The calm after the storm...

We have had a wonderfully eventful first few days of summer. Kids, tons of kids. Everywhere. :) And the start of summer birthday craziness... (there are 12 birthdays between June 1st and August 1st.)

This is my little friend Maia. She just turned 11 and as you can see, she got a baby kitty for her birthday. She is a wonderful kitty mama and this sweet kitty will be blessed to have her.

Here is her beautiful mama with the most stunning birthday cake ever! Now I don't know if I have ever brought this up on this blog, but I am not a fan of cake. This cake though, is light, yet feels like real food... not just white flour and sugar... I have gotten the recipe and will share it with you at the bottom of this post. It is truly wonderful and you will be STUNNED to know what is in it!

After cake, everyone went down to the river for a fun time in the water... and boy, was it a stunning day for it! It wasn't as hot as the first day of summer though, so as the sun started to set, the wind picked up and it got pretty cold pretty fast, but the beach time was fun while it lasted.

This is Cyan's beach fairy house. It was a beautiful day!

Chocolate Cake

Butter and flour a 9X13" pan and preheat the oven to 350*

3 cups cooked blended beets (cooled)

6 oz unsweetened chocolate (or cocoa powder)

6 eggs

2 1/4 cups sucanat

1 1/4 c grapeseed oil (I used peanut oil and it worked)

2 tsp vanilla

One at a time add the above together and beat in a large bowl.

Add together in another bowl:

3 1/2 cups spelt flour (all purpose works as well)

3 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt mix into wet mixture (hence LARGE bowl) just until blended.

Bake for 35 minutes and set on a rack to cool.

Isn't that an amazing recipe? Even if you don't like cake, you have to try this one. It is truly amazingly good.

For the last two days, we have been homebodies. I have trimmed all the bushes in the yard, cleaned out all the weeds out of the garden beds and started to get ready to mulch the raised beds. We are airating our grassy areas, and then putting down peat so our grass perks up and starting to get ready for my older kids birthdays (both the second week in July) and the party that always comes with that. For the most part, we have been calm. Just hanging out, and puttering around the house... After the last two weeks of travel, fun, and parties, we have needed that home time to come back to balance. My yard looks great and it feels good to catch up and just be able to relax a bit.

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