May 24 Hapy Birthday Dalayna!

Since I've been out of town, this is a belated post! Happy Birthday to my Sister Dalayna!!!

Happy Birthday Laura!!!

Happy Birthday to my Sister Laura!!! Enjoy your last Oreo Cookie and Dr Pepper! (where she lives, those are rare, hard to find, sometimes shipped from the states treats!)

Graduation Cakes

Graduation Cakes from this weekend. First one is an 11x15 chocolate fudge cake with almond icing. Next is a 15x22 white almond sour cream cake with almond icing.

Congratulations to the class of 2008!

Happy Birthday Derek!

Happy 24th Birthday to my Brother Derek!
This means that for 5 days, mom will have 3 kids who are age 24, 25 and 26! Hmmm, I wonder if we kept her busy?!

(Picture taken November 2003 while we were visiting Derek in Las Vegas)

My Perfect Mother's Day

Happy (day late) Mother's day to all you mothers out there!
I had a wonderful mother's day!

It started out with a special mommy picture with my 2 sweet kid's

Then we attempted a family picture, but when you're taking a picture with a remote and the kid's don't know where to look since there's no one standing behind the camera.....this is the best you get!

After meeting, Jim grilled steaks and made loaded baked potatoes and we had a delicious lunch!

Dessert was of course the infamous Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Dipped Strawberries!
Jim didn't want to admit he was impressed by them but he finally said (after helping himself to a third one) that if you're going to ruin a strawberry, this is the way to do it!
The kids of course dove right in!









After my leisurely "Sunday Siesta", we went out to t he green house to get some tomato and pepper plants. Decided to wait on flowers since we need to move the flower beds first.

After supper, we took the kids in the jogging stroller for a walk to the park, and tried to walk a few of those strawberries off!

Before bed, I got a long relaxing massage compliments of my wonderful husband, followed by a long bubble bath.
What a wonderful Mother's Day!!!

Webkinz Cake

A fun cake that I did for a webkinz loving 8 year old girl!

Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Dipped Strawberries!

I decided that even though my wonderful husband was going to cook mothers day lunch for me, It would be in my own best interest to make my own dessert! (dessert just isn't that important to every one else around here!)
I decided it was time to try the Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Dipped Strawberries recipe that I had found.
So Saturday evening I set out to make this (to die for) dessert.
Of course you're going to want the recipe and directions so of course I was a good little cook and took step by step pictures for you all!
The filling recipe is one I use for cakes, you could use no bake cheesecake instead.

Vanilla Cheesecake Mousse

1 Pkg Jello Instant French Vanilla (or other flavor) Pudding
1 Envelope Dream Whip
1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
4 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese softened
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Pour powdered pudding and powdered Dream whip into medium bowl and add the light cream, blend on low speed with electric mixture until blended. Switch to high speed and beat 6 minutes scraping down sides occasionally with spatula. Add softened cream cheese and vanilla and beat another minute.

Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. If too thick add a little bit light cream until desired texture achieved. Flavors develop when sitting over night.

(Recipe courtesy of Carol Chisholm.) Delicious, creamy, not too sweet and sturdy enough now to squish out from between layers.

After filling strawberries, I put refrigerate them for about 45 minuets before dipping them.
I like to use Dove Milk Chocolate for dipping.
(1 vanilla cheesecake mousse recipe and 3 bags of chocolate makes 4 dozen strawberries.)

As I was taking this last picture, I decided to tip the tray up a little more to get a better angle. Picture me holding out this glass cutting board lined with waxed paper, holding the strawberries, out on one hand and trying to take the picture with the other hand.
Not a very smart idea. You see, the waxed paper slides, and the strawberries go on the floor. Luckily, I managed to catch all but one with my shirt and camera strap,
and level the board again!
At least the whole thing gave me an excuse to eat the "ugly" ones!!!

Little Boy (who was fresh from his bath) was quite delighted to help with the mess on the floor, and I didn't have the heart to stop him!
When he was finished with the floor he went to the fridge and started pulling on the door begging for another one!

New Jogging Stroller!

I've been enjoying my new double jogging stroller - almost every day since I got it! Since Jim has been working a few evenings a week, it's been a good time to head out for a walk, sometimes to the park. If we take the "long way around", we can take the trail to the park, and that makes a good uphill/downhill workout for me! Tonight, I decided we'd go for a bedtime walk since the kids already had their bath. We headed out on the trail but cut back home before they saw the park and wanted to play!