This is the face of an angel. A sweet little angel that could do no wrong. A sweet, innocent little angel that would never, never manipulate her mother.

Ha.

A few weeks ago Gracie and I met Grandpa for lunch before we had to go to the grocery store. It was a gorgeous day outside, so we sat on the patio and had our lunch. Grace ran around us chasing the finches and yelling at them to come down off the ledge because it was 'dangerous'. She was having a great time with Grandpa and didn't want to leave, but it was getting close to nap time and we still had to make it to the store. This was one of those absolutely necessary trips to the grocery store. We were out of milk, bread, and juice. The essentials.

So, despite her protests, I loaded her into the car for the short trip across the street to the grocery store. On the way there she was bargaining with me in an attempt to get out of having to go. She was pulling out all the tricks, "I forgot to tell Grandpa something, I'm thirsty, We need to go home and feed Belle, I'm tired." And then she struck gold. A no-fail way to get out of going. She said, "Mommy, if I go potty in my car seat, we can't go to the store 'cause I'll be all wet!"

I panicked. I screamed. I turned in my seat and began begging. You see, Grace has a fancy-schmancy car seat that takes approximately 7.5 hours to disassemble in order to wash. Not exaggerating. Washing that car seat is the bane of my existence. I hate it more than doing dishes.

As I pleaded with her, a smile spread across her face and she said, "Ooops! I peed! Guess we have to go home now."

I prayed as I reached back that somehow she was making it all up, but alas, I reached down and realized she was, indeed, soaking wet. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Not only did we not get to go to the grocery store, but she got her way. We had to go home to start the marathon process of washing the car seat. I shook my head the whole way home.

And laughed, as much as I know I shouldn't, I laughed and laughed. She may not always make life easy, but there's never a dull moment!

And there are always times like the photo above, where she is a perfect little angel.