Mr. C's parents headed back to Florida this morning, but we had another visitor from the Sunshine State arrive this afternoon. My mom is now here with us for the next few days. Things are always a bit on the chaotic side with extra bodies in the house, but it's a good kind of crazy. I'm really glad my mom is here, and I'm looking forward to spending time with her. This morning after my in-laws left, I went to get my cell phone from where I put it last night when I went to bed. Well, it wasn't there. I mentioned it to Mr. C, and he told me that he plugged it in to the charger this morning. Well, that was so nice of him! I went to look for it on his dresser, but it wasn't there. The charger was still plugged in, but no cell phone! I immediately thought that perhaps my in-laws had accidentally packed it up in there things and taken it to Florida since they had been staying in our room and using Mr. C's dresser. Okay, this is not good! Mr. C called them and asked them to look through their luggage when they made their next stop on the way home. They called back and said they looked all through their belongings, and my phone wasn't with them. In the meantime, we had been searching ev-er-y-where for my phone. We'd asked all the kids if they had seen it. I had even offered the kids 5o cents, then $1, then $2 if they could find it. Bookworm and Mickey Mouse thought that this was a great opportunity to skip out on some school work. I didn't let them participate in our search party for very long. Curly Girl said that Lil Nut had been jumping up and down on my bed with it this morning. She also said that she had seen her with it in the garden, in the yard, and in the shed (but we knew she hadn't been outside). So, we didn't know whether she was a believeable witness or just trying to get her little sister in trouble. Mr. C asked Lil Nut if she had put the phone in such-and-such a room, going through every room in the house with her. Eventually she told Mr. C, "It's in your tummy!" Mr. C was laughing so hard that tears were running down his cheeks. However, after searching high and low for two hours, going through every garbage can in the house, and giving a two year old the fifth degree, I was not in a laughing mood. I was convinced that my in-laws were the temporary owners of my phone and that they would find it when they got home. I decided to take out my frustration by hand washing a sinkful of breakfast dishes instead of putting them in the dishwasher, which is what I normally do. While I was washing the dishes, Mr. C popped in front of me proudly holding my cell phone right in front of my face. He found it under the corner of my bed. Now, we had checked under the bed at least 47 times, but we had not looked right under the corner of the dust ruffle. So, Curly Girl was right after all! Lil Nut must have been jumping on the bed while the holding the phone, and it must have fallen out of her hand and landed under the corner of the dust ruffle. Mr. C had a talk with Lil Nut about snatching cell phones and playing with them, and she looked at him as seriously as a two year old can and promised to never do it again. Curly Girl was rewarded with a piece of candy because she actually told the truth (we've been working on that)! Seems like we're making progress after all.