Baby Chick!

Deep thoughts from my four year old. It never ends!! We were eating boiled eggs with dinner. My girls love to eat them plain. Ick! ATM  pipes up and says "so, this is a baby chick, right? and you just cooked it inside the egg? right?" I gagged, sputtered, and turned and glared at Dustin with a "YOU HAD BETTER NIP THIS IN THE BUD" look. That was disgusting. I hate chickens. I hate roosters. I don't particularly care for eggs. They are gross if you think about them. They smell gross. Even the glass you drink out of while you eat eggs will smell gross, too. Even how they got here is gross. I hate cleaning the egg off my kids faces, I hate cleaning dishes with egg on them. I hate eggs. Except on a few select entrees. Anyway. Dustin fought back laughter and told her that no, this was not a baby chick in there. It was fine to eat. ATM still thought it was. "you know, chicks hatch from eggs, and they are yellow. This yolk is yellow too. It is probably just a cooked baby chick." My stomach was churning and turning and I thought I was going to be sick. He explained that, NO, that most certainly was NOT a baby chick. There are eggs with baby chicks in them for hatching, and there are eggs for eating. We buy eggs for eating, and leave the eggs with baby chicks in them on the farm to hatch. At which point McKynzie cradles her boiled, chickless egg in her little hand and begins to coo. "Awwww! Lil Baby Chick! Baby Chick! Look Daddy, Baby Chick!!" I had to leave the table. The mental picture was more then I could stomach. I didn't finish dinner. We are laughin now though!

How deep should a 4yr old think???

I have found myself wondering this ALOT lately. I am realizing I don't think deep enough to keep up with ATM. Sigh. Let me explain.
She had been making bad choices multiple times daily, for multiple days in a row. This is not normal for her. She is usually an awesome listener and obeys very well. However, it was a rough 5 days. Maybe even a week. Eeeeeks! It wasn't pleasant. I was worried this was the "new her". Anyway. The 5day saga started here... We were at the store when she decided to throw a fit- on a four yr old level. Ashlynne doesn't throw fits. I was shocked. It lasted much longer then I wish. There was arguing, tears, not so nice facial expressions given to us by her, and looks of shock we gave back. Dustin witnessed this thankfully, because I think he would have had a hard time believing it had I have had to tell him. We told her to take a minute, stop talking, and think about what she was saying before she said it. Didn't work. Just got worse. So on the way home, we talked to her about making right choices, and what was not ok with what she did, and encouraged her to make better choices. etc. We never want our children to feel like we hold what they do against them, or that they never meet our approval, so we usually deal with the situation and move on. So we dealt with it and moved on, encouraging as normal. About an hour later she informs us that "by the way, your little Ashlynne was on a little vacation back there at the store, but she's back now!"  We laughed. We told her we were glad she's back. Anyway. The next few days were not good. I was praying, scratching my head and ready for some divine wisdom. So Dustin was putting her to bed and He asked her about her day, and she opened her precious little heart, invited him into the moment by saying that she "didn't make good choices today, daddy." He asked her like what, she told him, and she told him she had been doing alot of thinking... "Daddy, I have been thinking. I know why I haven't been making good choices." "Oh? Why is that?" "Well, because my head and my heart have a disagreement. My heart says to do what's right and my head says to do what you want to do. So that's why I don't make good choices. They just can't agree." We thought that was brilliant! THEN, the next night... "Daddy, I think I know why I didn't make good choices again today. I figured it out!! You see, there is a pipe that goes from my heart to my head. Choices go through that pipe from my heart to my head, and that's how my heart tells my head to make good choices. But sometimes that pipe gets plugged up with bad choices. Bad choices look like little grapes with legs and they get stuck in that pipe. When they get stuck, it plugs up the pipe, then when my heart sends the good choices to my head so I can do them, the good choices get plugged up behind the bad choices, and can't get to my head. That's when I have to make the bad choices! Otherwise I would make the good choices. They just get stuck behind the bad ones."  Dustin was flabbergasted, and he explained that there is no pipe, but that it is Jesus telling you to make the right choices. She insisted that there was indeed a pipe. She said saw it on the poster at the chiropractors office. "You know, on that poster with the picture of what it looks like inside your body..." I kid you not. That is all exactly what she said. No embellishment. We quickly explained that that "pipe" is the pipe which allows air to travel to your lungs... and the other pipe is how food gets to your stomach! SERIOUSLY?! WHO thinks that deep? Whatever happened to chasing butterflies and playing dress up?!!  It makes me stop and think-why don't I think that deep? Hmmmm?!! We have been laughing at the little grapes with legs ever since!

Way too long!

Ok so it's been waaaay too long. It's almost embarassing but I feel motivated to update on the happenings. We moved, and are loving the not so new house! Yes we have been here for 7months. It's crazy. Dustin has been working alot, both at work and home. He has done alot of the honey-do's and his do's! I have been addicted to painting... Ashlynne's ceiling fan (hot pink), various light fixtures that are gold. I should say were gold, for they aren't anymore. I have even started putting my makeup on with a what Dustin calls a paintbrush. He walks in the bathroom while I'm "painting" my face and shakes his head. She's lost it, he thinks. But, no I have not. I love painting! I am almost done with the inside of our house, which was a HUGE project. Dustin has been a trooper. He hates painting and yet he has pitched in and helped me tackle it with Dustin gusto. Our room was my least favorite. I thought it would be the easiest and it was not. It is a big room. I didn't realize how big until we kept painting and painting. It took hours! So worth it though. Now my bathroom looks sad, pale, and has no personality, and we can't have that! So that will be the next painting project. Ashlynne is so proud of her "new" room... It is pink, pink, pink. Princess stuff too. She wanted pink walls and pink headboard, etc. I let her have her opinion but i can't do that much pink. But, she said she could handle white. So white it is. All her furniture is white, which she thinks turned out cute. So do we.

Our hot tub is now finished, which we are very proud of, for it was our first project of that sort.

Now for the girls... Where do I start? McKynzie is HILARIOUS. Ashlynne is funny, but McKynzie is hilarious. Kind of like me and Trina. I can be funny, at times, but Trina is usually hilarious. She has no fear of anything, has become a daddy's girl, and loves tools, cars, trucks, etc. She doesn't like her hands "diyy" dirty and she loves her Asha- Ashlynne. But she does yell at her from time to time. She is extremely posessive of food. She thinks if there is food out she should eat it. She says "help me" instead of hold me which can be embarsssing when you are in the store and have been for a while. Let me take you on a trip to the mall with us and innocent Grandma Linda... !

I head off to shop for some clothes for me. Grandma takes the girls to shop in their department. Ashlynne loves clothes and loves to try on clothes. McKynzie loves accessories, shoes, jewlery, etc. So McKynzie was done loooong before Ashlynne. So grandma senses that there is a meltdown on the very near timeline. She was right. McKynzie wants out of the stroller and wants "Gub-ga" to hold her. Gub-ga gets her out and holds her. That worked, for a short time. Now McKynzie wants to walk. I had forgotten to put her shoes on her when I got her out of the car. She loves shoes at home. In the car, she feels the need for her feet to be free. Strange, I know. Perhaps it's because her car seat still faces the rear... anyway. McKynzie has no shoes and Gub-ga knows Mommy is a germaphobe. So she tells McKynzie she can't walk. At which McKynzie starts yelling "help me! help me!" She has been blessed with a very broad range of vocal range. She talks very high pitched and laughs very deep. So she hit alot of range with each Help me! Gug-ga says people started to look. Dillard associates started to look concern and watch the young girl yelling help me with everything in her. She looks like she needs help! At this point Gub-ga starts heading my way because now she feels like she's kidnapping her own granddaughter! McKynzie gets even louder. Gub-ga actually PUT HER DOWN AND LET HER WALK. BAREFOOT. Ashlynne starts freaking out. "SHE DOESN'T HAVE SHOES ON AND MY MOM SAYS THE FLOOR IS GERMY. WE'RE NOT ALLOWED TO WALK ON DIRTY FLOORS BAREFOOT." needless to say, Gub-ga found me in record time. Ashlynne made sure to tell me that McKynzie had walked on unclean floors. She developed this theory and diagnosis of "swine foot". Makes us laugh. She is dead serious about it though. To her it anything that has to do with Kynzie is NOT a joke. Being a big sister is serious stuff. She takes her role very serious, too. And she is amazing at it. I have never seen a more kind, caring, responsible, selfless oldest sibling. (aside from myself.) :) Anyway.

We bought the girls a powerwheels jeep. Ashlynne drives, and it scares us spitless. I have never seen her be bad, and I mean BAD at something. It shocked us. She can't drive. At all. It was so funny. McKynzie even got out of the jeep that she LOVES and opted to ride on her own on the quad because it was so bad. She wanted OUT. Yet, Ashlynne continued to drive all over our yard for a good hour. Whiplash, tire spinning, and all. Dustin cracked me up. I sat there laughing and observing. I SEE this: Ashlynne drives the jeep smack into the playhouse, tires spinning and she is still pushing the gas. and spinning. And giving it more gas. I'm not sure if she thought she would eventually climb over the 5ft tall playhouse like a monster truck, or if she thought she could push it out of the way. Anyway, Dustin watches for a good 2min and says "Ashlynne!" No response. Not even a look up. "ASHLYNNE!" Of course, she can't hear over the noise of the spinning tire. He tells her to put it in reverse and stop running into stuff. Be more careful, you know, the yoush. She responds that " Look dad! You can dig holes this way! Cool!" He got her "unstuck" and she was on her way again. Still runnin over stuff. You would have to see it. We laughed and laughed. McKynzie on the other hand drives the quad very well to only be one and some. She doesn't seem to need as much practice.

McKynzie doesn't forgive quickly either. My dad, "bug-aw" was teasing her and hit her on the back with a bag of hot dug buns. She held a grudge for 3 hrs and wanted nothing to do with him. She wouldn't look at him, pushed him away when he tried to kiss her. It was funny. She clinged to "nammy" and was very clear that she was ignoring him. She wasn't back to normal until the next morning.

Ashlynne just finished another year of dance and a recital. Dustin danced the dads dance again. They both did awesome. She is doing awesome in swimming and she starts ice skating lessons this summer. We'll see how that goes.

McKynzie is very loved everywhere she goes. Her class at church thinks she's as awesome as we do, and Ashlynne graduated to "Studio 3" now. Everyone loves her as well. It's all grown up stuff for her. They are growing up so fast.