Candy Cane Cake

i always love new recipes...and my favorite are ones that are easy and really cute. I found this recipe in a magazine and thought i'd share it with you...








Candy Cane Cake

Cake
1 box white cake mix
water, oil, and eggs called for on cake mix box
1/2 tsp. red food color
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbs. milk or water
1/2 tsp. vanilla, if desired

Decoration
crushed candy canes or hard peppermint candies, if desired

1. heat oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan. make batter as directed on box. pour about 2 cups of the batter into pan. into small bowl, pour about 3/4 cup batter; stir in food color and peppermint extract. carefully pour pink batter over white batter in pan. carefully pour remaining white batter over pink batter.

2. bake as directed on box or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 min. turn pan upside down onto cooling rack; remove pan. cool cake completely, about 1 hour.

3. in small bowl, mix icing ingredients. if necessary, stir in additional milk 1 tsp. at a time, until smooth and spreadable. Spread icing over cake. Sprinkle top with crushed candy. store loosely covered.

***the first time i made this (last week) i got the icing to thin - more like a glaze. it soaked into the cake making it kinda soggy, SO i am going to try again, but this time i think i will just sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and just leave the icing off. So be careful when making your icing! a little milk goes a LONG way.

perfect timing

we always say that God has perfect timing in everything that He dose, but when things go sour it can be so hard to believe that even in these horrible circumstances God's timing is still perfect. i really believe that we have to prepare for the battle. if we do not trust this truth before the storm arises we won't be able to believe it when it does come. this weekend we found out that josh's brother was very sick...no one, not even the doctors knew what was wrong. it was a scary couple of days not knowing what to do. and while we were at the hospital we met a couple who lost their new baby. the daddy had fallen asleep with the baby on his chest and had rolled over in his sleep and smothered the baby. why does God even allow such horrible things to happen we ask?? why would God allow a 20 year old boy to have such a terrible side effects from a medication and allow him to be admitted to a mental hospital when there is nothing wrong with him? why would he allow a father to accidentally hurt his own baby??? these are questions that just baffle our minds. we don't have answers and never will. sunday night we got home from the hospital and josh just opened the Bible and began reading and God gave us Psalm 104. the whole psalm talks about how God takes care and governs His creation. what comfort to rest in that even though we don't understand God is in control. "bless the Lord, o my soul! o Lord my God; you are very great...o Lord, how many are thy works! in wisdom you have made them all...let the glory of the Lord endure forever; let the Lord be glad in His works...i will sing to the Lord as long as i live; i will sing praise to my God while i have my being. let my meditation be pleasing to him; as for me, i will be glad in the Lord." to all of these questions and circumstances the only answer we have is that we have to trust with obedient hearts that God cares for us, His creation. if you get a chance read Psalm 104 and see exactly how God cares for His creation.

this weekend my faith in the truth that God's timing is perfect was strengthened. i believed it before this storm, but it was amazing to see how God let it grow from a fact in my head to a comfort in my heart.

the storm in not quite over, so i look forward to see what else God has to teach me through all of this.

it's not christmas w/o the christmas tree

6 of My Favorite Christmas Tree Memories: (no specific order)

1. The scent...I have NEVER had an artificial tree before!!! It is the scent of Christmas.

2. White lights...sorry to all of you die hard colored light fans, but I'm a white light kinda girl. They are so bright, you don't have to ues the overhead light all season. They remind of what I imagine the angles looking like when they came to see the shepherds. (I don't know they could be "colored" angles and all give off different colored light...guess we'll have to wait and see.) And the pure white light also reminds me of the bright star that lead the wisemen to Jesus.

3. Last year was my favorite time cutting down our tree...first it was Josh and I's first Christmas so that made it special, but it was extra special b/c it was Josh's first time cutting down a Christmas tree (he had always had an artificial tree, NEVER had a real one before last year). As a first timer he had NO IDEA what is involved in seeting up and caring for a live tree. He had about had it when we had to buy 2 different tree stands and when the lights didn't work at first. He also had no clue how BIG the trees are. So he picked out one that looked not too big and deffinitely not too little (in the field). But when we got it home it was WAY TOO BIG!!! We measured it to be 6 - 6.5 feet across the bottom branches. It was so big we had to move the couch out of the house for Christmas. We named her Ulga b/c of her size.

4. Stringing popcorn...as a family we would watch It's A Wonderful Life and string popcorn to put on the tree.

5. The train...my dad spent hours some times setting up the train that goes around the bottom of the Christmas tree. Once it was set up we would see how fast we could get it to go before it would fly off the track.

6. Ornaments...I love pulling out the ornaments and all the memories that come with them. I remember this UGLY gingerbread man ornament I made for my dad and every year I didn't want to put it on the tree, but Mom always managed to get it on there even if it was in the back.

Help me come up with (at least) 4 more of your favorite memories.

Santa comes to Williamston

on saturday some of our favorite girls came to hang out with us. isabella and kate come every couple of months for dinner and we go to the park to play...well the very first time they came we told them as a joke that Santa lives in the cabin at the park, b/c he comes every Christmas. they believed us. so we took them to see Santa on saturday. kate really enjoyed it, but isabella get scared and did not want to visit santa. we enjoyed the lights in the park and watching the girls play. and we loved having thier big sister Rachy come !!




***santa is at the spring water park in williamston every night form 6 - 9 pm for those of you who would like to go.








kate told santa that she wanted a watch for christmas















it was cold... see everyone's pink noses.