Peyton's Quest for Disneyland - Part 2

Well the other night we dumped out the piggy bank to count all the money that Peyton had made over the last couple of weeks. She has been working very hard, never letting a day go by without asking if she can make some money. She tells everyone that will listen about her little project too (like her gymnastics coach, Sunday school teacher and the bag boy at Safeway, to name a few) and along the way she has cheated just a little by being so cute and charming while telling her story that people have donated to the cause! lol. oh well, I figure a little charming never hurt anyone. But back to the money count...when we poured out the money from the bank onto the table Peyton said "wow! That is A LOT of Money!" We began to count, Peyton helped by counting the dollar bills (which by the way through this little project she has learned what a dollar, a quarter and a penny are and calls them by name) and daddy put the coins in piles amounting to a dollar so she could count those too. When we were all finished counting the grand total came to $26 and some change. When we told her the amount she put her face in her hands and said "Oh man!" I asked if she had enough to buy a ticket yet and she sadly said "no". So as you can see she is taking this seriously, which I think is amazing that a barely three year old can even grasp this concept. With a little more than a week left before Disneyland day she still has a lot of work to do (or a lot of charming to do). But apparently Nana has some projects waiting for her when she gets there so we will see what those are. I think she will make it *wink*wink.*In other news...Amber has all of the sudden in the last few days decided to make her voice known in this family...literally! She is starting to talk a lot more! Instead of crying when she wakes up from a nap she yells from her crib "Mommy? Daddy?" Today after hitting Peyton over the head with a toy and than screaming at her I scolded her and than told her to say she was sorry (not expecting her to actually say it) and this little baby looked right up at Peyton and with a quivering lip and every thing said "sory." She also knows several animal sounds and can count! no joke! I held up two pacifiers the other day and without us even asking her to she said "two." She's a genius! :) I was telling Brandon last night that it is a good thing she is so cute and smart because her strong-will makes me want to strangle her most days. As cute as she is, she is doubly as stubborn and I don't say this lightly, she has me scared to death of what the future has in store for me as far as parenting this little one. I just try to keep reminding myself that if I can successfully channel this behavior for good, she may just be able to change this world for the better. I am convinced that the great leaders of our country started out as stubborn and strong willed children, so I feel privileged to be given this challenge but a "challenge" I am sure it will be.