bad mom moment.

Last night, the kids and I made a trip to Menards before picking Matt up from work. I needed to get a unique-sized light bulb. Plus, the kids love looking at their Christmas display (or I like to call it the Christmas department because it's so big).

our next tree. it's only $679 at Menards. save big money.

After browsing the display, ornaments, and toy aisles, the kids started to get squirrelly. Things were getting knocked off trees and taken off shelves. So we made our way upstairs to the lighting department. I'm not sure if every Menards store is like this, but the one in St. Paul is huge and has two levels with an open floor plan.

As you can see from the photo, the second level of the store has loft-like style. As I looked for the odd-shaped light bulb, the kids were only a few feet away looking over the railing. I got frustrated hunting so I grabbed an associate to help me. As he was helping me, I heard Ethnie calling my name. Keeping my focus on the light bulbs, I called, "Just a minute." She called my name more urgently. After I got what I was looking for, I turned to Ethnie a bit annoyed. She pointed to Emmett and my mouth dropped. 

There he was, launching slate landscaping rocks over the railing! 

He found them nearby on an outdoor light display! I immediately ran over, stopped him, and looked out over the store. There were about six rocks scattered on the floor and four people looking up at me with very irked expressions on their faces. Yikes. I was so embarrassed. The only thing I could do was call down to them, "I am so very sorry." Emmett just pointed, saying, "Rocks." No one was hit; nothing was damaged, but I had the 'bad mom' blurb floating over my head. I felt so bad and left as soon as I could. 

We picked Matt up from work and I told him what happened and how I almost had a heart attack. At first he laughed pretty hard, but then realized how much worse the situation could have been...

 

Dear Emmett,

 I know you are not a trouble maker. I know you do not do certain things to purposefully hurt someone or to be mean. You are a good, loving boy. You are just ALL boy and you need to understand your boundaries and the difference between right and wrong. I promise I will try to do the best I can at teaching you good morals and values. I will also try to be more patient with you when you do something you don't understand to be wrong. Like launching sharp rocks in public. Siiigghhh..........

i love you-  mom