Strawberry Cake

Brian was in charge of the raffle item at his Rotary Club this week. The club uses the money that they raise each week to support local charities here in Griffin. Instead of getting a gift card, like he usually does, he asked me to make a strawberry cake. This is yet another recipe that my mother in law has graciously shared with me.

lake time

Its been a great week! Last Sunday, we went to the lake house for a few days. It started out with fathers day, both of our families were there with us, which was a lot of fun. You can check out some of the pictures that I posted on facebook. We had a great time hanging out by the water and in Milledgeville. The dogs really enjoyed their time at the lake; I think that they were more disappointed about coming home than we were. I got home just in time to bake a cake for a 30th birthday party. There was a Hawaiian theme for the get together, and I love the colors that the hostess picked out.

Happy Easter!

I have had a great time this Easter weekend. Between cookouts, brunch, and Easter dinner after church, we stayed super busy. Honestly, I wouldn't want it any other way!
I made the mini cheesecakes with chicks for my parents brunch on Saturday. I had a bit of an issue getting the chicks made because I wanted to use marzipan. So I bought marzipan from a certain local store, and when I got it home it was hard as a rock. We took that back, and I ran to Walmart early on Saturday morning. No marzipan there, so I settled for fondant. Brian was a huge help getting these guys made!

Easter Sunday started out with the sunrise service and pancake breakfast at the church. Then we made last minute preparations for both of our families to come over for dinner. I had a great time playing with flowers, and we also had a blast getting everyone together.

table centerpiece

I found pussy willow branches at Sam's, and I used some little Easter ornaments as decorations.

Week 12

The weather was so pretty this weekend, Brian and I just couldn't resist buying some new plants. I know it is probably going to freeze again, but everything we left out is supposed to be good below freezing. I was so excited to see rannuculuas (one of my favorite flowers) at Home Depot, and I used it as the centerpiece for this planter for by the back gate. There are also marigolds, vinca minor, and wolly thyme around the outside. I will post more pictures as everything else gets established.

Its been a week today that we got Crosby, he seems to be settling in well.

week 11 and a new addition

Here is our new addition! We adopted Crosby from the Griffin Spalding Humane Society today. Lily approves (I think she thinks we adopted this dog just so she could have her own puppy), there is a picture below of Torrie not approving. Torrie hissed on the couch for a good 30 minutes, thankfully she is finally settling down.

(Sorry I got the pics all messed up I always have trouble getting these pictures in the order I want them. )

This week, three of the girls in the youth group had birthdays, so I volunteered to make some cupcakes. I really liked the pearlized sprinkles!

snow...

So the snow messed up a lot of stuff this week. The cake I made was supposed to be a birthday cake for a friend, but she got stuck up north. I had thought I would just freeze the layers and save it until she got back from her trip, but then I realized that I could serve it to our dinner company tonight. Guess what? The snow screwed that up, too.
My other accomplishment for the week was cooking my first recipe out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Here is what I love about French cooking. It can take the most common foods and make them sound exotic. The recipe with the fancy sounding name was really just beef stew. The Boeuf aux Oignons went perfectly with the cold weather (see, when its in a foreign language, it no longer sounds common!).




Other than making it pretty outside, the other thing I got out of the snow was a quiet night in. Brian and I had a great time watching the Olympics. I just realized that it is colder in Griffin, GA than it is at the site of the winter games. How often has that happened?

















Lily loves snow days. I think she is convinced that it is her own personal ice tray. She makes it her mission to eat as much of the white, fluffy stuff as possible.























This is as close as Torrie thought she was going to be to the snow. Don't worry, we took her out and made her walk around in it, she was thrilled...

















Our house, I wish that one flake hadn't caught the flash.












Anybody up for a polar bear swim???













My handy duck boots, left over from my horse days. I am SO glad I kept them.