HEY YOU TWO! Keep it up . . .

My kids get along.

Ok, it's not like life is all "la, la, la" hunky-dory, all the time.

And yet.

My kids get along.

Sunday was a particularly difficult day for me beginning with a flat tire, and followed by my computer going on the fritz (again) after several days of mini repairs. Three hours on a party line chat with Michael and Amar from Microsoft, and Rachel and Sam from Earthlink, didn't fix the problem.

Don't be so quick to say, "Maybe God wanted you to unplug today!"

That would be fine if writing wasn't how I actually "unplug".

By 4:00, I was numb.

I felt flattened by a flat tire on what I now call my "Linda Blair car", as I truly believe it is possessed. Any moment now it will spit up pea soup all over me. We need a miracle for it to hold on until June without any more "Christine" moments. That's enough of the horror film references. I'm done now.

I felt flattened by my computer's most recent unexplainable flat line. George tried to soften the moment, the three hour long moment which involved my making 4 new friends in India, by surprising me with salt and vinegar potato chips and a diet coke. He even made a Mary Kay delivery for me.

The kids pitched in by . . . playing. With each other. Nicely. Creatively. They played Bendaroo's, Wii, a new fabulous board game that Harper got at her party yesterday, an invented board game written on a few sheets of computer paper, and "parachute", which involved piling every loose blanket and all the pillows into a pile on the floor and then leaping - without a parachute. It was all good. And no one got hurt.

My kids play together. They enjoy each other. Spies. Star Wars. Even board games. And . . . they . . . hug (gasp)!

George and I don't tolerate disrespect towards family members. If we witness an unkind word, shove, or bite, we confront it immediately. Of course there are moments that slip by us. I'm no dope. But we must be doing something right for Harper to have agreed to allow her brother to join her and her VERY LOUD pals around the table for her birthday the other night. She included him. She didn't speak to him. But she included him. He even got to adopt a puppy and take the puppy oath with all the girls.

Sunday evening, we snuggled down in my bed, as we do often, while Harper read book after book after book to Zane. It ended with all 5 of us (gotta include Scout) curled up in one big family ball. They prayed that I would have a better day tomorrow.

They love each other. They like each other.

And thankfully, Andrew Bernstein came to the rescue, again, fixing my computer glitch in 20 minutes or so, enabling me to document that my kids actually enjoy each other's company.

There are days that aren't so nice. Everyone has these days.

But a mother can pray and hope and foster a bond between her children.

So, "DON'T MAKE ME COME IN THERE!", as I don't want to interrupt you as you explore, and experiment, and discover, and invent, and laugh, and negotiate, and collaborate, and, well, play.