All Charlie's Fault

My mother, husband and I'm sure others can attest to the fact that I
don't like chocolate cake. I've never requested it as a birthday
treat, I always choose white at weddings and I'll even forgo dessert
rather than eat it.

So no one was more surprised than I when I couldn't get the image of
the perfect piece of chocolate cake out of my head the last few weeks.
I knew I wouldn't find it at any restaurant and any bakery that might
make it would charge more than my practical chocolate cake avoiding
self would pay.

Therefore I finally caved and made it. I don't think I've ever made a
chocolate cake before. I don't make other cakes very often for that
matter. Obviously I was desperate.

I did my research and discovered that I would need to combine a few
recipes and use all the baking talent I possess to create this
masterpiece.

I baked until 11:30 pm and frosted the next afternoon. I then couldn't
bring myself to eat any until that evening when others would also
partake in case it wasn't exactly what I had been dreaming of.

Luckily it was. I think I would have cried had it not.

No picture could do it justice. It wasn't really that photo worthy in
the first place but it was delicious.

And Charlie must really like chocolate cake because I can't stop
eating it. I've tried.

I'll post the recipe details soon. I have to get them all typed up. In
the mean time, have a fabulous week!

Bread attempt 2

Chuck liked the bread so much that I decided to stick with the recipe.
Things were going fine but I had to pick up my chest freezer part way
through so I left Suzanne in charge. I forgot to tell her to turn the
gas to the oven on, however, so she "baked" the bread for the
appropriate time before realizing it. Here are the resulting loaves.
Notice how the extra rise time caused two of the loaves to fuse
together and one began to ooze out of the pan. I'm sure they will
still taste great they'll just be a little ugly.
For the recipe check out (google) A Year Of Bread - Farmhouse White

Firsts

Ruby had, and because she's the oldest, will have, most of the firsts. The new baby, however, will get some.

For example, Ruby is the first person to be photographed by and blogged about using my new Iphone but Charlie will be the first baby to have professional prenatal and newborn photoshoots. (at least semi-professional)

My wonderful husband reads my blog along with his usual thinking of my daily and surprised me this morning with my new phone. So I guess this means I have to blog more (or he might take it for himself).

We're still helping Unkie Jon move. Here's Ruby sitting like a big girl (for the first time) in Jon's beanbag chair.

Have a great weekend!

Once a month update!

Looks like I'm back to once a month blogging. Chuck promises that soon we'll be saved up and both be able to get new IPhones so then I'll be able to update from anywhere! The problem I have is that I don't have much time to spend online and I usually only make it through my email when I have to get onto something else.

We've been really busy lately getting sick, getting better, working on the house, raising a toddler (yes, Ruby is officially a toddler now!) and everything that goes along with having a house, a family and a life. You know what I mean.

The most recent happenings include but are not limited to:
-joining a produce co-op - we love it. The produce is wonderful and it's so nice to pick it up all at once, it saves time and money
-cutting out almost all the corn syrup from our diets, at least Ruby's and my diet, Chuck still likes Dr. Pepper -making yogurt and bread regularly - I just tried this new bread recipe and it was wonderful. I plan to try new recipes often and I'm even going to try making rye bread next week!
-drinking raw milk - we get it through the co-op form a local farmer and all love it. There's a lot of fascinating reading relating to it also
-and of course growing a baby - we find out the gender on Sept. 1st! I'm really excited about it. I think the main reason is that with Ruby I had no idea what to expect about the birth and new that it could be no fun at all so waiting to find out the gender left me with at least one thing to look forward to. This time around I'm so excited to experience giving birth again that I can't wait to find out the gender! That and I would like to be able to plan. I'm very practical after all.

We've got lots of new pictures of Ruby but I can't seem to find any to post right now. Not surprisingly. But we're going to get some "one year" photos taken soon (I hope) and I'll be sure to get a few of those up here.

I've been usuing my onling time to bake more, clean more and even rest more. I enjoy those things much more than sitting at the computer and although I miss reading friends and families blogs I don't miss adding projects to my never ending list of things I'd like to do but probably never will nor do I really need to. I've actually gotten some things done rather than just spending my time starting things! I do, however, have lots of sewing to do for the many (at least 10) upcoming births and don't know when I'll get all of that done. I've got lots of friends and family having babies!

I pray that your lives are filled with joy and good health and you're resting in Lord. Peace is a wonderful thing.