April 2017 part 2

Wyatt punched Lorien in the face.

Want to read that again?

I was out driving Clare's dance carpool.  Lorien and Wyatt had a power struggle (she was nitpicking his behavior, he was being extra sassy).  Lorien called me twice to tattle...Wyatt tried to call me to tattle, they fought over the phone and it got physical.  It ended with Lorien elbowing Wyatt and Wyatt punching her in the face...

It was awful.  Her nose was 100% broken, her eyes blacked up and one swelled nearly closed.  Wyatt felt terrible...Lorien felt terrible...the whole situation was terrible.  We had to wait for the swelling to go down before the doctor would look at it and reset it.  The resetting was unpleasant.  Novocaine up her nose, gauze up her nose, knitting needle like tools up her nose to pop it back into place.  I cried about it for two days.  I felt like the worst parent.  Lorien's teachers asked if she was being abused at home.  Lorien's friends offered to beat Wyatt up for her.  Wyatt wouldn't talk to any of us about it.  He hid out in the van just about every day after school.  Ugh.

Once we were all able to talk about it (Thursday night, punch happened Monday) we had an excellent talk with Wyatt about forgiveness and repentance.  It was a few days before Easter so...I guess that worked out.  Wyatt was sorry and Lorien forgave easily.  She also apologized for her escalation of the problem and they both agreed to be more patient with each other.  I had cried to most of my friends about it, including a group of older mom friends who were able to tell me their own family drama stories.  I don't want other parents to go through this stuff...but it sure makes a depressed mom feel better to know other parents deal with crap with their kids too.

In the same week we were dealing with Lorien and Wyatt's situation.  Clare was selected to be a finalist in the 5th grade speech competition.  She was the best her in class and made it to the stage to try for a spot at the district speech contest.  Colter and I went to watch Clare give her speech.  It was cute to watch all of the kids squirm as their turn came up.  Clare did a great job but didn't end up making the final cut for the district contest.  She said she was so relieved!  She and the other speakers were so nervous leading up to speech time.  They were all proud for making it to the stage but most of them (Clare included) didn't want to go through the stress of a district contest.

There are a few pictures of me from this event (Colter had my phone for entertainment).  My eyes are puffy from crying over bad parenting.  The pictures of me did not make the blog cut...just the story of their existence.  

With Colter in preschool I have a little more freedom and ability to do things like chaperoning field trips.  Last year I went on a field trip for most of the school aged kids.  This year Clare was the one lucky kid.  We went on the USS P0tomac which was called the "Floating White House" during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.

Our little group was fun.  Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot.  For sure, the highlight was cruising under the Bay Bridge.  Also, I got to be the President when we sat a the dining room table...so...I win.

The elementary school had their mother daughter dance...80's theme.  The girls love this event...I do...not...but I love my girls!  We danced and sang and ate sugary food.

Easter was a thing.  The kids found baskets and eggs and we ate a yummy dinner.  The kids all got new outfits for church.  Colter's had a clip on tie and when Wyatt tried to clip the tie on he got a bit of Colter's neck skin.  Colter's face, oh it was heartbreaking, he let out the loudest scream and his eyes were as big a saucers.  Poor kid.  It hurt a lot.  I'm pretty sure he will never wear a tie again...ever...at least not a clip on.

We tried to read the scriptures that told the events of the week leading up to Christ's resurrection every day as Easter drew closer.  We missed a couple of days but it was still a nice way to feel more connected to the spiritual parts of Easter, rather than just focusing on candy and the Easter Bunny.

I've been watching the Great British Bake Off and was inspired to make a swiss roll and cherry pie for Easter dinner.  The whole meal was delicious but the pie and crust was my favorite.  I finally found a recipe that is close to what my mom always made and I can make with the kitchen tools I have.  Even Will loved the crust, and he is very picky about his pie crusts.  I was pretty proud of that...and that my kids didn't punch each other in the face again.  Easter, out.