SWAT team

Wanna hear a funny story?? AnnaLyn had a doctor's appointment this morning, so I couldn't take the boys to school. They had to ride the bus. When I came home from the doctor's appointment, my back door was not latched completely. This did not alarm me in the least, as I had left before the boys this morning, and I was actually amazed that they even SHUT the door. Once in the house, I took BabyGirl to her room and sat down to play with her. About 10 minutes later I heard some shuffling upstairs, then some banging. My initial thought was, "I guess one of the boys missed the bus." But the more I thought about it, I hadn't remembered seeing any of the backpacks in the kitchen, and the kitchen was still cleaned up. Unlikely that one of the kids was still home. I decided to put BabyGirl in the crib and go check it out. Maybe the dog is upstairs...No, she's outside. Now I'm walking down the hall, and having second thoughts about checking this out on my own. I'm looking in all the rooms on my way down the hall. My only defensive weapon is the iron, or maybe an old sippy cup with some soured milk. Just about the time I got to the end of the hallway, I heard my front storm door squeak. I freaked. Funny how your mind runs away with you.... well, mine anyway. I ran back to the baby's room and locked myself in and called Chris. I don't know what I thought he'd do, but it was my first instinct. He called our neighbor to see if he'd come over and check it out for me, but he wasn't home. Now, keep in mind, I wasn't totally scared. I still thought it might be one of the boys, or the air conditioner upstairs (although that isn't what it sounded like) But just in case, I raised BabyGirl's window just in case I needed to make a speedy escape, and called the Sherrif's Dept. I told the dispatcher that it was probably nothing, but could they send a car just to check it out. I thought they'd send a car and maybe 2 officers to have a look-see through the house and tell me I was imagining things. Well, they sent 4 cars. I heard them coming, but they turned off the sirens and lights before they got to my street. Stealth mode I guess. The first two officers jumped out of their cars and opened the trunks and grabbed shotguns and took off around the back of the house. Well, if I wasn't scared before, I am now. I reminded the dispatcher, who still had me on the line, that it could be my kids, and please don't shoot them. I heard them coming the back door as the other 2 cars drove up. One officer came over to the window to talk to me, and the other walked over to my other neighbors, who were now looking quite interested in the goings on at the Morgan house. Where were they 15 minutes ago?? Well, the officers cleared the house, and told me I should check for missing items. Everything appeared fine. Nothing out of place that wasn't out of place before. (These days, my house frequently looks like it's been ramsacked...especially the ManCave upstairs. Of course, the ManCave wasn't the only messy room today. Remember, we had an early appointment today, so I didn't make my bed, or clean up behind myself much this morning. After the fiasco died down I walked into my bedroom and saw, to my horror, my underwear laying in the floor. I realized that the officers almost certainly had to step over them!! OMYGOSH HOW EMBARRASSING!!) When I returned downstairs, one of the officers handed me the Pest Control bill that had been placed on my front door....Well, that might explain the squeaky front door, but not the noises upstairs. I decided that it must have just been the air conditioner and thanked the officers for coming to ease my mind. I guess an hour or so later I looked at the pest control bill, and they had indicated where they had checked for pests. In the crawlsapce. That would explain the shuffling and banging that I thought was coming from upstairs. It was coming from outside instead. What an exciting day.