Making Memories

The highlights of my weeks are the special times that I am able to spend with my three children.  I absolutely love early mornings when my two girls crawl into bed with me and cuddle until we absolutely have to get up and start our days.  Listening to their excitement and anticipation over the activities of that day or the coming activities of the week gives me such contentment.

This week one of my favorite times was making strawberry cupcakes with them on Sunday.  This one was a box cake instead of homemade, but we were all excited because we were able to make them with our new silicone baking cupcake forms from Bella Rona ( #BellaRona ).  Bella Rona had sent them to us free of charge to test and review.

We couldn't get the plunger to work properly to insert the batter into the molds, but we loved the colorful molds.  The girls took turns adding ingredients and stirring the batter.  They put the molds into our cupcake tin to make it easy to place and remove them from the oven.  I filled the molds and placed them in the oven.  They love that the molds came out of the oven cool which helped the cupcakes to cool quickly.  We were able to remove them easily from the molds - no sticking.  In no time at all, we could frost our sweet treats and enjoy them.  Yum!  The molds were also extremely easy to clean with soapy water and a dish cloth.  They are ready for the next use; no more buying the paper ones to which the cupcakes tend to stick!

Monday, we changed our way of thinking and decided to go enjoy a crisp fall day outdoors together!  We packed a lunch and headed off to Gring's Mill in Wyomissing, PA.  The temperature was around 60 degrees when we got there and not a cloud in the blue sky.  The leaves on the trees were changing and all around us were so many colors.  The leaves danced in greens, yellows, oranges, reds, and browns.  The flowers nodded in blues, pinks, purples, yellows, and whites.  The sound of my children's laughter was especially delightful.  Seeing their enthusiasm at the site of squirrels, chipmunks, frogs, turtles, and even a distant snake gave me the sense that this adventure had been the right choice for our day.  We were determined to make it to the end of the trail, six miles round trip.  By the end of our journey, we were contently worn out!  After a brief rest, dinner, and clean up, we spent the rest of the evening cuddled up on the sofa reading and watching a movie together.

We look forward to our next adventure... pumpkin carving in the next week.  Stay tuned!