The night before...

My last night with my 2 year old...

We made SIXTY cupcakes to share with friends and family tomorrow.  She was so excited and kept standing on her tip-toes to see all the cupcakes.  She said they were so cute, and so shiny. (The foil lining on the inside of the cupcake liners) She is ready to wake up in the morning and be 3.  Where did the time go...

Second Birthday

First Haircut

Her last day being 2

Success!

I tried out the recipe, and it does taste like chocolate cake!

This was the trial run, so I didn't do anything but frost it.

I'm sure the kids will be excited to have cake so many times this week.

Who doesn't love cake?

By the way! Just throwing it out there; Duncan Hines Creamy Home-Style frosting in chocolate, classic vanilla and french vanilla are all vegan.

I can't believe my baby is turning 3.

Bittersweet.

Just Born

Halfway through the year

Her 1st Birthday

My lil' Rockstar

Enjoying her southern roots

Her first food

My silly little girl

What's special about today?

My niece! That's what.

My niece was born today!  A healthy, beautiful baby girl.

I'm so happy for my big brother and his wife.

xoxoxo

I love her already.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Flowers they'll be receiving in the morning:

How cute are they?

On the same token, my daughter turns 3 on Wednesday.

I'm doing a run through of a chocolate cake tonight. (Her request)

It's in the oven as I type this, which is why I'm typing... because I'm waiting.

I don't know how it will turn out, but I can tell you the batter was GREAT.

Yeah... I'm one of those people.

I like cookie dough, and cake batter, etc.

The recipe is simple enough, so I thought I would share it with you guys.

Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake
Ingredients (use vegan versions):

    3 cups flour
    2 cups sugar
    6 tablespoons cocoa
    2 teaspoons baking soda
    1 teaspoon salt
    2 cups water
    3/4 cup vegetable oil
    2 tablespoons vinegar
    2 teaspoons vanilla
Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients first.  Once the mixture is even, mix in wet ingredients.  Continue mixing until you obtain an even batter (no lumps).  Pour into a cake pan and bake for approximately 40 minutes.

Lunch and dinner...

For lunch we had tofu dogs with ketchup and mustard,

the kids had vegetable chips with theirs. 

I had leftover asparagus, mushroom and onion from the grill yesterday.

For dinner we tried out, Best Pizza Dough Ever Recipe, and it was SO good!

We topped it with olive oil, sauteed mushrooms and onions,

tomato slices, basil, salt and pepper.

Just me

Just me... before I left to go to my twincesses  birthday party.

Happy Birthday

!Mya & Ava!

Auntie loves you!

xoxoxoxox

"There is nothing you can see that is not a flower." - Matsuo Basho

The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. 

They were not made for humans any more than 

blacks were made for whites, or women for men.

Mahatma Gandhi

I do not regard flesh-food as necessary for us at any 

stage and under any clime in which it is possible 

for human beings ordinarily to live, I hold 

flesh-food to be unsuited to our species.

Leonardo Da Vinci

There slowly grew up in me an unshakable

 conviction that we have no right to inflict 

suffering and death on another living 

creature, unless there is some unavoidable necessity for it.

Benjamin Spock

"My refusing to eat meat occasioned inconveniency, 

and I have been frequently chided for my 

singularity. But my light repast allows for greater 

progress, for greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension.

Sir Thomas More

The utopians feel that slaughtering our fellow 

creatures gradually destroys the sense of compassion, 

which is the finest sentiment of which our human nature is capable.

John Robbins

It is increasingly obvious that environmentally sustainable 

solutions to world hunger can only emerge as people 

eat more plant foods and fewer animal products. To me 

it is deeply moving that the same food choices that give 

us the best chance to eliminate world hunger are also 

those that take the least toll on the environment, contribute 

the most to our long-term health, are the safest, and 

are also, far and away, the most compassionate towards our fellow creatures.

Michael Klaper, M.D.

People are the only animals that drink the milk of the 

mother of another species. All other animals stop drinking 

milk altogether after weaning. It is unnatural for a dog to 

nurse from a mother giraffe; it is just as unnatural for 

a human being to drink the milk of a cow.

First it was necessary to civilize 

man in relation to man.

Now it is necessary to civilize man 

in relation to nature and the animals.

Victor Hugo

In fact, if one person is unkind to an animal 

it is considered to be cruelty, but where a lot 

of people are unkind to animals, especially in 

the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned 

and, once large sums of money are at stake, 

will be defended to the last by otherwise intelligent people.

Ruth Harrison

Poor animals! How jealously they guard their 

pathetic bodies . . . that which to us is merely 

an evening's meal, but to them is life itself.

T. Casey Brennan

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,

 committed, citizens can change the world. 

Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

To forgive and accept injustice is cowardice.

Gandhi

Life is life--whether in a cat, or dog or man. 

There is no difference there between a 

cat or a man. The idea of difference is a 

human conception for man's own advantage.

Sri Aurobindo

Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty.

Stanislaw Lec

A man can live and be healthy without killing

 animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat,

 he participates in taking animal life merely

 for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral.

Leo Tolstoy

Flesh eating is unprovoked murder.

Ben Franklin