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HERRIMAN — As the saying goes, life is messy. That idiom is particularly true for one Herriman family, whose video of their three kids getting caramel sauce all over the couch is gaining views on Facebook.
The five-member Cochagrus family of Herriman includes three children: Philippe, 7; Belle, 4 and 2-year-old Dominque. Mom and Dad — Marcel and Candice — said they are no strangers to their kids’ havoc.
“Messes like this happen often at our house,” Marcel said. “My wife is a rock star at cleaning them up. Philippe loves water and has flooded our house several times. Our kids also love to make messes with food.”
Preventative measures only go so far, Marcel said.
“We have 14 different types of locking systems throughout our house, but sometimes we forget to engage them or our clever, curious kids find a way around them and we have to come up with a new strategy.”
According to Marcel, 4-year-old Belle usually instigates the messes around the house — something that’s evident in the video when a patient Candice goes to find her daughter — who she calls the “ringleader of this event” — hiding in the kitchen while Philippe and Dominique crush chips on the couch.
“Philippe … is non-verbal and … has autism and epilepsy,” Marcel said, including that the 2-year-old is still just learning to talk. “Our boys really just go along with anything. Belle runs our whole house!”
In the video, Candice calmly asks her sons what they’re doing as they mix together chips and cajeta — a Mexican caramel sauce.
“Are you having caramel and chips for breakfast today?” she asked the boys. “Awesome.”
On the Facebook post accompanying the video, Candice wrote very candidly about the occurrence, having what some may find a nontraditional approach to the whole thing.
“When my kids are in a different room and giggling ensues, I always do three things: take a very deep breath, grab my phone and RUN!”
Marcel said it took his wife about two hours to clean up the mess, including bathing the kids and laundering the covers on the couch cushions. Candice wrote on Facebook that the iPad Mini caught in the caramel crossfire was OK, thanks to an Otterbox cover. She did have to inform Marcel that cajeta was permanently banned from the house.
“Marcel, you may eat it at work, at your parents’ house or alone at the top of Mount Everest while you cry and cry about how our kids made an epic mess and ruined your beloved childhood snack, but never, ever, ever bring it our house again,” she wrote on Facebook.
Candice’s final take on the incident is an enviable take on parenting: “Yay for special needs kiddos that go along with anything and a fierce and clever girl not afraid to have fun with her brothers.”
