I’ve been reading Plain Faith by the Eash family with Tricia Goyer. It’s been one of those books that has been hard to put down.
While reading it, I realized what was really fascinating to me was their daily life. In fact, I enjoy reading about the daily life of other homeschoolers and homemakers across the globe. There is a connection there that is beautiful on so many levels.
I thought perhaps my readers would enjoy a weekly look into our life. Sort of a Day in the Life of…
What do you think? Great! Let’s go…
The photo above is my bed. It has become my Command Central of late. Even though I feel better in the first trimester than I ever have, I’m still not 100% and I have to stay out of the kitchen and rest a lot. I try to make the bed and then use another quilt to cover up with so at least the bed looks somewhat done up. You can see in the photo above, the Legos from the little people who climb in bed with me, and my menu planner so I could add the grocery list into Cozi for Ty to shop on his way home from work.
I don’t particularly like running the house from bed, but you do what you have to do.
As soon as school is over or while I’m napping, my middles like to play together. They are 16 months apart and even though they are a boy and a girl, they still love to play together. They listen to radio dramas, play “house”, build with Legos, and put together plays to perform for the family. Lia is always barefoot it seems and Keian always has holes in his jeans.
My oldest daughter (age 13) has been making a lot of muffins lately. I will send her links from Pinterest to try and she’ll pin them on her boards. This particular day, she popped open the iPad and found an applesauce puffs recipe I had sent her so that we could use up some biscuit mix that had been left here by Ty’s mom (we hardly ever buy biscuit mix anymore and much prefer our own biscuits – Sky High Whole Wheat Biscuits & Elvis Biscuits – but I don’t expect grandparents to make things from scratch for this many people!)
Of course, we had to double the recipe. Very few recipes are something we can eat “as is”; thus the reason I started collecting Large Family Recipes here on the blog. The muffins turned out really tasty and the children were happy to have a sweet treat with lunch that day (which happened to be frozen pizza – eek!)
We had been cleaning much of the day because I actually felt well and knew Ty would appreciate a cleaner house. We also had tons of laundry to get through. We now have 2 washers and 2 dryers – a set upstairs that I use and a set downstairs that the children use. I wash Daddy’s, Mommy’s and the little boys laundry upstairs. The boys wash downstairs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (including any towels we’ve used) and the girls do the same on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Isn’t it funny how laundry changes depending on where you live?
We’re also dealing with a teething baby. At 16 months, Creed only has 4 teeth, but I can see 2 more popping through and the proof is in his biting and gnawing on things more these days. Thankfully, he’s not fussy!
The photo above was taken at a graduation party we attended at Ty’s cousin’s house. One thing Ty’s cousin is known for during holidays and celebrations are her sheet cakes. She doesn’t do fancy cake decorating, just plain and simple sheet cakes that turn out amazing! She inspired me to grab some sheet cake pans of my own and not worry about how fancy a cake is.
A quick word on pans – many sheet cake pans (also called jelly roll pans) are aluminum. I prefer stainless steel. Norpro is a great company to buy from to get stainless steel pans. The one shown above can be purchased here.
All of the following recipes are family recipes from Ty’s side of the family.
Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
(shown above)
4 eggs
2 c. sugar (we use organic cane sugar)
2 c. flour (we use unbleached)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder (we use aluminum free)
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. oil (we use coconut oil)
2. c. pumpkin (use your own or 1 can)
Frosting:
1/2 c. stick butter
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla (you can make your own!)
1 lb powdered sugar
Beat eggs in large bowl. All oil and mix well (if using coconut oil, make sure it isn’t too hot or eggs will cook!). In another bowl, mix together sugar, flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients alternately with pumpkin. Add to the egg and oil mixture and mix well. Pour into jelly roll pan and bake at 350º for 20-30 minutes. Frost when cool.
For frosting, mix together powdered sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and butter until a good spreading consistency. Store cake in refrigerator.
Almond Sheet Cake with Almond Frosting
1 c. butter
1 c. water
2 c. flour (we use unbleached)
2 c. sugar (we use organic can sugar)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. sour cream
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
Frosting:
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. milk
4 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)
In a large saucepan, bring butter and water to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in flour, sugar, eggs, sour cream, almond extract, salt and baking soda until smooth. Pour into a greased jelly roll pan. Bake at 375° for 20-22 minutes or until cake is golden brown. Cool for 20 minutes, then frost.
For frosting, combine butter and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add sugar and almond extract. Mix well. Stir in walnuts, if desired. Spread over warm cake.
Chocolate Cinnamon Sheet Cake
2. flour (we use unbleached)
2 c. sugar (we use organic cane sugar)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
2 c. butter
1/4 c. cocoa
1 c. water
1/2 c. buttermilk (we buy buttermilk powder in bulk from Azure)*
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (make your own!)
*If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own by adding 1 Tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to 1/2 c. milk. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Frosting:
1/2 c. butter
6 Tbsp milk
1/4 c. cocoa
4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. chopped nuts (if desired)
Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a saucepan, melt and bring to a boil the butter, cocoa, and water. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla and mix well. Bake in a greased jelly roll pan at 400° for 20 minutes. Frost while hot.
For frosting, bring to a boil butter, milk, and cocoa. Remove from heat and add in powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add nuts if desired and pour over cake.
Sheila Mom to Seven says
I want to scream, those recipes sound so good! Thanks!
Rebecca says
Thanks for a peek into your day. I agree, it is always nice to see how others do it. I hope you continue to feel better!
Mrs. Cliff says
I always enjoy just the ordinary day to day :). I spent a lot of this year teaching from the couch or bed too … babies are worth it though :). It is amazing how much nicer it is being pregnant when you have older ones that can help hold things together when your not up to it. If it was not for Hannah I think we would have starved the first part of this pregnancy. LOL! Going to be trying these recipes … well, the girls will be. They love to bake and are much better at it than me!
Hope you are feeling better every day.
raisingcropsandbabies says
Loved the peek into your lives! And I think I’m going to try the chocolate cake recipe tomorrow for company. A new recipe with guests is always a no-no, but the recipe looks too good to turn out bad!
Henna-Maria says
Thank you for the recipes! Usually I never click on the posts that have recipes in them…I’m not so interested and I already have several good ol’ recipes I always use. This time I got interested to your sheet cake recipes and made the Chocolate Cinnamon sheet cake as one of the cakes for my husband’s birthday. It is so good! Everyone loved it. I often have one ‘fancy’ cake and couple of more simple looking cakes on the table, and this chocolate sheet cake recipe will definitely stay in our family!
btw. the amount of powdered sugar for the frosting is not complete ( it only says 4.). I only realized it when already baking. I just put in powdered sugar untill it looked ‘right’, but would like to have the amount for reference. Is it 4 cups?
Amy says
Thank you for pointing that out! Yes, 4 cups! (can I pass that oversight off as pregnancy brain? hee hee)
Josi says
I absolutely love it that you have two sets of washers/dryers. What a blessing. I also love it that you mentioned using pans by Norpro. They are a family-owned business that is located right here in the area where I live. How do I know this? I have been friends with the family for over 25 years! I am very close with the daughter who now runs the company. They love and serve Jesus and bless many with their generosity. When you purchase from them you are also investing in God’s Kingdom. They sow into missions and many things the Lord is doing. My friend is always honored to know that someone is enjoying their products. 🙂
P.S. Thanks for the great recipes. I love to make sheet cakes as they are easy and bake up so fast.
Amy says
Wonderful to know! Now I feel even better about buying from them!