Actually that IS the way the cookie crumbles

How to find a runaway Ginger Bread Man (known hereafter as the GBM):

• first make sure that someone else didn't take him out of the oven
• check around for a trail of crumbs
• ask every parent if they've seen him anywhere
• send the kids home to look for him
• tell the kids to look while they are riding the bus/walking/biking/riding in the car
• sniff everywhere for the scent of cloves, cinnamon and ginger
• ask bigger kids at school if they've seen him
• when the kindergartners come back to school the next day, ask if anyone saw him
• call a mommy when one girl insists that they caught him at her house and he's under Mommy's bed, 'cause who knows--stranger things have happened
• have the kids make a wanted poster with his description which will probably involve the pound and a half of sprinkles they used to decorate him
• make sure the librarian, music teacher, computer teacher, nurse and secretary know their lines before you visit
• visit the librarian, music teacher, computer teacher, nurse, secretary and principal as you track down clues
• tiptoe from place to place so he won't hear you coming
• check carefully in each location in case the GBM is hiding
• keep a straight face
• if you should hear the GBM as he tries to hide in the principal's office, hold tight to the box so he can't get away
• have the kids says the magic words, "turn back into a cookie", before you try opening the box
• make sure the kids go to the bathroom BEFORE you start your hunt--because hunting for the gingerbread man is so exciting that they will try to "hold it" and might not be successful
• wash your hands really well after discovering that the urine has soaked not only underwear and pants but has trickled down into the shoes
• having a kindergartner come up with a "that's the way the cookie crumbles" comment is very appropriate as the class munches on their gingerbread.

There are worse ways to spend 9/11.