Know no boundary!

Listen lady….we finally got new neighbors. The house next door has been empty for nearly two years and we’d hope a nice family with some kids would move in; someone who would care for the house and maintain the exterior. It’s worse than you imagine folks.

A family did move in, but it’s not quite the “nuclear family” we anticipated. Dad, in his 50’s, lives there with his two daughters and grandson. Not bad, until you factor in that one daughter is 25 and the other is 4. The son is 5. Correct-o. Normally, I wouldn’t mind this, except that the kids don’t quite understand boundaries as they are constantly in our yard or attempting to enter our screened in garage when the door is up.

This isn’t kosher with us. We don’t mind the kids playing together on occasion, with actual adult supervision, which is another area that seems to be lacking, but I digress. What we dislike is the kids popping over and showing up like unwanted pimples; especially when their caretakers consider it free babysitting.

Since the weather has been nice, the neighbors have been outside nearly everyday when I get home with the kids and they practically tackle us like linebackers as I haul in the bags and two dangling children.

We have revamped our outside playing strategy. We used to primarily play in the front yard, but now we play in the back as we have bushes and trees that afford us more privacy.

Perhaps this is selfish of us, but I truly believe the kids should be invited over to play before they make an unwelcome visit and we shouldn’t be responsible for watching them all the time. Brett and I both work all day, by the time we get home, finish dinner, and do a bath, we are only afforded a short window of playtime with the kids each night before they need to go to bed.

This is a difficult topic to broach with Cardin. She wants to play with them because they are her age and well….quite frankly, she doesn’t know better. Listen lady, my instinct, as I see them climbing 8 foot ladders and running into the street with oncoming traffic zipping down the road, is to hide her and Rory away in a closet.

In other news…. Brett and I have started to look for a new house.