the homeless kids

Last week I was running around like crazy. I had a laundry basket under one arm, I was carrying something in my other hand and I walked by an open window making a mental list of things I needed to do that day. I glanced out the window and one of my neighbors was outside on a lawnchair reading a newspaper. I did a double-take wondering, "how does she do that?". She has three kids (whom I've dubbed "the homeless kids"). I wonder how someone with three kids doesn't have a mountain of laundry or end of year school projects to work on or lunch to cook or dishes to wash or floors to clean, etc. etc. You get the point. I put the clothes in the washing machine, walked back and noticed that she was no longer reading the newspaper. . . she was sun bathing! In the middle of the morning. On a freaking Thursday. WTF? I want to do that too. Am I just managing my time poorly?
So let me tell you about the kids. There's two boys one looks like he's older than Brianna, one younger and a little girl that looks like she's about Alec's age. I call them the homeless kids because when they first moved in, I swear I thought those kids had no home. They are outside all day. I first noticed them at the bus stop. Brianna is way too cool to have me walk her to the bus stop now. It's just behind my house, though, so I watch her from my window. This little girl was always the first one out there by herself (I've been asked for an update on her, so watch out for that) then when the homeless kids moved in, they were out there really, really early too, playing football. I noticed them because they were outside playing sooooooo early in the morning. This is before 7:00 am. They'd play football on the sidewalk and street where the bus stops. Of course they wouldn't catch the ball each time, so they'd go onto my back neighbor's yard. The ball would sometimes hit the walls of that house. One day I saw the homeless kids' dad walk out to leave for work when the kids were playing in that yard. I thought "Ooh, they're going to get it now from dad". He waved at them as he drove off and said nothing. Nothing. I'd be really upset if I saw my kids playing on someone else's yard, hitting their walls especially at a time when they're possibly still asleep. I'd say something immediately.
So this has gone on. On weekends when I open the blinds the kids are already out there playing. On afternoons when Brianna gets home from school, we talk about her day, she'll have a snack and do her homework. Those kids are outside. They're dropped off by the same bus only they don't go inside their home. If they do, it's just to dump their backpacks. I wonder when they eat or do homework. Plus their mom is at home. She doesn't work. I can understand kids playing outside all day maybe in the summer, but all the time? This Sunday we were leaving to the store and the homeless kids were out riding their bikes while wearing pajamas and no shoes. I play around and say that the mom sets an alarm early in the morning just to kick them out. They roam around the neighborhood. I walked out once to bring in a garbage can and was startled by them. They were playing like they were shooting each other and one was hiding in my front yard.
I wonder if that mom worries at all about where her kids are. It must be nice to just kick them out and have the house to herself all the time. Maybe that's why she's so carefree sunbathing. I'm always worried about where my kids are, what they're doing, how their day was, if they're hungry, checking homework, making sure they're clean, etc. I must be doing something wrong.