Swinging on Birches

One of my favorite "hobbies" is making cakes.  I've taken a couple of cake decorating classes at our local JoAnn fabrics, watched bunches of YouTube videos and learned a great deal from good 'ol trial and error. I realized I should start posting pictures of some of the cakes I've worked on.  This cake, and the accompanying cupcakes, were made for a friend's daughter for her high school graduation party.  The school colors were orange and black and they wanted those incorporated as well as daisies, her daughter's favorite flower. I made square cakes stacked--one white and one chocolate cake with raspberry filling and buttercream, topped with fondant.  The daisies are made out of gum paste.  I thought a zebra print would be "hip" enough for a high school girl and the colors ended up being really vibrant, which I loved! I made the orange fondant, but decided to use black fondant pre-made so it didn't have so much food coloring.  It was g...

I've made a big change in my life. I'm not sure what took me so long to put it in writing.  Maybe the fear of such a huge decision and so much change? Maybe being afraid of what people would say? Maybe not putting in writing keeps every aspect from being fully realized? But, it's here.  If I hadn't made this decision, I would've returned to the office on August 1st. Instead, I'm home. Watching Wardie everyday along with other kiddos as a home childcare provider. The transition has been full of so many things:  golden mornings where the kids are running around outside with the morning sun making little halos around their heads, frustrating lunchtime battles, naptime cries because of missing mom and dad, a surreal feeling of not being in an office for the first time in seven years, pangs of loneliness in missing friends and bits of boredom from feeling a bit "cooped up" at times.  Sometimes I feel like a "plastic mommy" surrou...

Last weekend, I pulled out my super-awesomely-delicious Lemon Cutout Cookie recipe. With a great deal of help from the little man, we took 700 times longer than usual to  cut out flags, stars, and hot air balloons to commemorate our town's annual hot air balloon festival that happens yearly over Independence Day weekend. I used royal icing and a toothpick to pull through for the swirl effect in the icing.  The lemon flavor and the light icing were the perfect combination for a summer cookie. Almost too cute to eat. Almost:)

Ok. I'm going to share a secret with you. Well, it's not really a secret. It's actually published for the entire world to see. My absolute FAVORITE recipe for cutout cookies. Do you own this book? If not, you should. It's the 1963 edition of Betty Crocker's Cooky book, still in print. This book brings back wonderful memories of Christmas cookies for as long as I can recall. I use it for EVERY single cookie I make.  Honestly. And, it contains my favorite cutout cookie recipe. Sweet, but not too much so, with a touch of lemon--yum!  I just can't make regular sugar cookies because I just love these way too much. Merry Christmas Cookies Ingredients: 1/3 cup vegetable shortening 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 egg 2/3 cup honey 1 tsp lemon extract 2 3/4 cup flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt Preparation: In a large bowl, cream vegetable shortening, sugar, egg, honey, and lemon extract until light and fluffy. Sift in flour, baking soda, and sa...

I'm linking up to Sweet As Sugar Cookies' blog for a linky party today.  Check out all these other great recipes...mmmmm:) Enjoy!

There's just something about picking your own strawberries that makes them taste that much more delicious. And, WAY more affordable than buying them in the store!  We went picking twice this season, and the second visit was right at the end of the season, so the berries were super cheap. We used these berries to make Strawberry Rhubarb jam and Strawberry Rhubarb pie...sooo good! Wardie was especially helpful in the baking process.  He really pushed himself to make sure that the entire kitchen, not just some of it, was covered in flour.  Luckily, I don't care because he's so darn cute:) And, the finished products.  I ended up with 14 jars of jam... And 3 lovely pies:) I can't wait for blueberry picking time...maybe later this week or early next.  I'm thinking some blueberry basil jam is in order.  I'll make sure to share the recipe, too!  

You should make this.  For reals.  Usually when I make dessert, I don't eat as I go, and even though this isn't technically a dessert, it was so sweet and delicious, I may or may not have been eating it with a spoon... And, I may or may not have restricted hubby's jam intake so we have enough to last the year:)  I use a great resource, www.pickyourown.org , for all of my canning info, as well as my Ball canning book.  I have had great luck with both! So, here you go.  Recipe used from www.pickyourown.org . You'll need: 4 cups crushed strawberries (1 1/2 qts of whole berries) 2 cups cooked rhubarb (just chop it up and boil for a minute or two until it's soft) 7 cups sugar (yup, you read that right.  kinds of gross.  but, if you use the low-sugar pectin, you can reduce the sugar to 4 cups...still gross, but less, ha!) 1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh, if you have it) 1 1/2 packages of pectin (again, try the low-sugar if you like) Basicall...

I'm a fall and winter girl at heart.  Typically, when I feel that chill start in the air, I find a new energy for life and get so excited to cozy up and hide out for awhile. But, we have been enjoying the heck out of summer this year. From the early morning chill in the air to the standing heat of the late evening.  We have been soakin' it up. Family. Cozying up with one of my uncles, who apparently, is a great snuggler.  Visiting with Great Grandpa.  Kisses for Great Grandma.  Friends. I have 32 first cousins.  Seriously.  And, many of them now have kids.  And we watched the now "big" kids taking care of the new littles. And they love my son.  And that's awesome. On our friends' new boat on a lovely lake with hundreds of sailboats around...perfect! Fresh produce. One of my besties threw a family backyard campout.  I'm not a camper and was super-hesitant about trying to sleep with a toddler, but I was so wron...

Ok, it's been a long time since I've posted.  For real.  But, I'm back.  And so happy about it. This week, I'll be sharing about what's been going on in our lives for the past month or two and my upcoming post plans include various projects, delicious summer recipes and lots of random thoughts:) Stick with me, I'll do better:) One of the cool things that I have coming up is a mini-triathlon in September (yes, I'm serious).  I've always wanted to do one and this is an all-women's race benefitting breast cancer research.  The race consists of a 250 m swim, 7 mile bike ride and 2 mile run.  We now have a jogging stroller and a bike seat for Wardie, so I've been enjoying my workouts with him.  Now, if I could only figure out how to strap him to my back in the pool...:)  The race is September 17th, so I'll be counting down and keeping you posted on my progress. We've also had a little competition arise at work to see who can lose t...

I feel, oftentimes, that we live in such uncertainty. There are so many things in flux...jobs, children, homes, income, health, the economy...and the list goes on. Sometimes when I feel the lack of certainty with such intensity, I go into what a friend dubs, "paralysis by over-analysis" mode and I have a hard time moving forward with anything at all. This weekend, I have been thankful for so many certainties.  Family. Friends. Love. Home. Happy.  My little, fascinated by every new thing we do.  Fresh air and screens in windows; welcoming in a new season of growth and beauty. Quiet, focused time with my two favorite boys (one behind the camera). Independence coming so quickly..."Do it 'self mommy."  Happiness and lovely.  Creating something beautiful and delicious for others--fully homemade chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes...  and Iced Lemon Poppy Seed scones.  And an early visit from the Easter Bunny, w...

I was going through old pictures and videos yesterday and came across this one again.  Two questions: Is it legal for grandparents to do this? Is it wrong that I find it funny?

Wardie's second birthday happened a few weeks ago. The day was perfect.  He asked for a choo-choo cake, so mommy made one.  (After returning from a 11 hour bus ride building houses with 200 college students and no sleep.)  It was a stupid  great idea to have his party the day after I got back. I used four mini-loaf pans and two boxes of cake mix, making 8 cakes total.  Two of the mini cakes were used for the engine, and the rest made perfect train cars. Then, I iced the cakes, used oreos for wheels, kit kats as the ties between cars and various candy for the "cargo" coming out of each car.  Overall, it turned out pretty cool. The engine had a little accident, so I had to do some emergency surgery. Wardie thought it was delicious. Once he realized everyone was singing to him, he just lit up--I think he felt so special and loved. And he spent the rest of the afternoon surrounded by family and friends and WAAAAYYYY too...

Well, shock of the century, here's me spouting off about something again:)  I worked on this post after reading a post from  Sarah , whose blog was the first one I ever read and happens to be my favorite to this day.  Seriously, she's amazing, and cracks me up because she gets all awesome-fiery, and does it with such tact and without apologizing--LOVE that! Anyway, she really was talking about the teenage girl (and younger) phenomenon in regards to clothing, magazines, movies, music, etc. and how we could ever combat that as moms looking to raise basically, wholesome kids.  She called for a parenting revolution--and, as usual, I TOTALLY agree with her. I've long thought that parents should have to take a vow, similar to those we take when we choose our life partners.  Although I'm sure this will evolve over time, here are my beliefs on paper.  (And, just to clarify, my husband is a wonderful partner, but I was looking at these things as something each...

As he just turned 2, Wardie's language is just exploding and he's like the mayor--saying hi to EVERY person he sees no matter where we are.  No, really.  I mean everyone.  No one is immune.  The toddler, the grandma, the angsty teenager, the grumpy old man.  But, it doesn't stop there.  He says hi to people that I (even though I hate to admit it) would probably never consider talking to.  Worse yet, I would probably go out of my way to avoid them.  People who don't look "safe" or "healthy" or "good" in my eyes.  And, I've made this oh-so-insightful determination in a split second, mostly without even thinking or knowing anything at all about the person. But not Wardie.  He gives them a big grin and raises his little hand in a wave and says, "hi" in his sweet sing-song voice.  You know the funny thing?  Most of the people I would normally walk by quickly with my head down turn right to him and answer "hi" back. ...

Our bedroom is the catch-all place.  I think it's the room that I know nobody will just waltz in unless invited, so I don't worry as much. And, I'm totally ok with that, but our bed was looking ridiculous.  We are grown adults, and we needed an "adult" bed. Since my two strongest characteristics seem to be cheap and stubborn, I decided that we should make it ourselves.  So, I did what I always do when I want to take on something new--I read and read and read.  Mostly blogs with lots of pictures (thank you, bloggers!!).  The next step was convincing Bryan.  Thankfully, he's usually on board when it involves saving money, and after seeing the steps online, we decided to try it, and we LOVE our results! First, Bryan did the preparation steps--cut a piece of plywood to fit the wall space in our room (ours couldn't be too high because we like to rearrange the furnitre, and we have eaves in our bedroom) and sand the edges just a bit.  We happened t...

There is nothing I like more in the winter than to cozy up under the covers with some trashy reality tv and a project to sew:)  Lately, I've been working on baby blankets for friends.  This one is a pattern from Lion brand yarns online called "Bright Flower Throw."  I chose different colors (Little Boy Blue, Sweet Pea, Chocolate Cake and Lamb) mainly because most of my friends seem to have boys:) I started off by making bunches of the same granny hexagon:) And, then simply whipstitched them all together to form the pattern.  This looked wonderful, but came out about the size of a placemat, so I decided to double the pattern.  Then, I realized that with hexagons, the part where they came together wouldn't have been even, so I made a strip of the "lamb" hexagons to be the bridge between the two blankets. I think it turned out pretty nice overall, and I was much happier with the finished size of this one.  (Excuse the Christmas decorat...