Boys will be boys

I'm going to preface this post with a disclaimer:
I love my son. He is witty and kind. He still likes to snuggle with  me for a minute before he goes to bed every night. He looks cute in his glasses. He whistles while he does his chores. His smile lights up his whole face. He is always smiling, etc... Also - I use this blog for my family journal so I post the good along with the bad. This story is not on the "good" list but I need to write it down. SO...IF you choose to read this post, just know that I don't want you to joke about this or tease my son when you see him next. You are not allowed to bring it up or make him feel dumb or stupid or "rub it in his face".  If you do, I won't hesitate to bring up all of your past mistakes and rub them in your face. Agreed??
On Tuesday afternoon I got a text from my neighbor asking me to go to a home in our neighborhood that is being foreclosed on. I called her back to ask her what she needed. She didn't go into any detail, she just said that our boys had been into some mischief and I needed to come talk to the police officer. WHAT!?! My heart dropped, I knew it wasn't good. I pulled up to find not one, but THREE police officers, 6 guilty looking children sitting on the grass waiting for their turn and a bunch of angry adults. I asked my neighbor what happened and she told me that the boys had taken a metal pipe to ALL of the windows in the house except for two. WHAT?!? I walked over to my son and asked him what happened and why he would do such a thing. He told me that his friend (some friend!) told him that he had permission to "trash this house" and he threw a metal pipe through the window. That was all the encouragement that they needed I guess because three little boys kept swinging the metal pipe at the windows until there were just about no more windows to swing at! They had some "encouragement" in the form of three little neighbor girls who began to throw rotten apples into the broken windows and laughed and went along with it. Luckily, a neighbor heard the commotion and walked over to the house to see what was going on. He got there just as one of the little boys was running away and decided to call the police. The boys were "questioned" and gave the police officer their statements and then the police talked with the parents explaining that we will have to take them to Peer Court and that because of their age, they will probably have to do some community service and the parents will be held responsible financially for the damage. GREAT! I signed the statement and court agreement and the police officer told us that we were free to go. I asked her if we could come back and clean up the broken glass and put plastic on the windows. She said that would be fine and we headed home to grab a broom and then to Cal Ranch to buy some plastic and tape for the windows. It was a LONG night and my little guy worked his tail end off. He swept up glass, he cleaned up garbage and helped until it was all done. The next day after school, I had him go back to the house with some gloves and pick up rotten apples from the tree in the back yard - 6 garbage bags and almost two hours later, he was finished. The "punishment" continued yesterday when I made him come grocery shopping with me and then had him put all of the groceries away. He is grounded from friends, computer and TV until next weekend. But I have to end with this...through it all, I have to say that I am proud of my little guy. He told the police officer the truth (most of the other kids didn't admit to doing anything wrong!) He has apologized, he has done everything that he's been asked to do with a smile on his face and a pleasant attitude and he's even stepped up and done some things without being asked. He keeps asking me what court will be like and I keep telling him that I'm not exactly sure...I guess we'll find out together!