Khronicles of Kate....

Kate's life in crime has begun early.

I had some really great coupons for Bath and Body Works. And you know I love that lotion. I feel so spoiled when I put it on.

So after shopping and smelling the smells (which makes me so happy) I checked out....only spending one dollar and getting five dollars of lotion in return! Yea me.

As I am walking out the door Kate hands me another lotion bottle (travel size, which really isn't that small). I hand it over to the clerk. I walk through the mall and almost out the door when I see she has another lotion bottle! So I start to get suspicious and under her little bum and fluffy coat I find another lotion and a small hand sanitizer! Little stinker.

Hey, a life of crime is exhausting!

Kate told Corey she was going to draw a carrot and then whipped this cute little veggie out!

Love it!

To death!

As in I think there was no cuter carrot ever drawn in all the existence of the earth! Ever.

I know you agree.

Angels among us! On a cold night in a snowstorm...

Corey's been jogging consistently for about 9 months. He has lost 40 pounds.

He is a die hard with incredible drive. It is actually pretty annoying.

He has had a few funny experiences though.

One night he was sprayed by a skunk...

One night he scared some other walkers so badly they fell down (scared by his heavy breathing)...

and one night a cat pounced on him and hung on his leg for a while.... (cats are funny creatures)

He jogs in an area where they are building homes and there are only a few families living around there. There is a paved road like a track so it is perfect. You know, if you want to jog an hour straight.

One night during the frigid cold, he was out jogging and a neighbor yelled at him to go home and threaten to call the police on him. Kind of cute, they are watching out for him.

The other night he went jogging in the snow as usual. He goes at night, and after a few times around the "track", in his self made "lane" which he won't waver from becasue he is OCD that way, he sees a bag which he originally thought was another skunk, but it wasn't.

It was a sweet little offering from kind neighbors, who had snuck out there while he had jogged a few laps... and left it in his trail.

He was pretty happy and touched about it. It is nice when your hard work is appreciated. (Not that I would know, ha ha)

Think Santa should bring Corey a new pair of running shoes? His feet keep getting wet!

The bottoms are bare, no tread...

Also incredibly cool...Corey found access to the Book of Mormon for his MP3 player. He listened to 14 chapters. Great... now I really have to step up my game.

Let go my Lego... Ha ha get it? Like Eggo? only Lego...nevermind.

We have been having a Lego bonanza at our house. And it makes me proud. Every single one of my children (minus Justine) has spent time in the boys room where all the Lego's are spread everywhere, creating Lego masterpieces.

Bo is honestly creating cool little cars and robot things. I'm so proud!

The rest of the kids were thrilled that I still had the directions of how to build the Harry Potter Castle and they having been searching diligently for all the pieces that have been mixed in with the rest of the miscellaneous Lego's.

When you sit in the basement office below their room it sounds as if there is a machine up stairs because of all the raking through the Lego's. Music to my ears!

We have never owned a PlayStation, Wii, or any of those video game machines. The kids do manage to spend plenty of time wasting time on computer games though. Some of those are educational so it isn't too bad I hope (Buy Zoo Tycoon, so fun). They also have one DS they sometimes play games on. But usually when they beg for those video consoles I just tell them I want them to be using their brains and not glued to video games.

I want them to write and draw and read and shuffle through Lego's all day long. I want them to know what it is like not to have to be glued to technology all day. It is mostly working. Although the older kids do love their face books, and Kassidy loves her Ipod. It is defiantly a challenge in our crazy techno world, to try to stay unplugged.

So... when I hear the Lego start to shuffle it makes me super happy.

I loved it when Nathan (nearly 12) sat on Santa's knee and told him he wanted a Star Wars Lego set instead of a video game. My heart soared.

Favorite memory of my brother...when I was a girl my brother was the Lego master. He actually uses Lego's somehow in his job today as a design engineer. I still remember and love his Lego pop machine invention. You pull a little knob and little "pops" would come out. I need to get a pattern for that. Wendy, if you read this will you make him give me one? You are probably the only one who can accomplish the task. Thanks. I'll be waiting,

Anyways, love Lego's. Love dresser tops FULL of special Lego creations that can never be thrown back in the tub of Lego's.

Love children asleep with a bag FULL of Lego's that they want to keep separate for whatever reason. Remember I told you Bo was a hoarder?

Dinner work party! Love it!

Thursday night Corey's work is taking us out to dinner for our Christmas party. Yeeeaaaa. I am so excited. Here are the reasons why...

• Corey's employer actually is just"sending" us out to dinner. They live in another state so they don't come. That means you can order the most expensive thing and not feel weird. When ever Corey and I go out to eat I always order frugally and have water. So it is super fun to splurge guilt free!
• This is probably the most "gourmet" place in town. Like the rich people in Hollywood eat. Like where you pay a fortune for food and then there isn't even anything on your plate but what is on your plate must be the best possible mouth full ever.... (I wouldn't know...yet)
• I really care about trying new things at these fancy places. I would never order steak. Boring. Trying interesting foods is exciting to me. Not Corey. He is already freaked out about the menu choices.

So let me share with you some of the menu choices I am considering. (Corey found a menu on the Internet because he is worried about it)

Pan-Seared Scallops with slow-roasted mushrooms, celery root puree, and mushroom jus.

hmmm .....celery root sludge...I mean puree. What is that? Is mushroom jus...."juice"? Serious though, this is probably what I will order. Slow roasted mushrooms sound so good.

Parmesan Napoleon-polenta cakes, artichoke hearts, poblanos,Parmesan crisps, goat cheese, Green goddess dressing.

I had to google half of these. Polenta Cake is like little dread. Poblanos is peppers of some kind. The artichoke hearts is what attracts me to this.

Wild Caught Salmon with roasted beets, quinoa and truffled beet emulsion.

I love beets. I need to google quinoa. I just cant decide! Salmon doesn't excite me terribly but the menus choices are sort of small.

You can also get a lobster tail on the side with your meal and something I am dying to try is Bacon Wrapped Dates stuffed with Parmesan. 1$ per piece. And Bacon wrapped scallops served with 'angry' mayonnaise. 1$ per piece. That 'angry' mayonnaise just really has me curious! Hot I am assuming?

And what do you suppose macerated cranberries are? That is going to come on my salad.

Something I will NOT try is Lavender Lamb Lollipops. That sounds grody despite the balsamic, which I do enjoy. Mostly just a poor name choice, I think.

Alright, I will let you know what I order and how it goes. I do hope I have a chance to sneak a picture of my food but I am kind of thinking... not. Darn.

Crap! Corey just texted me and there has been a change of plans. Now we are going to Texas Roadhouse. King of steaks. Booooooo!!!!!!!!!

The new Grandpa is a hit!!

I mentioned my mother in law got remarried.....my kids have been so excited to get to know and visit their new grandpa.

And I know why.

The kid's new grandpa is the kind of person who makes you feel important about yourself. And the kids are feeling that. He asks about them and the things that they are interested in. He spends time looking at their drawings. He tells them that their work is clean and good and he hasn't seen that before in a nine year old. *wink*. He looks at their calligraphy telling them that that is a true form of art work. He already comes to their recitals. He looks you in the eye and listens. He's huggy and lovey. Even thought he is a famous artist he just thinks he isn't any big deal.

I think we are going to keep him.

Too bad we have to share him with his real grand kids.

And too bad I didn't bring my camera to take cute pictures of our family dinner. It was Aunt Sherri's birthday. And she gave us a present! She's nice that way. Carolyn (MIL) made a great meal which Corey informed me was his favorite. Who knew?

Homemade fried chicken with gravy and rice. I swear in all my days he has never told me that before.

We also had to crack up at Uncle Frank tonight. He makes us laugh. We were cracking up so hard that new grandpa was cracking up and we liked that.

At the dinner table Uncle Frank went into la la land and zoned off..... Staring into space. Kassidy, the super loud snapper, snap right in his face (he eggs them on so bad, so all is fair in love and war between him and my girls) and startles him to attention. Staring straight ahead he says "fruit trays"! We laughed and laughed. New grandpa laughed. Uncle Frank's hot sauce laughed and turned red. It was a fun night. Family is a good thing. Heavenly Father is a smartie.

By the way Uncle Frank said "fruit trays" because he was thinking of something he needed to bring to the church Christmas dinner.

And when ever I tell people how to make Wingers sauce I accidentally tell them to buy Uncle Frank's hot sauce.

And to top off the night on the way home I sang my guts out to my most favorite song ever. "Hands" by Jewel. I want that sung at my funeral. For reals. Don't forget.

Oh yeah,... it is so fun to have a real life artsy person in the family! It is so foreign to us. I loved that the kids were exposed to that. They got to see Dale's (new grandpa) work room and the humongous painting he was working on and selling and all these little tubes of real life artist paints from a real life artist. It was awesome.

Appreciation for husband, Sunday, the 44th

Yesterday I was very grateful to Corey for making a special trip to put gas in my van. I really like that. My old fashioned feminine side just doesn't feel like I should have to do something dirty and grungy as that. It is a boy's job. Really. I believe that. Sorry.

Corey's dad always made sure his mom's car was filled with gas. And on Saturdays he would wash and clean the car for church on Sunday. Wow,,,,! Huh? Corey really doesn't get too close to my car because I am usually growing fungi in there. We spend a lot of time driving around and eating in that car.

I honestly remember that after my father in law died that my mother in law didn't know how to put gas in the car because my father in law had always done it. I just love that.

Haaaalllleeeelllllluuuuiiiiiiaaahhhhhhhh!!!!

Is that disrespectful? Cause I really want to shout that out right now!!!!!

My son came home from preschool with some sight words he was supposed to memorize. So I taped them to the wall and quizzed him and......

Haaaalllleeeelllllluuuuiiiiiiaaahhhhhhhh!!!!

He read "like" and "see"! Honest!!!!! He did!!!!! The heavens opened and light shown down on him and the angels sang and I was ecstatic! My kid can read!!!!!!!

We have continued to practice and he knows all six of those sight words. So, with another round of kindergarten he should be a pro.

(Remember he is in developmental kindergarten right now because of speech delay and his birthday is so so close to the school cutoff of when he would go to kindergarten so he is the VERY youngest in a class so I am going to have him repeat it. whew, long sentence.)

But while I am thrilled for Bo I am saddened because in the back of my mind my heart breaks for my little Rhettie who is still struggling along at a first grade reading level due to his dyslexia. What if his baby brother passes him by? That will be a heartbreak. Wah.

But Rhett is making progress.... and on to more important things...he made two baskets in the basketball game this morning!!!! So you know, if the reading thing doesn't work out he always has that as an option.

One day he told me he was just going to be like dad and not read. I had to explain to him that dad could read, he just didn't. There is a difference. And then I am annoyed at Corey for not reading when he can! If you can you should. It is just rude to those who can't!

Also, I am excited about Rhett's Christmas present. Since he can't read this I am safe to write it, right? 8 books and 8 audio CDs to go with the books of "The Magic Tree House". I am hoping to teach him how fun books are so his desire to read will grow. Plus, research shows that children hearing men read does something good for them but I can't remember what. So hopefully they are read in a man's voice.

Next week I will share with you the AAAAMMMMMAAAAAAZZZZIIIIINNNNGGGGG book I read.