Russell Family Blessings

Several people have asked for the recipe for the cake I made for Wayne's birthday. It's not the easiest thing, but it is definitely worth the effort! Happy Cooking! Perfect Chocolate Cake From Southern Living Ingredients: · 1 Cup Cocoa · 2 Cups Boiling Water · 1 Cup Butter or Margarine, Softened · 2 ½ Cups Sugar · 4 Large Eggs · 2 ¾ Cups All-Purpose Flour · 2 tsp. Baking Soda · ½ tsp. Baking Powder · ½ tsp. Salt · 1 ½ tsp. Vanilla Extract · Whipped Cream Filling · Perfect Chocolate Cake Frosting COMBINE cocoa and boiling water, stirring until smooth; set aside. BEAT butter at medium speed with an electric mixer about 2 minutes or until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating 5 to 7 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until yellow disappears. COMBINE flour and next 3 ingredients in a medium bowl; add to butter mixture alternately with cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Do not ...

We had a great day at home today. I was able to convince Wayne that he needed a little R&R, so he stayed home, too. The fact that it was his birthday helped. Wayne and the boys spent the majority of the morning "sighting in" Eli's rifle. I have some cute video clips, but I'm too technically challenged to figure out how to post them! Pictures will have to do. Today, I did some of what I enjoy (spending time with my family, sewing and cooking) and some of what I loathe (laundry and cleaning). Receiving instructions from Dad Eli and Max preparing to fire... My Men! Wayne spent the afternoon hunting. When he got home, he found a nice birthday supper of venison, broccoli casserole, sweet potato casserole, corn on the cob, rolls and this cake... From Southern Living: "The Perfect Chocolate Cake" (If you want the recipe, I'll share!) Saturday, I enjoyed a day of sewing with my friend, Valerie. Our children were absolutely great and we were able to sew a lo...

I'm sure you've guessed from my lack of posts that we've been extremely busy. Between fall festivals, revival services, church, work, trick or treating, birthday parties, etc...we've hardly had time to breathe! I have managed to get some cute pictures of the children that I wanted to share... Oki reading to her baby...teachers, notice her tracking finger! My Papa, Eli and Max after an afternoon of fishing... Oki after church one night...Can you tell she dressed herself? Eli, Max and Oki with Grammie (Wayne's mom) on her birthday... Look at my handsome young man! Our church had a pumpkin patch...these are pictures I took there... For Halloween, we went to Andalusia and visited the Square with my sister and her son, Trevor...he's the storm trooper in the picture...In case you can't tell :-), Eli is the pirate and Max is the Hulk... Oki loved being a cat. She's still talking about her "cat face"... We attended a birthday party for Oki's frien...

It's hard to believe, but our sweet "baby Max James" is seven years old today! I can hardly believe it! For his birthaday, he asked to go camping instead of having a party. To that end, Wayne (along with some reinforcement from a friend) took Max and two of his friends camping at the hunding club Friday night. At the hunting club they walked around in the woods, found a place for a tree stand and rode the golf cart. Wayne took them to a food plot before dark and let them sneak up to look for deer. Too bad they didn't see any! Finally, they grilled hamburgers for supper before turning in. Camping Boys: Drew, Clay and Max Notice Max's binoculars...a present from Grandpop and MeMe After church we went to Grammie's for lunch and birthday cake. Overall, I think Max had a great day...It's still hard to believe...