Well Colour Me... RED!

We've been working on the backyard all day. We're making progress and I just know that it will look even better when K gets the chipper in. 

One of the things I don't like about living in the suburbs it that often you are sitting in your neighbour's laps.  In our last house, we were on the corner so we only had a neighbour behind and beside us.  What with trees and high fences though we almost never even noticed them. 

Here we've got neighbours all around us. What makes it awkward is when we discipline the kids.  I hate to admit but I'm a yeller and hubs can be too.  We both are working on calming ourselves down but there are times like today when it gets away from us and we wonder what the neighbours think. It can get kind of embarassing to think about.

Well we took that to a whole nother level today.  The kids were playing outside after supper, K was watering out front and I was on kp duty.  Suddenly, I hear the kids calling me to come quickly.  I come around the corner to see O outside in the backyard with rope around his neck.  HIS NECK.  I immediately run to the back darn saying "WHAT THE HELL". By the time I got there he had the rope off his neck but for a moment there, you could tell he was having a hard time getting it undone. There was a little mark on his throat.

When I ask how this happened they point to E and say she did it and E immediately says it was an accident.  DAddy overhears this and he says bullshit.   The kids have been repeatedly told they are not to play with ropes and nothing but nothing ever goes around their necks.  They USUALLY are pretty good about this.  THe only reason why we had rope in the back yard was because K had jimmied up a tarp between two trees so when he has the chipper running tomorrow it doesn't spray the chips all over the yard but sprays at the tarp and hopefully back down in a pile.  So we've told the kids to stay away from the left over rope, not to play with it etc. Like I said, usually not a problem.  They've always been pretty good following the rules about not putting things around their neck and they had stayed away from it.  Hands down it was our fault, we shouldn't have left the kids unsupervised.  I not only feel really bad this happened, but just about cried thinking about what could have happened.  Talk about some bad mommy moments.  It just goes to show it doesn't matter how smart you think your kids are... don't trust them.

But that's not the embarrassing part.  That's just the stupid part.  So we decide no more backyard today and I offer a bath to the two youngest.  While I'm up in J's room, I glance into the neighbours backyard and what do you know..... They are GETTING MARRIED!  Uh huh.  Their family and friend just got to hear us swear TWICE around our kids and may or may have not heard our raised voices as we assessed what happened.  Those poor people.  I'm just hoping that they hadn't started their wedding service until after we were all inside.  So talk about embarrassing.  Not only are we neglectful parents, but now the whole neighbourhood knows it too.

Do you think they were filming?  I'm just sure that will make a great soundtrack for their "memorable" day.