Best Ever Strawberry Shortcake....

Yup, without a doubt, this is the best ever shortcake recipe you'll find! It doesn't matter where I take this cake I get asked for the recipe. Now, I don't know if it's my Grandma's original recipe or not, but it's always been called hers....the name of the recipe is 'Dot's Shortcake'. (My Grandma's name is Dorothy) This Easter season seemed the perfect time to break out this recipe for the first time this year. It's one of those fussy, 'make one wrong move and the whole thing will flop' recipe. I'll still encourage you to try it because even if it flops you'll still love it!
Here it goes:
In mixer (I use my Kitchen Aid with whisk beater), beat 4 eggs really well. Add 2 scant ( just less than) cups of white sugar. Beat until thick. Add 2 slightly rounded cups of flour, 1 tsp. salt, and 4 (yes 4) tsp. of Baking powder. Mix really well. It will be very thick!
Meanwhile, in a microwave safe measuring cup scald 1 cup of milk. Scald simply means getting the milk to an extremely hot temp without actually boiling it. To do this I turn my microwave down to half power and heat the milk for anywhere from 3-5 minutes....keep an eye on it or it'll start to boil and make a mess all over your microwave. (voice of experience typing here)
You can tell its scalded by looking at the surface...there should be a very faint skin on it and it'll have a distinct smell. Add 1/4 cup butter or marg into the hot milk and let it melt completely.
Add milk mixture into your first mixture and mix really well. Now add 1-2 tsp vanilla and continue to mix. Scrape the bottom of the bowl while mixing otherwise you'll have thick, lumpy batter when you pour it out!
Now, line a pan (I use a metal pan) with waxed paper and slowly pour mixture in.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. This is one of those, 'no running in the house, no slamming doors, no angry stomping' cakes or it'll fall! At first you'll just smell the wax paper heating up but once the cake starts to bake.....mmmmmmm, nothing but goodness!
Once cooled I peel away the waxed paper and place back in the pan, cut into 12 pieces. When ready to serve, cut each square in half to open, and spoon sugared berries and whipped or ice cream. This is a favorite in our house and between summer entertaining and parties I make this recipe at least 20 times each year!
It also just happens to be my Moms favorite cake and I love to bake it just for her!
Let me know how you like it!

Sign of Spring...

The last two days here have been beautiful and today is no exception! 'They' say its not going to last but I'm not going to let that spoil my day! Yesterday I started off the day with a nice walk with Kim. We both had capri's and flip flops on to welcome the warm weather. I spent some time outside with the kids, enjoying the warm, beautiful sun and decided to snap a few pics for you to enjoy. Wherever you are I hope you're enjoying your day and hopefully the sun is shining!

Celebrating Two Peas in a Pod...

What a beautiful, sunny day...the perfect kind of day to celebrate the birth of the much awaited Hunter Twins! Today we had a baby shower for these little darlings. When the girls of Heritage get together to celebrate its an all out party! We truly are just one big family! The noise levels reach crazy levels and the laughter is abundant. I had the honour of hosting this event and here are a few pics for you to enjoy. Amy and Jennifer are a month old already but its hard to believe since they are still so tiny. Tammy is a wonderful Mom....but oh so busy! She now has 4 girls under the age of 5 in her household!

There were gifts galore for Mom and baby, tons of food, a chocolate fountain, games, prizes and lots of laughter. There were so many ladies here it was a good thing we had 2 babies to pass around! There is just something so special about twins...I like to think of them as one way that God reminds us of His awesome power and love for us. I hope you enjoyed your day Tam!

My Lightening Queen.....

My oldest *kindly* reminded me that I forgot to post about our recent Grand Prix Race Day at church. Every year our Pioneer Clubs program holds a pine car race and it's BIG news for many! The kids have to

design their cars and paint them. The adults help with the cutting. It's all fair and square...they weigh each car and add weight accordingly so the races are fair. All the cars are divided into categories and are judged on speed and design. Last year Olivia brought home 3rd place in the speed category. This year she designed her car to look like a whale! It was a great day with fellow families in the church. There's a cool concession where you can buy cheap 'tail pipes' (also known as hot dogs), and we had a variety of fun cars on display from the auto mall. There were door prizes and trophies galore and most importantly, memories made.

Another special element to this event is my Dad's involvement. Dad has a passion for creating and one of his favorite things to create is garage scenes...he's got large ones, small ones, life size ones....you name it! Both last year and this year Dad set up a couple of his scenes for the enjoyment of all! Notice in the pics how he gives my kids all the credit for the work....that's a true Grandpa! Anyway, it was a wonderul family day. I hope you enjoy the pics. Oh, did I forget to mention that Olivia brought home 2nd place in her speed division this year? She did...so you can well imagine what her goal is for next year!

Wild Thing...I Know I Love You...

Bad Hair Day? Oh no, this is a good hair day! We took advantage of the sun rays yesterday and took pics of our little man with his oh-so-wild hair. Everyone comments on how crazy Isaac's hair looks. It kind of has a mohawk look to it. There's lots of hair, it's just really fair. After a bath it all stands straight up. I remember taking similar pics of Olivia when she was a baby. My mom says my hair was exactly the same as Isaac's. She used to put little pink rubber curlers in my hair to get it to curl instead of stand straight up! We tried to find those curlers when Olivia was little but Mom couldn't remember if she'd saved them...well, the other day I found a bag that contained some items from when I was a baby and guess what was in the bag? Yup, the curlers...only now I don't have a baby girl to try them out on. It's so tempting to just try one in Isaac's hair....nope, can't do it, Daddy would have a fit! Have I mentioned how I love this little man? More than I can say! I love his funky hair....he can keep it forever as far I'm concerned:)

The Big 0-4!

This past month we celebrated Abby's 4th Birthday. She had been anticipating this day for a loooooooong time! She started asking people to her birthday party last fall already...just ask Uncle Ken, he recieved a birthday invite almost every week leading up to the big day.

Now if you've met my little Abby you'll know what a character she is. She keeps me running all day! You never quite know what's going to come out of her mouth...taking her to town is quite an adventure! But, in amongst all this craziness there is a beautiful person that I know our Heavenly Father created just for me (us). God gave us this special girl knowing that we could recognize her quick wit and sense of humour, her love for life and her need to question everything in life! She really is a mini-me....did I drive my mother this crazy???? I love her to death for the unique and wonderful girl she is.

It took her almost a full year to make up her mind about what kind of cake she wanted. She changed her mind every day for the 2 weeks leading up to the party, but in the end she wanted Cinderella. Easy enough right? Nope, harderst character cake I've ever done. I don't do faces...can't draw them, can't ice em'. I gave it my best and this is how she came out....not bad, except we joked that she looked like she had a botox treatment on her lips right before she showed up for the party!

She enjoyed her party so much with all her cousins and grandparents, uncles and aunts.

Part of my goal as a Mom is to create special memories for my kids, but most importantly to show them how much I love them, and, believe it or not, a Cinderella cake is just one more way!

Orders Up....

I was on a roll with orders until life decided to throw a curve ball, or 2 my way. About 3 weeks ago I came down with a brutal cold which then led to fever, chills, stomach flu, hospital visit, and eventually, sinus infection. I was down and out for the count for almost 3 weeks but am happy to report that all is well....kids got all kinds of bugs too but we're all good now. I gave the house a good disinfecting so let's hope that's it for us for awhile!

Anyway...all of that to say that my orders were put back a little as a result. I couldn't deliver the ones I had done because we did not want to pass this flu on to anyone else, and I didn't have the energy to complete the ones that needed finishing. Well all is good now....the set of 3 aprons for mom and girls is in the hands of some happy customers. I'll have to get a pic of them all wearing them and show it off to you down the road...they turned out sooo cute, if I do say so myself:)

For today, here's some pics of a larger order I did for a friend. It started with the quilt which was almost done when she saw it, then I personalized it for her adorable little girl by stitching her name on the border, and then made some matching crib sheets to go with it all. The crib sheets were a first for me! Although they were a little picky, in the end I was really happy with how they turned out...in fact, so happy that I may just make a few for my little guy! I'm in the market for some vintage aiplane fabric if you see any.

Hope everyone is healthy in your home....

bye for now.