There are tons of blogs that have documented this cake. You can google rainbow layer cake and find it. I saw it months ago and wanted to make it as part of our April Fool's Day dinner, but I couldn't keep this one hidden from Peyton and Liam. They saw all of the batter sitting on the counter after it was colored and watched the layers cooking in the oven. It was fun to cut the cake and see all of the layers. The only negative thing about this cake was all the frosting. We are a family that really doesn't like frosting. I kept the frosting between the layers really thin, but it was still really sweet. I need to find a homemade frosting that isn't terribly sweet.

Making Marshmallows!

Liam LOVED licking the spatula and was covered in sticky marshmallow goo

Our finished product

They are delicious in hot chocolate!

I received a great holiday issue of Taste of Home magazine about 2 weeks ago and found several recipes that I hope to make, but the one that stood out to me was the marshmallow recipe. I remember watching a Food Network special that featured a family that makes and sells homemade gourmet marshmallows. I wanted to make them and had found recipes online, but never got around to it until this past weekend. It was surprisingly easy. The hardest thing was waiting the 6+ hours for them to set up so that we could decorate them. I have never worked my Kitchenaid mixer so hard either. I had to whip the ingredients for 15 minutes on HIGH!

We decorated them with powdered sugar, colored sugar, cinnamon sugar (notice a theme here?), cocoa powder, sprinkles, nuts, and crushed candy canes. The candy cane ones are my favorite. They give hot chocolate a hint of peppermint and it smells and tastes so good. We have packaged up some of them and have given them away and we still have a bunch left. I think we'll do it again. It was fun and simple and it's cool to know that I can make something at home that tastes better than what we buy in the store. I don't know how long they would last versus store-bought, but so far so good. We'll have to try to roast them and see if they hold up on a skewer!

Yummy apple crisp

I saw this recipe not long ago on Donna Boucher's blog, Quiet Life, and had to give it a try. I love apple pie so much, but this recipe is quick and easy and satisfies my apple pie fix a lot quicker than rolling out dough and baking a pie! This one was made with apples purchased at the local farmer's market.

On a completely different subject, I posted some "rules" in our playroom today. They are all very positive, be kind, talk to each other, share, etc. I went over them with my kids and our neighbor's daughter and told them the rules were to help them enjoy their play time together, so they won't spend it fighting and angry with each other. So far it is working. Every few minutes one of the girls will remind the other of one of the rules! They seem to be getting along very well, which is just a huge blessing!

Experiment

We are going to attempt to make homemade pasta tonight. We'll mix it in the bread machine and then roll it and cut it. I'm excited to see how it compares to the boxed stuff. It's been a LOOOONG day. For some reason I feel more tired than usual. Maybe it's the gloomy dreary weather, but I'm hoping for a good night's sleep tonight so I can wake up refreshed.

Mark and I are driving to Lexington, VA for a funeral tomorrow. Mark's freshman year roommate, Chris Carter, passed away suddenly this week. The sadness for me is that I only recently reconnected with him through Facebook. I had often wondered what had happened to him and was thrilled to catch up online. I have been feeling very sad this week about friendships that I've let fall away and in not doing more to let my friends know they are special. There are all these hundreds of comments on his FB page telling him he's another angel in heaven, that God is laughing with him, etc. As much as I hope Chris is in heaven, I don't know if he was saved. I have been feeling that sorrow for a lot of my friends. Do they really know Jesus? Do they believe that He came to save them from sin? The book we're reading in Sunday school has been really convicting and has made me question my life and they way I'm living. I have never been bold about my faith and maybe I need to be. Maybe I need to not fear rejection or fear that God will ask me to do something out of my comfort zone. Maybe I need to pray that He'll guide me and be really willing to follow, even if it makes me uncomfortable.