Cherry Blossoms

Another beautiful year to see the cherry blossoms. It is our annual tradition. This is our 7th year seeing them.

We had a little picnic right across from the Jefferson memorial. The girls loved it.

Our favorite place to see the cherry blossoms is by the FDR memorial. This was just too funny not to take a picture of.

The magnolia trees almost steel the show from the cherry blossoms.

More little red hen

My first batch of bread turned out so good that Clay keeps begging me to make more. I now find myself making 3 new loaves of bread about every 8 days. It has been a fun experience for me.

Then I decided to try making "WheatQuick". It is just a whole wheat version of bisquick. I make Rebekah some egg free pancakes with the last of my bisquick. Then I made the rest of us pancakes using the WheatQuick. They were so good!! I was really surprised, but the bisquick didn't taste too good after having the WheatQuick pancakes.

Finally, I had a bunch of strawberries that were getting overly ripe. I used my WheatQuick to make shortcakes according to the bisquick directions. They were a little flat, but still tasted great! Rebekah loved it and called them "cookies".

Cake Show

This weekend was the National Capital Area Cake Show. Melinda, Nancy and I drove down to see it. It was so much fun. We got to talk to lots of vendors and see new stuff for cake decorating. Nancy took some great classes and Melinda and I watched a live cake competition sponsored by the Food Network. Here is just a sampling of some of the cool cakes we saw. Just remember that everything on these cakes is EDIBLE!! Really cool.












This is from the live competition:
You can see her finished cake at http://blog.pinkcakebox.com/

This was our favorite, and the winner of the competition. You can see her finished cake at http://www.cakenouveau.com/home.html

Home improvements

When we moved into our new home the cabinets in the kitchen didn't have any knobs of pulls. Which is fine, but when you put child locks on everything it makes it harder to get in without something to grab. It took me a while to decide what hardware I wanted. This evening, Clay installed all 28 pulls in the kitchen, and 8 knobs in the bathrooms. It really makes it look so much nicer.

The American Girl

I am so proud of Emma. For almost a year now she has wanted an American Girl doll. These dolls are about $100, and I am not willing to pay that much. I told her if she wanted it she had to save her money. Little by little she saved (50% for the doll, 10% for tithing, 40% for college). She checked out the books about Felicity from the school library. We gave her a math workbook and told her we would buy the accessory set if she completed the book. She did it. Last week we counted her money, it was enough to pay for the doll and shipping. We ordered it, and the doll arrived today!

Felicity was a great choice for Emma. They both have brown hair and green eyes. She wears a purple dress, Emma's favorite color. They both live in Virginia. Felicity is actually from colonial Williamsburg during the years that lead up to the American Revolution. Coincidentally, I am currently working on proving my ancestry to join Daughters of the American Revolution. Emma is so excited, and we are planning a trip to Williamsburg soon.

The little red hen

I feel a bit like the little red hen. We bought the wheat this summer and sealed it in cans. Today I ground the wheat into flour and then made 3 loaves of bread. Now we are going to eat our bread. :)

Cake class final

Here is my final cake for the Wilton Course 2 class. I skipped this class last year b/c of our move. I finally had the time to take it again.

Tomorrow I am doing a cupcake decorating demonstration at church. I am bringing this cake for an example.

Another Snow Day

Here we are with another snow storm. School was cancelled, of course. The girls had lots of fun making snowballs, riding their sled, and helping mom make a snowman.