By Nicole

Tonight we took our girls caroling at the long term care facility.  My Missionettes girls are in 4th grade, and at the spur of the moment, we joined the middle school and high school girls to drive across town (a whole two minute drive) and do two laps around the really tiny wing of the hospital.   Please don't imagine well dressed girls with caps and coordinating song books.  We were a rag tag bunch singing the choruses from memory.  Please don't imagine beautiful rounds and well practiced carols. We sang off key renditions of Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Silent Night and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  We busted up on our attempt at Away in a Manger and moved on.  This has been a pretty standard activity for my group of girls for the last, wow, eight years.  Usually I am just a tag-a-long.  Rarely am I the one that organizes any of it.  Some years we practice.  Most years we don't.  S...

Because I can't express how thankful I am for the gift of my husband and kids... here are some pictures.    Summer 2009 - They were so small!     The boys' first day of school this year.  Leilee wanted to go too!   The man partly responsible for those adorable children above.  With last year's Novembeard .   So, my first Nearly Wordless Wednesday.  Done and done. Note*  It is almost impossible for me to read or think the words "nearly wordless" without thinking of the part in the first Harry Potter movie when Hermione Granger says (to Nearly Headless Nick), 'Nearly headless?  How can someone be nearly headless?"  In the cutest little British accent ever.

Here is an update on the skillet below from this .  Isn't it beautiful?  This is after two rounds of seasoning in the oven with Crisco.  I got a little crazy trying to clean this thing off.  Blowtorches (REALLY) and screwdrivers entered the picture.  I could have blown myself up or gotten a serious puncture wound.  But it was worth the risk.  As a side note... I think I may have mentioned that Jason is feigning interest in this whole drawn out process... Today, we were on the phone and I asked him if he had looked at the newest layer of seasoning on the pots in the oven.  A brief discussion followed... you know, statements like, "They're not finished YET?" and "Are you serious?"  And then he said, "I hope by the time this pan is done, it's so non-stick that it just slips out of our hands when we set it on the burner."  I love my husband.  He will receive his dose of sarcasm in return.  When he least expects it. ...