We All Live in a Yellow Backyard

Any of you who know me or my kids know that Will is my wild man. He is - as he would tell you right now - 4-and-a-half-and-three-quarters right now. One of Will's best qualities and most fatal flaws is that he lives in the moment. Will loves life and lives each moment pretty much without regard to the next.

So Saturday, as I sat on my couch hanging out, listening to the neighborhood kids play at my house, I thought I would be able to tell by the noises from the kids playing - or the lack there of -if Will was getting himself into any trouble. This has worked for me in the past. I have learned the sounds of doors opening that shouldn't, the turning on and off of the water hose, high intensity whispers, or especially evil squeals of joy.

I must have been distracted by the Home and Garden channel this time. What transpired will forever go down in Sutherlin Family History as the Legend of the Yellow Paint.

Earlier in the week we had the people who come out and mark your yard for the things that are buried come out and mark our yard before we had a cable buried. Apparently, there were no gas lines in our yard, which I have now discovered are marked with yellow paint. And I know this for two reasons. There were no yellow marks in the yard when they left AND they left their can of yellow paint erroneously in my yard, which I didn't discover until it was too late.

Will and one of his friends found the paint in the back yard, and, because Will truly lives in the moment, took it upon their artistic abilities to decorate things. Will was the main culprit in the decorating. We had grass, tree trunks, our fence and wooden bench "tagged" with the paint. We had The wooden fort (which, by the way, Brad has built twice and has a special love for) painted in multiple spots. Will painted tennis rackets, his car that he drives around the backyard, other toys and even his most prized and newest toy (a Star Wars X-Wing Fighter that we found at a garage sale the day before) all covered in yellow spray paint. We were lucky the dogs were inside and that he didn't find his way to the front and tag our vehicles. He also was covered in yellow paint himself and had painted parts of his friend's body. It was bad.

I discovered the yellow after 7 and a half year old Ryan confiscated the paint from his brother by method of slugging him in the stomach. Ryan is definitely our rule follower and this was obviously WAY against the rules.

I took will inside and made him shower first thing and told his daddy what happened. After Will's FIRST shower, he was forced to throw away his toys that he spray painted and even a couple of boards on the fort. He then was made to throw away his clothes that had paint on them, including his prized Darth Vader T-shirt. That was especially painful for Will. Then he was set up with a scrub brush, soap and water. Luckily the paint mostly came off.

As Brad took Will inside for shower number two, he gazed up at Brad through his glasses and asked with weepy giant blue eyes, "Daddy, am I doomed?"

Brad answered honestly, "It's too early to tell, son. It's too early to tell."

Just so you know, Will lived to see the next day and has even told some others that spray painting was "really fun." Hopefully the consequences will keep it from being something he wants to do again....