Red Velvet Cake. . .

Mark loves Red Velvet Cake. So I decided to make one for his Birthday. The kids insisted on helping. I agreed reluctantly. They did pretty good except Thomas was yelling at Jack about the amount of flour he was putting in the cup. Jack was measuring the flour into a Pampered Chef measuring cup and he had not reached the amount we needed but Thomas felt we had enough. I think this was the first time they both wanted to help fix something. It was a definite learning experience for us all.

The cake, on the other hand, turned out fabulous. I had never made one before. I guess I had it in my head it would be difficult but it was not at all. Unless, you add in the fact I had four extra hands all wanting to add something at the same time. Beth and Jenn I give you kudos to letting your kids help you in the kitchen it is not as easy as it sounds.
Thomas calls this cake the "Red Delicious" cake.

I found the recipe on www.allrecipes.com they have great recipes and usually have several of the same thing. I looked through at least 4 different Red Velvet Cake recipes. I would make this one again. I used a cream cheese and butter frosting recipe that came with the cake.

Halloween? ? ?

Well, my kids start talking about Halloween and what they want to be as soon as they start school. I think they both have changed their little minds 100 times each. We have gone from skeleton baseball player to clone trooper. So I really do not know what they are going to be. The times as they are I wish they would let me do something without buying a costume.

I remember my Mom always made our outfits out of something she had on hand. I was always pretty proud of what we came up with. I think my mom only bought me an outfit one time and it was one of those cheesy paper suits and a plastic mask. I was a robot monster.

When my sister and brother were little my Dad was City Manger. They used the old jail outfits as softball uniforms so he brought two of those home and my brother and sister went as prisoners one year. You know the black and white striped outfits. Mom has pictures of them. I went as a witch several years, I think all little girls go as witches at least once. I also did the gypsy thing too.

Mark and I both love Halloween, we are still kids at heart. We dressed up our first year we were dating and just walked through his neighborhood. He was Gene Simmons of Kiss ( with all the makeup) and I was Igore (with the hump on the back) I have pictures too. I think it was love at first sight. HA HA!! To crazies.

I guess it is only natural that out kids love it too and get so excited about getting to dress up.

Happy Halloween to all!!!!!! See last Halloweens outfits below.

The Rock- A- Thon

The kids participated in a fundraiser at Church on Friday night. We had a Rock-A-Thon. The kids rocked in rocking chairs all night. HA HA!! Mine did not stay all night but they did stay part of the night Friday. We are raising money for an Orphanage that we sponsor in Kenya. One of our young adults has been living there to help with the children for several years. The kids wrote letters to the children in Kenya and they were so cute. Most of these children's parents have died and they do not have anyone to take care of them. They recently got a newborn that the mother had died in childbirth and the grandmother was 80 and could not care for the baby. It is really sad that they do not have the medical standards and care that we do.

The kids got to see video of the children in Kenya they all had smiles and seemed so happy. I want to believe that my children did learn something from this experience. The mother of the young man that is running the orphanage came and talked with the children and was trying to explain how things were over there. She has visited him a few times. This young man is very special. He went to Kenya when he was only 19 yrs old. He has been in charge of the orphanage since then.

I don't know about y'all but at 19 the only thing I cared about was what boy I was going out with next and what outfit I might wear.

I hope that seeing the video and hearing the stories of those kids touches something in my kids. I want them to realize that the end of the world does not come when they don't get their way.

The Purple Fish. . .

Well, Thomas got a purple fish today. This is not a good fish. Pink is next and that is when I would get a phone call. Thomas was very upset. He cried and apologized for at least 20 minutes after he got home. There must be something in the water today because enrichment was terrible today. None of the kids would pay attention and they were sooo loud. Usually I will have maybe one or two classes with one or two kids that are disruptive but today they were all disruptive. I lost complete control in one class and finally had to get them to walk around the gym because they would not listen to anything I said. I hate days like this. I guess it is just par for the course for Thomas to have gotten a purple fish.

Thomas lost his TV privileges today because of his behavior at school. It was really not as bad as some I have seen for myself. But, the teacher has her expectations and he did not meet them today. Thomas is very upset he does not get to watch TV and is waiting for his Daddy to come home to see what he has to say on the matter. I have already spoken with Mark to give him a heads up. He also agrees with no TV.

I always back up my kids teachers even if sometimes I don't exactly agree. That is their only hope for survival. (teachers) I never let my kids know that I do not agree with what the teacher said. I know there are some parents that don't back up the teachers and I can only say you are not doing your kid any favors by allowing them to misbehave in school. You are only prolonging the suffering of everyone. I have seen it first hand this year with enrichment. One child can ruin everything for the rest of the class.

To all of the teachers I salute you. You have the hardest job. Your pay is no where near comparable to the work and the mess you must tolerate.

Love, Prayers, and hugs to all the teachers; past, present, and future.

Help Whip Cancer . . .

I know 2 posts in one day. WOW!! As you may or may not know I am a Pampered Chef Consultant and October has been named Cancer awareness month. Sooooooo. . . .

To all you wonderful ladies that read my blog or even if you just stumbled on it today. Be sure you get your regular check ups and mammograms. Also be sure to do your self exams too. We know our bodies better than our doctors and we owe it to ourselves to be persistent.

I have lost one maternal Aunt to breast cancer and have one cousin that has had a mastectomy. We have all been touched by cancer one way or the other. It is our job to look out for each other.

The Pampered Chef is doing a special Help Whip Cancer in October. We are offering our special pink products through each consultants personal website. I cannot give out my website address here due to Pampered Chef policy but, if you would email me I would be glad to give it to you so that you could place an order. I am also doing a Fundraiser for the Help Whip Cancer Campaign so if you would like any of our other products I can get those for you too. One $ is given back to the American Cancer Society for each pink product you buy and 25% of what I sale in my fundraiser will go back to them as well.

Please email me pamperedpage@bellsouth.net
products are directly shipped to you.

Christmas Wish lists. . .

Yes, I know it is only October but for some reason my children are already making their lists. Once Thomas gets home from school and does his homework he watches TV. Every time a commercial comes on he runs up the stairs to tell me to add whatever he has seen to his list. The other day I was a little surprised when he came upstairs and said, "Mommy I want and easy bake microwave, you the thing that I can make cupcakes with." I said yes, I know what they are I used to have one when I was little. He then says, "You did?" With great excitement. Did you make cupcakes with yours Mommy? He asked. I said yes, and cakes. Well, I only want to do cupcakes he replied. Then he says, "I know it is a girl toy but I still want it." I told him that was ok. That some of the great chefs are men.

Now Jack on the other hand is going to be more difficult this year. Thomas is at the age he wants everything he sees on TV. Jack is a little more discerning about what he wants. He said he would like a new bike. He does need a new one he has had this one for almost 4 years and he is almost to big for it. That is all he has said so far.

We try to match dollar for dollar what the kids get for Christmas. I don't want one to think he got more than the other one did. So with Jack possibly getting a new bike I do not know what to get Thomas. I think Thomas could use Jacks' old bike. There is nothing wrong with it, it is actually in really good shape. I am not ashamed to say my kids do get hand-me-downs.

Conversations with the kids. . .

The other night I was racing around trying to get dinner on the table and the kids are milling about in the kitchen. Thomas begins with; "Mommy when I have kids I am not changing any diapers." Somewhat stunned as to where this came from I said, "Oh yeah, who is going to change them for you?" He did not even turn around and said, "Jack will do it for me." I just about fell out. I turned around and said, "What? You think your brother is going to come over and change your child's diaper?" Jack just busted out laughing but he never really said anything about it.

Several days later we were eating at a local restaurant and this conversation came up again. Thomas then said he was going to live in Hawaii. I asked him if I could come and live with him and he said yeah. At least he has aspirations to go and do something. I did not ask him what he was going to be doing for a living. I guess that will be another blog. Jack popped up and said he was going to live in the Bahamas. I laughed, I do not know where they get all this from. I asked Thomas if Jack was in the Bahamas how would he change your kids diapers? He said he did not know but he was not going to change them.

Just a note: Mark did change diapers. He also helped feed and all those other nasty things we have to do for our kids when they are so little.

Telling Stories. . .

OK, I may have a problem. While I was at school on Wednesday I just happened to mention, the falling asleep in the cafeteria incident, to the assistant in Thomas class. She laughed and said they did not have a sub on Monday nor did Thomas get left in the cafeteria. So I am relieved that my child was not forgotten but now I have a bigger problem. My child likes to stretch the truth. Ok, I will just say it, he lied. I asked Thomas about this that night. He got a sheepish grin on his face and gave in and said no he was not left in the cafeteria. When I asked him why he lied he of course could not tell me. The teacher laughed and said he had a vivid imagination. I thought ok she is being really nice about all this. I told her to remember this if he came to school and told some outlandish story of something at home. She laughed, almost like he had already told her something. Wonder what he said?

Jack, on the other hand, cannot lie. He his honest to a fault. If you ask him something he will not tell a story he will tell you the truth even if it means he gets in trouble. Now how is it I got two ends of the spectrum in one house. We have raised them the same way. Yet one will lie to save his own fanny and the other will tell the truth even if it means his fanny. Marks' mom told me that his Dad could weave a tale like nobodies business. She said he told her this long grizzly story of a scar on his back and she believed him and come to find out it was not true.

So is it genetics that makes us do the things we do? Do our genes play a role in our personality?

Those are my thought provoking questions of the day.