Free Resource for Moms of Girls!

I got an email from a friend today that gave the link to this free e-book! Usually when I download an e-book, it is a pdf file. This one, however is through Amazon and is a Kindle book. Well, while I am fairly technically savvy, I am not a gadget girl. I don't text and I certainly don't have a Kindle. But, to my delight, I learned that you can download a free Kindle app for your computer! So I did. And then I downloaded this book.

I started to read "Moms' Ultimate Guide to the Tween Girls World" by Nancy Rue this afternoon and I am so thankful for this resource! I think anyone who has, will have, or works with middle school girls or younger should read this book. I am just into the first chapter and can see that it will be so helpful and encouraging on my parenting journey, and as I serve with middle school girls in our church. I especially appreciate that it is written from a Biblical perspective.

I am thankful that I have found this book for free... and can't wait to see what other free treasures I can find for my new "kindle"!

Our evening at a French cafe!

Abbie is taking French as one of her 6th grade electives. This past week she had a French food project to complete. For the project she had to plan, prepare, serve, evaluate, and document a French cafe meal. Saturday evening, our dining room was transformed into The French Lily Cafe as we ate the delicious meal she had prepared for us! (She had just a little help from me.) To complete the project, she put together a scrapbook all on her own, which she presented at school today. What fun to be treated to a wonderful, fun meal prepared by my daughter!!! Here is a peek!

Due to Popular Demand!

Every time I bake this cake, I get requests for the recipe! Up until now, I have simply been too lazy to type it up and pass it on. I just made this cake yesterday and our dinner guests last night raved over it. Since my newspaper copy is getting yellowed and tattered, I thought now was a good time to put the recipe in a more permanent form.

I found this recipe over three years ago in the food section of the newspaper. It came from a write-up about a book called "Southern Cakes" by Nancie McDermott. Once I saw the recipe, I knew I had to try it. I have been hooked ever since! I have been known to offer to bake my own birthday cake, just so I can use this recipe.

I have tweaked the recipe a bit. For one thing, the original icing recipe made twice as much. Having a 3/4 inch-thick layer of candy on top of this yummy cake seemed like overkill to me. So I cut the recipe in half and thinned it down some so that it is more of a glaze. I prefer this more subtle addition of sweetness, and I still have icing left over after frosting the cake.

I am kind of a cake snob... I like my cake made from scratch. And only real butter will do. I love any kind of pound cake. I won't even tell you how many calories this cake has in it. But it is worth every bite! Enjoy...

Brown Sugar Pound Cake with Caramel Glaze

3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1.5 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
2.5 cups brown sugar
5 eggs
Caramel Glaze (recipe below)

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease 10-inch tube or bundt pan with butter, and flour liberally.

2. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside. Add vanilla to milk in a measuring cup or separate bowl. (The recipe actually calls for whole milk, but I use 2% with no issues.) Both the flour and milk will be combined in the batter in a later step.

3. Beat the butter with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the brown sugar in three batches. Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.

4. Reduce the speed to low and add half of the flour mixture, then half the milk. Be sure to mix until the flour has disappeared into the batter before adding the milk. Add the rest of the flour, then the milk, in the same way. Quickly scrape the batter into the prepared tube pan and bake about 1 hour and 10 minutes, until the cake is browned at the edges, and the center springs back when lightly touched. A wooden skewer or tooth pick should also come out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.

5. Remove the cake from the oven and leave in the pan on a wire rack to cool for 20-30 minutes. Loosen the cake with a table knife and turn out onto a wire rack or cake plate. Let the cake cool completely before finishing with the Caramel Glaze.

Note: I have made this recipe with good results in a 13x9 pyrex dish, as well as in two loaf pans. Baking times will need to be adjusted. I am planning to try these out as cupcakes or mini cupcakes, too!

Caramel Glaze

¼ cup (½ stick) butter
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup evaporated milk (plus a couple extra tablespoons)
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Melt the butter with the brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until a smooth sauce forms, about 2-3 minutes.

2. Add the milk and bring the icing to a gentle boil. Stir well, remove from heat and add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat well until the glaze thickens and looses some of its shine. More evaporated milk can be added if it gets too thick, a little at a time.

3. Use at once, drizzling over the cooled Brown Sugar Pound Cake.

I have linked up with Jen's Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Bedlam & Beauty!

Fun Birthday Party!

In my last post, I wished my sweet husband happy birthday! Well, here is the party I threw to celebrate him! I designed the invitation, sent it out by email, and handed some out in person. Then I let Gil know that we were having a party! My hope was for him to be incredibly blessed on this important milestone.

We really had no idea who was coming. I just invited everyone we know and care about. I ordered a low-cost cake from Costco, made some homemade salsa, and put out a bowl of chips, and we were ready! This was a super-easy party to throw! And since everyone was invited to bring an appetizer, we had plenty of food!!!

This was such a fun gathering!!! We had friends from all over stop in. I made sure to take a photo of each family or couple.

Over the course of the evening, we had 70 guests in our home! Gil was absolutely blown away. Everytime the doorbell rang, it was another surprise. Gil was so very blessed by this wonderful, easy-to-plan event. What a joy it was to show him how much he is truly loved, in honor of his special day!!!

Happy 50th Birthday!

Today I am so blessed to wish my sweet husband a happy, happy, 50th Birthday!!! I just know that the Lord will bless him in his next 50 years even more abundantly! I am so proud of Gil. He is a wonderful husband and father. He loves us and sacrifices so much for us! I am so very, very thankful for my sweet, wonderful husband. Happy Birthday, Babe!

Our Christmas Miracle...

On Christmas Eve our family had a miracle take place! I still don't even know how to talk about it. We are all still in awe and speechless.

We were home, and someone rang our doorbell... a man I don't know. He handed me an envelope and said it was from someone who cared about us. He left, and I came inside. Gil and I opened it, and found inside ten $50 bills! I just broke down and cried. We were so thankful and overwhelmed. We have no idea where it could have come from, or who could have known how much it was needed.

The past few years have been hard... the last few months, sometimes even harder. We feel like things are getting better, we just have to get through the next few months. This unexpected gift was a ray of light and hope, a hug from the Lord, and just what our aching souls needed. We gathered our family and praised Him together, asking that those who provided would be blessed a thousand-fold. It was so amazing how the Lord showed His great love for us. We are grateful, thankful, and so very blessed.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
~1John 3:1

Happy Birthday!

Today we celebrate Zac's 14th birthday! We are so proud of our wonderful, responsible, smart, and caring young man!!! We love you, Zac!!!

Merry Christmas!

{Beautiful Photography by Cindy Gongon...
card designed by me using StoryBook Creator Plus and the Holiday-Traditional artwork}

Cute Snowman Game!

As one of the room moms in Jacob's class, I'm helping plan the snowman-themed "winter celebration" in his class tomorrow. I have the responsibility of bringing in the "Put the Buttons on the Snowman" game. I had so much fun putting this together, that I thought I would share. It will be fun for the kids in class... and a great way to keep the houseful of kids I'll have at home next week occupied!





This could be done as a fun activity for kids to play with, or as a game. So here are the supplies I gathered for the snowman and the game. I made two snowmen, so we can have two games running simultaneously. I used posterboard for the snowman, post-it notes for the items to "pin" on {can I just say that post-it notes are one of my most favorite things ever?!!}, scissors, marker, white printer paper, and some dark paper to make a hat. The painter's tape will hold the snowman on the wall, and the bandanas are for the kids to wear as blindfolds during the game. Here we go!




First, with one piece of posterboard, I made the snowman's body. You could totally adapt this and make your entire snowman on one piece of posterboard, or several pieces of printer paper. I wanted a big snowman! I also didn't worry about being perfect. A lumpy snowman is ok with me!



I found my largest lid to trace for a his head.



He is looking good!


I used my marker to put in a whimsical outline, and make the eyes and mouth. Now if you wanted to make this as an activity, rather than a game with blindfolds, you could opt to not draw the eyes and mouth, but make them the same way I made the other decorations.



And here come the post-it notes! Aren't they so fun? I have a great selection of 4x4 notes, so I used an assortment to cut into 4" circles.



I then outlined them, and added the button detail.




More post-its to make....




...carrot noses!!! Since this game has to endure 22 students plus siblings, I am making lots of extras!



Isn't he cute???! Hmmm.... he's missing something, though...



I cut a hat out of a piece of dark paper, colored in some cheery cheeks, and added another button. I think he's adorable!



Finally, I put sets of the buttons and noses on sheets of printer paper, ready for the "Put the Buttons on the Snowman" game. Like I said, I made a bunch of sets... the kids will have their choice of button colors. And, if anything needs to be replaced before we are done playing, we are well-stocked! I'll use the painter's tape to attach the body, head, and hat to the classroom wall. I can't wait for tomorrow! So, do you think you might want to make your own snowman?

Beautiful Tables

So yesterday, I shared about my table at our church's annual Christmas Tea. Today I am going to show off some of the other gorgeous tables I really enjoyed.

This is my friend Jenny's adorable table! It was just over-the-top in cuteness!!! She and her mom decorated it together. They did a great job!! When I arrived around noon on Friday to set up my table, Jenny just happened to be there, too. You can see in the background that many tables were not yet decorated.

Doesn't this table just scream fun? Jacob loved Miss Jenny's table! All those treats sure were tempting!!

This table is stylish and classy, just like my friend Melanie! {I'm pretty sure this is one of the two tables she decorated.} I love the mix of modern and traditional elements.

I couldn't resist zooming in on these fabulous details! I love the birds... and all the beautiful ornaments. Somehow, I managed not to get any pictures of Melanie's other gorgeous table. But this one makes me happy.

I love how this table puts the focus on the reason for the Season. Such a beautiful Nativity!

This table was decorated with apples, and the banner around the tree in the centerpiece says, "The Apple of His Eye". Those cups and saucers are one of my favorite china patterns, too!

I have used my pink and green "Desert Rose" dishes to decorate a tea table for four years. I am always drawn to any other table using pink to decorate for Christmas. Here is one that is very sweet. I later learned that my good friend Missy decorated this table! Her sister made the gorgeous centerpiece.

And I like this pink table, too. Abbie called this the "lemonade table" because the water glasses look like they are drinking pink lemonade!

I love all the traditional Christmas-y tables a lot. This one is quite elegant.

I like this one, too! Makes me want to make my own forest of trees... I later found out that it was decorated by the mother of my friend Jeanette! I just love all the gold and red, and of course, the trees.

This table is very traditional, and very pretty. Look at the little gifts waiting for each guest. Next year, I need to zoom in on all the favors at each table.

It is amazing how many different centerpieces adorn the tables. When I decorated my first table in 2007, I had no idea what to do about a centerpiece. Well, there is no shortage of ideas in this room!

I had to take a picture of this table because I just love cardinals!!! I lived my whole life without ever seeing one, except in pictures. Then we moved to North Carolina and they are everywhere. I just love them! This table is wonderfully done, too.

This table is just, wow! I love seeing the unexpected. I am still tickled by the individual bottles of sparkling cider. It is all the little touches that each woman brings to her table that makes this event so fun! The background of this photo shows the sea of tables... this is such an amazing event!

Jacob, who was helping me decorate my table, was very excited to tell me that we even had an "I Spy" table! Of course, I had no idea what in the world he was talking about. Then he showed me this amazing centerpiece. I just have to talk more about it in another post! {Update: after I went to Bible study on the Thursday following the tea, I learned that one of my sweet ladies, Mary, decorated this table and made this family heirloom!!! It was so fun to learn that fact!}

I thought this table was particularly dramatic. The table linens looked like silk, and the colors were smoky shades of purple and lavendar. My photography does not do it justice!

It is always fun to see different interpretations of Christmas decor. I love what Sandy did here! Again, so unexpected. I wish I could have a photo of every table. I did not even get to see all of the 80 tables decorated. But that just makes me look forward to next year's event all the more!