Hair-raising

Another "Crazy hair day" at school the elementary school.










And Lorien, who has crazy hair every day.

One 1999 Ford Escort...dead...

Will's commuter car finally kicked the bucket last week.  This car had over 180 thousand miles on it and has been a faithful member of our family since Lorien was a baby.  It was the car that brought Wyatt and Clare home from the hospital.  It was the car that hauled our family of four across the country (from Boston to California) in 2004 for Business School.  It was the car that drove us to Montana, Utah, Idaho, Chicago and Southern California.  It was the car that we intended to teach Lorien how to drive on...too bad about that one.

Many tears were shed (in our hearts).  Good bye blue car--or as Adell called you "Blue Church"--no one knows why.

This is why I keep going with the blog...

Will has been working long hours for the last couple of weeks.  It looks like he will be keeping up with the long hours until mid February.

Boo, hiss.

Some big things are happening at work it is exciting and exhausting...for all of us.  By dinner time (which is a challenging hour of the day on my very best day) I am ready to send all of the children to their rooms for the rest. of. their. lives. and I know Will is still an hour or more away from coming home to rescue me.  Tonight's dinner song and dance was no different.  By the time the kids and I sat down to eat I was spent.

Per his usual routine, as soon as Wyatt got to the table he had to use the bathroom.  On his way back, Wyatt stubbed his toe.  He fell to the floor screaming and crying in pain.  We all ran over to see if we could help.  Colter got there first...holding a cup of ice water...nearly dumping the water on Wyatt's head.  I made a joke about Colter trying to help by dumping cold water on his foot.  This got Wyatt laughing and then choking.  I sat Wyatt up on my lap and tried to comfort him for real.  Lorien brought in a bag of frozen peas for his foot and Adell and Clare started fawning over their older brother.

After observing every one's behavior for a few seconds, Colter was clearly filled with mixed emotions.  He was worried about Wyatt but he was more concerned about all the attention Wyatt was getting.  I was perched on the edge of a living room chair with Wyatt on my knee.  Colter climbed up the chair and pried his way between me and Wyatt by pushing my top half backwards.  Then he took a seat on my chest.  From this vantage point Colter could give Wyatt a closer inspection.  He peered into Wyatt's face and put his hand up on Wyatt's cheek.  Colter noticed the tears but also noticed that Wyatt was laughing pretty hard by this point.  I tried to pull my phone out of my pocket to take a picture of the scene.  But the concern only lasted a couple of seconds.  Once Colt realized Wyatt was laughing more than crying he jumped down.

It was an heart-warming picture.  All the girls gathered around Wyatt, trying to comfort him or be helpful in anyway.  Colter, worried about Wyatt AND worried about who was getting the most attention in that moment.  The whole thing made me smile--maybe for the first time that evening.  These kids are so much trouble--and so much sweetness.  I need to keep blogging so I can remember the sweetness.

As we all walked back to the table to finish (or start in my case) our dinner, Wyatt told me how he got hurt.  Apparently, on his way through the entry way he tried to kick a balloon that was on the floor.  The balloon was close to the wall and in his follow-through Wyatt ended up kicking the balloon--and the wall.  We both laughed about his misplaced kick.

Because I didn't get a picture of the dinner time event...here is a picture of Wyatt...who found where the Sidewalk Ends.