The other night, Trey and I were going through our nightly bedtime routine with our three children. He was managing our two kids, who are 3 and 5, while I was getting our youngest, who is 15 months, dressed for bed. After Trey tucked Justin into bed, I heard him instruct Kate, our oldest, to put on her pajamas and to brush her teeth. We had gotten in from church earlier that evening, so while Kate did as he instructed, Trey stepped outside to finish cleaning out the minivan from our day’s activities.
We have a small ranch-style house, and all three bedrooms are on the same hallway. This hallway also leads out into our garage. As I was putting on Alisa’s diaper and pajamas, I heard the alarm over our garage door beep. I thought nothing of it since I knew Trey was going in and out of the house, but I also wondered what Kate was doing. She should have been brushing her teeth by that point, but I assumed she had gotten sidetracked playing in her room, as she often does.