Fact:  Red crayon marks on the couch:

Question:  Who did it?

Interrogation:  Everyone denied it.

Now begins the detective work which involves deductive reasoning as well as process of elimination.  The oldest three didn’t do it because by now they value their lives more than anything.  Now we’re left with the younger two; the four-year-old and the 20-month-old.  During the interrogation the four-year-old was insistent that she didn’t do it and readily incriminated the one-year-old.  Hmmmm. . . . the case gets a bit complicated because I can’t exactly interrogate the 20-month-old who isn’t verbal yet.  So, back to the evidence.  I observed the markings and the pattern.  It looked like the work of the 20-month-old because most of the markings are linear which is consistent with her developmental ability.  If it was the four-year-old, it’d involve concentric circles, hearts, and happy faces.

Case solved!

The culprit?  The adorable 20-month-old.

Punishment:  Sit on the bed of evidence as pictured.

I suppose punishment by photography is quite appealing for the culprit’s sisters that they too, want in on it.  So, I obliged.

Then the culprit felt left out so she climbed on to get in on the hall-of-shame.

Apparently, the brothers felt excluded as well, so they jumped on the opportunity to be photographed.

As you can see, life with so many little ones is never boring.

You may wonder why I didn’t completely freak out by the crayon marks on the couch and there’s a secret!  The secret is that all the covers on this couch are removable and washable.  Now, isn’t that a wonderful news for a family with small kids who enjoy practicing their artistic talents on furniture?