Too good NOT to share!!!!

Last night we celebrated Will's mom's birthday at our house.

Spiderman was there, b/c every grandmother wants a spiderman party, didn't you know?

The table was set - Will grilled filets for everyone - and they were DEEE-LICIOUS!!!!

I made Nana's favorite - white cake with old fashioned homemade chocolate icing - and I am going to share the recipe with you, b/c it is just one of those things that is too good not to share!!!

First, mix together in a boiler: 1 stick of butter (the REAL THANG!!!!), 4 TBSP cocoa, 2 cups sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and 1/2 cup milk. Bring to a slow boil.

Stir constantly (which is much easier when you don't have 2 helpers popping up beside you) - don't let it burn!!!! Bring to a hard boil and let it boil for 1 minute!!!! 1 minute!!!!!
(you might want to set your microwave timer if you tend to get distracted or mesmerized by the wonderful bubbly river of chocolate like me!!!)

Don't be tempted to stick your finger in there - it is REALLY hot - take my word for it - but it is SO YUMMY!!!!!

Next, removed from heat and beat it until it is spreading consistency. Then spread it on your cake. I thought I would be brave and attempt a layered cake - I trimmed the tops off so it would be level, then I thought I would be smart and flip the top layer upside down so it would be nice and flat on top - BIG MISTAKE!!!! Yes, it was nice and flat, but the middle part left a HUGE gap - that was really hard to fill in with icing!!!! Next time I will just make a sheet cake and pour it on top - not nearly as fun to eat, but much easier!!!!

I made an extra batch, just to get the icing on EXTRA thick!!!!! (and to save some to heat up and pour over ice cream, or pretzels, or french fries, or broccoli or whatever your heart desires - it's THAT good!!!!)

Looks kinda like a huge moonpie doesn't it?

Later that night, once everyone left and all the toys were cleaned up, the children got their pennies together for "prayers and pennies for Haiti"

You should have seen them dropping them into the huge water jug this morning at church - they were so excited and Wilson kept saying, "this is for the Haiti children to eat!!!"

Shrimp and Grits

Doesn't Shrimp and Grits sound yummy???

Well, this is the Shrimp and Grits Kids clothing line, not food. If you're like me, you've been bombarded with invite after invite of clothing shows, well, here is another one!!! It is ADORABLE and I hope you will take a look! It is new to our area and I am the representative. Please email or comment me if you have any questions or want to order - I would love to help you choose sizes or styles - look at the website - there are also sale items available - let me know how I can help you! If you are local, let me know and I can direct you to a home show!!!!

Lots more to see on the website!!!!

Changes

Not only has my blog changed, but I've been changing some things around the house!!! This is a before picture (obviously taken over Christmas) notice the table on the far right side - that's what has changed!!!

I pulled this governor winthrop desk up out of the downstairs den and I love the way it looks plus it provides some extra storage in our bedroom!!!! (Wow! the difference lighting makes in colors!!!)Next is a kitchen change! This is a before picture with the red window treatment over the sink.

This is after - I"m trying to get the red out of there, but I'm not quite sure what to do about that "wavy" piece at the bottom. This is the before on the bigger windows.

I swapped the red curtains out for the black ones from the playroom!!! (just ignore the 2 little boys that couldn't handle me taking pictures of something other than THEM!!!)

Next I found these great hooks from Hobby Lobby at half off and they work great for the bathroom that the children use each night!!!! (the picture is slanted, not the hooks!!!)

Next is the playroom - notice the red curtains in here now!!!!

The black coffee table came from the downstairs den where I hope to put the new coffee table whenever I get around to refinishing it!!!! I think this table will be a good "art" table for the children!!!

No more toys in this room - it's the game/art/book/dress-up room!!!!

All the toys were moved downstairs to Wilson's room/closet!!! This makes it much easier to keeep them all organized and together!!!

I painted this small wall with chalkboard paint and I love how it turned out!!!

The black and white toy chest are full of boy/girl dress-up clothes!!!

Games - out of the reach of little hands!!!

books

Now for Wilson's room and the toys:
Superheros!!!!

This is a little alcove right off of Wilson's room, perfect for toy storage!!!

Back in Wilson's room - Rescue Heros!!!!

The next 3 pictures are Wilson's closet where the rest of the "boy" toys are kept. It's still a work in progress as far as organizing the shelves, but I think it will hold everything!!!! I'm just glad to have the "main" floor of my house TOY-FREE!!!!!

I'm heading in an hour or so to Mobile for the Southeast Sectionals Tennis Tournament!!! My team will play teams from 9 other southern states. Wish us luck!!!!

New Look!!!!

Do you like my new look? If you are reading this in google reader, step out a minute and come on over!!!! I won this free blog design from Allyson and it was graciously and BEAUTIFULLY done by Tricia. She was so easy to work with and did a FABULOUS job!!! I am so excited!!! I still can't believe I won something!!!! Be sure and tell her what a great job she did!!!!

I've got a new project going on at home right now, it involves chalkboard paint and rearranging all our toys and playrooms - yes, I said playroom(S) - 2 different rooms of toys called for total chaos, so I've streamlined it a bit!!! I hope to get pictures soon!!!!

Happy Day to you all!

An Awakening

Yesterday, a little while after Emma Claire got home from school, I was in Henderson's room changing his diaper when Emma Claire RAN back there to me as fast as she could. In her exasperated, silly voice she said "Mommy, why did you kiss me at school in front of my friends this morning?"

Let me back up....yesterday, Emma Claire had an eye appointment at 8:00, so I took her to that (which her eye is improving greatly with the patching each day, praise God - it will never be perfect, but improvement is GOOD!!!) and then I took her on to school around 8:45. Of course all her friends were already sitting at their tables working on their assignments, so we were kind of "center stage". I helped her get her back unpacked and then bent down for a quick goodbye kiss. She kissed me back and I left.

Back to the afternoon. I asked her repeatedly why she didn't want me to kiss her at school and she kept saying "I don't know, just because". Then I asked her if anyone laughed at her and she said "No". I still couldn't get much out of her and then she finally said she didn't know WHO laughed at her, but she heard SOMEONE. I was holding Henderson at the time, so I started kissing him all over and he was laughing hysterically and I told her "I kiss those I love." I told her I will always kiss her and SHE BETTER Kiss me back!!!! I jokingly told her she better go back to school tomorrow and tell whomever laughed at her "that she has the coolest, most beautiful, best mom in the world and she's gonna kiss her no matter what!" This made Emma Claire start laughing and she ran up to me and started kissing me all over my face!!! We laughed and laughed and rolled around in the floor together.

A sad moment was turned into fun, but I know there was some truth there and that too soon, peer pressure will start seeping into my little girls life and she will face struggles and decisions that she is far too young to deal with. I pray God will give her the srength and grace to always do the RIGHT, BEST thing.

On another note, I sent Emma Claire out the door today with a challenge. Her challenge of the day was to "Help Someone". It may be her teacher, her friend, or someone she doesn't even know their name, but she is to help them without being asked. Hopefully she'll remember throughout the day and I can't wait to hear what she's done! I hope to have a new challenge each day!!!

You're NOT going to believe it!!!!

Look what fell in my dear friend, Ashley's backyard this weekend. And she lives in Tuscaloosa!!!! We waited and waited on Thursday for the snow to fall and it never happened!!!

****after posting this, I read a post by the other mama and realized that it did indeed snow AND STICK in North Alabama, but IT.DID.NOT.HERE in central Alabama - we got some flurries and schools shut down for a day, but NOTHING stuck, believe me!!!!!

Wanna know how??? Well, this man, William is the man with the magic!!!! He made, did you hear me, MADE a snow machine - real LIVE snow!!!! This is why he is a dentist with his own lab - he LOVES to tinker with things and create things- what a guy!!!!

Don't ask me the details, all I know is that he was putting it together while we were over there watching the National Championship Thursday night and Ashley and I were very "weary" about whether or not it would work.

It is comprised of a bunch of metal tubes and a pressure washer and air compressor and then a bunch of other temperature and humidity factors - yada yada yada.

They ran it about 5 hours the first night it produced about 6-8 inches of wonderful powdery snow in some places. The next night he ran it 3-4 more hours and it made for an absolute winter wonderland!!!!!

This was our attempt at a group picture, but little to our "Alabama" knowledge, snow and ice are slippery and some of the children slipped away!!!!

There's a lt of pictures here, but remember people, this is SNOW.

IN ALABAMA!!!!!

Henderson enjoyed it, but refused mittens, so his hands were purple and numb

Oh the little joys of snow on a 6 foot hill - it doesn't take much to amuse us down south!!!!!

One thing I made a note of - we are VERY ILL EQUIPPED for SNOW

Things to buy: waterproof MITTENS!!!!

SNOW BOOTS!!!!!!

SKI BIBS!!!!!