many things

It has been many days since I have last written. Much has happened, though most of you will not find these things significant.

Our weather has been NUTS! We go from sunshine to ice storms in a matter of minutes. The windchill is so cold, it is at times reminiscent of growing up in the "Greater Chicagoland Area" (as it is apt to be called). School was even cancelled for two days in a row and there was not much snow to play in, just a lot of ice to slip on.

Nate's mom came to visit. What a contrast STL provided for her compared to her Phoenix weather. For a day and a half we were confined to the house and somehow no one felt the need to pull their hair out. We managed a grown-up dinner out (yep, Nate went out with his monther AND his wife, what a man) to Big Sky Cafe. We have been here before, but this time I must admit, my socks weren't blown off. The next day we partied on at the Magic House. A very cool place, but an easy one to loose a child in. Fortuanatley we all stayed found and managed to have happy thoughts towards it after we left. The evening brought us to City Diner and I have to say my mushroom burger did blow my socks off. Mmmmmmmm. And then we had dessert from the Chocolate Bar (much too conviently located just a few blocks down our street).

And now to tell you about my fabulous weekend (which was more than a week ago). For Christmas and my birthday, Nate gave me a certificate to a day spa. The 16th of this month was my day to go and I will tell you that it was worth the wait. I had a facial and it felt so good! That night we had a real babysitter and went out on a real date to one of my favorite restaurants, Lorenzo's Trattoria. Nate won the entree contest (you know, the winner is the one with the best tasting dinner) with his lamb chops. Mine was a lovely seafood risotto. So it was a Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, and Happy Valentines Day wrapped up in one!

And now on to the kids. Jimmy is funny and knows it. In fact he walks up to you and says "Jimmy funny" (only it sounds: "JmJay Fuh-eee". And his latest thing to say as we drive along, "Tall Tree Jump High" to which one would say, "Jimmy, do you want to jump high from a tall tree" and of course he responds in his best cave man way, "Uhhh" (which means "you betcha" - by the by that is what Grace generally says instead of "uhhh"). Grace is still something else. Today in response to doing her homework she proclaimed in the poutiest fashion she could muster "I am not doing my homework and if you make me, well I will just leave our family." I guess she is still working on that Academy Award. On Sunday, she and Nate went to a bird sanctuary with their binoculars (a fabulous bday present she recieved, her very own binoculars). They saw tons of birds, labled them, talked about various bird characteristics and had a lovely ornithologistic time. Well, until she said, "Next time, Dad, let's kill them." What?! Why?! "Well, for meat of course." But these birds really aren't for meat. "Well, how about quail then? They are for meat." Okay, umm, well, are you sure. "You betcha. Those people with Moses had manna, and then they got tired of it, so the Lord sent quail for meat. It made them happy."

And that, my friends is what you get when you let your kids read the scriptures.