Watch...his nose is about to grow!

Last night at the dinner table, Gabe was about done with his pizza, but he still had some salad left on his plate.  I'd been busy making Christmas fudge the night before, and he was well aware of the tubs of fudge still sitting in the fridge.  He agreed to be good and eat his supper, so that he could have some Rocky Road.

Our deal is you've got to finish your food before you can have a treat.  If you're too full to eat your supper, you have no business filling up on sweets.

Rules are rules.

Gabe said he was done and started getting up from the table.  I guess he was ready to go and play or something.  "Ok, you can go, but you realize this means you won't get a treat," I said.

"It's ok, I don't like treats," said Gabe.

"What??  Watch...his nose is about to grow!" I said, obviously referring to Pinocchio.

Next thing, I saw Gabe looking down at his nose, crossing his eyes in the process, waiting to see what was going to happen.  Zeke and I burst out laughing, and Hubby just smiled and rolled his eyes.

"What's so funny?" asked Gabe, clearly missing the joke.  Zeke and I just looked at each other and burst out laughing again.  Needless to say, it took several minutes for us to regain our composure, but Gabe was a good sport about it.

*chuckle*

It's moments like these that make this whole parenting thing so worthwhile.  :)

A Heavy Heart

I was just reading the news about a tragic event that happened this morning.  A gunman opened fire at a CT elementary school, killing 26 people, 18 of them children.  I can't even begin to imagine the reactions of the families who will get the news about their son or daughter's death today.





This image was taken of a group of students being escorted through the parking lot.  Just a few hours before, I was getting my own two boys ready for school.  So were the parents of the kids at this school, only they didn't know it was the last time they'd see their son or daughter alive.

I've heard about shootings on college campuses over the years, but those didn't affect me quite the way this story has.  Perhaps it's because I have a son in elementary school and another in daycare not far behind.

I actually cried when I read this story.  What was going through that man's mind when he pointed his gun at an unarmed child and pulled that trigger?

All those lives cut short.  All that potential wasted.

WHY?!?!?!?!?!

Whether the gunman killed himself or was shot by police, he was lucky.  That was too easy.  I'd be one of the ones wanting to keep him alive long enough to tear him apart with my bare hands.  Make him feel pain.  Make him suffer the unthinkable.

That's gruesome.  But that's just my gut reaction.

Don't know what else to say.  Don't know what to think.  All I know is when I see my kids tonight, I'll hug them longer and tighter and hope I'll never have to be in the same position as the parents of the 18 children lost today.

May God bless them and keep them close in this dark hour.

Amen.


UPDATE:  Two more children were pronounced dead at the hospital after the shooting, bringing the total to 20 children aged 5-10.  The gunman's mother was a kindergarten teacher.  She and several of her students were among the dead.  It sickens me to read this.  Those young lives cut short because of one person with a chip on his shoulder.

Sickening.