Chocolate Cake

For Christmas I received a pan that has 12 mini-bundt cake molds... I hadn't had a chance to try it out yet, so last night when Josh asked if I had the ingredients to make a chocolate cake, I decided it would be the perfect time to try my new pan! I whipped up the cake, poured it into the bundt cake molds, and baked them for 30 minutes. After they cooled, I poured some chocolate cream cheese frosting over each one, and everyone had an individual sized bundt cake! They were so yummy... and so easy! I think I may have to start experimenting with cake recipes, just so I have a "reason" to use my fun new pan! :)

Taylor is here!

Taylor is here, and I LOVE IT! It's made it easy for me to find things to be grateful for each day... I'm grateful he's here, grateful he's my brother, and grateful that he wants to eat everything I cook! I am having a blast... luckily, so is Josh. It's like one of our best friends just moved in, and we're enjoying the time together. Within a week or so, Taylor will meet people and have other things to do besides hang out with us, but for now it's fabulous that he's all ours. :)

New Year's Resolutions

This year as I sat down to write New Year's Resolutions, I realized that I've never been good at following them through for an entire year. I have written some wonderful goals, and even broken some down into smaller, achievable steps... however, by year's end, I don't think I can say that I've consistently worked on any of them, ever, for an entire year. So, this year my resolution is simple, and something I can live by every day. It is simply this:

Live a life of gratitude.

I have many things to be grateful for, and yet it is so easy to dwell on the negative. I am choosing this year to be grateful. I'm sure that it'll affect many areas of life, and will help me make some other positive changes as well... but that isn't the point. I want to sip my apple cider on December 31st, 2010, reflecting on the year, and knowing that I was able to find something to be grateful for each and every day.

Gingerbread Houses

We had decided to have a competition with gingerbread houses.... girls versus boys, who could make the better house.

Josh and Donovan, putting the walls up...

Audri working the icing bag...

As we started decorating...

...something awful happened. Neither of our houses would stay upright! The walls kept caving in on the "girls" house, and the roof kept slipping off the "boys" house.

We admitted defeat, and decided to just eat the gingerbread instead!

Donovan enjoying the roof of his house...

Audri eating the wall of her house.

It was a great idea, but our execution left a little to be desired. We had fun, though, and are continuing to enjoy our project! :)

Decorating for Christmas

We had planned to decorate for Christmas the first weekend of December, but spent so much time celebrating Josh's birthday that we didn't have a chance! So, tonight we were able to decorate the tree, hang the stockings, and prepare the house for the week's festivities!

Donovan and Audri hanging the ornaments...



Josh, Donovan and Audri setting the presents around the tree... with plenty of shaking and guessing as each package made it's way from the table to the tree skirt!


The kids and I in front of the tree... you can't really see the tree behind us, but it's there!

We hung lights and garland around the patio doors, wrapped lights and garland around the post in the entryway, hung the stockings and set up the nativity set... all while drinking sparkling cider. It's been a wonderful evening!

Banana Bread

I purchased bananas a couple of weeks ago with the intent of letting them get brown so I could make banana bread. I happened to mention that earlier this week to a co-worker, who brought me her bananas as well. SO - this afternoon I baked! I had enough bananas to make 14 loaves of banana bread... a few were plain, a few had nuts, a few had chocolate chips, and a few had nuts and chocolate chips. While I'll be taking most of them to work tomorrow to share, Josh and I had to share one of the loaves after dinner. Obviously, we chose a yummy loaf with all of the goodies, heated up our slices, added a little butter, and then needed a fork to enjoy our "dessert". :)

Josh's Birthday

Josh's birthday was Friday, and we spent the entire weekend honoring him! Luckily, the kids were with us, so all of us got to spoil him! Friday night (once we picked up the kids) we did some shopping and Josh was able to use his gift cards to buy some new clothes that he wanted... he'll be quite handsome in his new slacks, dress shirts and ties!

Saturday we spent wandering around town, checking some of his favorite stores (The Army/Navy Store, Cabella's, Best Buy, etc...) and picked up a few small things along the way. We had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack and completed the evening by playing our new Monopoly game for the XBox... yes, Josh won. :)

Today, we had a big country breakfast (blueberry pancakes, eggs, fried potatoes and sausage gravy) and spent the morning relaxing, playing games, and enjoying our time together. We were all able to share reasons that we love him, and tell him how much we are grateful for him.

All in all, Josh certainly felt appreciated! He's a wonderful man, and I am blessed that he is my husband.