Cupcakes!

Tomorrow night marks the first night of AWANA, the scripture memory program at church.  My friend and I help out with the 5th and 6th grade girls.  It's such a great age to work with.

I worked with this age group last year and had a blast.  The girls are so sweet and just want to have a good time.

So, anyway, there's nothing special about these cupcakes.  They're just funfetti with vanilla and chocolate frosting.  But, my friend and I found some super girly cupcake liners to make things more fun, because girls just wanna have fun!  Ok... I'll stop the cheese.

I think these girls are going to have a sugar high tomorrow night.  There's nothing better than giving kids lots of sugar in the evening and sending them home to their parents. ;)

Strawberry Pancakes

I recently went on a trip and had some delicious strawberry pancakes.  I love pancakes.  But, this took it to a whole new level!

Better yet, they were healthy.  They were so yummy, I had to come home and figure out how to make them.  I looked up a few recipes and made a few modifications.  So, here's what I did.

Strawberry Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
1/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon Splenda
1 large egg
1 1/4 cup milk (I used skim)
1 medium banana, mashed
1 cup strawberries, sliced
1 tablespoon canola oil

Additional sliced strawberries for garnishing

Mash the banana until it is liquefied.  Next, mix in all the wet ingredients.  Once the wet ingredients are well combined, add the dry ingredients.  Finally, add the sliced strawberries.  Cook the pancakes on a griddle or a skillet over medium heat.

This will make 8 - 10 very thick and fluffy pancakes.

I love thick pancakes.  Do you?  Or are you on the other side of the fence and like thin ones?  If you are, I'll work on converting you to the good side.

Charmed

Alright, if you were like a billion other people in the world, you watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics last night.  I was also one of those billion. 

As I watched, I was reminded once again how charming London and the surrounding area truly is.  It brought back a flood of memories of my recent excursion over there.  Caroline and I would like to plan a trip back, if you would like to join us. 

If you have ever had the pleasure of going over there, you may be able to relate to my being charmed.  There is just something so fun about a red telephone booth.  I know these pictures scream, "we are tourists!", but you have to have a picture like this.  Preferably one after you have just gotten off the plane and are very tired and dragging your luggage through Trafalgar Square, but excited to be there.

Maybe it's something about the palaces and castles that are hundreds of years old that you cannot find here in the US.

Or walls and towers that were built as a defense weapon instead of just for looks.

The Queen's soldiers make you feel like your toy box became life size!

The flower shops...

The streets adorned with patriotic bunting...

The window displays at Harrod's...

The mummies... uh, well, maybe not them.

Visiting the place where kings and queens are married, crowned and buried...

Fighting the crowds at the changing of the guard in 200 degree weather... Yes, we had amazing weather while we were there.  Very unusual weather for London.

I don't think I could pick one thing to be my favorite.  It was all so lovely.

And in case Bob Costas does not give you an up close view of those Olympic medals, here they are.  We checked them out while we were there and made sure they were real gold.