Busted!

I now watch five children after school, in addition to my own, to earn a little extra money so my children don't have to starve. This endeavor has been going surprisingly well considering I have eight children running through my house everyday.

Well, Ryan was playing with the light saber this afternoon and decided to break the cardinal rule of the force. He used it to terrify the dog into a corner and he used it to poke our guests. I therefore took the light saber away for the day. He knew he was busted, so he didn't really complain; which is a huge feat for Ryan. He is the king of arguing. He better turn out to be a lawyer so that all this pain and suffering that I endure will be worth it.

Anyway, I told Ryan that he was done with all light sabers for the day. We have one more downstairs, and I know that every little boy in our neighborhood owns at least one of them. I was covering my bases.

After a half hour or so had gone by, I went outside to retrieve my daughter and low and behold who would be using an illegal light saber from the next door neighbors? Yep. I told him to give it back and play with something else for today. All the argument that I missed out on the first time came back to bite my in the butt. "WWWWWWWHHHHHHHYYYYYYY? he cried and whined at the same time. I wasn't having it, so I told him to get in the house and go to his room until dinner. He stomped in the house muttering things under his breath.

Fast forward to after dinner. I was feeling charitable, so I let the little tyke go outside and play with his friends so that Paul could get some studying done, and I could go next door and make a necklace. I reminded him as I walked out the door that he was banned from all light sabers for the day. "I know," he replied.

I trudged off to the neighbors and had a grand old time making a red and black necklace. Finally, I noticed it was looking pretty dark outside and Heather, my neighbor, was telling her kids it was time to get inside, so I inquired if my kids were still outside. Call it intuition, but I would have bet my car they were. Lo and behold their dad had left them for dead, and they were still outside.

Picture the scene:

Ryan: (Look of shock)
Mom: Ryan, what are you doing with a light saber?
Ryan: (tosses light saber far away from his person) What light saber? Wait...You're next door!!?
Mom: Uh, yeah. You're grounded for two hours tomorrow in your room.
Ryan: (Down trodden; walks toward the house)

Unfortunately, the force of mom outweighed the force of the saber.