This is my all time dessert. Ever. For as long as I can remember this was always my choice for my Birthday dessert.

I'm not sure where my Nana found this recipe, but it quickly became the family fave. After she passed away, my Aunts would take turns making the cake for different family birthdays (and though they make the cake very yummy, it's never quite the same as having Nana make it)

But since she passed away (7 years ago last January), our family get-togethers, have gotten fewer and far between. We're all older, my younger cousins all have jobs etc now, so timing is never quite right. This is sad for many reasons.

One of them being less A-O chocolate cake.

But because Nick loves this chocolate cake so much loves me more than anything, he got the recipe from my Aunt Wendy. And he makes it for me once in a while. I don't bake, because, well I burn toast, and can't boil water to save my life.

So, lets get to the cake!

First off, you need a box of Devils Food cake and one package of instant pudding.



You also need eggs, sour cream, chocolate chips, oil and water. But I didn't take pics of those.



Mix




Poor into a greased bundt pan



Let your 17 month old daughter clean the spatula


Bake at 350 for an hour, and then voila!



Let cool, then slice...




Top with strawberries and whip cream. But if you don't let it cool, it melts like you see here (which isn't pretty but yummy anyways).



Nick was in a hurry to eat it.


Make sure to check out all the other yummy recipes at i heart faces



~ Nicole

Yesterday was a pretty busy crazy day. Tanya and I had a photo shoot in the morning, so I had to had to get all the kids up and fed before I left. You know, because men are useless (she says with a smirk knowing Nick will read this eventually).

After the photo shoot I had a lot of small errands I had to do, so took Mimi with me, so Mady and Abby could go to the park. Totally forgetting that I had to meet up with the Easter Bunny for last minute Easter presents, so that obviously couldn't be done with Mimi in Tow.

We then packed our bags to head to Nana & Papa's for the night.

On the way down to Bradford, we stopped at some random park on the 10th line in Innisfil, and played for a bit. It was so nice out, we needed to let the kids run (and hopefully they'd get tired).

I had visions of all the amazing group pictures I could get. I'm not sure which world I live in, but I'm pretty sure the sky is purple there. Why would I think I could get a picture of all 4 looking and smiling at the same time?

This is what I got...



So I gave up on my dream of a decent picture of the 4 of them. I let them go play with their bubbles...





Nick helped Nevaeh go down the slide.





As you can see from her face, she loved it.

Abby made a friend while on the swings. That kid can make friends anywhere.

Tried to get a pic of Nick with the girls, and wished I had a Tripod with me so I could get a group shot....



And then it was my turn...

f

Yes. We were all having bad hair days.

After the park we went to Nana's had dinner, and got ready for the Easter Bunny. Nevaeh was up late teething, that was fun. It's amazing how quickly you can block the un-fun parts of parenting out of your brain. Like Childbirth, and the terrible twos. And teething. God she screamed.

Anyways, this morning the kids woke up to mega chocolate from the Easter Bunny. I didn't take pictures, I just let them have fun, and followed them around.

But I did take an early morning (and I mean EARLY) pic of Abby blowing bubbles on the porch. I love light behind her hair.

Yesterday, we got together with my Mom's side of the family for Easter Dinner. Since it was GORGEOUS outside, we thankfully got to sit on the patio all afternoon. It felt like summer. It was so nice.

Of course, a long standing tradition in our family is that the 'grown-ups' get to have the patio chairs, kids don't. They sit on whatever is handy or go somewhere else. But when my mom told my cousins to get up, because Nick and I needed seats, I felt OLD. I can remember so badly wanting to be a grown up, and now ...well, lets just say some days I'd rather be 17 again.

Michelle didn't get up when my mom asked though, so Nick just took his seat by force...



Poor Michelle. Nicks not a lightweight.

Then I just took some random photos...









Speaking of feeling old. I can't believe these two are legal age to drink. It's freaking me out a bit.

Sarah got the girls some Easter Presents, and Mimi wasn't quite sure about the Pop Rocks...







Until Aunty Wendy showed her how to do it:)



Nevaeh spent the afternoon rolling in the grass. Weird kid.

All in all it was a good day, good dinner and good company. We don't get together as often as we should, so it was fun:)

And he's another peek at Michelle's Senior pics..

Today, at our Easter Dinner, I snuck my cousin out and did her senior pics. I'll post more of them later, as well as some from our family dinner, but here is a peek.

I'm so excited I've been able to do 2 Fix it Friday's in a row!! Oh the simple things that make me happy:)

Before:



This weeks was tricky. It's SUCH a cute picture, but I was almost afraid to touch it. I also sometimes struggle with skin tones, and was worried of making this one too yellow.

I wanted to give this photo a little more 'umph' but didn't want to over saturate/contrast it, to the point where her hair looks red either.

So here is my basic fix from Camera Raw plus a little PS work:


I can still see a lot of blue in the white of the blanket. This bothered me. Plus I wanted it to pop a bit more.

Tanya and I were talking about the quick cure for colour correction the other day. Black and White. Which of course we don't treat every picture, but in a bind, and when short for time, black and white it (I can already tell I'm going to get flack for this comment).



..and because this picture is so darn cute I did a couple fun edits...


My funky De-Sat edit

and...

who doesn't like a good LOTR action?



Go check out the other great fixes at i heart faces...