jack is back!

the buzz around the house began before thanksgiving. will he or won't he? will jack be back again this year? our questions were answered on saturday morning when my little people awoke to find... (insert drum roll)... jack perched atop the christmas tree! alas, our sweet elf had returned.

little jack has only been with us for 4 nights, and already he's missed one trip back to the north pole. apparently, something was amiss monday night and he was unable to make his nightly return. after much discussion, gracie and i have decided it must have been that mille and mollie had daddy and i up a couple of times during the night. gracie thought jack may have been trying to leave and that's what the dogs were barking at. genius. it could have been the deer in the yard or coyotes howling, but whatever. we'll go with her theory.

this morning, we found jack hanging out in the dining room on the light. in my opinion, that's a great place to hang out. he can see them in the living room and it's a straight shot to see the kitchen happenins'.

i wonder where we'll find him in the morning...


p.s. it's christmas time... i can use words like perched, amiss, atop, and alas.

gracie's super-cute thanksgiving turkey

ok, this turkey is one of my all-time favorite school crafts that has ever come home. and like most families, we are blessed with lots and lots of crafts. gracie made this in her first grade class this week. she has been so super excited to help minnie decorate. now i can see why! how stinkin' cute.

easy-peasy donuts

oh... my... heavens. this is one of those ridiculously easy ideas that i never should've found. never... ever. my friend sheri says that i always say recipes are easy. but, honestly sheri, this could be the easiest ever.

ok, so jackie makes donuts this way, which i had completely forgotten... until i saw this on a fabulous blog and thought to myself, "brilliant! why haven't i done this?" oh, and while i was in the kitchen making these sinfully delicious donuts, my husband saunters in and says, "oh yeah, we did that when i was little. my sisters and i used to make donuts like that. we even made them with chocolate. and then, we'd sell them to the neighbor kids!"

all right, i'll get on with it...

i started by putting about 1/2 inch of oil in my cast iron skillet. while the oil was heating, i got busy with the canned biscuits. any biscuits you'd like, just not the flaky kind. and i couldn't find my little circle cookie cutter, so i used a plastic medicine cup. you know, the kind that come on the bottles of liquid tylenol or ibuprofen? using your cookie cutter (or a plastic medicine cup), cut out the middle of the biscuit. for me, the little cup worked great! even when the dough got stuck, the cup was flimsy enough to squeeze and the dough fell out. and, it was the perfect size for donut holes!

now that you've got the dough ready, and the oil hot... get cookin'!

place dough in hot oil. cook until golden brown, and then flip with tongs. it would be a good idea to have a plate with papertowels ready and close enough that you don't drip oil all over the stove... or the cabinet... or the floor.

when the donuts are that really pretty golden color on both sides, place them on the papertowels for a couple of minutes. i let them sit until they were cool enough to handle. as a topping, i used a mix of cinnamon and sugar in a seperate bowl. when the donuts were cool enough to touch, i let the girls coat the donuts with the cinnamon and sugar mix. you must be careful in allowing someone to help... most of the donut holes disappeared.

and... ta da! they look scruptious, don't they? just writing this makes me crave them. my mouth is watering... seriously.

rain for the puddles

cale, lily, and i were headed to school monday morning on our usual route when the following conversation occured... oh, wait. you must know that our morning commute takes us the "less-traveled" way. i'd rather spend my drive admiring pastures, fields, and the occasional barn.

cale: "hey mom, there wasn't much water in that puddle for the cows."

mama: "puddle? oh, yep. you're right."

cale: "maybe we should pray for God to send some rain for the cows."

mama: "bubby, that's a great idea! why don't you do that?"

cale: "no."

mama: "why not?"

cale: "cause i don't know the words."

mama: "well, just pray the same words you just said to me."

cale: "well, ok... God, please make it rain so the cows have some water in their puddles. amen."

mama: "see, bud, that wasn't hard, right?"

i got no response from him, as he had returned to fighting imaginary bad guys with spiderman.

now, here's where it gets good. what do you know, but on monday night it started raining. and it rained. and rained. and rained. it rained on and off yesterday (tuesday). and this morning we had a conversation that went something like this...

cale (very loudly): "mom!!! the cows puddles are full!"

mama: "well, yes they are! do you know what that means?"

cale: "no."

mama: "God answered your prayer!"

cale: "He did! i prayed and now the cows have rain in their puddles."

such a small conversation that turned into a tremendous lesson. gotta love that. those are the moments that make my heart so very thankful.