Valentines

I love our Valentines traditions. We eat the traditional steak and potatoes meal by candlelight with everyone. (This is the only time every year that I will buy steak.) Ray gives everyone a heart box of chocolate. He wants the girls to be treated with love all the time and it's good for them to have a tangible picture of it on a special occasion. How he treats them now is giving them a standard to expect from their future husbands.

We often draw names to give gifts to our Valentine. It's fun to see the thoughtfulness put into each gift. Rachel actually touched our dog to make a painting for Mary. (If you know Rachel, she doesn't like dogs, at all.)

This was by far the easiest "special dessert" we've ever had. I bought a Sara Lee pound cake and sliced it. Abigail used cookie cutters to make hearts and the word Love to place on a plate around fruit. Then we dipped it in melted chocolate.

Mary's 14th Birthday

Me - Mary, what would you like for your birthday meal this week? (It's been Christmas, she doesn't get early planning.)

Mary - I don't know, I like casseroles.

Me - Like chicken and rice? (Surprised, everyone knows that I make that way too often because it's the easiest thing in the world to whip up and and it's always different.)

Mary - No, like vegetable casseroles, like squash casserole, cabbage casserole, green bean casserole. And do whatever decorating you want to do, just make it easy on yourself.

I used a chocolate pie left over from New Year's Day and piled it high with lots of ice cream balls and whipped cream. Now that's making things easy for yourself!

Though this didn't make a beautiful plate, I was really glad to make squash casserole in my new ramekins. I have had ramekins on my wish list for years, but no one ever got them. On Mary's birthday when I went into Kroger for a few last minute things, I saw two boxes on sale for an incredible price. I bought them and didn't even feel guilty about it.

We made the table cloth out of an old book and wrapped a present in it too.

Abigail couldn't wait to dig in.

Susannah couldn't get enough of her granddaddy since they had been gone to Minnesota for the week.

Abigail and Susannah provided lots of entertainment.

Hannah found this Christmas ornament at a thrift store that just fits Mary's style.

Mary's big compliment of the evening to me, "Even though you aren't always the coolest mom, you are  cool most of the time."

New Year's Day

Some of the men were suspiciously absent when we took this picture.  I just wish that I had remembered to take  this picture before others had left.

Every seat was full.

After a break for several years, we were back in the kitchen on New Year's Day cooking barbecue sauce, pork roast, greens and black eyed peas for family. It was short notice and turned out to be a fun day that almost everyone could come to. We really missed Rachel, Adrian and Susannah this time because they were in Minnesota celebrating the holidays with Adrian's family. We did get to meet new friends and enjoy time with Kevin's mom.

Abigail got to have tea parties all day long!

Groups of family gathered everywhere to talk and just enjoy the day.

White chocolate cake with white chocolate icing decorated with Piroutte cookies.

Sisters adopted me in to add to the only one I had growing up.
Anna, Amy, Robin, Christy and me, only Tammy was missing.

Abigail was very interested in Emma's phone! (Amy's almost to be new granddaughter.)

Poor Sarah had her wisdom teeth pulled on Monday and is still not able to function. 

Christmas Cakes

I love to make cakes, but rarely do because of the time and cost that it takes. So at Christmas, I try really hard to make at least one for some special occasion. The two that I have made the most are the hummingbird cake and caramel cake. They are both delicious and usually turn out to be pretty tasty. What is probably one of the highest compliments that I ever received is many, many years ago, my father-in-law told me that my caramel cake tasted just like his mother used to make. I'm not sure about that, but it certainly encouraged me to keep making it. It has been requested so much that we kind of got tired of it.

I made two completely different cakes this year and both had the huge "wow factor"because they were so pretty. (But definitely not as pretty as the picture in the magazines that I got the recipe from.)

This is the peppermint, white chocolate cake that was featured on the cover of the Paula Deen magazine. The white chocolate layers were amazing, but I didn't love the buttercream frosting. If I make it again, I will try to find a great way to crush peppermint candy. 

Southern Living featured the red velvet white chocolate cheesecake and it certainly looked impressive when it was cut! The alternating layers of red velvet cake and cheesecake were beautiful and the white chocolate icing was delicious! 

I think the conclusion of cake making this year is that I need to make the white chocolate layers and cover the cake with the white chocolate icing.

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

I made a chocolate pound cake recipe for Ray's birthday the first year we were married and he loved it so much that I have made it many times over the twenty five years of our marriage. Lately, it has flopped so I turned to my sister-in-law for a new recipe that she has made a some family events. It was great! Before Ray knew it was a new recipe he said it was my best cake yet. Here is the recipe.

The pound cake is super easy and you can use different flavors of pudding and/or substitute the chocolate chips for nuts or raisins.

1 box of yellow cake mix
1 box (3.9 oz) of instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of chocolate chips (I use the mini chips so that they won't sink to the bottom. I also like the semi-sweet, but you could use milk chocolate if ya'll prefer.)

Powdered sugar for dusting after cake has cooled.

Mix in bowl in order given until well blended. Pour into greased bundt pan. Bake for 55 minutes at 325°F (sometimes I have to add a few minutes to the cook time). After cake has cooled, dust with powdered sugar. My boys can eat a whole cake in one day, easily 

The day I made this cake it took an hour and 15 minutes to cook in my oven.

Mary's 13th Celebration

We only invited cousins and two friends from church and it looks like we had a huge party.

 For Mary's 13th birthday we decorated the table to look a little like a forest with owls. These cute little cupcakes were a breeze to make with chocolate cupcakes, Oreos, and m & m's.

 Aunt Robin and Catherine thought Mary needed a little help.

 Good thing for Lydia that some of her favorite friends also just happen to be some of Mary's.

Happy Birthday!

Obviously, we like to celebrate birthdays at our house. Ray's birthday was fun and cost almost nothing to pull off. We had a "Picker's" party. He likes the TV show Picker's, where these guys go all over the country and poke around in other people's 'junk' and find these great treasures. I'm not sure why he likes it, but he does. So we pulled out a lot of our ole timer 'junk' and created a fun atmosphere for his birthday meal.  Rachel made a pound cake that was so good, we ate it for breakfast the next morning. 

Everybody dressed in the oldest looking things they could and we had a great laugh. Ray is wearing a pair of his grandpa's overalls. Don't ask me why we still have them. Maybe, the same reason that I'm wearing his Aunt Thelma's apron. 

We enjoyed roast, potatoes, corn, peas, fried okra and corn muffins.

Hannah and Sarah got our friend to make this ladder for Ray's office, and he loved it! Josh is the man to call if you need anything built.

Abigail loved Ray's old toys and cowboy shirt!

He is always asking for actual maps to look at instead of looking at a gps. He really may be stuck in the old days.

Lydia made our flag cake this year and Abigail thought it looked yummy! Abigail is wearing a little two piece suit I decorated for Hannah for her first Fourth of July. Ray is planning for us to read through the Declaration of Independence today but the girls are looking forward to the fireworks at North GA College tonight. With all of the events going on in our nation, I am driven to prayer more and more.

Lydia Turns 7

For Lydia's 7th birthday we invited the Bailey girls over to have a Fancy Nancy party. Fancy Nancy is a new series of books that sneaks in great vocabulary to girls by using "fancy" words. She likes everything fancy so thats what we did, had everything fancy. I even had all the girls write down their favorite big word on an index card and decorate it to use later for Lydia to practice vocabulary. We forgot to get ice cream and a #7 candle so we all piled into the van and went to Kroger in our outfits to get them. (By the way, we still left the candle on the counter, so Lydia had to be happy with a single one.) And Rachel did an amazing job on the cake!

A New Endeavor

Rachel is setting out! Actually, not setting out of the home, just setting out her shingle. She is now taking orders for baking treats. Click here to see her blog. I can testify that she is a great cook, keeps things clean and works hard to make what she does look beautiful.