A Glimpse Into Our Morning

"Aidan, stop drop-kicking you lunch box and go get your shoes on." ~Mom

"Do all teenage boys put their hands in their pockets and slouch?" ~Allie

"Look! The mama bird had food in her mouth. Look! Now she doesn't. She's going to get more. Stay away from Mojo, little birdies."

"If someone tells you to do something you don't want to do, do you have to do it?"
"A friend or a teacher?"
"Just kids. If kids want you to do something you don't want to do, should you do it?"
"I don't know any goats at my school, so I don't think that's a problem."
"*sigh* okay. Children. If your fellow students, children are trying to get you to do something you shouldn't do, should you tell a grown up?"
"No, not if they just want to play on the slide, but you want to go on the monkey bars."
"You know what I mean. If someone wants you to do something bad, you should say no and walk away, right? And tell a grown-up."
"I don't really like telling grown-ups. If you don't do it, then you don't need to tattle."
"Yeah, but what if you say not, but then they get someone else to do it."
"They probably won't."
"Stop playing devil's advocate while your brother is listening. If someone tries to get you to do something bad, or something you don't want to do, you should tell a grown up, right?! I'm talking about bullying things."
"Well, it's not really bullying unless you tell them no and they keep doing it."
Seriously, I think sometimes there is just no talking to that girl! :)

"Hailey said hot dogs are made of liver and hooves and eyeballs. Are they?"
"Well, some hot dogs are made of pieces of meat and things that can't just be cut into a steak or a roast or something."
"But do they have eyeballs?"
"I don't know. That's why we don't have hot dogs very often at our house. And that's why I'm pretty particular about which hot dogs we buy. Just because kids tell me what to buy doesn't mean that's what I'll buy. I'll buy the ones that are more meat and less additives."
"That's good. But what about the hot dogs at baseball games."
"Well, I don't know. Remember how we talked about using all the parts of animals and not wasting? Well a lot of people eat liver. You can order in a restaraunt. It's pretty healthy for you, I guess. I just don't like the texture, so we just get those vitamins from vegetables and stuff."
At this point her face was quite pale and she looked on the verge of tears.
*sigh* "Are you going to cry all day, now because hot dogs are gross?"
"Maybe."
"Okay, I'll call the stadium and find out what hot dogs they use. Is that better?"
"Yes, thank you!"

And yes, I was grateful when they started singing one of their favorite songs really really loud and trying to out-sing each other, because that means my brain got a break for a minute. What's the song? For your listening pleasure....We Are Young. (don't worry, they only know the chorus)  Incidentally, Allie told me that when her teacher asked them at the end of the school day, "What are you all doing tonight?"  Allie replied, "I think I'm going to set the world on fire." She said her teacher laughed, the other students mysteriously didn't follow. :)