Ashes, ashes. We all fall down laughing.

I had to laugh when I saw this on-line today.

This is exactly the OPPOSITE of how Audrey feels about today.

Today is Ash Wednesday and I will be taking the girls to church this evening to get ashes placed on our foreheads during Mass.

Audrey was bummed when I told her we'd be going in the evening. Last night she begged me to go to the first Mass in the morning. [I didn't even realize she was aware that there's an early morning Mass. I used to attend that Mass, but that was long before I had kids .] I explained that it would be difficult since our morning was pretty busy already. She said she would get up early so we could go. I figured the issue would just die on the vine since she's a bear to wake on school day mornings most of the time.

But not THIS morning!

Right smack in the middle of my workout (doing deadlift weights with 20 pounds in each hand no less) she appeared bright and smiley down in my workout room (aka the basement). Once again, she was pleading with me to go to the early Mass this morning.

The reason? She wanted all her friends at school to see the ashes on her forehead.

This is a total hoot. I love that she has no inhibitions about it all . . . I must be doing something right.

I told her I could put pretend ashes on her forehead and she could explain to her friends that she would be getting the real ones later. She wasn't crazy about that idea (and frankly, neither was I . . . I'm not sure why I offered it. Catholics out there - did I do a bad thing?) But in the end, she decided that "yes, she did want fake ashes." Oops. So, I took a little gray eye shadow and made a smudge of it on her forehead.

She was so pleased! What a freak. ;-)

I can't wait to hear her report on this later tonight.