Angel Food Cake

My Grandma Summers, the one that just passed away, was legendary for her Angel Food Cakes.

At her funeral many conversations were started around this very topic.

I happen to have her recipe written in her own hand writing and some of the equipment she used.

 My Mom and Dad made a visit to our house in June and one of the missions Mom had was to make Grandma's Angel Food Cake.

The "BIG WHITE CUP" is one of the key pieces of equipment and I happen to have it. It is a regular coffee cup, which measured out is about 1 1/3 cups of liquid. This is how Grandma measured her egg whites. Her recipe card didn't say use 18 eggs it said 1 1/2 BIG WHITE CUP of egg whites. So Mom and I did just this. We cracked and cracked eggs and then cracked a few more until we filled the BIG WHITE CUP 1  1/2 times. Turns out it was about 18 eggs this time around. Then we used my beloved Kitchen Aide mixer and whipped those egg whites. I am sure Grandma would have been disappointed in this, as I am sure she used her hand mixer and her arm got sore holding it... but I am a women in the 21st century and I use my Kitchen Aide (sorry Grandma, hope you'll forgive me!).

My Kitchen Aide works very well for this type of thing and the kids get the pleasure of watching. 

They were having fun.

 You gotta whip those eggs until they are stiff. Mom said this looked about right.

 The next key is to use cake flour and to sift it. Mom thought we didn't need to, but it specifically says on Grandma's recipe card to sift, so we did, and it does make a difference.

This is Grandma's sifter too. 

 By this point we are having a lot of fun.

Ahh, and almost the finished product. 

This too is Grandma's prized Angel Food Cake Pan. 

I wonder how many cakes were baked in this pan? Probably close to 500 or more.

 So we have her BIG WHITE CUP and her sifter and her cake pan.

I bet she was smiling down on us as we worked in the kitchen, 3 generations of families later.

 There it is. Isn't it a beauty?

Dad did the first taste test and confirmed it was a Grandma Summer's recipe cake.

There is something about her cake. It is GOOD!

Hope we made you proud Grandma. We had a fun day remembering you and talking about you.

Jared and Marley = Best Friends

Jared has taken a liking to our furry friend (as long as the gate is between him).

He seems to have found his way over to the railing and then they start to play with each other.
Marley even got Jared's Nuk once... then Jared started crying.

I think this is the start of the "Man's Best Friend" relationship here.

Outside Fun

Seems we can't get enough of outdoor fun this year. 

The weather has been for the most part fairly pleasurable.

Gracie up at bat.... can't forget the sucker in her mouth.

My darling Jared.

Fun at Ramsey Park in Redwood Falls.

Twins Game

Over Memorial Day weekend we ventured to a Twin's Game. 

We did this last year and had a really good time, so off we went this year too.

This time we went with some friends.

Despite a pending thunder storm and a couple of delays due to rain we had a great time this year too.

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 Luckily we were able to find the face painters again. This year it is an ice cream cone for Gracie and a rocket ship for Zach.

The 4 devoted Twin's Fans:  Klaira, Owen, Gracie, and Zach.

Seems we always manage to find a Piggy wherever we go!

Marty and his bud Darian. Me and my bud Laura.

So long Target field... until next year.

Jared- Sitting Up and Playing

Seems like the 9 month mark brings so many changes for Jared.

Here are a few photos of what he has been up to lately.

Playing with toys. Watching his brother and sister in the tub.

He always has a smile for us!

He actually sat up on his knees like the picture below before he started to sit up on his hinder. 

What a silly little guy.

Marley

Here is the latest and greatest of Marley. He is quite the dog and still has so much "puppy" in him.

He is getting better with potty training, but not 100% yet. He loves to carry around our shoes in the yard. He  certainly loves attention!

Gracie and Zach

Since I posted videos of Jared I thought it only was far to show you what these two rugrats are up to lately too.

Riding tricyle, bicycle, and Barbie hotwheels. They ride and ride and ride. We open both garage doors and they go around in the circle, like a million times a night. It is fun to watch. It seems in this video they are taking it easy... they go much faster than this.

Jared Crawling

Here is Mr. Jared with his full creeps and crawling.

He sure can get around and seems to follow us everywhere around the house.

These videos are a few weeks old. He is even faster now. No more creeping, just full force crawling.

Marley's Dog Kennel

Now that we have a our new puppy we felt we needed to create a new home for him, especially since he seems to double in size every month. 

So we went from the picture above and the picture below...

 Marty is quite involved here... checking to make sure everything is even.

.....and wall-a.... a new home for our dear puppy Marley!!  He gets the dog house that Willie never used. We got it for a wedding present, so I am glad to say that after 9 years it now has a dog that enjoys it!.

Jared Creeping and Clapping Hands

I never posted the video of Jared when he was just starting his movements so I thought I better, since it is so cute.  So this is Jared in his creeping stages, which was at about 8 1/2 months old.

Then below is a video of him clapping his hands. This is around 8 1/2 -9 months.