Everyday

I take more pictures these days with my phone than with our camera, which is too bad because the photos are not the best quality. But then again, it means that I get more candid moments because the phone is more handy. Here are a few from my phone over the past week or two. Images that tell the story of our life.

The most handsome man in the world lives here.

 #6 had an accident with the kitchen stool one day last week. He fell and hit his ear on the corner of the stool back. He kept waking up after he went to bed that night crying that his ear hurt; I worried that maybe he'd done some internal damage. I asked Mike to give him a blessing and called my dad at 10:30 to come and help (thank you Dad!). I am so grateful for the priesthood. This is Abner after the blessing. All is well. The next day he had no complaints.

 On Friday Tillman had a few school friends come over to "work on a project". Tillman had offered no further information when he asked if his friends could come over so I assumed it would be pretty straight forward and simple - maybe some research, writing, maybe putting together some kind of simple presentation. I learned my lesson: always ask for more information. Turns out it was a bit more elaborate. After dropping them off after school with Noble in charge, I ran to do some quick shopping for dinner. When I walked in the door they met me with their demands: a circuit board, wires, a power source and something to build an electric vehicle with. I stood there for a minute completely confused. What? What kind of project was this? They (in their cryptic 5th grade speak) explained that they had to build something that would move on its own using electricity. I asked if there were any official printed instructions I could look at because the stuff they were telling me made no sense. It seemed pretty complicated. 

Plus, it was due Monday, so his was their only shot at it. And we had like an hour. I drew a blank. 

Noble had been home from school that day incapacitated by a pinched nerve in his shoulder.  As I listened to Tillman and company I became more confused by the second, and I was in the middle of about 20 other things demanding my attention that afternoon. The surprise arrival of this crisis definitely threw me off my groove. Luckily I had Noble.  In desperation I looked to him and asked what we should do. Oh how I love, LOVE this engineering son of mine! Together we were finally able to get clarification about Tillman's project. Noble determined that we needed a small 1.5 v motor that he found on Hobby Lobby's website for less than $4 and a battery pack. And we decided that the vehicle could be constructed out of Legos. So the 5th graders and I ran to Hobby Lobby while Noble searched for gears and components in the Legos. Then he helped (*did most of the work*) put it together and tweaked the design till it functioned. I told Tillman that he had to give some credit to Noble in their presentation.

Noble is AWESOME in a crisis. He's like the Melton version of MacGyver. 

Post Script: Noble visited the Chiropractor the next morning for some intensive therapy for his pinched nerve. He can more-or-less stand up straight now. Notice his kinked posture in the picture. He definitely earned some respect by diligently stepping up that day when he could barely even move. Fist bumps.