...late night baking...

...there was some late night baking in preparation for Scout's big day...

...he requested a Devil's Food 3 layer cake...he usually does...they're just better than 2 layer ones you know...

...I also made 15 cupcakes...by 'stealing' one cupcake from each of the three pans...plus the 12 that the recipe made...

...just iced them with plain white buttercream and dipped them into the Wilton gold sugar...

...and topped them each with a little gold flag...

...the cake was very very crumbly and moist...also delicious...just Duncan Hines cake mixes (surprisingly, a lot of them are vegan)...with my flax seed goo and EnerG egg replacer...

...but I managed to get a crumb coat on...

...you can see that it really is a crumb coat...with lots of crumbs mixed in the icing...haha!

...then after I added the final coat of icing...I wanted just a ring of the gold around the top...so I put a small plate on top of the cake to make a perfect circle...it worked perfectly...but then I had to touch up the icing on top as some of it stuck to the bottom of the plate andlifted off with the plate...so next time I'll probably cut a little circle of waxed paper or parchment and see how that works...

~Have a lovely day!

...the Golden Birthday...part 1...

...first, Scout's Godparents gave him an awesome pool party... ...it was perfect... ...and lots of fun was had by all!

~Have a lovely day!

...a Golden Birthday...

...have you ever heard of a Golden Birthday?...A "golden birthday" is the birthday where your age is the same as the date of the month of your birthday...

...until we moved to North Dakota we had not either...

...but we thought it was a neat custom...both the Man's and mine having passed years ago...as adults...unnoticed...

...but Scout's was an upcoming event...until this year...

...the invitations were rather late because of the family vacation...they were fun to make...I started to go with the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket...but didn't really want that as the theme for the party...

...there'll be lots more pictures after the party...

~Have a lovely weekend!

...family vacay...day 5...

...all too soon it was time to go home...(and by home I mean back to West Virginia)... ...another day of driving through the mountains... ...I love the 'smoky' mountains... ...you could barely see the sign as we crossed the Tennessee state line...I think we were in a rain cloud not just fog... ...still raining as Virginia welcomed us... ...and then through the big tunnel... ...and home to West Virginia...

~Have a lovely day!

...family vacay...day four...

...Mom and I spent an entire day going through old pictures... ...it was a lot of fun...and we compiled a lot of the ones that 'featured' me from my childhood...

...then we printed them and trimmed them and put them into a pretty album...

...it took us all day...Mom has a lot of pictures...

...I love my new album...

...it's so much fun looking at the old pictures and remembering...

~Have a lovely day...

...family vacay...day three (cont.)...the White Squirrel...

...I don't often post twice in one day...but I wanted you to see a white squirrel... ...in and around Brevard, N.C. there are white squirrels...we see them often...they originated from a carnival truck and are not albinos... ...and now one of the cute furry little guys lives at my in-law's house...

~Have a lovely day!

...family vacay...day three...

...this was the day that we visited our grandmas...the Man and I are both lucky enough to still have 97 year old grandmas...

...my grandma recently moved to an assisted living facility...she seems quite happy and well adjusted there...

...they have lots of activities to choose from every day...the day of our visit Grandma went on a picnic lunch trip to a local park...then in the afternoon there was a boat ride on the lake... ...she calls her room there a 'dorm room' and has decorated it with pictures...this one was of me...my Mom and Grandma when we were all at university together at the same time...the school paper did an article about us... ...and this funny one that I'd never seen before of Grandma and Granddaddy (who was a Golden Gloves boxer)...cute eh?... ...and this one of all her children...my Mom the only girl in the middle of my uncles...

~Have a lovely day!

...family vacay...day two...

...we were up early the next day for a trip to the forest...and Pink Beds... ...there was another family picnic... ...then we headed up the trail... ...the blackberries were blooming... ...we crossed a little creek...and Scout said that it reminded him of the creek that we crossed and recrossed several times in the Grand Canyon... ...and some pictures of why Pink Beds is called Pink... ...the mountain laurel blooms this time of year... ...we're still a little bit early for the full effect... ...the largest trillium I've ever seen... ...more pretty mountain laurel... ...a lot of the locals call mountain laurel 'Ivy'... ...and some pretty blue eyed grass... ...it's in the lily family...so pretty... ...and a tulip poplar...

...We had a lovely day and I hope you do too!

...family vacay...day one...

...day one of our trip to North Carolina consisted mostly of packing and driving... ...we took a slightly different route...off the interstate for the most part...and the mountain views were lovely...the weather was nice too... ...just a really interestingly shaped man-made mountain of rock...they were cutting through a mountain for a new highway and left this pyramid of rock in between... ...then after only about 5 hours of driving we were in North Carolina... ...time for a family picnic... ...and meeting the grand nephew for the first time... ...and then sitting around the fire visiting...just perfect...

~Have a lovely day!

...antiquing...

...we spent the day here...antiquing...we went to three different shops...

...we had a lot of fun looking at all the old 'stuff'...and I actually bought something at each shop...

...there were lots of super nice things...but I was only looking for 'useful' things... ...and the first useful thing I found was this jar funnel...it'll be perfect for canning of course...but also because I like to store our leftovers in Mason Jars and it'll make filling them a lot easier... ...next...I was looking for an under the cabinet paper towel holder like the one we had in North Dakota... ...I didn't exactly find that...but I like this heavy old fashioned holder as well... ...and then the last thing I bought...I can't show you just yet...(it's a pressie for someone)...I'll be sure to show you when it's gifted though...

~Have a lovely day!