Holidaze

OK, so I'm really late in getting anything posted; what else is new? My sister was here for the 4th (mainly because of Dad's B-day). We attended the yearly fireworks display near Mom's, and the parade the morning after. I know that's it's good to have family traditions. I know that the kids look forward to this stuff all year long. But don't you ever feel like you're taking the same picture year after year? Yes, it can be nice to compare the photos and see how much they've grown, but after 15+ years it gets hard to make the scrapbooking pages look different from all the previous years.

So here are the obligatory photos: My annual 4th of July family photo.

The kids playing at the nearby playground.

Everyone with their glow sticks. (Okay, this was new. Grandma bought the packages at the party store so we didn't have to pay the outrageous prices from the vendors - not that we would have). The pictures turned out rather interesting. I should have brought my tripod.

And the fireworks. (Again, I should have brought my tripod).

Grandpa's Milestone

My Dad turned 70 this year.

We threw a party and invited the relatives.

All of the grandchildren were there. My girls got creative and wrote their own birthday cards for Grandpa. Middle DD's was especially nice. She studied poetry in school this past year, so she came up with a poem. (And I can't believe I didn't save a copy.)

And, for unknown reasons, the cake was a big hit this year. It was made from scratch (like always), a recipe that I've used before, but this time people couldn't get enough of it. So here's the recipe (from Betty Crocker):

Silver White Cake

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 5 egg whites

Preheat oven @ 350. Grease and flour 13x9 pan (I used a double sized pan, so I doubled the recipe). Beat flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, shortening, milk and vanilla. (Yep, everything at once. No creaming sugar and shortening together first). (Oh, I also didn't have a lot of shortening, so I used a half stick of butter plus shortening for full amount). Scrape bowl, beat on high for 2 mins, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan. Bake for 40-45 mins until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 mins, remove from pan, cool completely.

When I went to make the frosting I realized that I didn't have any powdered sugar, so I used this recipe instead (Not a great consistency if you want to decorate like I normally do, hence the sprinkles).

White Mountain Frosting

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2T water
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla

(I had no corn syrup, so my first task was to create my own simple syrup, then I proceeded with the recipe). Mix sugar, corn syrup and water in saucepan. Cover; heat to rolling boil over medium heat. Remove cover and boil rapidly to 242* on candy thermometer (soft ball stage). As mixture boils, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Pour hot syrup very slowly into egg whites, beating constantly. Add vanilla; beat on high until stiff peaks form. (This all felt very similar to making marshmallows, but without gelatin in it, it doesn't harden into a marshmallow).

Advancement Night

She wore the green. Go figure. (The coral still has the tags on it, I wonder if the store will take it back?) On Monday at school, DD pulled up my blog on the classroom computer (should I be worried that she actually has my addy memorized?) and all her friends said "Oh! The green! It looks a lot like my dress!" We bought the green dress on clearance at a Junior shop in the mall about 2 years ago - just because she liked it and it was under $10. Who knew? And, you may have noticed, DD talked me into adding streaks to her hair. Okay, they're rather subtle, but it was our first time.

So anyway, here are some pics from the advancement ceremony. For all those who were watching live via satellite, I am sorry the link failed before they reached DD's section. The class had over three hundred kids, so they simply called out names as the child stood up in his/her seat. (I have heard that in previous years they had the students walk forward to receive his/her certificate, but apparently they changed things now that they're in the new building.)

We found one friend to take a picture with after the ceremony was over, then DD wanted to go out to dinner rather than attend the dance. All in all, it was a nice evening.