You Don't See That Every Day

April is a big month of birthdays around here. We've had an enormous amount of cake and ice cream this month, I've also stepped up my exercise routine. The two may or may not be related. Earlier in April I had a hankering for some chocolate cake. "It's April It's cake month" my brain was yelling at me; so I listened. I grabbed a new recipe from my friend Betty Crocker and whipped up a delicious chocolate cake. And that is how we started the week of my husband's birthday! (( Here's a link to the recipe  https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/best-chocolate-cake-with-fudge-frosting/ee6153e7-dd8c-47ae-bd88-8fc70ce57a24   Note - I used my lactose free milk instead of buttermilk and powdered baking chocolate instead of the bars. And I made basic frosting not the kind listed here )) On his actual birthday he got sherbet - because he's not really a cake kind of guy. But he loves sherbet and ice cream. And then we had company over, which means we have to...

As I so often do, I went to the beach on my birthday earlier this week. It was a gorgeous sunny day. But like most days on the Oregon coast, it was windy, and we kept our jackets or sweatshirts on all day. Thankfully it is August and we could wear shorts with minimal goosebumps. This time we went to a 'new' beach (ie. one we hadn't been to that I can remember) It has a huge sand dune mountain that the kids went running for as soon as we got there. I made it up about half way with my youngest. Even that was a wonderful view. The rest of the crew made it to the top and so they took pictures of the other side for me. Maybe next time I will make it up there. It's not so easy when you're as old as I am. After lunch we tried another beach, one you can drive out onto with your auto.  And so we did. And it was a thrill for the passengers as well as the driver. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing on the beach, digging, running, watching the...

A few things have been going on around here. Namely basketball. Which I love. The boy had another great game on Thursday night. All of the pictures I got were blurry, because the boy is just always in motion. Yeah, that's it. Not because I have lame camera. Right. We also had a birthday celebration Friday night. My sister's birthday was in the middle of the week, and well, because it is basketball season, we couldn't exactly celebrate it on her actual birthday. But cake is cake on any day! Here's the good cake. The second one I made. The first one ... well it sounded good in the recipe, but it flopped when I made it. It stuck to the pan, and didn't look like it had mixed up right. Although when the people clamored for a taste anyway, they said it tasted good. It just looked terrible. The younger girl had a game this morning, and she is improving every week. The new skill I saw this week was keeping her hands up and ready. She is good at this on d...

Actually today is the 21st. But it's the Princess' 7th birthday. And we're having a party! Oh boy are we ever! I decided that this year, starting with her birthday and working our way through the 4 other kids, each one gets to have a special birthday party this time around. So first up is the now-7 year old's Campout (Indoors) Birthday Party! She has invited 6 of her friends over (that was a hard list to pare down!) and some are even staying the night. Talk about an excited little girl! We set the tent up in the new playroom. We've got hot dogs to roast, and a bear hunt waiting. There will be potato salad and jello, per the birthday girl's request. Also on the menu - almost-orange-julius; chips, and carrots; And of course, there will be chocolate cake and ice cream. I just made The Best frosting to put on a cake, or in a cake. It reminds me a lot of the filling from ding-dongs (are those still sold anywhere?! ah, the memories.) All it takes is 2 cups of po...

What a weekend! I spent Saturday canning peaches and plums. After I did a 3 mile PR. And attending a niece's birthday party. It was a long full day. Sunday was our church picnic. For the past few years we have had one big church service at a local park, and then potluck picnic right afterwards. This year the weather was perfect! A little cloudy in the morning with bright sunny, but not too hot skies, in the afternoon. Our neighbors joined us this time - and we spent the day just hanging with them and talking. I love living in a neighborhood where we like our those we live next to. When G and I were once discussing who would be fun to go out with, as a couple. And our neighbors were the first that came to mind.  So Monday dawned bright and early. I had to take the boy down to his school and get a class changed in his schedule. We waited in line for over an hour. Now I know kids in high school or bigger schools probably have much longer lines and waits .. but this being our ...

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday. We had cake. My s-i-l was nowhere around our house, but we had cake anyway. And someone definitely enjoyed her chocolate cake (besides me!) She was quite a sight. And then she wanted to play peek-a-boo Once we got the camcorder out she really started hamming it up. So a big thank you to the dear friend, LH, who brought over the 'chocolate turtle' cake. It was delish! (we all thought so)

Baby K had cake for the first time on her birthday yesterday. And like her momma and siblings, she really really likes chocolate cake. Likes it so much she had to wear it in her hair and smoosh it into her face Thankfully she has enough self control to push the bowl away when she was done, even though there was cake still in it. Something her momma needs to learn.