Today

I was really hoping to have some pictures for you all today. I even made sure to have Jason take some on his phone so he could email them to me and I could post them here, but the files are too big :-(. So no pictures.

We didn't end up going to Yosemite. They had 8 feet of snow and all the roads were closed. They also had an avalanche warning, so we stayed home and created our own volcano. I found a website that had instructions on how to make a homemade volcano using baking soda and vinegar. James and I "constructed" the mountain out of a sort of paste, then he and Gabby painted it. There was a soda bottle inside it that we filled with warm water, red and orange food coloring and a bit of dish soap. Then we poured vinegar into it and it bubbled up and over. The first "eruption" wasn't very big, so I dumped the liquid out and started over, using a lot more baking soda and vinegar. The kids were leaning over the mountain watching me pour in the vinegar. All of a sudden, Gabby screamed as the orange and red bubbles spewed out the top. That was the reaction I was going for! :-). James then proceeded to make "goo" out of the paste and liquid. He had a great time and the mess wasn't really all that hard to clean up :-).

Other than that adventure and my morning run, today has been a really low key, charge my batteries kind of day. I got a call this morning from a lady in the church who wants to bring the family I'm helping out a meal on Monday, so I got to cross one thing off my to do list for next week already.

Now for a little kiddo news. Gabby has been a dream child lately. She has definitely come out of her cranky stage and is just a little angel 90% of the time. God definitely blessed her with a giving heart. I walked into her room a couple days ago and she had cut one of her favorite bracelets. When I asked her why she did that, she said: "Mommy, sometimes we have to think about other people, not ourselves. I need to give these jewels to help people, to help the homeless." She had cut her bracelet apart so she could use the individual "jewels" to help others! What I could learn from her! She's never been very materialistic. She just doesn't really care about "stuff". She currently has $32.92 in her piggy bank because she rarely spends her money. Most of the time, she either saves it, or gives it to James. We have discussed this with them and did eventually tell them that they couldn't give each other money anymore. James was enjoying the exchange a bit too frequently ;-). We talked to them about this a few weeks ago and I think they may have forgotten because James really wanted to buy something this week, but he only had $1.50 and it was $2.50. Gabby gave him a dollar and I pretended I didn't know what was going on because she gets so much joy from giving. I didn't want to take that away from her. I figure I'll keep tabs on things and if her money starts walking over to James' pocket a bit too frequently, I'll have to become more "aware" of what is going on and putting a stop to it. One of my parenting dilemmas with Gabby right now is how do I shape her desire to give so that she continues to enjoy giving without becoming a doormat for others to trample on. Baby steps. Baby steps.

James is so glad to be back in school. His month-long break at Christmas was starting feel really long and he was excited to see his friends again. He also told me that he thinks his teacher is, in his words, "perfect because she knows how to keep me interested and I never get bored." He got to read to the principal on Thursday as an award for reading 350 books (also known as chapters, depending on the length of the book being read) at home. He seemed to have a great time :-).

That's it for now. Hopefully I will be able to put pictures up soon.