Honey Bun Cake

Okay, one more recipe. New things I try to cook don't always turn out, so I get excited when something works. I made this for dessert for our family dinner last night, and there are no leftovers this morning, so it must have been alright. It really was good, and it really did taste like a honey bun.

Honey Bun Cake

1 yellow cake mix
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans (since I was making this for the Bass family, I left this out)
3 tbsp. cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar

Mix cake mix, oil, eggs and milk together and pour into a 9x13" pan. Mix nuts, cinnamon, and brown sugar together and pour over batter and swirl into batter with a knife. Bake 50 minutes at 300 degrees. Remove from oven and pour glaze over cake.

For Glaze combine: 1 cup confectioners sugar, 3 tbsp milk, and 1 tsp vanilla.

Honey Grilled Shrimp

I am no good at cooking seafood, but tonight we made this recipe and it was so good! I was so impressed with myself for finding a seafood recipe that I can make that I really like. It was pretty easy too, except peeling raw shrimp is just gross.

Honey Grilled Shrimp

1 cup Italian salad dressing
1 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 pounds uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

In a small bowl, combine the salad dressing, honey and garlic; set aside 1/2 cup. Pour remaining marinade into a large ziploc bag; add the shrimp. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate reserved marinade for basting.

Coat grill rack with nonstick cooking spray before starting the grill. Drain and discard marinade. Thread shrimp onto eight metal or soaked wooden skewers. Grill, uncovered, over medium heat for 3 minutes, turning once. Baste with reserved marinade. Grill 3-4 minutes longer or until shrimp turn pink, turning and basting frequently. Yield: 8 servings

Today's Art Project

I absolutely love Hannah's creativity. She can make something out of anything. She has been sick yesterday and for most of today (which is why she is still in her nightgown in the late afternoon), but that hasn't stopped her from making a mad toilet paper roll man. She made it so he can move his mouth up and down. We signed her up for an art class through the local arts council this summer. When we were looking through the classes offered, she read the description of one class that was going to be making art out of recyclable trash. That was it! She had found what she wanted. I guess it's nice that she doesn't require expensive paints and brushes.

My new capris

The other night I wanted something really comfortable to put on after my shower, so I grabbed a T-shirt of Nate's and a pair of his basketball shorts. Well, when you almost weigh the same as your husband, his clothes ought to stay on you. I think I need to feed him some ice cream tonight. Anyway, Hannah said, "Wow Mom, I can't believe those clothes fit you. Except the shorts are like capris on you!" And why, Alli, do you think I need a picture taken right now?

Oh yeah!

Does the summer get any better than this? The girls and I spent 5 hours of heaven on the beach today.

Nikki-isms

Japanese beetles, or June bugs, whatever you want to call them, absolutely love the trees in our back yard. Nate sprayed for them last Saturday, and they have been falling out of the trees onto our deck ever since. There are TONS of them. The girls and I were out swimming yesterday, and the Japanese beetles kept flying into the pool. Nikki called them "Japaneetle Beetles." It was so cute I didn't even want to correct her.

And this was said at lunch today, and it proves that Nikki does have some of Nate's blood :) --
Nikki: Hannah, what are you having for lunch today?
Hannah: A peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Nikki: Oh, peanut butter and honey.
Mom: Jelly.
Nikki: A jelly and honey sandwich?

What a dad!

We had a great Father's Day yesterday. I know the girls and I did, and I think Nate did, too, but he wouldn't complain even if he didn't. We gave him cinnamon rolls in bed for breakfast and cooked a pot roast that he requested for supper. When he got home from church the girls had the living room covered with games they had set up. They wanted to have a party for him, and I thought it was cute because they came up with activities that they wanted to play with him, rather than what he would want to do. Actually, I think one of the reasons he is such a great dad is because they really believed he would rather play with them than take a nap. When he is home, he gives them all the time that he can. I love that. One of the speakers in church yesterday talked about how his role as a father has changed over the years as his children have grown, and it made me think about how Nate has changed as a father over the years, too. On Saturday I was in the shower when Nikki tried to yell something to me through the door. I told her I couldn't hear her so she should go ask her dad. She opened the door and yelled, "But he always says NO!" I thought that was so funny. Between the two of us Nate is much more likely to say yes than I am. But he has gotten better at enforcing the limits he sets, and I think they respond to him in better ways because of that. They love being with him, and so do I.

When we first moved to North Carolina two and a half years ago, it felt like Nate was put through a refiner's fire. So much came on his shoulders at one time. After being in his new job for a couple of months he realized that his new bosses were great salesmen but very poor managers, and that left him with lots of new and uncomfortable tasks that he was given little to no direction to complete. It hurt my heart to see him struggling so much and I couldn't do anything for him. But he persevered and was successful through all that he faced, and I think he learned a lot about himself in the process. He came out much more self-assured and confident, and I think it was a time of spiritual strengthening as well. I am so happy for him for all of the growth he has made, and I just hope I can keep up with him.


One of the activities the girls wanted to do for his party was play with the flubber we made the day before. Here are a couple of pictures of that.

Notice Nate's flubber in midair.

Flubber

Sometimes I blog hop over to the Littles' bishop's wife's blog because she is a neat lady even though she may not remember me. A bit ago she posted about the flubber she made with her kids, and we tried it today. It was so fun! Nate and I had a great time playing with it, too. I didn't get any pictures, but here is the recipe. I made 1/4 of it, and it was enough for us to play with. It really is neat stuff.

Flubber
Makes enough for 24 kids

Bowl 1
1 1/2 cups cold water
2 cups glue (Elmer's works just fine)
food coloring

Bowl 2
1 cup hot water (you can microwave it)
2 tsp. borax
Mix until borax is dissolved.

Slowly add glue mixture to the borax mixture. Mix well. Pour off excess water. It can be stored in ziploc bags.

This and that

I painted the baby's room today. It felt good to actually be doing something to prepare for the baby. I decided that I'm not getting any smaller so I better go ahead and get it done while I can still move. Then I took an hour and a half nap on the couch this afternoon. The girls were so nice to me. When they realized that I really couldn't wake up after about 10 minutes, they let me be. I had no idea I was asleep that long, but it felt SOOO good.

Can you get varicose veins on your ankles? I'm afraid that's where I'll get them, at least the spot where my ankles should be. They are nonexistent right now -- carbon copies of Grandma Bass' ankles and feet when she was 80!! I've never had swollen feet before, so it's interesting to me. But then, I surprise myself whenever I look in the mirror, too. Maybe I have more in common with her than I thought. =)

And hooray for 91 degree weather!! I just couldn't believe it last week when we had several days in a row of 100+ degrees. My daffodils didn't survive, but I feel pretty good that those were our only casualties in the yard. It's now perfect beach weather, and we have a day planned for next week to go. I can't wait.

Sometimes I just can't believe how good my girls are to me and how much I enjoy being with them. This afternoon they wanted me to play some ballet and tap music on the piano so they could dance. Of course I could play around on the piano for them! It was so fun to just play anything and they loved it even with wrong notes everywhere. They had fun trying to decide if they should do tap or ballet on each song. It's just fun to be with them, and sometimes it's the simplest activities that are the best.

Nikki's Dance Recital

Nikki's recital was last night, and she was so cute! I could just eat her up. She did a tap number to "Happy Feet," so her class had little penguin costumes. I thought Hannah was a real trooper to sit through the whole thing and not complain about not being a part of it. At the beginning of the year she decided to do piano lessons instead of dance, and I think she has since regretted that. The girls wanted to stay for the whole shebang, so we got home at almost 10 pm. They were so tired during the second half, but there was no way they were going to ask to leave. It was a lot of fun, and at the same time, I'm excited to have them try gymnastics next year and see what that will be like.