Young Love!

Young Love?
So tell me "When did our children grow up?" My first grader came home tonight with a love note for one of his eight girlfriends. She gave him her phone number, address and so on. I don't know about you but I thought we would have a few years before I heard " Mom can I give a girl my phone number?"I responded with no way! I'm not about to have kids on the phone for hours.

Happy Birthday My little one!

It hard to believe that my baby is not a baby anymore. I tell you one year goes by so fast. My little one is a ray of sunshine in our home. She is a happy little girl. She loves to make people around her smile. The red hair is a treat, we still find it crazy that we ended up with a red head. She has been so much fun. She can really keep up with her brother and sister. I don't know why but the more children you have the faster they seem to grow up. I guess it's due to the fact that they have siblings to keep up with. We are so blessed to have three wonderful children. Happy Birthday Munkers! We love you!

A Trip Down Memory Lane!

It has been suggested I should take a trip down memory lane and share with you a little bit about my life. Just before I start I bet y'all did not know I'm a little bit redneck. I grew up in a small town. We lived in a trailer and for the first few months we had no power. I remember taking showers at the state park. We would have our power go out weekly. I remember my parents cooking on kerosene heaters and flushing the toilet with swimming pool water where our pet trout named Bob lived and I might add he loved to eat cheerios. The local Wal-Mart was the coolest store ever.
But the things I miss are picking wild flowers, seeing deer and the smell of fresh cut Christmas trees. Also playing at the state park, The smell of salt water. Climbing trees, playing Hide n go seek in the dark woods at night. A big family past time. We also had a big metal shop where my Dad and his band would have party's, live music and kiddie swimming pools filled with fresh crab. And don't forget the Geoduck. If you don't know what it is, look it up.....it tastes so good. Oh, I could go on and on about our little logger town and some of our redneck ways but I geuss you will just have to ask.
We all come from so many places and it funny the paths we end up on and the new ones ahead. But it nice to know we take a small piece with us everywhere we go. So here's to new memorys!

For Valentine's Day!

I would love to give you all this cake recipe. We have enjoyed this for 4 years now. I make one or two every February.
My TrueLove Cake
1/2 cup butter, softened 2 cups sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups flour 3 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baking cocoa 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup buttermilk 1 cup water 1/2 cup vegetable oil.
Filling:
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened 2/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream 1/4 teaspoon almond extract 1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling, divided

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Beat in water and oil until smooth. Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. heart-shaped baking pans. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and add sugar until fluffy. Beat in cream and extract. Place one cake on a serving plate; spread with half of cream cheese mixture.Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Top with 1 cup pie filling and second cake; spread with remaining cream cheese mixture. Make a heart-shaped indentation in center of cake; fill with remaining pie filling. Refrigerate until serving.
Yield: 12 servings.
Prep: 30 min. and bake 20 min. plus cooling.
I hope you enjoy this cake. Happy February! This recipe came from Taste of Home magazine.

What a Monday!

Hello all,
Today I would like to share with a funny story about my Monday.So I drove to the store to get a few things then the kids and I stopped in to pick up pizza for dinner. I had baby in one arm and Pizza and bread sticks in the other. When I put the baby in her car seat I put the pizza on the top of the van. You can probably guess where this is going. I then went to put my other sweet girl in her seat. I forgot all about the pizza. It was when I was almost home I remembered it. Yup you guess it. It was gone. I drove back only to fine my pizza and bread sticks in two different spots on two different roads. So if your driving and see pizza and bread sticks on the road you know I have been their. Oh, the joys of Mondays!

Great Friends!

To Great friends! I just want to say how greatful I am to have good friends. We all need a least one good friend in our lives. I have been lucky in the last few years to meet and be friends with some really wonderful people. I have learned a lot from them. I just want to say Thank You. So what makes a good friend? For me it's someone who will listen, Someone to laugh with, Someone who helps me learn and grow. Someone who knows me. So what makes your friends special to you?

Birthdays

Today I've thought a lot about birthdays. It's so much fun to watch a child realize what a birthday really is. It means more to girls, I think right down to the color of the balloons. Little boys don't seems to really care as long as you have good cake. Birthdays, what fun! If only grown ups had that much fun with birthdays.