Blame It On the Rain

It’s been raining every day. This is great for our new-ish sod and water bill, but not so great for my energized 5 year old who desperately wants to ride her bike and play with Emily and Hailey. She doesn’t realize how much I desperately need her to exert that energy so I can keep my sanity. Monday evening our scattered showers “scattered” just long enough for the girls to get their bikes out. They rode for about 10 minutes and then it started raining again. This was just enough to basically tease them, so I allowed them to all come play in the house. Chris was at a meeting, so it was just me home with the 4 kiddos. We have a general rule that if the weather is nice, the play is kept outside. It keeps our houses a little quieter and less messy. They were really happy to get the chance to play inside together, and overall they were very good. It was kind of noisy as to be expected (4 and 5 year old girls like to shriek), but they had a great time. The noise somewhat reminded me of my one and only childhood birthday slumber party. I was about their age and my friends and I screech and screamed all night long. Hence Bonnie never got to have a birthday slumber party. Cayla, Emily, and Hailey shrieked at the bug (really a leaf probably from one of their shoes) that was on the kitchen floor, screeched because an alien (Tate) was after them, screamed and hid because the monster (the rain) was knocking on Cayla’s bedroom window. I actually didn’t mind the last of the three so much because they were very quiet when they hid. It almost made the scream worth it. When it was time to lay Tate down for the night, I told them they had to play quietly and they did pretty well.
When I decided it was about time for the Em and Hailey to go home, I put them on their bikes (it was still drizzling) and told them to ride directly over to their garage. Cayla wanted to escort them home, and I agreed. I didn’t care if she got a little wet – she was fixing to take a bath anyway. The three little girls took off across the street, and what do you know, they didn’t go home. They took off toward the end of the culdesac and there I am standing in the garage watching them ride the rain. I figure their mother will probably look out the window and wonder what I’m thinking and why I have no control. I holler at them to go home, but they are all just laughing as they continue to ride. I didn’t really care if they played in the rain a little bit – it wasn’t thundering or lightening and it was just a light rain. I decide to walk across the street and tell their mother than I tried to send them home, but now they are on the loose. Luckily she was very cool with it and rather than get mad at me or the girls, she just said “let me grab my camera”. The girls played for a little while and released their excess energy and Cayla fell asleep that night with no problem.