Cheese Thief

I made a homemade dinner for a family in our church this week who's in need since their mom's been out of town with a family emergency. I made Melissa's "famous" chicken tortilla soup for the remaining boys and Dad who are here in Knoxville. As I was loading up the meal, I noticed something was missing. I had bagged up tortilla chips and shredded cheddar-jack cheese in separate ziploc bags but the cheese was gone. I searched the entire kitchen, fridge, and freezer. I called Jason at work to see if he had seen it, but he hadn't. Then, he suggested something to me that just seemed to be the right answer to my problem. He said to me, Did you ask the kids? No, I hadn't thought about it. But Ethan, as most of you know, is a cheese-a-holic. So I tried and convicted him before even talking to him. I even knew exactly where the empty bag would be located, under his bed. You see, lately, my children, who aren't showing wisdom, have been hiding things under their beds. Andrew kept saying he didn't have any warm pj's to wear for days, even after laundry had been done. Where were they? Under his bed along with food wrappers, socks, dirty clothes, etc. So I kindly asked them if they'd seen my cheese bag. Low and behold, Ethan said no and Hannah said yes! She said, "it's in Ethan's closet." So my mind jumped ahead again. Ethan had eaten the cheese in his closet and left the empty bag there. Boy, was I wrong. Hannah Claire confessed to the crime. She had stolen the cheese and eaten it the boys' closet YESTERDAY! But what's so bad is that she didn't eat it all. She left half a bag of cheese in a ziploc bag in their closet overnight. Ugh! I sure don't want to go check out that closet for a raunchy cheese smell.

So, I was quick to thank her for her honesty and gave her a short stern lecture about stealing food without asking and leaving refrigerated food out of the fridge overnight. I am now more the wiser to make sure that I don't jump to conclusions especially when there's a smart little cookie around who figured out to leave the evidence in her brother's room. And she's only three.