Cake Recipes!

Well, I spent all day cleaning today. Didn't exercise or anything. Still in my exercise clothes. (Here's hoping!) Anywho, to reward myself I decided to make a Lemon Layer cake. YAY!! Henrie only likes being in the swing and I didn't want to stick him right back into the swing all day so I tried something new. I let him sit in the Bumbo chair. He didn't like it until he was on the counter and eye-level with me and could watch me cook. But, the poor little guy fell asleep in his chair. I guess I need to be a more engaging "Food Network" personality for him. ;-)

In the spirit of cake making, I thought I would post the recipe I used for Lily's Cake and icing.

I have to admit, don't think I'm being conceited ... it tasted REALLY good!

I used a box chocolate cake. I think the flavor was fudge. I think any chocolate box cake would work.

Box cake modifications:

• Extra flour about a 1/3 cup (only do this at high elevation)
• I substituted 1/2 cup butter for the oil
• I substituted water (1 1/2 cup) with sour cream and curdled milk (curdled milk: 1 Tb of lemon juice in 1 cup milk and stand for 10 minutes .. This was a substitute for buttermilk which I did not have on hand).
• Whip the cake batter until it is fluffy.
• I followed the tip from a cake decorator and wrapped the cakes in saran wrap and froze them until I was ready to decorate. This traps in the moisture.

Filling:

• Pudding - I just opened to pudding snacks that I had on hand.

Whipped chocolate Ganache Frosting:

16 oz semi sweet chocolate (I just used a bag of semi-sweet morsels)

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons corn syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

Melt the chocolate. I usually do this in the microwave on a low setting and stir often.

In a sauce pan heat butter until melted. Add the sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt and stir with heatproof spatula until sugar is dissolved, 4 to 5 minutes. Add melted chocolate, butter mixture, and cream to clean bowl of standing mixer and stir to thoroughly combine.

Place the mixer bowl over an ice bath and stir continuously with rubber spatula until frosting is thick and just beginning to harden against the sides of the bowl, 1 to 2 minutes (frosting should be 70 degrees). Place bowl on standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until frosting is light and fluffy, 1 to 2 mintues. Stir with rubber spatula until completely smooth.

I'll post the Lemon Layer cake recipe later. I have to see if it turns out first!

Leap Day! Yay!!

What a great time to have an 'extra' day!! I feel like I should post something to make this extra day possible.

I was asked to do a booth at BYU Women's Conference. I was hesitant at first because I thought I was going to have to sew something or do something crafty. Anywho, they said I can pick my own topic. What better topic than ... Securemama!

Here's a link to the latest post. I am going to focus my booth on the "Top Ten ways to Protect your Kids on the Internet." Let me know if you have any ideas. I get to bring a helper and my mom said she could come. She has called me a few times already about this and now I am reminded of my days in school when I had a project due. I guess it helps to have a kind reminder!

Not much else is new around here. We are just "In the thick of it" with these four kids. Little Henrie is starting to smile!!! Yay!! What a cute little guy!



I'm starting to exercise and venture out more. Here's a picture from a walk I took. Oh Beautiful!

Happy Birthday Lily!

We had a Pretty Pink Dancer party!

I watched part of Lily's Dance class and saw how much she LOVES to dance around like a little ballerina. Her teacher told me she got hurt during the class and she told Lily she didn't have to keep dancing. But Lily said, "I want to Dance!!" I've noticed that Lily always has a little skip in her step and walks around the house on her tippy toes.

So, we moved the furniture, pulled up the carpet and had a dance party! We hired a REAL dance professional straight from Broadway. Ummm ... Me! hahaha! Pete even showed the girls a few moves.

My sister Suz sent me cookies for the party favor. So cute! Lily wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. (good choice!) I'll post a recipe later. I've been experimenting with box cake recipes.

We did some dancing games and Lily wanted to play Duck-Duck-Goose which was a LOT of fun.

Cake, chips, and drinks (check out my FANCY party fountain below) and lots of presents and the party was over. Whew! I'm glad I had help and had a GREAT celebration for Lily!

Happy Valentines Day!

It was a fun Valentines Day this year! Pete and I went out the night before which was a very welcomed break! Thank to Pete's parents who watch all four kids! We went to dinner & exchanged cards. Pretty simple and Pretty Great as I remembered the holiday THAT day.

Phillip came home with a LOT of candy from school. I had to try my hardest to keep the kids from eating candy all day.

My heart pizza turned out great! Too bad the kitchen was too messy to make cards. Ah well ... Maybe next year.

Phillip took the trouble to make his own Valentine cards. Here is what he gave Pete. I think Phillip believes that it is an empty gesture unless there is money included. A very generous gift from Phillip. Or was it an investment? Phillip ended up getting $5 from Pete for Valentines.




The girls liked the Valentine app that I downloaded for them. We all said what we loved most about each other In all, a great day for the family.

Securemama is BACK!

Well, it has been a while, but YES I have a new post on my securemama site. www.securemama.com. It's a site to raise awareness about Internet Safety and give adults the tools to keep their kids safe on the computer and Internet. I am hoping to get this going again. If you like it, tell your friends. If you have a request for a certain topic, leave a comment here or on the site.

Here's the latest post - How to secure an iTouch, iPhone for kids and Teenagers.

Impromptu Photoshoot

I needed to switch out pictures in my picture frames. My original idea was to have the kids hold wooden hearts for Valentines day. But ... since it was February 2nd, I just took their Portrait. I have very good afternoon light in our family room. (Thanks Bountiful windstorm!) I put two king size sheets on the couch opposite to the window. It was kind of crazy and I didn't get a shot of all four kids (I don't know if that is possible). Maybe I could try and switch heads on photoshop.

I started by bribing "Who wants a Doughnut?" (They really wanted a doughnut after seeing a segment on 'The Chew' about doughnuts). It was hard but it only took a half hour. AND I did make good on my promise and against reason bought doughnuts for the kids right before dinner.

I kept using my LONG experience of watching America's Next Top Model to help them have a good smile. Phillip kept having a goofy smile. In a moment of weakness I said, "Think of Money!" You can see the delight in his eyes below. Lily and Amelia I kept saying, "Beautiful!" "Princess" "Gorgeous!" and this then got Lily motivated to take more pictures. She got different outfits and had her own photo shoot.

I'm glad to capture their cute smiles along the way!

January 2012

It has been a busy month of eating, sleeping, napping, & resting for both me and Henrie. I was glad to get a bunch of meals when Henrie was 3 weeks old. I got back into cooking and had the crazy idea to cook 10 pounds of pork. Ha! I had 5 pounds of Cuban pork and 5 pound of Cafe Rio pork. I think I prefer the Cuban. Here's the recipe. I think I was craving the Cuban food that we ate when we went to Florida! Very good!

Mouth of babes update - the kids have been saying funny things lately!

Amelia - Pete was talking to Amelia and said, "Amelia, are you my sweet sweet baby?" and Amelia in a decibel which she can only reach screamed, "I AM NOT YOUR SWEET BABY!!."

Amelia likes to play pretend with her dollies. Since I'm usually sitting on the couch feeding the baby I started playing pretend with the girls with my hand. Now she has taken to the idea and I catch her playing with her hands. The right hand is 'The Mommy' and her left had is the baby or "honey."

Lily - Lily was playing with one of her babies and started saying "this little piggie"

"This little piggie went to the store, This little piggie went to Costco, This little piggie went to Cathy Rio, This little piggie went to get pizza, and this little piggie had none." (very telling of what we have been eating lately!

Phillip - Phillip is still very inclined to build a mine shaft in our back yard. He is going to dig for gold to pay for his mission. He has drawn plans. A very accurate arial view of our back yard. He has a 12 step plan with a picture of each activity (1. Wait for Summer 2. Dig with my tools 3. Use Daddy's tools to dig deeper etc.) Phillip kept asking how much a mission costs. I guess he's trying to budget his future gains from our back yard. He ended up coming up with $50,000. He said that he would get $50,000 worth of gold in the back yard. However, by the time he goes on a mission gold will be worth 3 times as much, so he will share his money with other people. Here is his list of Beneficiaries: Poor People, Lily, Amelia, Henrie, and Grandpa Olsen. He will only give me and Pete a "Little Bit" because we don't really care about money.

Henrie - He reminds me a lot of how Phillip was. He often has a concerned look on his face. I guess he is trying to figure out this world as soon as he can.

Me - I keep spending too much time on Pinterest. I decided I should share one of my tips this month is an easy salad dressing recipe. See below.

What cute kids! Manufactured pose!

Natural Chaos!

Cute little kids! I feel like I have so many kids! I have to use the red-eye remover on 8 cute little eyes!

The girls playing "This little Piggie" with their Opa. They will have to share their new version.

Girls playing in the snow. It has been a dry month and we finally have snow on the ground. I have enjoyed having the warmer weather!

Easy salad dressing: Use an almost empty mustard jar. 1/3 vinegar (red wine, balsamic, regular) 2/3 Olive oil, 1 TBS of honey, salt and pepper. Shake and you are done!

Henrie Update

So Henrie is more than 2 weeks old now! Can't believe it's only that much time! It seems he has always been a part of our family.

He is our 'Three-Pete." Phillip is sometimes referred to as 'Re-Pete' and this little guy reminds me a LOT of Phillip. He often has a furrowed brow as he is trying to figure out the world.

I have some great care-takers. Phillip held the baby for about a half hour yesterday as I was making dinner. I had to make sure the baby smelled o.k. because Phillip couldn't stand the smell of a messy diaper. Amelia has filled up bottles for him, full of tang, water, whatever she can find. A few times she has tried to 'feed' him. Lily asks to hold him first thing in the morning and patiently waits by me as I feed him for her turn. Overall, I would say he has a calm personality and such a great addition to the family.

Thank you to everyone who has sent presents and well-wishes! He is a cute little guy!

Presents made for the new baby (A car made out of stickers).

Wide awake and soaking it all in.

Henrie's biggest fans!