Last week I posted this photo on facebook.
It’s not even a good picture, but I’ve had numerous people ask for the recipes.
Soooo…you can find the lemonade cake(right) recipe here. Possibly the best cake ever.
(And no, Nick, I wouldn’t consider either of these “from scratch” because you use a box mix as the base.)
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This one comes in a close second: chocolate chip pound cake. nom.
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1 chopped Hersey bar
6 oz. semi-sweet MINI chocolate chips
Combine first five ingredients. Add chocolates and mix well.
Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes in a greased bundt pan.
Once cooled, make this shiny chocolate glaze(from Elle’s New England Kitchen) and drizzle over the top:
Chocolate Glaze
1/2 cup (3 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) butter
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon light corn syrup (I use Golden Syrup)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Melt the ingredients together over low heat or in the microwave, stirring often. Add extra corn syrup if needed to make a smooth, shiny glaze. Yield: about ½ cup glaze.
Today was the tea party.
The only thing that made it a tea party was the fact that we served tea (and pink lemonade).
(Because really? What’s a sunny day without any lemonade?)
But she wanted to call it a tea party, so we did.
And one of her friends couldn’t come because her brother was at home sick.
But we had fun making chinese lanterns
(which I thought everyone made in preschool but discovered that I’m the only 30-40 year old who’s ever made them).
The food was fresh and yummy.
And the impromptu water fun was a plus!
But the best part was finishing off an entire box of Push-Pops,
which somebody really liked!
So what fun thing did you do this Friday?
Remember these?
Well, now they look like this:
And I am very happy with how they turned out.
And proud of myself for doing it all by lonesome.
Now if I could just figure out how to get this paint off my fingers….
There’s something about a silhouette.
The stark contrast of light and dark.
No gray area, no middle ground.
Just light.
And dark.
The unknown, the secrets
are hidden,
tucked away,
biding their time.
Some hiding in the deepest part of the black,
Some on the brink of the light, waiting to be catapulted into sight.
And the irony is that it’s not the light that we see, but instead the dark.
The shadows, they captivate us.
Darkness-filled with the unknown-taunts us, tempts us, calls to us.
It’s easy to live in the darkness.
It’s easy to hide.
Hide our true selves.
Hide from others.
Hide from our own self.
At least we think we are hidden.
But remember…
it’s not the light we see, but the shadows.
I’ve wanted to join in on the “You Capture” fun for a while, but never got around to doing it. When I saw that this week’s theme was feet, I couldn’t resist. Some of you know, some of you don’t: Carter has what we call “special feet”. He only has 8 toes-5 on one foot, 3 on the other. We don’t know why or how or what will happen as he grows, but as of now he wears two drastically different sized shoes. The leg of his “little foot” is shorter than his other leg. The current plan is to do nothing about it. When he gets bigger and starts to hit a big growth spurt, he’ll have surgery to stunt the growth of the longer leg so that the legs can even out in length. (At least that’s the plan for now. Unless they come up with a better option by then.)
Because of this we talk about feet a lot in our house.
There are times when Lydia has actually come to tears because she has 10 toes!
I’ve never seen Carter cry about only having 8.
At this point, he doesn’t even seem to notice or care that his foot is different from everyone else’s.
You know he's having fun when the shoes come off!
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As we approach Easter, I’m also thankful that the “You Capture” theme is feet because it made me think about Jesus’ feet.
Walking the dusty streets, cross on his shoulder, with blood dripping down and oozing between his toes.
Feet aching as he carried the literal weight of the cross and the figurative weight of the world.
Suffering unlike anything we can imagine.
And yet he walked.
For me.
For you.
For us.
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Also? Gratuitous photo of baby feet.
See more of our “feets” here.
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As a child, I loved the sunroom at my grandmother’s house. I remember sitting with my head in her lap and my feet in the glider across from us. She’d play with my hair as we both let our selves be completely enveloped by the sun’s rays.
Back.
and forth.
Back.
and forth.
Back.
and forth we would sway.
And I was warm, inside and out.
I imagine she was, too.
Now those same gliders sit on my porch. Metal rusted, fabric faded. For years I’ve great plans for them. Great intentions…but every time I would head to the store, something would get in the way. I wonder if I’ve been subconsciously putting it aside, wanting to preserve a part of her.
But today I walked outside to find this:
And realized that it’s time.
For new paint,
new fabric,
new memories.
Today hasn’t been good.
I’m sick.
So are all of the kids.
This is the first time we’ve all been sick at the same time.
Luckily, they are faring better than I am.
We’ve been lazy all day, watching TV and eating nothing but muffins and pancakes.
All day Carter, Lydia, Asa and my headache have all been volleying for attention.
And I’m afraid that I showed partiality towards the headache…and the nausea.
They’ve cried.
I’ve cried.
I slept some.
They slept some.
Not always at the same time.
(Thank you, Playhouse Disney!)
I found myself getting very frustrated with them all today.
And I had to keep reminding myself that they don’t feel good either.
They are tired and achey and feeling yucky too.
I had to keep reminding myself that I’m the adult here.
I need to be nice, not lose my temper, not get frustrated.
But it’s hard.
I don’t want to be the grown-up today.
My mom stopped by this afternoon and brought treats for everyone, buoying all of our spirits.
Giving proper germ-free hugs and kisses, she made us all feel better.
Now for a good night’s rest and hopefully we’ll all be as good as new tomorrow!
{I broke my header. I shouldn’t be allowed to play with my blog.
The wonderful @MommyGeekology is currently sprinkling her fairy dust on it, so it should be back shortly!)
I really miss eating “real” food.
