Pineapple Angel Food Cake

The Newlyweds are home from their honeymoon and they came over to show pictures and share stories from their wonderful trip.  We had a really nice evening and even shared cooking dinner together and that was just wonderful.  We made a Sesame Noodle with Chicken meal that I found on Pinterest, but honestly it was just ok and I won't be sharing the link or recipe.  

But I do like to have a dessert on hand when people come over and since our daughter is lactose intolerant I have a Pinterest board at the ready with recipes to try.  And this one was a winner!

If you've spent any time at all on Pinterest - or now on Facebook with all the recipes that are shared - you have surely seen this recipe for Pineapple Angel Food Cake.  Nothing I had linked back to an actual site, so I can't give credit for this.  But it was GOOD!  And easy!  And relatively good, or at least not as bad, for you!

The Ingredients:

Yes that's it - just an angel food cake mix (the notes on the pin said it must be the "one step" angel food cake mix) and a 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple.

I didn't even get my mixer out - just used a wooden spoon to stir it.  It had a very light and airy batter.  This would be a great cake to make with kids since it mixes so easily.

It did sink down a bit in the middle, but that didn't affect the flavor at all.  While it was baking I kept thinking that the house had that 'fair smell' to it of very sweet funnel cakes (though it didn't taste at all like a funnel cake).

 Mmmmm.......    :)

We served it with a dollop of Cool Whip because I seem to remember 'back in the day' that their jingle was something about Cool Whip Non-Dairy Whipped Topping.  However, below their list of ingredients it says in bold letters:  CONTAINS MILK.  Lynne' decided it would be best not to test out the theory so had hers without.

This was a really good, light, summery sort of cake since it uses the angel food cake mix.  And since I'm a big fan of pineapple I really enjoyed it.

PINEAPPLE ANGEL FOOD CAKE

1 Angel Food Cake Mix (Betty Crocker works great)

20 ounce can of crushed pineapple

In a bowl mix together the cake mix and entire contents of pineapple can - I used a wooden spoon.  Pour into a 13x9 pan sprayed with nonstick coating and bake for 30 minutes at 350*.

Shared with:  Brag About It #20, The Scoop, Inspire Me Tuesday, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Tuesdays at Our Home, Weekly Homemaking Party

National Watermelon Day

Well how about that - today is National Watermelon Day! 

Today we were going to have the happy engaged couple over for lunch to go over last minute wedding plans (only two more weeks - oh em gee!!!!).  I called the other kids to see if they wanted to come and we had a rather impromptu family lunch - perfect afternoon for any mama!

Few things taste as good on a hot summer day as a grilled burger, so that's what we went with.  I got a text that Brooklyn had picked out a watermelon, so they were bringing it over for dessert.

She really goes to the best summer daycare - I'm so impressed.  Now that she is school age they have some truly unique and awesome field trips a couple of days a week.  This week one such field trip was to the farmers market, where they learned about many different fruits and vegetables.  One tidbit of knowledge that she came home with was how to choose a perfect watermelon.  Well since this is not a great skill of ours Keith asked Brooklyn to tell him about it (he is such an awesome grandpa!).

First they had to wash the watermelon because it did have dirt on it.  Then she told him that you put your ear on it while thumping all around.  She said choose a watermelon that sounds hollow all around.

I wish I had taken a picture of the slices as they were the prettiest red and just dripping with juice.  As tasty as it was Brooklyn really must have learned the secret to choosing a good watermelon!  I think grandpa might have been a tad disappointed though when he found out it was seedless because he was wanting to teach her the fine art of watermelon seed spitting.  But as they say, always leave wanting more.....

Deep Thoughts:  "The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of their worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the every day moments." 

Movies on Monday - Despicable Me 2

I don't know if there are even enough words to describe how much we enjoyed seeing this movie!  We made plans to meet the kids at a theater (a different one that also serves meals!) to see Despicable Me 2 and I was like a kid before Christmas I was so excited!

First thing Keith and I did was plan our lunch at McD so that we could get the Happy Meal toys to give to Brooklyn at the movie.  The little whistle thingy didn't work on either toy, but really that was ok because B and I used them to have sword fights and all was good.  ;)   And when I posted this to FB one of my cousins left a comment reminding me that you can buy just the Happy Meal toy for only a dollar, so next time we'll probably do without the meal.  Although it has been many years between the time my kids were Happy Meal age and now my granddaughter is Happy Meal age and I have to say that I thought the little french fry holder was CUTE!!

I forgot to take a picture of B & I at the theater until after the movie had already started and the photo turned out really dark.  But the wonders of post-processing at least made it to where we are visible and that's a memory right there.

Just in case you're on the fence about whether or not to see this movie, my advice is get thee there as quickly as you can!  There were so many Laugh Out Loud moments for Brooklyn and of course hearing her laugh made me laugh even harder.  And now one of the family sayings just happens to be "Bee-Dough, Bee-Dough, Bee-Dough" from the movie.  Just too funny!

Scripture for Home on Our Kitchen Walls

While we've been working on the kitchen remodel I thought it would be kind of neat to have some scripture for our home on the walls in the kitchen.  Keith agreed and I put on my thinking cap to decide what would be a good Bible verse for our wall.

I first wrote it on a wall that ended up being painted over and that didn't please me.  This time I leaned over the almost installed lower cabinets with my sharpie in hand and wrote it in a safer spot.  The Bible verse will actually be covered by the upper cabinets, but this was more satisfying than painting over it by far.

Having a Bible verse on the wall or not is of course never mentioned in the Bible.  But we know it's there and we like it.  

Our house was built in the 70's and I don't think it was remodeled before now.  There's a part of me that wonders if in another 40'ish years somebody will remodel again and see this and maybe pause to think about the family that wrote this.  (As I'm typing this I now wish I would've dated it, but the cabinets are up and it's too late!)  Maybe this small glimpse inside our lives will give them a hint of the happiness we have in our daily walk as it also gives us a daily reminder.

Deep Thoughts:  "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."  Psalm 119:11 NIV

Happy Birthday Loni!

My beautiful daughter-in-law recently celebrated her birthday and of course we all love to celebrate.  We had dinner out with all the kids and both of my 1.5 granddaughters - a great time together as always!

Loni has always been one of my biggest Crafting Cheerleaders, so it's especially fun to make a card for her each year.  I also love the new 'My Spin on the Pin' challenge in our scrapbooking group - sure makes it easier to be creative!

This is the pin I used - http://pinterest.com/pin/82331499410733993/ - and here is my card:

Virtually identical to be sure.  The Happy Birthday stamp I used is from Morning Star Stamps, the circle punches and white cardstock are Stampin' Up.

The paper is a pretty cool deal.  I'm finding that more and more I'm using digital paper and just printing out what I need.  It's far cheaper and a lot less to store.  All of the pattern paper on this card is in the Go Floral Paper Pack by Studio Basic.  

What I did was open a page in Photoshop Elements, then put two inch squares of each of the pattern paper I wanted to use on the page.  Print, then cut to fit the openings I had punched in the card.  I used dimensionals to pop up that entire layer.

I'm pleased with how this turned out and of course it could be used for any occasion just by using a different sentiment stamp.

Deep Thoughts:  "Smile as much as you can, because today is your special day. Happy, happy Birthday to you!

Kindergarten Graduation

A quick post before finally heading to bed tonight.  Today was such a special day I just couldn't go to bed without posting!

Today was Brooklyn's Kindergarten Graduation program at school.  Keith and I both took the day off work to attend with James and Loni.  We are so blessed that not only do they invite us, but they genuinely want us to be there.  And Brooklyn's face just lights up when she sees Grandma and Papa there for her. Family is one of the most important things in the world and I hope we're always able to support her in all that she does.

Moving on - and not so deep now - here's a picture of the four of us while waiting for the program to start.  My beautiful daughter-in-law Loni and I sat together, behind us you can see James' in the picture and the silly bunny ear fingers belong to Keith.  Any time we are with the kids there is laughter - and I wouldn't have it any other way.

This is 100% why we were there.  Brooklyn is holding her Kindergarten certificate and kept directing us to different places at school where she wanted her picture taken.  Both of these pictures were taken with my phone, but I have a camera full of photos waiting to be downloaded (and who can wait for that when you're a Grandma wanting to brag a bit???).

The first part of the program was in the cafeteria and each Kindergarten class went on stage one at a time and sang a song.  This worked out perfectly as it gave the parents and guests a little extra room to move up front and take pictures.  Her smile when she saw us up close on our knees with cameras was worth every minute of that sore knee.  ;)

After that program we were dismissed to the students' classrooms.  Brooklyn's teacher, Ms. B, gave out the certificates and an award for each student.  Brooklyn got an Art Award and that came as no surprise to any of us - she LOVES art!  The teacher did such a good job and told a little story about each of the children when they got their award and posed for a minute so we could take pictures.  She said that she was so glad to have a good artist in her classroom because she really cannot draw pictures.  Now when she needs something drawn on the board she asks Brooklyn to do it for her.

I'm sure I'll have a smile on my face while sleeping tonight.   :)

Deep Thoughts:  "You have brains in your head.  You have feet in your shoes.  You can steer yourself, any direction you choose."  Dr. Seuss

It's a Girl!

It's a GIRL!  Grandbaby #2 will be a Little Sister for Brooklyn.  When they told her it was a girl she clapped her hands and jumped up and down.  Happy, happy Big Sister!!!

This is the picture that was posted to Facebook to let the world know that a baby girl is on the way.  Cute!!!

"One daughter was so much fun
Now James and Loni are having another one!!"

Brooklyn Loves the Park!

We met the kids for dinner and had the best time!  Funny how you think you’re just going to go eat and chat and you end up with great memories.  :)

 

We started off with a picture by the Giant Chicken outside the restaurant….

 

… and followed up with a picture on the 3 legged horse!

 

After we ate we walked to a nearby park.  Brooklyn had a lot of fun on the slides and I just LOVE static hair!  She got to giggling and did the slide over and over so that grandma could take a bunch of pictures.  She is so good to me…  :)

 

Then Grandpa and Brooklyn started having fun with ‘Brooklyn coming down the slide and the two of them touching fingers’ – thereby setting off the static spark!  MUCH laughter!!!

 

After the slide fun the two of them played hide and seek in the park, then back to the slide.  This photo is kind of a combination of slide fun and hide and seek fun.

 

Grab the joy any time you can – enjoy life with those you love!

Card #2 - Happy Birthday Beloved!

I love stamping cards and because of that I have quite a few stamps in my craft room.  Like, probably too many stamps.  The good news is that most places either no longer sell them on the wooden base or if they do they also offer the unmounted version. So much easier to store.


But what I'm noticing is that when it comes time to make a card I rarely look to see what I have.  Instead, more and more often I turn towards digital stamps and search online.  LOVE cards this way because the only storage is a little digital file tucked away on a hard drive.


This is the card I made for Keith's birthday this year and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.  It says what I feel about him and uses a pun, which we've really come to appreciate through our daughter-in-law.

I downloaded the image from Meljen's Designs and it was only two dollars!  Isn't it darling?  I printed the image on white cardstock, then cut it out using a die cut.  Then I printed it on the green cardstock, cut out the image and put it on pop dots to give it a little dimension.


And yes, we really are the Perfect Pear.  ;)


Supplies used for card:  Stampin' Up cardstock, digital image from Meljen's Designs, Top Note Die from Stampin' Up

Card #2–Happy Birthday to My Son!

Every year on my kids’ birthdays I sit and smile to myself and think how lucky I am.  Wonderful children that have grown to adults we are proud of.

Today is my son’s birthday and when I raise my eyes just over the top of my desk and look at the pictures of him at about 7 years old I still smile.  He was fun then and he still makes me laugh now.

Tonight we’ll all have dinner together and of course nothing could make this mama/grandma happier.  Hopefully I’ll remember to snap some pictures tonight while having a grand time!

 

I find the masculine cards to be the hardest to make.  Girls are simple – bows and bling and color and so forth.  I based this card from one I’d seen on Pinterest  and I’m quite pleased with how it came out.

 

I’m trying to get better about putting a lighter color cardstock on the inside of the card so it’s easier to write something mushy inside.  :)

 

Supplies used for card:  Stampin’ Up cardstock; Happy Everything stamp set from Stampin’ Up

Valentine Berries and Flowers

What a fun surprise yesterday afternoon - my beloved came home bearing gifts!!! 

I confess that I adore fresh flowers.  I know they die quickly, too expensive, so on and so forth.  But every time I walk in this room and see them I smile.  I love the way they smell and I love the deep red color. 

 

I also love that he knows me well enough that he started taking pictures of the flowers for me.  That’s some true love right there!

 

He also brought these beauties home – and you might notice in the 1st picture there are only 2 on the plate.  Yeah…      It was a gorgeous afternoon here, so we each took a strawberry and sat in the backyard.  Such a wonderful time sitting and talking together.

We did go out for dinner and had a nice time.  We had considered going to a movie dining theater, but there just wasn’t anything playing right now that we’re dying to see.

One last thought – so many people posted on FB yesterday about how it is a ‘made up’ holiday and they don’t need that just to show somebody they love them, that it should happen every day.  They are absolutely right!  But I also don’t think it’s a bad thing to slow down one day a year and remind those you love how important they are to you.

Card #1–I’ve Got My Eye On YOU Valentine!

I love it when you can send a card that has special meaning between the sender and the recipient.  That’s the case with this Valentine for our granddaughter.

The back story – we sometimes do Face Time on the iPhones with her so that we can see her and chat.  Papa and Brooklyn started doing a close-up of their eye and saying “I’ve got my eye on you” which made everybody laugh.

 

This was such an easy card to make – I used the Monkey Eyes 4 You set from Scrappin Doodles for the pink dotted background, the monkey and the hearts at the bottom.  The sentiment I just typed out.  I bought googly eyes to fit and that graphic is raised a bit on pop dots.

I think he’s just darling!

Working Puzzles Together

Well look at me posting!  I tell you what – I didn’t think I was ever going to fully recover from all the holiday season goodness.  But here in a blink of an eye it’s going to be Valentine’s season tomorrow.  Where does the time go???  (And before I go on, does anybody else miss the goodhearted humor of Gomer Pyle?  What a lovable goofball!

 

Here’s where some of our evenings are spent now – our kitchen table with a 1000 piece puzzle – what was I thinking?  I loved the sound of evenings doing a puzzle together, but I’m quickly discovering that I should have started with fewer pieces.

I don’t remember doing family puzzles growing up, but since I have one of the worst memories ever I called my mom to ask her.  She said no, we didn’t really do that.  So where I got this idea I don’t know.  But I’m so glad I did because Keith got to talking about some of his childhood stories while we sat and worked the puzzle.  Very good evenings, conversation with the one you love – priceless.

I will admit that we need to get moving on this so that we can scooch the puzzle to one end of the table and start eating again at the other end.  Right now there’s like 10 million pieces at the bottom of the picture that you can’t see.

 

The colors in this upper corner remind me so much of a Monet painting and it makes me giggle every time I think of that.  I’m about as far from high brow as a person can be, so it’s not very often I have a “Monet Moment.”

Please don’t burst my bubble if you don’t agree with my assessment of the colors…….   LOL!

Happy New Year 2012!

January 1st has always been a favorite day of mine, which is kinda funny since we don’t usually do much for New Year’s Eve – a dichotomy I tell you!  There is just something about having the whole year in front of you – a blank slate ready to be filled with all kinds of wonderful days, events and moments!

For New Year’s Eve my brother and sister-in-law flew into town and we went with them, son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter out to eat, where amazingly we ran into our daughter and her roommates!  Even if you’ve never been to the DFW you must surely realize the odds are against just running into anybody as it’s a large city.

 

We went to Texas de Brazil for dinner and it’s the first time Keith and I had ever been there.  Our little granddaughter was seasoned pro since she’d been already – LOL!  This photo is my sister-in-law Michele and granddaughter Brooklyn…. and the remnants of the communal chocolate cake for dessert.  :)

After dinner we headed back to our house and chatted a bit, then everybody left for their own homes.  I tried my hardest to stay awake until midnight, but ended up drifting off on the sofa.  I did, however, wake up just seconds after midnight due to all the fireworks in the neighborhood going off!

Today I spent the day with friends at a 2nd Annual Craft Day at one friend’s house.  I was there for pretty much the entire day and evening and the only thing I accomplished – besides a lot of talking and some eating – was cutting out the fabric for an American Girl doll dress!  Never even plugged in the machine!  But oh what a grand time I had.

 

Crazy, but this is the only picture I took today!  One of the things she served was vegetables in a cup and they were fantastic.  It has dressing at the bottom, then all these vegies ready to go in a clear flower pot looking container.  A fabulous way to serve veggies and they were sensational!

On the drive home I kept thinking about how wonderful 2012 is looking to be.  And I wish the same for all of you. 

Thanksgiving Turkey Craft

Early morning on Black Friday some of the girls wanted to brave the crowds at the Big Box Stores.  I stayed home with the 2 Littles, Brooklyn and her cousin Kaitlynn so that we could do a craft.

I’ve looked all over my bookmarks and can’t find the original site to credit – and really I’m shocked that I must not have pinned it.  I’ll keep looking though.

What we made were Stuffed Turkeys!

The instructions were to take a small plastic container (I found mine at Hobby Lobby and used a 40% off coupon) and use brown fun foam in the shape of a peanut for the turkey head.  I let the girls cut their own and since they are 4 they wanted to do it their way – and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.  They had quite a bit of fun doing the cutting.

We glued on googly eyes and they cut orange noses from fun foam.  The tail feathers are pipe cleaners folded over and twisted together, then taped to the back. 

Our turkeys were ‘stuffed’ with m&m’s.  And of course, as grandmas sometimes do, I said something that became one of those family sayings.  The girls were VERY interested in eating the m&m’s and I told them they couldn’t eat them all because they would go crazy with all that sugar.  Later I heard Brooklyn telling her mom that m&m’s make you crazy.  sigh….   4 year olds can be quite literal!

I really think this concept could be used for other holidays and animals.  Perhaps a Rudolph for Christmas with his red nose, antlers and cute felt tail!

Turning 50!

Oh yes, I turned 50!  My first indication that I was going to be celebrating a milestone birthday was getting an “invitation” in the mail to join AARP.  They are sure Johnny On The Spot with that aren’t they???

And wouldn’t you know – we forgot the camera!  Fortunately all our phones have cameras, so we weren’t totally in the dark.

 

We celebrated in the manner I love more than anything – with my family!  I chose Cracker Barrel as the restaurant of choice and Keith came home with a balloon bouquet, which I loved!!!  We got a LOT of looks from other customers when we set up all the stuff at the table.

 

This picture shows the tiara, lei and buttons that he also got for me.  The tiara says Birthday Queen and I love it!!!  He also brought pointed head birthday hats for everybody to wear – you can see little Brooklyn looking at me wearing hers.

This flower and awesome little vase was from my daughter – isn’t it unique?  I love it!

 

Our waiter took a group photo and even though it’s pretty out of focus I still love it.  So much love sitting at this table right here!

Having never celebrated a birthday at Cracker Barrel I didn’t realize what they would do, but I did get the birthday song from the wait staff (and Brooklyn loved that!).  Our waiter kept saying over and over that I was celebrating my 29th birthday and I kept correcting him and saying no, I’m 50 today.  I guess I’m not one of those that has to pretend about age – I’m happy about all my 50 years!!!

By the time we hit fifty, we have learned our hardest lessons. We have found out that only a few things are really important. We have learned to take life seriously, but never ourselves. - Marie Dressler

I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming... suddenly you find - at the age of 50, say - that a whole new life has opened before you. - Agatha Christie

50 years: here's a time when you have to separate yourself from what other people expect of you, and do what you love. Because if you find yourself 50 years old and you aren't doing what you love, then what's the point? - Jim Carrey

The man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life. - Muhammad Ali

Family Dinner for Lynne’s Birthday

I keep thinking back to the evening of The Birthday Dinner with so much contentment and happiness.  I dearly love that our family enjoys being in each other’s company so much.  We laugh and tease and my cheeks hurt by the time the evening ends!

A few pictures to share…..

 

We got to the restaurant first and opted to wait in the truck.  Next came the Birthday Girl and she climbed into the back seat to chat.  The Boy (how she often refers to her boyfriend when talking to us) was next to arrive and joined us.  We decided since it was a Kodak moment we’d test out the timer feature on the camera.

 

Lynne’, aka Birthday Girl, and little Miss B while we waited for our order to arrive.  I’m not sure what Brooklyn was telling Lynne’ in this picture, but from the look on Lynne’s face she’s not buying it!

 

After dinner she opened her gifts and Miss B was quite interested in this, though she wasn’t really all that impressed with anything that Lynne’ got.

 

Keith and I being silly with the “hold your camera out at arm’s length in front of you” self-portrait.

 

Everything I read about photography says not to do staged photos.  Phooey on them - I will enjoy looking back at the group that met this night!  Standing between Lynne’ and Keith is Alicia, one of Lynne’s roommates.  This photo took several tries with the camera self-timer….. and with people entering the restaurant through the door behind us!

 

I had told Keith on the way to the restaurant that I was going to start a new tradition and get a photo of me and The Birthday Person every year.  He did tell me it can’t be a tradition on the first night you think it up, but I didn’t worry much about that.  Note to self for future pictures – set the purses aside.  ;)   Other than that I love this picture of my daughter and I.

This was truly one of those moments in time that warms a mother’s heart.

Brooklyn Loves Weddings

We recently were so thrilled to attend the wedding of a young couple that just mean the world to us.  Danny has been a friend of my son’s since they were in the 8th grade.  I always felt close to him because during the 8th grade I picked them up from school and took them home every day.  You don’t spend that kind of quality time with kids and not learn a thing or two about them!

And through the years we’ve gotten close to his bride, Rachel, as well.  They’ve spend several weekends at the lake with us and again, you don’t spend that much time with people without getting to know them!

This wedding was made extra special because my son was the Best Man, daughter-in-law was a Bridesmaid, and granddaughter was the Flower Girl!

 

This is little Brooklyn after the wedding was over.  She did a spectacular job of dropping the rose petals down the aisle.  In fact, she was very, very meticulous about the whole thing!  {love her little shoe peeking out from beneath her dress}

 

Our son and daughter-in-law….aren’t they beautiful?  The fun part of this picture is that Brooklyn took the picture of her parents!  Of course, grandma did assist a little in the post-processing, but nobody really needs to know that.  Love, love this picture of the two of them.

 

This picture makes me giggle!  We discovered that little Miss B LOVES to dance!  She was on the dance floor for practically every dance and her dance card was never empty.  Here she’s dancing with Grandpa and the camera caught her in a bit of a mid-twirl.

 

This picture dad was trying to get her to look at the camera, but she was very intent on “Gotta Dance!”

It really was a night to remember.  These are the times that a person feels truly blessed.

Wordy Wednesday–Dogs Love to Swim!

Once again this post and picture is in honor of our upper 90’s weather.  Tomorrow they say we’ll be flirting with 100 degrees again.  *insert long-suffering sigh here*

 

This photo was taken earlier this summer while playing at the beach at the lake.  My grand dog is pictured – Xena – wearing her life jacket and I want you to notice the yellow ball at the top.  Xena, like most labs, just loves the water, running, swimming and BALLS! She had a BLAST running after that ball and was just exhausted after a while. 

Unfortunately dogs just don’t have the sense to stop running and chasing when they get worn out, so we had to intervene a bit.  No matter what we did with that silly ball she would find it, so finally Loni stuck it in the handle of the life jacket and it WORKED!  Xena went back to more leisurely swimming and her breathing returned to normal.

And of course you’ll see Miss B sitting on the back of the boat.  Rarely do I remember her sitting much while on the boat, so this must have been one of those moments of getting her second wind as well.

Oh how that water looks inviting right now!