Yummy Cake!

 

 

I mentioned in Tuesday's post that I'm not so good on decorating cakes.  While I definitely don't claim to be the world's best baker either, I'm happy when I can make a cake from scratch and it come out pretty yummy. 

 

 

I tried a white cake recipe a few years ago for Ryan's birthday and I wasn't that pleased with the overall taste.  It seemed heavy and just kind-of blah.  I hadn't been searching a new recipe out, but came across a recipe through a good source, on Pinterest of course, a few weeks before Colin's birthday and figured I'd give it a go. 

 

 

 I was a little nervous.  I didn't have some of the things that she says you needed or highly recommended.  IE Cake Flour, a sifter, a mixer with a paddle attachment, a scale, or a cooling rack.  I didn't even know there was even such a thing as Cake Flour, and/or what a paddle attachment was.  I have an electric mixer, but it doesn't work on the stand very well, so normally I just hold it.  And even though it says there are 7 speeds, there is pretty much fast, faster, and crazy fast.  So when the recipe says beat at a low speed, that doesn't really work for me.

 

 

I read through the recipe carefully, and her notes on the bottom, and it still seemed doable.  Which, by the way, just in case you don't have Cake Flour on hand (they don't even sell it at the Commissary here), she has a link at the bottom to one of her other posts with how to substitute it.

 

 

On the same post she also has her recipe for Whipped Vanilla Frosting.  It was simple; but again I was a little nervous as I don't have a sifter.  It seemed to turn out just fine though.  I just had a lot left over.  I'm assuming it's because I didn't have as many layers to put icing in between.

 

 

Just about the only thing I did differently was I used my large springform pan, about 10" I think, to create a wider 2-layer cake, opposed to her suggested 8" 4-layer cake.  That alteration in itself made me nervous.  All her instructions and calculations seem to be perfectly thought out.  I wasn't sure if there was a reason behind the 4 layers.  The recipe also states it serves 10, but I was able to get much more than that.

 

 

So, without further ado....

 

 

Sweetapolita:  How to Make a (Perfectly Delightful) Vanilla Birthday Cake

 

 

 

 

Considering it's late Monday night as I'm typing this, and there is only a tiny sliver left I would have to agree that it is Delightful! 

 

 

I love me some sweets.  The best way to not eat them it to make them disappear.  And of course the best way to make them disappear is to eat them.  Hehe.

 

 

If you scroll far enough down on her page she has a few personal notes on the recipe and she claims that the icing tastes like ice cream.  I didn't really make the connection, but Ryan did.  He stated today after eating a piece, "Mom, the blue icing tastes like ice cream!" 

 

 

I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about it while eating my first piece (almost seemed too sweet), but after having a few more (hehe) I will be permanently adding this to my recipe book!  If you try it, let me know what you think!



Birthday Celebration

 

Since Colin's birthday was actually on Friday, we let him open up one of his gifts Friday evening.

 

He grew out of his boots a few months ago, and if you know Colin, you know that those boots are a daily wardrobe item.  He was excited to get a new pair and he wore them around the house the rest of the night!!

 



We aren't big Birthday-Party-Throwers. Or at least I'm not. Up until this year we normally just have a small family gathering.  On Saturday we invited a few friends over to celebrate Colin's birthday with us. 

 

 

Apparently, the gift of a Pez dispenser was amazing enough to get a dropped jaw!  (Making note of that one for the future!)

 



 

Me and cakes don't get along so well.  At least the decorating part.  I had a plan to decorate his cake like Captain America's shield.  Like this....

 

(pic source)

 

 

I have the tools.  It seemed doable and simple enough.  1.  I don't think I allowed myself enough time overall.  (Never seem too.)  2.  I normally remain pretty confident in my idea to decorate the cake right up until the time that I'm decorating the cake and then all my confidence flies out the window and I'm left standing there saying, "Uuuhhhhhh...."  3.  I always forget until last minute, and when I say last minute, I mean as I'm stirring the coloring into the icing, that over the counter food coloring red and blue DOES NOT make red and blue.  It makes pink and baby blue.  I started to decorate the cake like a shield, but I just couldn't bring myself to make Captain America's shield pink and baby blue, nor present that to my kid for his birthday.  The outer ring of pink got gently scraped off and I ended up covering the whole thing in a light blue icing and plopping a toy on top.  :)  He definitely didn't mind, nor could care less...it's my own self ambition that needs satisfaction!  I just pray that 10 years from now I can say my cake decorating skills have advanced.  Once we get back to the states I'm taking that Wilton Cake Decorating Class at Hobby Lobby!!!

 

Anyways...

Miss. Emma was all about hanging out with Tim.

Blaine with my friend, Marque...



 

We are grateful for great friends who love Colin and made the time to celebrate with us!!!



Homemade Donuts!

 

We had our first attempt at some homemade donuts a few weekends ago.  They weren't anything like Top Donuts (in TX); which we miss our monthly Saturday morning trip too....but they're still donuts!  And donuts are GOOD!

 

 

 

We even had a few friends come over and join us!

Tim skipped on the donuts and enjoyed some fried Oreos for breakfast instead!  (If you haven't ever had a fried Oreo you need to put that on your To Do list ASAP!!!)

 



Tim did 99% of the work that morning, plus cleaned up the kitchen while Marque and I chatted it up in the other room and when we came out of the room we found this....

 



 

{Love.} 

Homemade {Strawberry Lemonade}

If you remember about a week or so ago, we went to a local Strawberry Field to pick some of the amazing goodness right off the vine!  To be perfectly honest, we aren't HUGE strawberry eaters.  (Don't judge!)  I knew we would eat some of them, but probably not all.  I had plans to make a jam.  Finally got the pectin I needed, and a recipe from a friend, but then realized I had no jars to put it in.  I'll be working on that these next few weeks! 

Onto the next best thing...Strawberry Lemonade!!!  I have been using Pinterest more as a "Google" lately and after looking at a couple links I was able to find this great, yet very simple, recipe.

What you need:

A small container of fresh strawberries.  (I just filled one of our bigger breakfast bowls full.)

1 cup freshly squeezed Lemon Juice. (I used 6 lemons to get 1 cup of juice, but they were LARGE lemons.  I would also buy one or two extras just in case you have any....uhummm..spillage...uhummm)

1 cup of white sugar

6 cups of cool water

Wash the strawberries and cut off the green part.  In a blender add the strawberries, lemon juice, and sugar.  Blend till nice and smooth.  (I don't own a blender..again..no judging, but I do have a Bullet so I just did half at a time.)  Pour into a pitcher and add 6 cups of cool water.  Mix well and pour over ice to enjoy!!

This recipe makes a little over 1/2 gallon.  As I have never made homemade lemonade of any kind, I was a little nervous with how "frothy" it looked, but it tasted delicious!  Just make sure you shake/stir well before each serving as it tends to separate in the pitcher.  In our pitcher there is probably only enough left for one more glass, and we made it yesterday!  It's a perfect summer treat!

The only thing I would like to do different next time is find a use for all the lemon peel/meat I threw away!  I felt like I was wasting something that could have been put to better use.  If you have any great recipes/ideas to help me with that I'd love to hear!

That Was Easy {Breakfast Granola}

Once again, another recipe I put off for no reason really.  I'm SO glad I finally did it!  It's super cheap, fast, and oh so yummy!  I used a recipe that my friend posted on her blog.  Here's what you need:

 

1 cup Quick Oats

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup shredded coconut

3 TBls Vegetable Oil

2 TBls Honey

 

Preheat to 350.  Mix the Oats, almonds, and coconut in a bowl.  Mix the Oil and Honey in a separate bowl and pour over the oat mixture.  Stir it around to coat all the oats.  {I have been mixing my oil and honey in a small measuring cup.  I have also been using local honey which seems to be thicker so I'll pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to make it easier to blend with the oil.}

Pour onto a baking sheet with sides.  A jelly roll pan works well.  I have also been lining mine with Parchment Paper just in case.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Stir it around, then bake for another 8-10 minutes until browned.  Let it cool and store it in an air-tight container.

 

I doubled this recipe the first time I made it..with a little less almonds since that's all I had.  It was amazing!  The boys and I have been eating this for breakfast with Stonyfield's French Vanilla Organic Yogurt (the only yogurt you can buy in the "bulk" size at the Commissary, but I'm not complaining!)!  Ryan even requested it for breakfast the other morning, finishing off the little we had left!

We already made a second batch, and we tripled the recipe!  Honestly, the hardest part is not to eat all of it off the tray when it comes out of the oven!  SOOOOOO GOOOOOOD!!  (Thanks again Krystle for another great, simple recipe to use!!)  Just typing this up is making me hungry and I think I might go eat some right now!

The Strawberry Fields

This past Saturday we hooked up with some friends and we headed out to the Strawberry Fields!  There are a few different options around here, but this particular one is no more than 10 minutes away!  So much tastier and cheaper than the store bought ones too!!!! 

Edelweiss {Family Weekend}

May 18-20

After our last trip to Garmisch/Edelweiss Tim and I decided that we really wanted to go back.  During our weekend there for the Marriage Retreat we didn't have a lot of extra time to do any sight seeing or tours.  Also, with Tim's upcoming (currently pending!) deployment, we were up for a mini family vacation.  Right after we got back from our Marriage Retreat I called and made the reservation.  I signed the boys up for childcare on Friday so Tim and I could go do something together, and then signed us up for a tour on Saturday.

The week of our trip I found out that Blaine was on "probation" from the CYS (Central Youth Services), aka use of the daycare, because he hadn't had his 18 month well-baby check-up/shots yet.  Ooops.  Being that all the systems are linked they said that they might catch it and they might not.  If they did catch it, in Garmisch, then he would be denied for childcare on Friday.  There just happened to be an opening Thursday morning for a well-baby appointment, so I took it.  We weren't scheduled to leave until Tim got off work Thursday night.

Skip ahead to later Thursday evening...bags were packed, car was loaded, full tank of gas, etc.  Just waiting on Tim to get home.  About 5 minutes to 6 PM I go to pull out our 2 month old GPS to punch in the address and I find this....

I'm pretty sure that Blaine pulled it out of the drawer about a week earlier and threw it on the hard wood floor, cracking the screen.  I remember picking it up and putting it away; I just didn't notice the crack previously.  About 5 minutes later Tim walks in the door, and I run out to buy a new GPS!  This time with the $20 insurance that they didn't tell me about last time!!!

Skip forward to Friday morning...as it turns out Colin was on the waiting list for childcare and due to a lot of conferences going on that weekend he didn't get it.  Also, due to the shots that Blaine got on Thursday morning he started spiking high fevers (104/105) so we couldn't take him either.  (The shots were very counter-productive and not really sure I want to give him that one again.)  So Tim and I canceled our plans.

Ryan got to go out on Friday and I'm pretty sure he had more fun than we did.  He got to go bobsledding!!  Tim, the boys, and I ate breakfast then came back to the room and slept for two more hours then woke up just in time for lunch.  :)  Blaine was ready for another nap after lunch, so Tim took Colin swimming for a bit.  Friday was definitely pretty laid back.

Saturday was the day I had signed us up for a tour of The Eagle's Nest (Hitler's Mountain Home).  Blaine still wasn't feeling the best and they agreed to refund his and my ticket so Tim took the two older boys and headed out early in the morning.  Tim left the camera with me, but took the video camera.  Here is a clip from the top...

And one of their yummy looking lunch....

Blaine and I took a walk in the morning over to the PX for more Tylenol and in the afternoon we took another walk down some trails right outside the gate of Edelweiss.  They have gorgeous fields of wildflowers!



The view on the way back...

He had moments on Saturday when he started to perk up a bit. 

Greeting the boys as they got off the bus from their trip...

That trip definitely didn't go as planned.  It still seemed to worked itself out, and I got a lot of extra sleep. :) There is so much to do in that area, I'm not sure if we will ever be able to get around to everything we want to. 

A Five Day Breather

Well, December has come and gone...way too quickly.  Last I wrote on here we were waiting for us (the family) to be added to Tim’s orders so that we could, hopefully, travel together to Germany.   The Lord answered our prayers and we got the orders and we are currently at Tim’s parent’s house a few days shy from our flight to Germany! 

I really want to remember the last month though, so I’ll try my best to recap….

Since we figured we’d be traveling during Christmas we invited both of our families to join us for Thanksgiving at our house!  It was the first holiday we have hosted!  I was SUPER excited!  We honestly thought Tim’s parents and my parents would come, but that would be it.  We were blessed to not only have our parents, but my sister, one of my brothers, and Tim’s sister and her three kids!  It was a FULL house!  But we loved every minute of it! 

Tim has been wanting to fry a turkey for the last three or four years and since we were hosting he was determined that we would make it happen!  With all the people we had though we bought two turkeys.  Tim fried one of them and I baked the other.   They were DE.LI.CIOUS.

After Thanksgiving was over we re-focused our attention on tying up all our loose ends while still waiting on those orders.  They FINALLY came in the afternoon of Monday, December 5^th!!!  Tim went down to pick them up right away and had our moving date set up.  On December 21^st we were packed and they loaded it on December 22^nd.  We did the final walk-thru for our house on the 22^nd and drove out of town on the 23^rd headed to Tim’s parent’s house for the holiday.

The time between the 5^th and the 21^st was spent sorting, packing, shopping for last minute items, squeezing in play dates, dinner dates with dear friends, and Christmas parties.  The last week also included three trips to the doctor which resulted in four ear infections and two eye infections.  Oy-vey!  There were other bumps along the way...but we managed to get what we needed done! 

Checking out the Christmas Lights at Blora.

Andi, Ryan, Colin, Milly

Connor came over to play!



Dinner with our friends.

Blaine, Milly, Colin, Connor, Andi, Ryan, and Cameron.

The most amazing friends ever!!!

Matt, Sarah, Tim, me, Jenny, & Sidney

In all the craziness and non-stop action of moving/holidays it’s been hard to let the reality of leaving our friends really sink in.   God blessed us beyond what we prayed for with their friendships.

Christmas Eve seemed like the first time we had a chance to breathe..for a few minutes at least.  After some heart searching and discussion with Tim over the last few weeks we decided that we wouldn’t be doing “Santa” with our family.  In the past we’ve neither pushed it, nor dismissed it, but Ryan is older and wiser and starting to ask questions and was also greatly influenced by his friends at school at the “reality” of Santa.  (I would LOVE to go into more detail about why we choose this route..but this article here explains it best.  I HIGHLY recommend reading it!)  All that to say, we finally set down with Ryan and Colin about 5PM on Christmas Eve in the church office to tell them that Santa was not real (short-version) and what we want them to remember most about Christmas.  My mother’s heart was warmed (true sarcasm) when not but three hours later after we get back to the house Ryan exclaims, “We have to hurry and get to bed before Santa comes!!!”  Ha.  So glad to know my son was listening! That’s ok though.  We have a whole year now to remind him and to impress on him the reality of our Savior’s birth!

On December 26^th we packed back up and headed out to visit with Tim’s Mee-Maw for a few days.  Unfortunately, she had a trip to the hospital about two months ago and she hasn’t been doing the best since.  I’m so glad we were able to make that trip to see her, but it still makes it hard knowing that it (honestly) might be the last.  She’s a fighter and she always seems to rebound after a fall back, but things never seem to go back to the way they were before.

We made it back to Tim’s parents on the 29^th and then Tim and I hid away the evening of the 30^th at a local hotel.  We debated catching a movie at the theater, but we ended up staying in the room, ordering in dessert, and sleeping!  It was great to have some time to relax and unwind.

My parents ended up driving in last minute to spend the weekend with us and the boys since we weren’t able to make it out to see them.  Their visits always seem too short, but we are very thankful that the drive and the lack of time doesn’t hinder them from coming to visit when they can.  Mom even brought super hero capes and masks for the boys, which they of course loved!

In other random news of December Blaine finally started walking more than he is crawling and Ryan learned how to tie his own shoes!

Now December is over and 2012 brings on a WHOLE bunch of new and un-charted territory for us.    There are still many unknowns.  Decisions to be made.  Some big.  Some not so big.  Some need to be made by others first before we can make our own.  There is still the big unknown of another deployment for Tim.  The unit Tim is joining returned from their last deployment in the Fall of 2010, which means that they are due to go again soon.  We are doing are best to take it as it comes and trust in the knowledge that God has our best interest at heart (Romans 8:28), but sometimes the inevitable still weighs on you.

I'm getting excited about seeing what our new "home" will be for the next three years.  I'm nervous I brought too much stuff.  I'm hopeful for the time we will have to grow closer as a couple and as a family, but fearful of the effect of another deployment.  I'm looking forward to fewer bills and a simpler schedule.  I'm nervous about driving.  I'm both nervous and excited about navigating the German shops.

We are thankful for these few days of rest in between all the traveling.  We are scheduled for a night flight and are hoping the boys will get some good rest so they are ready for all the traveling/waiting around that will come the following day.  We would appreciate your prayers for healthy bodies, safe travel, and extra grace for all that comes to adjusting to a new home.

We hope you had a great holiday season visiting with your family and friends!

Would you like a cookie with those sprinkles?

 Yeah...there are cookies under that red mountain of sprinkles.  See...I thought it would be safe to give Colin the sprinkles with the little holes on the lid opposed to the one without.

I was SOOOOO wrong!

Chocolate Thief!

Three days ago I found a small secret stash of chocolate in the kitchen at my parents house.  (Yeah for hidden chocolate!!!) 

Two days ago I gave Colin a piece of chocolate from this secret stash.

Yesterday, Colin decided to help himself to the secret stash of chocolate while I was getting dressed.

I had heard him go upstairs while I was getting dressed and I heard a cabinet close.  I knew exactly what he was doing.  By the time I got upstairs I think he was on his third piece.  Unfortunately, he hasn't figured out that there are TWO wrappers on the mini Reeces cups.  I'm pretty sure he ate the inside wrapper.  Thankfully he only had one of those.