went to them and nicely told them that he appreciated them bringing the things back and stealing is wrong. (Oh yeah, did I mention that the big girls split when we got in the store. They went to look at the backpacks. They did not want to be around and let people think they were stealers!) The nice manager nicely told them it just isn't nice to take things and he wouldn't call the police this time. Oh, I wish I would have had a camera handy to take a picture of those girls' faces when he said that. It was fear because he mentioned the police, and complete relief because he wasn't calling. I then stepped in and said (while nodding my head the whole time to Mr. nice manager to agree with me) This is a big deal isn't it? You girls can get in a lot of trouble and cost the store and this nice man to lose a lot of money.

The girls cried, said they were sorry, and were ever so sorry to get out of there. I sure hope this is the end of their criminal history!