Dirty Barbies

So yesterday was cleaning day for my husband and I. Since I have been sick for what seems like three months now, our house was in great need of a deep clean, especially my bedroom. In order to accomplish this task with minimal interruptions (minimal with three kids is on average 40 to 50 interruptions), we needed to make sure the kids would be occupied. Our middle child, Charlie (10), was invited to a friend’s house. Our oldest child, Sam (12) was given a list of things to accomplish himself, which meant he would mostly be on his phone. Our youngest, Lily (7), was going to be outside playing in a kiddie pool with a friend since it was such a beautiful day out and that helps keep her from making a big mess INSIDE.

A few hours later, my husband and I were getting a lot accomplished despite having to keep an eye on Lily outside and Sam inside, who needed to be “reminded” to get off his phone and finish his assigned tasks. We noticed the girls were playing with Barbies in the pool and were glad they were having a good time.  I had washed just about every piece of clothing in my bedroom and dusted every nook and cranny I could reach, including the walls. I was determined to rid my chamber of sickness of all disease once and for all and wash all the clothes I hadn’t worn in years because they do not fit. My husband, Will (37) had cleaned the family room and swabbed the many ridges of our overly textured walls, something we have to do way more often than is normal due to my bright idea to paint the walls a dark red. Charlie ended up back at home somewhere within this time and then out in the pool with the girls and the Barbies.

Will and I were feeling accomplished, and tired, when we stopped for a minute to check on the kids. We looked out the window to see the girls laughing, and Charlie suddenly chasing them causing their laughter to turn to screams! Then we also noticed that the water in the pool was a dark brown color, and there were naked Barbies and their clothes scattered all over the ground around the pool.  Some of the Barbies were floating in the pool, some with bathing suits, some without. We went outside to find out what in the world was going on, considering we thought that the girls were playing nicely in the pool with two or three Barbies. Now there were about twenty Barbies scattered all over the muddy ground and a few were also in the driveway surrounded by the fragments of what used to be Dora the Explorers grandparents. 

Our reaction was not pleasant to say the least, and Lily’s friend was sent home, or maybe she just ran home on her own accord, I can't really remember? Then we started the interrogation.  Apparently the girls kept adding Barbies to the pool, there was something about the Titanic disaster, and Charlie “dropped” a Dora grandparent on the cement, a body part fell off, quickly prompting him to try it again and again, and again… Apparently even our oldest had partaken in the muddy, Barbie free-for-all, although we had no idea at the time because he was in the house, clean, sitting on the couch playing on his phone again. We are still unclear about exactly how this mess got so out of hand, but we do know that children are subject to mob mentality as much as adults are and according to them, were not responsible for there actions.

After much yelling, denial, blaming, and minimizing, the children apologized and Lily's friend even came over to do the same.  The best part of the friend coming over to apologize was when she and Lily “reminisced” about the really fun moments they had during the muddy Barbie shipwreck. Charlie was sticking to his story about “dropping” Dora’s abuelos. And hours later, Sam came clean about his involvement, probably more embarrassed about involvement with naked Barbies than worried about the repercussions.  And after hours of cleaning our house and doing loads and loads of laundry, Will had to clean mud out of a kiddie pool, pick up doll clothes and body parts, and I had to give sixteen Barbies a bath and do their laundry.  Law and Order