So it started back in October... well really it started when she was 2 and climbed the pantry shelves to get at the jelly beans that she *thought* were there, got stuck and contemplated about what to do for half an hour before she called us to come and get her down.
Anyhow, back to October. On the 11th we went to the annual Youth Day parade here in Roswell. This year's theme was conservation and recycling... all of the floats were of the reduce, reuse, recycle genre. As the floats drove past they threw out massive amounts of candy to the children waiting on the sidelines. Save the Earth, Kill the kids. Oh yeah, and litter at the same time ;)
Well, every year we gather enough candy to fill TWO Target shopping bags. And that's without even trying. (There was one girl standing next to us with an upside down umbrella and a "Throw me somethin, Mister" sign, a-la Mardi Gras.) We sort and save this candy, and redistribute it on Halloween.... tacky, yes, but whatever, we get rid of the stuff that's cheap. And here in Roswell, they are pretty good about tossing us good candy anyway.
After being thoroughly sorted, the bags went atop the refrigerator, out of small children's reach... or so we thought. After catching G sneaking candy, oh about 10 times, we moved it to the pantry and locked the pantry doors. Well, each time the pantry was unlocked, she climbed in there and snuck more candy. And this is a girl who is ALLOWED to have candy. The only requirement to get said candy is to either a) ask or b) clean up something.
Eventually, she snuck around with the candy so many times that she lost the privilege of Trick or Treating this year. Harsh, I know. She still had the chance to go to the neighborhood Halloween party, though. After the party, G and I stayed at her friend Abby's house with Abby's mom until the dads and Abby and Little Guy came back, buckets filled to the brim with candy... of which Grace was allowed none. I did give her a bag of Cheetos. Wouldn't you know it, ten minutes later she's going upstairs with her bag of Cheetos, when Abby tells me "Um, grace put candy in her Cheetos bag and is sneaking it upstairs." DAH!
Well, it has been almost two weeks since Halloween and after we threw out all of the candy IN OUR HOUSE I thought perhaps we were starting to shake this candy monkey on G's back. That was, until Friday.
Friday we went to Michael's craft store to do some shopping. Now, Michael's has candy on display at the checkout, which generally isn't a big deal because I have never bought candy at a checkout line... ever. Gum, maybe, but not candy. After Michael's we hit the mall to exchange a few things, and then we were slated to go to Chuck E Cheese as a reward to Grace for reading 100 sight words in one day.
Well, as we meandered through the mall, Little Guy kept badgering G for her purse. He wanted to hold it. He also kept asking her for candy. Now, wanting to hold the purse is a normal thing for Little Guy...he loves lipgloss and bracelets and hair doodads...the candy thing, not so much. I kept telling him that Grace didn't have any candy. After the 3412nd time of him asking her to hold the purse, I told her to just give him the darn thing already. She said "NO!"... hmmm, unusual. So I told her to give it to me. "NO!" she says. Hmmm, very unusual. "Give. me. the. purse." I say. "I put candy in it" she sheepishly admits. But where did she get the candy? Her purse is TINY, and the stuff at Michael's would have been way too big for it.... if she didn't have such good taste.
Inside that little sparkly Mickey Mouse bag I found SIX dark chocolate Lindor Truffles. Well, really only 3 truffles and 3 wrappers. OMG! I have spawned a shoplifter! (A shoplifter with a sophisticated palate, mind you) Needless to say, there was no Chuck E Cheese that night. And then, today, as I am dong the laundry, I felt something hard in the pocket of the skirt she was wearing. No, she didn't... oh yes she did. Ghirardelli squares!!! Oh my....
