Slices of Life

Ian always requests some combination of peanut butter/chocolate for his birthday cake and this year he added that he wanted some Heath in there too. We settled on a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and I added a layer of Heath bits in between the layers as well on top of the cake then finished the decorations off with some Reese's minis.    It was a huge hit!  I used my standard/favorite chocolate cake recipe:   For the Cake: 2 cups flour 2 cups sugar 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt 3 large eggs 1 cup buttermilk (We used 1 cup of milk with 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar mixed together) 1 cup warm water 1/3 cup vegetable oil 2 tsp. vanilla extract.   For the Frosting: 2 sticks butter, at room temperature 1 cup  creamy conventional peanut butter  (all natural peanut butter gives it a weird texture and taste) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 Tablespoons milk (whatever kind you prefer...

 We had a really lovely April and the month just flew by so quickly. Our weather is still all over the place but I still get out and enjoy the sunshine whenever I can.   1.  So thankful I finished my latest painting and it turned out so well.  Hiking with Evan, lots of blog work, Ian started our latest patio project and I finished my latest painting. 10,284 steps.  I changed after hiking Ian started the patio for our generator 2.  So thankful for a hot shower after working outside.  Gym, school with Evan, haircut, then Evan, Ian, and I spent the afternoon working on the patio; it was freezing after being in the 70's yesterday it didn't even reach 40 today! 5,833 steps. I never even changed out of my gym clothes  3. So thankful the backache I went to bed with lessened a lot by morning.  Gym, laundry made granola, granola bars, a large salad, then spent my afternoon reading, blogging, and ended my night at the grocery store. 10,025 steps. ...