Innocent until proven guilty.........

I've always hated the time when my kids start to lie. It kind of marks the time when their innocence starts to leave, if you know what I mean. That was my first thought tonight when I caught McKaylie in a lie. She's clever, though, I will give her that. I have a candle holder that my in-laws made for me and I love (I guess that should be loved) it. It has antlers for it's legs and a stone top. I found it tonight, broken. The stone top was broken. I asked my kids what had happened. I didn't accuse anyone when I asked because to be honest I figured Noah did it. But McKaylie's face gave her away. Her mouth was saying "I didn't do it", but her face was saying "it was me, it was me". Being the sly detective that I am, I told everyone that no one was going out to play until I found out who did it................she confessed.........almost immediately. This is what she told me, "It was an accident. I accidentally had both my hands on top of it and when I pushed on it, it broke." Now, I'm not sure if that's a little bit of innocence hanging in there or craftiness beginning......................either way, she got the "the punishment for lying is worse than the punishment for breaking the __________" lecture. Later, while giving me her big puppy-dog eyes she asked me, "do I still get my treat (dessert)? I admitted that I broke it".

(Donna: I'm starting my Christmas list for you and guess what's on it!)