It has begun.

Tonight, while at the store, I happened to notice that Taylor Swift was on the cover of the current issue of Seventeen magazine. Paige has become a huge Taylor Swift fan, so I pointed the magazine out to her. While Brian and I were getting the groceries on the conveyer belt, Nicholas & Paige were having a pretty in-depth conversation. Next thing I know, Nicholas says, "Hey mom? Is THAT Taylor Swift?" I told him it was. He thinks for a few minutes and says, "Well, I'm going to marry her. SHE IS HOT!!!" I was stunned. I asked him what he said, he repeated it, and I said, "Did you say she's HOT?!?" He confirmed it. What's the deal with my 6-year-old calling anyone hot?

(Taylor Swift)

That's not the end of it. We got home from the grocery store and we turned on American Idol. We caught the last two acts, one of which is my favorite (pretty much), Adam Lambert. When I saw he was singing, I commented that I was glad I got to see him sing. Nicholas, giggling, said, "Why? Is he SEXY?!?" I was like, "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT WORD?!?" and he informed me that he just knows it. How? Why? I don't call people sexy ... not even to my friends, let alone to my 6-year-old.

(American Idol's Adam Lambert)

So, I blame Kindergarden. More specifically than that, I blame all the kids he hangs out with at school who have older siblings and can teach my innocent angel words like "sexy" and a new context for "hot". In the grand scheme of things I know these are minor things, but I can't help but feel it has begun. I've felt that way pretty much since the second week of school--Nicholas bringing home things he learns from his friends--naturally, I only notice the ugly. We can stop some of it--words or phrases (nothing bad, just not necessarily appropriate coming from a 6-year-old) but the attitudes and mannerisms are harder to get a handle on. I just pray when it DOES get to the big stuff, God guides Brian and I as parents and guards our sweet boy's heart!!

Family Bike Ride and a few other things ...

Yesterday marked our VERY first real family bike ride! By real, I mean that we ALL RODE OUR OWN BIKES! WOO-HOO! We were just going to ride around the neighborhood, but as we got to the end of our cul-de-sac, the kids requested that we take a ride to the park. We live really close to the park, but we have to cross a pretty major intersection to get there, complete with riding along a busy road for several hundred feet, albeit on an over-sized sidewalk. We let the kids ride on the road while in our neighborhood and they both did great; truth be told Nicholas wasn't our main concern--he's a great sport and pretty confident on his bike. Paige, however, just got her first "big girl" bike about a month ago and she's still learning the ins and outs of bike riding. More than that, she's the BIGGEST WHINER EVER ... a true trial for both her parents in any situation, let alone when riding along the street!! SO! I'm happy to report that both the kids did a great job riding to the park ... the only hiccup was when we stopped at the aforementioned intersection and realized that Paige hadn't entirely mastered the use of her brakes! I panicked, but Brian, with his catlike skills and reflexes, reached out and stopped her before she went into the street! After I recovered from my heart-attack, we carried on and made it safely to the park. Because we hadn't anticipated a ride outside our neighborhood, neither Brian nor I had money with us, and therefore were unable to fill the kids' requests for Ritter's on our way home. Instead, I made sure to dish them generous portions of ice cream at the end of our journey--they were VERY excited for the ice cream! Regardless of all the whining from our girl, the bike ride was very pleasant and we were extremely proud of our kids! After recounting the story to my mom this morning, I realized that I probably expected a bit more out of Paige than I should have ... afterall, I probably wouldn't have expected this bike ride of Nicholas a year and a half ago, which would put him at Paige's age now. Given her meager 4 1/2 years, she did EXTREMELY well (they both did--Nicholas is a natural athelete, like his father!) and I look forward to many family bike rides to come!

On a "nature note", we had a visitor this morning! Our BIG FAT SQUIRREL is back, and cuter than ever! Paige named him "Sparkles", which was the fourth try (her first was "Harold", then "Emma", then "Tweet Tweet" ... we finally settled on "Sparkles" at my suggestion ... this is the name of EVERY SINGLE ONE of her stuffed animals so it wasn't hard to sway her). He entertained us for quite a while, trying to get all the seed he could out of our bird feeders! I LOVE NATURE!!

Lastly, and definitely more seriously, Susie McCracken, a friend of mine from Church at the Crossing lost her battle to cancer today. She was a wonderful, vibrant, woman of God; I sang in the alto section of the choir with her for several years and can honestly say she was my favorite person at CATC. She leaves behind four beautiful daughters, a son-in-law and a devoted husband. While my heart breaks for her family, I can't help but rejoice for Susie! What hope we have in the Lord: all of our individual roads lead to Him. It doesn't get any better than that!!