Getting Ready for a Birthday! A Little Reading

1. This gift wrap is easy and fun to make and attractive to use. Lowe's sells very long rolls of this paper for under $5 in the isle where they sell drop cloths for painters. It comes in brown and green. Anything can be stamped or painted on it, but I like to use leaves with white or gold paint. Kids also love this project. Younger children can make hand prints to create adorable gift wrap. My other favorite thing about this paper (besides it natural look) is how light and crisp it is; I like the sound of it.

2. With my new-found frosting recipe, (over here) I was able to bake a pretty birthday cake that looked half-way decent. It's vanilla cake with Saunder's Brothers strawberry preserves in the center and vanilla frosting. I found these fun candles at Walmart.
3. We're reading The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson for our Small Group study. I had never read it before! Interesting fact: Stevenson intended Jekyll to be pronounced JEEK-uhl, as common in the author's Scottish dialect. Stevenson himself could not convince readers to pronounce it thus and to this day we use the short 'e' pronunciation.