Basket Cake

This cake is so easy and so impressive looking. I made it for book club a couple weeks ago.

Just use a cake mix and make 2 9in. round cakes. I used white cake. You can use chocolate or yellow. You decide.I used 2 snack packs of chocolate pudding and spread the pudding between the 2 cakes. Then frost the cake using whatever frosting you like. I used cream cheese frosting. (this is my favorite recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sturdy-whipped-cream-frosting/) I used store bought cream cheese frosting this time, because I was low on time. The take about 10 Kit Kat bars and break them apart and line up the bars vertically on the edge of the cake. Fill the inside with strawberries, or whatever mix of berries you want!

The ribbon is not necessary, I just thought it would be pretty and it did hold things together nicely. Enjoy!!

i saw the original recipe in my taste of home magazine a few years ago. of course i couldn't find it when i was making this, so i just kind of made up my own.... here is the original recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chocolate-Fruit-Basket-Cake

Sorry, this post is a little more raw than I ever get on my blog.

I am having a 5th boy. SO, SO many people have asked me if I'm sorry it wasn't a girl. SO. MANY. There are some people I don't mind when they ask me things like this, like close family or friends. I get sick of it, but I know them and know they're not trying to upset me. But when acquaintances or strangers ask me that, it really REALLY irritates me. Especially when they say it IN FRONT of my boys! The other comment that makes me particulary angry is when I tell people I have 4 boys or that i'm having another boy and they say, "I'm sorry." Now my general world view is that most people are trying to be nice good people and I try very hard to give people the benefit of the doubt. I know in my mind that they're probably not trying to be mean or hurtful. But for some reason it feels mean and hurtful. And it feels insulting to my boys. And it makes my mama bear claws come out. I am generally very civil to people and try to answer politely and with a smile, but honestly, after 1400 times of answering with a smile, my fake smile is wearing out!!

In all truth, I really thought this baby was a girl. Dan and I prayed and prayed about wanting to feel peace about being done having kids. But I couldn't get a feeling of peace. And I distinctly felt that the baby was going to be a girl. This pregnancy was completely different than all my others. I barely got sick at all. I was sick maybe 10 days total, and not consecutively. All these things together made me feel quite sure it was a girl. Then in the sonogram, it was pretty clear I was wrong. Even a couple years ago I had a feeling I would have four boys. Not 5. (http://blogztheblogtoendallblogs.blogspot.com/2011/03/journal-entry.html) Did I make those feelings up? I don't know. It's rocked my world a little bit. OK maybe a lot. I was shocked when she said it was a boy. Genuinely surprised. But sorry? No.


Dan and I put out a truly quality product, and I am so crazy in love with my boys. It is really hard to have all boys sometimes, and things get a little wild, and a little loud, a lot dirty, and somewhat crazy. BUT I HAVE NEVER BEEN SORRY FOR ONE DAY ABOUT HAVING ANY OF THEM. I get completely overwhelmed with emotion when I think about my little men. Why would I not want another one just like them????


I guess I could rant on and on about this for a while. About all the insensitive things people say, and how my feelings are truly hurt by them, no matter how hard I try to convince myself to just let them roll off my back. I just felt like I needed to get it off my chest.
Ok I'm done with that now.


So let me end with a story:
When George was little, we used to talk about how it was completely unfair to have a baby that cute first, because it was be hard for any other kid to compare to him. He's always been so sweet and so smart. We kind of felt sorry for whoever came after him....

Then we had Ben. And Ben was soo beautiful and soo smart. Full of whipped creamy goodness and fire all at the same time. We thought after these two, there is just no way for anyone to compare.

Then came Henry. Oh my. We could not believe what an adorable little imp he was. Surely, after these three, there's just NO WAY the next one can keep up.

And then there was Sam. OH how I love Sam. My snuggly little angel baby. I can't get enough of him.

And I can't WAIT to see who's next. I am not sorry to welcome another one of these little guys into my world. I am so grateful for how richly God has blessed my life. I don't know why He does what He does, or how He chooses which spirits go where, but I entered into this with a willing heart and an open home for whoever He chose to send us. And I am grateful no matter who He sends. The. end.

Pull up Follow up.

Over a year ago I posted this: http://blogztheblogtoendallblogs.blogspot.com/2010/10/victory.html
.

I never followed up on the rest of the story. So here it is:

I was SO proud of myself for finally accomplishing my goal. So, so proud. I was telling my family at Sunday dinner right after I did my one "pull up" and recounted every glorious second. As I was telling my story, I also acted it out, showing how I pulled myself up onto the bar. My brother-in-law questioned the way I was holding my hands, and said that if that was the way I pulled myself up on the bar, then what I did was NOT a pull up, but a chin up, aka a girl pull up. Now, this was not acceptable. I do not do girl pushups and  girl pull ups were not good enough for me. I was only slightly crushed. I had worked so hard and all I could do was a girl pull up??  I went home, glared at my pull up bar for a moment, then tried a real man-pull-up. Not. even. close. Oh I was crushed!! So, I went back to square one. I practiced and practiced and FINALLY after a couple of months - victory!! The one pull up I had wanted for months was MINE! So I set my sights on 2. Then 3. Then 4. Then 5. That's as far as I got. And then I got pregnant again.

I have to admit this, although I know it will sound silly, when we were trying to decide whether to get pregnant again, one reason I didn't want to was I was afraid of losing my pull up skills! It sounds so dumb when I say it, but it's real to me. So, my plan was to see how far into pregnancy I could still do my pull ups. I am happy to report that at 21 weeks I am still able to do a pull up!! I am scared to try too many because I don't want to hurt myself, but I'll do several in a day just to make sure I can still do them. So there's my silly story. The end.

Lentil Soup

Posted this last year, and I'm posting it again.  Because you need it.

Lentil Soup

i grew up on this soup. it's surprisingly delicious. it has become a "metaphor for life" in our home.

1/4 lb bacon sliced

2 med. onions chopped

4 large carrots, grated or chopped small

1 pkg (16 oz) lentils

2 quarts water

1 c. sliced celery

1 large potato, grated

2 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp dry thyme

2 bay leaves

2 tbsp lemon juice

leftover chopped ham (i used 3 ham steaks) or 1 can spam. yes, you read that right. i have never actually been able to but spam in it myself, although i grew up on it with spam in it and loved it. i think sausage in it would be deelicious, too.

wash beans and soak until plump (overnight). In large pot, saute bacon , add onions and carrots and saute until onions are golden. add lentils, water, celery, potato and seasonings. simmer until tender (2-3 hours) take out bay leaves, add lemon juice and meat. 

i like to eat it with saltine crackers.

cute x 4

these boys are so adorable, i just had to share...

Halloween!

I love Halloween. I love it for a lot of reasons, but one of my favorite reasons is the costumes!And now I have all these cute little people I get to dress up. Since Dan and I only make boys, Halloween is really my one chance a year to get to sew for them, so I usually make all their costumes. We bought George's this year, but I made everyone else's. Here is a photo gallery of the Halloween fun.

ben and henry about to go trick or treating.

the back of ben's "night fury" costume. (the night fury is a dragon from the movie "how to train your dragon") in the movie, the night fury gets hurt and one of the characters builds him a new piece of his tail. ben was very specific and told me he wanted to be the night fury BEFORE he gets hurt.

top view of his "head"

beware the night fury!

my little astronaut. 

all my boys! sam slept through halloween completely so never dressed up at all! he was going to wear henry's dragon costume from 2 years ago. he woke up just in time to eat candy with the boys, so all things considered, i think he's still pretty sure halloween was one of the greatest days of his life.

henry taking his hood off..

henry sharing candy with sam... and you can actually see his tail in this picture..

hope you had a happy halloween!!!

packing packing packing

the way we road trip is to hop around from place to place, so we're in and out of hotel rooms the whole time, almost every night.

people have often asked me how i pack up for a road trip. well here's how i do it:


 i pack by day, not by person. our whole family's clothes for each day will fit in a reuseable grocery bag. so for each day when we go to a hotel, all we bring in is one bag of clothes, then a separate bag of bathroom stuff, and a new addition this year is a bag of underwear and jammies for the boys. the bathroom bag and undies bag come in to the hotel with us every day, then whichever day's bag comes, too. so only three bags come in with us instead of 6. we have found it's so much easier than bringing a separate suitcase for each person and having to lug them all in every day.  my favorite part about this system is it solves the age old problem of what to do with your dirty clothes. when you bring a bag in for the night, you get dressed in the morning in those clean clothes, then fill the bag with your dirty clothes from the previous day. then you just put the bag back in its spot in the car and forget about it until you get home :)

*we have nowhere to stay where we could do wash, so i pack enough clothes for everyone to have one outfit every day. there is also a "backup" bag in case of.... anything :). if you are staying with family or somewhere you can wash clothes, just bring 1/2 or 1/3 of the clothes you need, then wash and repack them.






label each bag by day or date. george made these handy labels for us. we just stapled them onto the bags.

 i used to pack undies with each outfit, but that got complicated (do you even need to ask?), so they ended up in a separate bag :). the boys will wear each set of jammies for two nights each (hopefully (: ).

ben and george made labels for each boy's jammie bag.

so that's the gist of it. i put the whole line of bags in order across the back of the car (and yes, they all fit). any extra items (packnplay, stroller, swim bag) just fit across the top or along the front. the bags are a uniform size and malleable, so they're super easy to fit in the car.  voila!

happy trails!


oh and i just realized this is my 100th post.  just noticed that. maybe i'll send something to everyone who leaves a comment or something. too bad it's not a more exciting post :)