Even when your children are grown and gone, there are certain memories that are either bad or funny enough that they stick with you forever. Here are one grandmother’s favorite war stories:

Runaways. When my oldest daughter was about six years old she loved to “test” babysitters. One time while being babysat, she snuck down to her room with her sisters and removed the screen from the basement bedroom window (her and her sisters’ room). She climbed out and then helped her sisters out so they could run away. The babysitter called in a panic! We found the girls sitting in their playhouse in the backyard.

In Living Color. Another time, my daughter got into the baking cupboards while a babysitter was putting her younger siblings to bed. She got a hold of the squirt bottles of liquid food coloring, and the sitter came back upstairs to a “tie dye” kitchen. She did her best to clean it up, but HONESTLY I was finding blue, red and yellow for months thereafter.

All Washed Up. Probably worst of all was when my oldest daughter turned on the garden hose and stuck it in the the dining room window. The babysitter got it turned off, cleaned up all the water and put my oldest in time out. A short time later, our sitter went to put the baby down for a nap. When she came back downstairs, the hose had been dragged in through the sliding glass door into the family room. There was about 1-1/2 inches of water all over the carpet and rising!! Poor Sarah! She cleaned it up again, and this time, she made the three older girls stay right with her at all times. The funny thing is, when we got home I had no idea what had happened, and was so impressed — my house was absolutely spotless, the family room was SO clean, and the girls were sitting like perfect angels quietly playing in the living room (with the carpet still damp). When I drove Sarah home, I thanked her profusely and was telling what a great babysitter she was. She burst into tears and told me all about the hose! I was not happy with my daughter, but we sure laugh about it now.

Someone gave me some great advice once. She was a mother of eight, and I asked her, “How do you keep sane when they are doing crazy things and you want to explode?” She told me to keep a small camera handy. Before “exploding” take a few pictures and find the humor in the situation. I have to say, it helped a lot being able to laugh instead of cry. Plus, now I have all those blackmail photos to share with my grandchildren. — Provo, UT

There is a certain kind of embarrassment that only a Mom can truly understand. Our MomMoments column is filled with these war stories of motherhood. We’d love to hear your stories so please share with us!