My date with Ash

It seems that I rarely get to go on a "date" with my kids. We'll hop outside and play football on occasion and we'll wrestle every now and again, but I don't get a lot of one-on-one time with them - particularly during the school year. Last night, however, I got to spend a couple of hours alone with my daughter, Ashleigh. I first took her to her Girl Scout meeting (I've rarely felt more out of place than I did during that hour!), and then we hit Dairy Queen for some ice cream and "conversation". I'd like to share with you a bit of the "table talk" we shared over ice cream cones.

Me: Is your ice cream OK, Ashers?
Ash: Yep!
Me: How's school going, hon?
Ash: Fine. Trey's (our oldest son) really annoying, though.
Me: He is?
Ash: Yeah. He's the most annoyingest big brother in the world.
Me: What's he do that's so annoying?
Ash: He pokes me all the time.... Hey, is that our van? Mommy must be here!
Me: No, Ash...we drove the van, remember?
Ash: Oh yeah!
Me: So why is Trey so annoying?
Ash: Daddy, do you think that Trey and Ligers (Elijah - our youngest son) know that we're here?
Me: I doubt it.
Ash: Good, because they would be jealous!
Me: Maybe.
Ash: Daddy, how many stars do you think there are?
Me: I don't know, hon. But God sure made a....
Ash: Hey, there's mommy!
Me: No it's not, Ash. Remember...WE drove the van tonight.
Ash (slapping forehead): Oh, yeah!

The conversation continued like this for the rest of our hour together. Right as we would start talking about something, she would get sidetracked by something else. It reminded me a T-shirt I recently saw that said, "I started out to change the world, but then I got distracted by something sparkly." Ashleigh's mind - and mouth - never stop moving, but she melts her daddy's heart!