The Down Side of our Week

*I have LOST my beloved camera. We've been together for about 6 years now and somehow I can't find it anywhere. I've checked the car, couch cushions, all of the toys, my purses, etc. It's no where to be found! The hunt is not over yet, but this hunt may have a different kind of happy ending... the 3.2 mega pixel camera just may need to be replaced.

*On Sunday Bill was out picking up some stray toys in our backyard, left from the day before, as he was headed to fire up the BBQ grill for dinner. A few dress up outfits had been hit by the sprinklers so he hung them to dry. What he didn't realize was that he hung them on the BBQ grill, just before he turned it on and came inside to get the meat. He went outside to find the preferred sheer, pink skirt in flames. He called for me to come quick & I was disappointed not to capture the moment on film (see above). There he stood with a flaming 'pink' skirt and the remnants plastered on the top of our grill. We got the flames out & he spent a good 10 minutes cleaning up the grill. Madisen hasn't missed her skirt yet- we quickly disposed of the evidence.

*A more serious downer is that our next door neighbor was robbed last week in the middle of the day while he was home! (Side note: The day before, there was a similar robbery of a woman who was home with her 6 month old, about 1 mile from here. That one made the news, this one of my neighbor did not.) The disturbing thing is that I was home at the time, too! I was in my kitchen working on the computer & returning phone calls with my back door open- YIKES! He told me of the incident about 2 hours after it happened. I was a little frightened initially, but then dismissed it as maybe he had 'misplaced' his wallet, or maybe it was a 'friend' of his that came in unbeknown st to him. Yep, that's what I thought until yesterday when he had white 'bars' installed over all of the windows and his front door. You know, the kind that are NOT aesthetically appealing! I'm glad that he took some safety measures to prevent it from happening again, but it made the look of our neighborhood decrease dramatically. (I've received 2 comments about it already today.) Not that we live in an exotic neighborhood, but this did not help our cause! We've discussed many options about what we should do... from dogs to alarm systems to shatterproof glass to protect ourselves. It's a scary world we live in- when people break in during the middle of the day while you're home- when are you safe? I feel very blessed (as I'm sure do the other 3 LDS stay-at-home moms who live on our street who were also home that afternoon) that we were protected that day!

Now of COURSE there were plenty of up-sides to our week:
*'Camping' with our friends on Friday night (pictures to come)
*Barbie jeep riding
*Trips to the park- including a BBQ and bike riding
*A visit to the library
*'Family night' walks