May Happenings

I had a birthday a few weeks ago.

 I ended up being ridiculously sick over it
and spending three days in bed.

I've been scrambling to make up for it at the office ever since,

which is why my blogging has fallen to the wayside.

I got this for a gift -

a GPS running watch - just what I wanted!

 It was supposed to aid in my training for the Fargo half marathon,
 but Adam's grandmother passed away and
we spent marathon weekend with family
saying goodbye to Grandma Kathryn -

She will be greatly missed.

Side note: Look at those cheeks on Walt!

Can you believe how giant they were?

 He's thinned down and grown up -

 But when that boy smiles -

you still just want to reach out and grab those sweet little cheeks!

Ruby's 1st Birthday Party

It's been so busy around here that I never got a chance 

to show you how Ruby's first birthday party went down.

Everyone gathered for appetizers -

 before I took the kids downstairs for a project.

I made copies of the bunnies from Rube's invitations 

and had each of the kids color one.

 

It was the quietest few moments of the whole party.

 

Once they finished, 

they got blindfolded and spun around a few times -

 

and played glue the cotton ball tail on the bunny.

 Ruby got it just right with a little help from Auntie Brooke.

 

Then we did cake, which I showed you here.

And cute little Rubes held up one finger since she was turning one.

Make a wish!

 Ruby wasn't too interested in her cake.

 In fact, once she got her fingers dirty with frosting,

she got a little upset -

and never actually ended up eating it.

 

So we moved on to an egg hunt outside -

followed by presents!

Can't believe my little lady is already a year old! 

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cake

A friend with a birthday requested a chocolate cake, 

so I thought I'd give this recipe a try.

Here's what you need -

 

Just make any chocolate cake mix 

according to the directions on the box.

Then dump in an unprepared box of chocolate pudding -

and 1 c. of sour cream,

and mix well.

 Finally, stir in 1 c. of mini chocolate chips.

 

Your batter will look something like this -

Pour it into 2 round cake pans and bake. 

With all of the additions, 

it will take awhile longer to bake than it says on the box.

Just keep cooking until you insert a toothpick 

and it comes out clean.

  

For frosting, I went with an old family recipe.

You just need 6 Tablespoons butter,

6 Tablespoons milk, and 1 c. of sugar.

 Bring the ingredients to a boil for one minute,

 

and then remove from heat and stir in 

about a cup to a cup and a half of chocolate chips.

Stir it with a whisk,

 

until smooth.

Then let the frosting begin!

 

After putting a good layer on top of the first cake -

Grab the second cake -

 

flip it on top,

 

 

and keep frosting away!

Finished.

Since the cake was for a friend,

we couldn't eat it.

 I got to taste it later and it was delicious,

but Walt had to settle for licking the frosting off the whisk.

He was pretty happy with that,

but you might want to try the cake :)