Busy Weekend

Let's see, Friday - DH got a root canal, it was Good Friday, it was also our 16th anniversary. We decided we'd rather celebrate than go to church :o) After traveling to the Cheesecake Factory and finding out the wait was an hour long (it was almost 8pm), we opted to go to Olive Garden where the wait was a respectable 15 mins. DH had some soft spaghetti. And we still got cheesecake for dessert.






Saturday we celebrated my nephew's 7th birthday. As usual, I made the cake. I learned to decorate cakes in 9th grade in Home Ec class. (That was a required course way back when). Ever since then I've decorated the cake for just about every birthday celebration involving my family. When I was wondering what type of cake to make my nephew, youngest DD pulled the Scooby Doo pan out of the cabinet and said "Make this one!" (If I had remembered what a Star Wars fan he is I would have made Darth Vader, oh well.) Here it is, the Scooby Doo cake I promised.



So we had a Scooby Doo cake, and Grandma was planning on an egg hunt - we simply renamed it a Mystery Egg hunt. Every child got to pull one egg out of a bag, that determined their color for the egg hunt. (One child got red, one yellow, one blue, etc.)

Oldest DD and DS devised a series of clues that eventually led to the gifts. In between "party games" the kids played the Wii.

After the egg hunt we took a picture on the back steps with everyone looking into the sun.
I think I got one where they weren't all squinting.

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Sunday was Easter. For the second year we let the kids hunt for their Easter baskets. Oldest DD got make-up, DS got Pokemon, and the younger DD's got WebKinz. Very little candy was involved this year.














After church (and the cantata which involved DH and DS singing) we had Easter Dinner at Grandma's. The cousins got to spend more time together before they had to travel back home.

Christ The Lord is Risen Today!

Allelujah!

Why do I use all natural colors in my cakes?

For those of you who peruse my blog occasionally and feel that perhaps I'm bragging when I post pictures of all the cakes I've decorated, that's just not why I do it. My family has been following the Feingold Program for almost 6 years now. We've eliminated artificial colors and flavors from our diet (along with petroleum based preservatives and artificial sweeteners). Here's an article that gives a good explanation of artificial colors:

http://www.naturalnews.com/022870.html

I post my cakes to encourage others that we can still make beautiful desserts. Very soon I'll get a picture up of the Scooby Doo cake I made this past weekend. Oh! And you should have seen my Lemon Meringue and Key Lime pies!

Dresses for Graduation

We went shopping this weekend, oldest DD, Grandmom and I. We were looking for an Easter dress. Surprisingly DD found several that she liked. (This from the girl who wouldn't wear one last year). We bought three. She also had a dress in her closet that she wants in the line-up for my new poll. We're polling her friends (and everyone else who reads this blog) to see which dress she should wear to her 8th grade graduation this Spring. So view the choices and vote.

The Black and White Dress.




















The Coral Dress.





















The Mint Green Dress.






















The Multi Color Dress.























Her friends were a little shocked that she found some dresses she liked while shopping with such "old" people. Thanks girls. Next time we'll be sure to go to that vintage store over on highway... And for anyone who wishes to post comments, please keep in mind that I don't want to use actual names on my blog.

To vote in my Dress for Graduation Poll scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Youngest DD is holding a plate filled with "Pots of Gold". (Pineapple gelatin cut into circles).

Signs of Spring

For the past few years, in the month of March, my youngest child and I walk around the house looking for "signs of Spring." Of course I point out the robins that return sometime in late February, but what we're really looking for are signs of new life.

Our first flowers bloomed this week. I'm not altogether certain what these are, they look like wild crocuses. These flowers used to grow wild in my grandmother's yard. After my grandmother died five years ago I was able to transplant a redbud (tree? bush?) from her yard. I was pleasantly surprised the following spring when several flowers bloomed at the base of the redbud. This is the redbud. In the backyard I found the red maples attempting to start some buds. And the lilacs are well on their way to showing some lovely green.

The Chinese Dogwoods are starting to wake up. Underneath my hyacinths are starting to peek through.

And in the front flower beds my tulips and daffodils are starting to grow.