Bailey's Bundt Cake

The luck of the Irish is on you because I am about to share a really, really good bundt cake recipe with you. It is everything a bundt cake should be; pretty, moist, tasty, and has wide-range appeal. Take it to a St. Patrick's Day celebration next year, but in the next 363 days, PRACTICE!

Bailey's Bundt Cake

1 cup chopped pecans
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over bottom of pan.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Mix in eggs, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur. Beat for 5 minutes at high speed. Pour batter over nuts in pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 60 (55 in my oven) minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto the serving dish. Prick top and sides of cake. Spoon glaze over top and brush onto sides of cake. Allow to absorb glaze repeat until all glaze is used up.

To make the glaze: In a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup Irish cream. If you drink a spoonful every now and then, I won't tell. 

*this cake is better when made a day ahead*

Just wrong

The following series of pictures is wrong on so many levels...

the least of which is that Sam is standing on the arms of my chair, which is against the rules big-time

 it also appears that he running around breaking the house rules half-necked (that's right, necked) and has not only paint on his shirt, but half his lunch as well

Another issue is that instead of scolding him, I grab my camera (I am also slightly distrubed that I didn't take note of his neckedness until after I downloaded the pictures from my camera to the computer. what kind of mother allows her children to be so scantily clad? a potty-training mother of three, that's what kind of mother).

but if loving this little guy is wrong, I don't wanna be right...

Glad I'm Scottish

 It is St. Patrick's day and true to form, the leprechauns made a mess. Their footprint are everywhere (EVERYWHERE), they turned chairs upside down, and colored the toilet water green. It's a good thing they left behind some treats or this Scot would be mighty angry cleaning up after them. 

oh Chris.....you are the winner of an Amy Peter's piece!

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Who do your kids think YOU are?

My Disney preoccupied children compared me to a Disney character today. Tinkerbell? Nope.

Cinderella? I wish. That only happened once and it when I was mopping the floor on my hands and knees.

Belle? Not a chance. They don't even like it if I sing when she does when we watch the DVD.

No, my sweet children compared me to Sid from Toy Story (Toy Story "1" I might add. They are very specific when it comes to Disney facts).  I promise you I am not dismantling their toys during nap time (what nap time?) to earn this comparison. I guess we do share a slight resemblance...

Let's make a date for two years from now.  The menu will consist of popcorn, gummy bears (Haribo only please), and Sour brite crawlers. 

Pssttt....don't forget

Hospital

Our family has lots of firsts: first dog, first house, first baby, first (and last) set of twins, and now our first hospital visit (and hopefully last too). Last wednesday Emma Kate's cough took a turn for the worse and by dark, she was wheezing and her chest was caving in and tugging with every rapid breath. These sort of things seem to happen after our pediatrician's office closes or when Matthew is out for the evening. In this case, both. After speaking with Doc as well as the pediatrician on call, I called Matthew home (he was entertaining a client at a hockey game) and once here, he scooped her up and off they went to the emergency room. I expected a diagnosis of pneumonia or RSV, but wasn't prepared for the word "asthama". The wonderful doctors at the hospital suspect that the respiratory virus that EK had brought on a asthmatic reaction. After many, many breathing treatments (which she handled like a real champ) and several days of steroids, our Emma Kate is back to herself again and feeling great. It was definitely scary for us, but I am thankful that it was only this that we were being seen for. I can only imagine what sad situations parents must face at that very same hospital and am thankful for the health of Emma Kate as well as Caroline and Sam. 

To those of you who emailed us, brought donuts, watched our other kids, brought donuts, prayed with and for us, texted sweet messages, called us, and brought donuts, I owe you a HUGE THANKYOU! I am so grateful that we are surrounded by the kind of people who make a frightening situation easier to go through and who love us so much.