Chocolate Cake

I have discovered the best recipe for chocolate cake ever. Actually, my daughter, Sarah Jane found it first, but this is a variation of it. I was going to make SJ's, the one on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa, for my brother's 40th birthday last week. But there wasn't enough cocoa. I went to the store to buy more and all they had was Special Dark Hershey's Cocoa. This is just a gimmick, I thought, Cocoa is cocoa. They're just getting in on this dark-chocolate-is-good-for-you bit. Well, it was different. And in this recipe - better! I compared the cake recipes on the backs of these boxes, and they were identical. I don't understand it, but there it is.


I used store-bought frosting, Whipped Chocolate or such, and it went great with the cake. This week, however I used an icing that I would call a gritty flop. It was called Creamy Vanilla Icing. Don't use it. It's one of those cooked icings. No matter how I beat it to dissolve the granulated sugar, it was still gritty when I served it. This is the link to it:



http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,166,159183-249206,00.html



My family was great about it, telling me that the "cake was great!" But as I scraped dishes afterwards, I noticed a large amount of icing left behind...

Is this a dream?

I love how the simple things in life can make a child so happy. Since it was such a nice evening, I told Noah I'd take him to the local park. He wanted to bring his big beach shovel along to dig in the sandbox. I think this was a big deal to him. As we walked to the park, he held my hand, and asked, "Is this a dream?" I knew he was looking surprised to be using that big shovel, and I assured him, "No, it' not - we're really doing this!"

Josh is in the process of painting Noah's room. It's going to have a nautical look, as Noah likes pirate ships. So we started with water (the variegated blue carpet). I thought sand would be a good color to feel like the sea. Then Josh decided to make the base board brown, use sand on the wall under the chair rail, dark bluefor the chair rail, and sky blue above the chair rail. So, besides the carpet, the room should feel like a ship, which the sky beyond. I hope it works out that way.

Time for bed. Busy day tomorrow.

Noah humming

Noah is walking around the house humming parts of "Angel of Music" from Phantom of the Opera. I love to watch him playing in his own little world and listen to his little voice humming away on key the happy parts of a song he heard only a few times. How sweet that he found it interesting enough to retain for humming.

My children are growing up so quickly! I was a young mom surrounded by little ones just a short time ago. And now they are so grown. I'm very glad we still have this one little boy left, only six years old. I think God knew I needed just one more.

The Dads

I made each of the dads an apple pie for Father's Day. I think they were both pleased.

We went to my dad's on the Saturday night before Father's Day, for dinner and hanging out. It was nice. Dad, Noah, and I walked our two Shelties in a light rain, holding umbrellas as we went. It was during this walk that I learned that Dad had a buff-colored Cocker Spaniel named "Pal" when he was eight. But after about six months my Grandma gave it away. It had only a few accidents that Dad could remember. He just recalled that Grandma just wasn't keen on owning a dog, as it made more work and mess. This makes sense as she was an excellent housekeeper. But it was nice to find this out. What was sad was the way the dog left: during the day while Dad was in school. So he came home to no Pal. The weird thing is, this is exactly what happened to my Mom and her little Spitz dog. One day she came home and he was gone. I'll have to find out his name. If it was Pal, that would be wild!

I even watched golf with my dad. On his high def TV, it was actually entertaining. I was surprised to find golf so interesting. After asking Dad about some of the golf terms, I got caught up in Tiger Woods' amazing long shot into a hole.

We went to David's parents on Sunday to spend time with his dad. We go there often for Sunday dinner, so I don't remember anything special happening other that the usual: stuffing ourselves on Chinese, playing games, chatting. But it was nice and relaxing, which I think worked for everyone.

I made David some blueberry muffins and French press coffee for breakfast, and Noah gave him a Spiderman card that made him laugh. Later, Sarah Jane gave him a Father's Day mug that matched my Mother's Day mug. He really liked it. Ben gave him a card yesterday, that seemed to touch him. I'll have to read it and see why.

Wiring houses, swimming lessons

Ben is now working for my brother, Steve. He's helping to wire a new house under Steve's watchful eye. Steve told me Ben was one of his best students. That made my mother's heart glad. I think Ben's enjoying being a part of a team of men putting a house up. He made friends with an Amish man on the team, Daniel, but sadly he had to move on only days after Ben met him. Ben told us that the Amish work hard and fast, and do excellent work.

And that leads us to the news that, working 40 hours/week, Ben's making decent $$ for a 16-yr-old. With money in pocket, he went to the guitar store down the street and brought home a red electric guitar. Somehow he managed to get his dad's OK, and here it is, along with an amplifier. I really don't care, as long as he doesn't blare it. It does concern me, though, that he won't play an acoustic anymore. "El Ca-Bong" lay untouched now that this fancy new guitar's showed up.

Noah has started swimming lessons, and loves them! He'll go for a couple weeks, and then go into another class for a couple weeks. It's not expensive, and I feel much better having him get lessons. The girls took lessons too. Josh and Ben learned from me and 12 year old Sarah Jane. They wore swimmies a lot that first summer we lived in a development with a pool. But they did learn to swim w/o lessons, and are good swimmers today. I thought of teaching Noah myself, but I knew it would go faster in a group, where everyone is putting their head under the water. He's very cautious. it could've taken me half the summer to do what he'll get in class in a couple days...

I'm wiped out. Time to crash...zzzzzzzz

Josh graduates, summer begins

We of the hill are rather looking forward to summer. With Noah's last day of kindergarten this Friday, and the big kids all out of school, it's finally feeling like summer. I guess it will be official with the first plunge into a pool.

Josh graduated from high school last week. He was so handsome in his cap and gown. As his turn to state his name, location, and future plans came, I trained my camcorder on him. He said he was from "Upper L*******". This cracked us all up, as we knew there was no such place. Just Josh being a snob...

He graduated with a National Honor Society cord. He wore another one as well, which we later learned he found and put on just to look better. That kid...

It seems that Josh has some security issues. Rather, he has some "Hmmm... let's see what I can get away with" issues. Plus he enjoyed looking a bit more academic with 2 cords.

Ben is working construction with his uncle this summer. He likes the work, mainly wiring new homes. The only drawback is the driving we and my brother have to do, as Ben has no vehicle.

Josh is still looking for a job this week. I told him he has to be able to walk or ride a bike there. I can't drive two boys to different jobs. Gas is $3.89/gallon now.

Sweet Little Thoughts

A couple days ago, as Noah and I returned from the little park at the bottom of our hill-yard, we stopped to smell the flowers. We lingered at the honeysuckle and azaleas. Just before we walked inside, Noah spoke his feelings about the flowers, "Can you imagine a tooth in your heart smelling the odors and saying, "I love this smell!" I replied, "Do you mean a tooth in a mouth in your heart?"

"Yes, and there are two lines coming out, "The flowers smell so good!"

I was struck by his expression of this abstract idea. He's six. That's pretty advanced for a six-year-old. I remember Josh saying some things like this. I know I have them written down in a journal.