Hendrix Family Christmas

If you can't tell, we for certain got our share of Christmas this year. The Saturday after Christmas, the Hendrix side gets together for a big lunch and to exchange presents. Aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, and most important of all, Granny attends. We have it at my cousin Paigh's house in Trussville. She caters a lunch from a yummy Italian restaurant and we eat, laugh, and exchange presents. It's a fun tradition. Here are some pictures from Hendrix Family Christmas Extravaganza 2007!

The Ennis' visit us in Tuscaloosa for Christmas

Aunt Megan took most of the pictures for us while they were here, and I forgot to download pictures from her camera before she left. She is supposed to be emailing me those pictures, so this is a post-in-progress. I will add pictures as I receive them from her.

An "echo" microphone. He (along with his aunts, might I add) entertained us for hours with this thing.

Ethan and his Aunt Becca.

More Christmas Fun

I'm posting pictures as I get them...these are a few from my mom's on Christmas Day.

Playing with some of the Santa loot!

Getting ready to take a nap.

Christmas dinner: Honeybaked ham, homeade mac and cheese, twice baked potatoes, sauteed green beans with almonds, yeast rolls, and assorted cheesecakes for dessert..nothing good for us, but it sure was good! (Oh, I forgot..there was fruit salad...the ONLY thing good for us).

This is one of my favorites...mom and I laughed until we almost...well...let's just say we laughed, and hard. That is a piece of ham David has used as his tongue.
This is a little rink that mom has that absolutely enthralled Ethan. When you plug it in, the skaters skate around on it. He stood in front of it and played with it for over an hour one time. I need one of those at our house!


Thanks mom, for a nice Christmas!

My talented friends.

I must say that I believe I have the most talented group of friends, ever. I am the recepient of many thoughtful handmade, homeade gifts, and those are just the best. Sara Katherine and Ethan both have tied felt blankets from my friend Rachael, my friend Sara made me Sara Katherine's diaper bag, my friend Laura made me a table runner and cloth napkins a few years back along with handstamped stationary, my friend Kelly Wyatt made me a cart cover that matched the diaper bag Sara made me, my step-sister is always good to get me something with my name or initials on it, my step-mom gave me a recipe box with her favorite HAND-WRITTEN recipes, my friend Mary painted me a huge wall-painting that coordinated with Ethan and Sara Katherine's bedding, then my friend Rachael painted five individual little paintings that coordinated with it as well - and they had no idea one was doing the other! Most recently, I got two very special gifts for Christmas. I am going to start taking pictures and posting pictures of all the homemade gifts, so I figured this was a good place to start.

The first gift I got was one from my friend Hila. Hila and I were assigned to be visiting teaching companions at church. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her, and have looked for excuses to get together with her other than just once a month when we do our visiting teaching. We have great talks and enjoy many of the same things (and foods). She gave me a gift this Christmas that brought tears to my eyes when I opened it. I gave Hila some Andes mints for Christmas (because she LOVES chocolate and mint) and a bottle of bubble bath so she can remember to take time for herself. I opened her gift, and all of a sudden my gift seemed completely inadequate and thoughtless, though I didn't intend it to be. This is what I saw when I opened the box:




Yes, she cross-stiched that, and get this people, she has been working on it for over TEN years, and when she finished, she decided to give it to me. She said she "knew I was the person that was supposed to have this." If you'll look closely, there is a picture of Ethan and Sara Katherine at the bottom right hand corner of the picture. If she would have had enough pictures, she was planning to put pictures of Ethan and Sara Katherine all the way around the mat, and the picture of Jesus with the children in the middle. What a special gift, and how lucky I am to be the one who received it. I will treasure it forever and ever and ever, as I will the person who gave it to me. :)

The second gift I received was a hand-sewn, hand-smocked Christmas dress for Sara Katherine. My friend Angie Martin made this for her. Angie and I have been friends for nearly ten years. When I was a freshman in college, Angie got married, but not before we spent a few months together in the church sponsored sorority, Lambda Delta Sigma (a throw-back to some of you girls reading this blog!) When Angie heard I was moving back to Tuscaloosa, she called me into the Primary presidency to work with her, as she had just been called as the new Primary President. I have thoroughly enjoyed reaquainting myself with her and her family and being able to work with this amazing lady. She is a supermom through-and-through, and never gives herself the credit she deserves. These dresses take many HOURS to do, and she finished this one the week before Christmas on top of class parties for her two daughters in school, entertaining two boys still at home, Christmas shopping, wrapping, and baking. And she had it done in time for Sara Katherine to wear it to see Santa. Super mom and super friend.




Now, I'm not saying all gifts have to be handmade or handsewn to be special. My mother-in-law knows that I love the Willow Tree angels and she bought me one with two kids in the mom's arms for Christmas. When I got married, she gave me the outfit David was blessed in that we blessed Ethan in. My sister-in-law took me to get a manicure this Christmas, my dad and stepmom remembered me saying LAST Christmas that I wanted a set of Holly Berry Pfaltzgraf Christmas dishes, so that's what they got me this year. My mom has an unfair advantage because she knows me so very well, so all her presents are great presents, especially our new 7.0 megapixel digital camera - thanks mom! I have friends and family that remember I love, love, love snowmen, and I get those as presents. My husband sneaked some earrings and a necklace into a few presents I knew I was already getting so I'd have a suprise. Yes, I guess I am a bit spoiled - spoiled with the love of my dear family and dear friends. Thanks to all who make my life happy!

Visit with Santa - 2007 - What a bust.

We have determined here in the Ennis family that one of our Christmas traditions will be for the kids to go see Santa every year, and we will have their picture made with Santa every year. After our visit to Santa, we go to the Hallmark store so they can each pick out an ornament. One day when the kids have families of their own, I will give them all the ornaments they have collected through their childhood to start their own family Christmas trees (I told you - I am big on traditions and memories). Anyway, this year we went to the Galleria for the annual visit to Santa. Last year Ethan didn't fare so well...he was scared and we ended up having all three of us in the picture (I was pregnant with Sara Katherine). Looks like that will be the tradition for awhile. This year, Ethan started crying before we even got in line. In his defense, he was tired this year, it was dinner time, and the Galleria was very, very loud. And it didn't help that Santa Clause was grumpy. He was getting ready to go on his break and just wanted to get it over with (as we all did, I guess), but there were certainly no warm fuzzies from him. And he was stinky. Bad, bad body odor. But, he was in polyester suit all day with little kiddies crawling all over him. So, we ended up with all four of us in the picture again this year. Sara Katherine did very well, but it could be because I was right beside her while Santa held her. Who knows. Anyway, I don't have a scanner, so I can't scan the picture in, but we took some right by the Santa Clause place, so here you go. (Note my new haircut that I LOVE - shortest it's been a very long time - if you double click on the picture, you can get a really good look at the hair!).

Christmas Fun

On Friday night, the 22nd, we ate dinner with our good friends, Cole and Kelli Richins and Ethan's best buddy, Grant. I made chicken taco soup (which reminds me, that is a recipe I MUST share on the blog. SO easy and SO good - courtesy of my friend, Hila), and the boys exchanged presents.

Ethan and Sara Katherine catching a snooze that afternoon, resting up for the evening's activities (check out Ethan's crossed feet - what a dude).


The boys, opening their loot, and Sara Katherine right there in the middle of it all, as she usually is.


Ethan, admiring one of his Star Wars action figures...the other one was of Darth Vadar with the light saber sword, which he especially loved.



This is what I like to call his "1-2-3 Cheeeeeeeeeese" pose. He's so used to pictures that when he sees a camera, he automatically goes, "1-2-3 Cheeeeeeeeeeese" and makes this face. Most of the time, we try to suprise him with the camera as to not get this particular face in all our pictures!

Why you should never leave a 9 month old alone...

This morning I was watching Ethan play in the living room and feeding Sara Katherine her breakfast of peaches and oatmeal on the living room floor. Normally, she eats in the high chair, but Ethan wanted my attention in the living room, Sara Katherine had to eat....what's a girl to do? So, I decided we'd have a carpet picnic this morning with Sara Katherine. In the middle of playing, Ethan says, "Mommy, I want to use the potty!" and took off for the bathroom. We've introduced the potty, he knows what it is, and he knows what you're supposed to do with it. However, he has opted to use it just a a bathroom decoration for now. So, as you can imagine, I was very excited when he announced he wanted to use it this morning. I set the oatmeal down on the couch, and pushed it far enough back where I thought Sara Katherine couldn't get to it and ran after Ethan. We got him all sat down on the potty, but that's pretty much all he did is sit there. I considered it a victory, though, and applauded his efforts. I get him all put back together and he runs into the living room. I'm picking up towels and washing my hands and Ethan comes back into the bathroom and says, "Mommy, Sara Katherine is eating oatmeal and she has made such a MESS" (and he stresses the word 'mess'). I run back into the living room, and this is what I find:





Peaches and Cream Oatmeal EVERYWHERE! The pictures don't even do the mess justice. I forget how mobile she is now and far she can reach! Oh well...it's time to shampoo and the recliner anyway....here's to cute things kids do!

Making Christmas Cookies

While we were at my mom's this past Monday, Ethan and I made some Christmas cookies. Now, for all of you who have ever been brave enough to decorate Christmas cookies with a two year old standing in chair next to you and a 9 month old crawling around at your feet...kudos to you! I'm never doing it again by myself! But, we came out pretty well in the end, even though I had quite a mess to clean up after we were done!

Here he is, icing away...doing good...


...then he realized the icing actually tasted good...he was of virtually no help to me after that, until it came time to put on the sprinkles. Then, he would dump large amounts of sugar and sprinkles on one cookie and then giggle, like he knew he was ruffling mom's feathers!

Here is Sara Katherine, whisking away on the floor. I tried to keep her out of the cabinets, but eventually just gave up. I figured I could take ten minutes later to put everything away that she may drag out rather than spend more time than that trying to keep her OUT.

The finished product....

...and the mess to clean up.

My funny son.

Ethan does something new and cute every day that absolutely makes my heart melt or makes me laugh hysterically...usually both. Here are a few funny things he has said lately:

--We were driving home one day and there was a man dressed as Santa Clause on the side of the road trying to get people to come into a business. I said, "Look, Ethan, there's Santa Clause!" Ethan replied, "Mommy, that's not the real Santa Clause." Bewildered, I said, "Well, he looks like the real Santa to me!" Ethan said, "Mommy, the real Santa Clause lives in the North Pole." Well, duh! Silly mommy!

--David and Ethan were waiting in the car for me while I ran into a store. David was looking at Ethan in the rearview mirror and got a little emotional looking at his big little boy. He caught Ethan's eyes in the rearview mirror and said, "Ethan, Daddy loves you so much. No matter what happens in this world, know that your Daddy will always love you." Thinking David would get an "I love you too, Daddy" in response, he was instead met with, "Daddy - don't be wierd." That was his own response..don't even ask me where he learned the word 'wierd' or how to use it in that context!

--I think the funniest thing he has said lately was this: I was getting us ready to go to Wal-Mart one morning (which is NOT my favorite thing to do with both the kids by myself), and Ethan disappeared. I finished getting Sara Katherine ready then went looking for him. I found him sitting at my mom's computer. I said, "Ethan, come on buddy, we need to go to Wal-Mart." His reply? "In a minute mom, I'm checking my email." Classic. How does my two year old know so many words????

Christmas at Poppa Billy and Granny Marsh's House

We celebrate Christmas with my Dad and Stepmom the third Sunday of December. It gets Ethan good and excited for Christmas Day. My Dad is an avid hunter, so there are stuffed dead things hanging all around his house. Ethan got a fake rifle for his birthday and just HAD to take it to Poppa's house. He then proceeded to shoot all the already dead animals. It was really cute, and as you can imagine, it made my dad so proud.

Here he is, scoping in an animal.

The unfortunate bobcat...

...and the unfortunate deer. My dad also has hanging in his house another deer, a humongous bass, and a hornet's nest. Yes, a hornet's nest (with no hornets in it, of course).

This is my step-sister's baby, Gracie, who is a few months younger than Sara Katherine. Sara Katherine is telling her ALLLLLLL about it.

David, holding babies, as he usually is. (And he is as tired as he looks....he's in the middle of finals here).

Sarah and Doug's Graduation

David's cousin (and mine too!), Sarah, and her husband, Doug, both graduated from the Univ. of AL this past weekend. Sarah graduated from nursing school and Doug's degree is in History. We are so happy for them both! Here are a few pictures from the lunch held for them at Aunt Dena's house.

Ethan is definitely the minority boy in the Ennis family. He is surrounded by a bunch of girls, always. Here he is with some of his cousins and his friend Haley Norris. Until Jay and Mary's little Bradley gets a little bigger, and Joe and Nicole's new baby as of today (Austin - 8lbs 11oz!) gets bigger, looks like he's on his own.


The girls told Lauren they wanted to have a "dance party", so Lauren, the good aunt and cousin that she is, hooked the CD player up outside and they all danced their little hearts out. Again, Ethan is the only boy, except for Jay there in the background!

My camera is dying (note to Santa), but this is Sarah with her babies. Too cute!

Family Pictures

I was trying to hold off on posting these until I got my Christmas cards out (because the same pictures are in my cards), but while I have a free moment, I figured I better do it. Mike Shiffler took these pictures for us (www.michaelandrewphotography.com). He's an amazing photographer who does mainly weddings, but is branching out into family/children shoots as well. He goes anywhere for weddings, so if you see what you like and you're not in AL, not to worry. Check out his website and his blog at www.michaelthemaven.com .

Decorating the Tree

We put our tree up for Family Home Evening on the 12-3-07. David put it together, then Ethan and I helped him decorate it, which took forever because I have TONS of Hallmark ornaments, and they're all stored in separate boxes. Anyhow, we have an artificial tree right now for a couple reasons. 1) Our living room is kind of small, and this tree fits perfectly without taking up the whole area where the kids play 2) Right now while David is in school, this is cheaper, and those are the ONLY two reasons we have an artificial tree. I grew up with real trees literally every single year of my life until after I went away to college. I loved our family tradition of going to the Christmas tree farm, spending hours picking "just the right one", then cutting it down ourselves and dragging it home. My mom is a total neat-freak. I get all my OCD cleaning complusions from her and my cousin Yvonne, but she tolerated the shedding needles and pine sap because she liked the smell of a real tree, and probably moreso just to appease my dad and us. We always got Southern pines, the hardest to decorate because of the needles, but they smelled the best. My freshman year of college we went to pick up a real Frasier Fur off the lot of a Home Depot or some such as that, and I remember being horribly disappointed by the whole experience. Then, without telling me, the next Christmas, mom bought an artificial tree and I cried. I literally cried. I guess it was the best "practical" move, and my mom is all about some practicality, but I missed the tradition of the Christmas tree. So, I'm glad to have my own family to start this tradition with, just as soon as David gets out of law school. We are going to cut down trees every Christmas. I get all giddy and excited just thinking about it. :)

David, with the kids "helping" put up the tree. Ethan is eating a popsicle, and I'm not real sure what Sara Katherine has in her mouth..hmm...



Yes, that is Sara Katherine sitting straight up under the tree. She didn't quite know what to think about it all.

So far this year this is the only picture we have of the tree decorated....I'll have to get a full shot of it. It's kind of pretty, even for a fake tree.

A few more pictures from Lacy's wedding, then no more!

This is my mom, aka, "Grandma".

Lacy and David's Wedding - Part II and a tangent by me...

So my mom took some really cute pictures at Lacy's wedding that I got after I did the original post, so I'm posting more now. For those who are interested to know, David and Lacy drove their UHAUL alllll the way to Utah where they are settled into their basement apartment in Salt Lake. Last I heard, Lacy was interviewing for a job with a Head Start program out there and missing Alabama, but of course, loving being with her husband. :)


Sorry to wear out these pictures of Ethan in his suit, but I think he is SO darn CUTE. I have to share...

Waiting, patiently waiting, for the bride and groom. :) I love it.

He decided they were taking too long and sat down for a little rest.

So I have to be honest. I don't like seeing pictures of myself anymore. I don't like the way I look, and pictures make it all too real, so I avoid them at all costs. But, even in the shape I'm in, I do kind of like this one, double chins and all. It's good for me to see pictures of myself now, even though it's hard. I need motiviation to make it back to my pre-babies weight. I don't know why I don't see it as much when I look in the mirror everyday, but pictures. Man, pictures will show you just what's good or bad about your body. And, in no way am I looking for comments from all of you saying, "Oh, you look fine" or "Oh, you had two babies 18 months apart." It's good for me to admit there's something wrong with my body to all my closest friends and relatives, and probably a few strangers who might happen to stumble upon my blog. It's like I'm admitting to all of you, collectively, that Houston has a problem, and now I'm accountable to all of you to do something about it. So, that's all. No comments needed. But prayers, I could use some prayers, because I sho' love food and as my personal trainer put it, "you MUST change your relationship with food." But see, we have a GREAT relationship. It's going to be hard, but I'm building a support group, and am even considering dedicating another blog soley to my weight loss goals...a place to share good recipes, successes and failures, and pictures..I think it be wonderful to watch skinny Jeni emerge...anyone interested in joining my group?? :) How this got onto the post with Lacy's wedding, I'm not sure. The fingers took over. Sorry Lacy!

This is Rachael's husband, Ben, whom I absolutely adore. He and Rachael are so perfectly paired it's not even funny. He VOLUNTEERED to feed Sara Katherine. Yes, that is the kind of guy he is. While he and Rachael don't have children yet, he is already prepped to be a wonderful, wonderful Daddy. Sara Katherine doesn't just sit and "chill" with many people, but she did with him. They were good buddies.

Thad's Christmas Party 12-8-07

I know I have already covered this pretty well in a previous post, but now I have some pictures to add of something else besides food. :)

Sara Katherine, also known as "The Big Cheese" and Daddy (Ethan was at home with Grandma, which is why there are no pictures of him).

Notice her smile is not as big when Mommy holds her...hmmmmm....

This is our friend Mike Madsen, who is also a law student here at UA. We played Dirty Santa and he actually got this brain teaser puzzle thing (I never feel more stupid than when I'm trying to figure out one of those kinds of things). Anyway, he was SO intent on trying to figure this thing out that I don't think he even noticed when I snapped the picture.

This is Mike Shiffler, the guy who took our Christmas pictures...Here he is, patiently showing two three year olds how to operate his very, very expensive camera. Mike has always been patient and cool. He played football for BYU and coached our intramural girls flag football team while I was in college. We did not win ONE game, no, not one (not due to his coaching, though, might I add...we learned plays and held regular practices and had hand signals and everything. We were just bad.) But, I digress....one night at a game, I intercepted the ball, and ran it all the way for a touchdown...to the wrong end zone. Everyone was else was just dying, but Mike kept his cool, on the outide anyway! I was impressed how good he was the kids. He said he's learned a lot about how to deal with them since he's become a photographer.

Dickens Downtown

I love Christmas and Christmas traditions. I believe traditions are important to create as a family. I want my children to be able to look back on their life and, especially at the holidays, remember things we did as a family every year that will leave them feeling gooey and nostalgic, basically feeling like they had a good childhood. Here in Northport where we live, the downtown area is historic. It's quaint and cute and home to the diner where Bear Bryant ate breakfast every morning (I'm assuming we all know who Bear Bryant is...). Anyhow, every Christmas, they dress up the downtown area by bringing in some folks in A Christmas Carol era costumes, adding a few Clydesdale horses and carriages, and they dot the sidewalks with groups of carolers. Then there's the hot chocolate. Hot chocolate and Christmas carols. Yes, this is bound to be a good memory. It's great fun, especially now that I have a little boy that ooohs and aaahs about absolutely everything, from the fake snow blowing from the the snow machine perched on the second-floor porch of one of the shops to the Santa Clause sitting in his sleigh taking pictures with little ones. As long as we live in the Tuscaloosa area, this is a good tradition. The weather was perfect...cold enough, but not TOO cold. Love these Alabama winters (it was 78 one day last week!)

Notice Ethan hitching a ride in Sara Katherine's very PINK stroller. She fell asleep on David, so Ethan thought he'd take advantage of a free ride.


You can't tell in the picture, but Ethan is trying to "catch" the fake snow falling from that porch. He was just mesmerized by the stuff.

Dinner with Poppa Billy and Granny Marsh

Okay, this is where I catch up (Internet on the laptop finally works..hooray!). Back on December 1st, (the date is more for my journaling purposes than your information....I realize the date probably doesn't matter that much to you. :) Anyway, back on December 1 while we were in Prattville, we met Dad and Marsh (short for Marshall) for dinner at the Cracker Barrell. Sara Katherine was DETERMINED she was going to have Poppa's hat. And, of course, she won, like she does almost all the time. :)

Red Velvet Cake and Such

Yes, it's been awhile since I've posted anything. And there's a good reason for that, actually, good reasonS for that. It's been a crazy few weeks, I tell ya. We finally have the Internet at our house, three technicians, and three days after it was supposed to be installed. We had every problem in the world trying to install the Internet, but alas, we have it, and I'm glad. However, it is not wireless, so we have to use an Ethernet cable, and when we plug the Ethernet cable into David's laptop, it doesn't work, AT ALL. Okay all you computer-savvy folks, speak to me! The Internet will work on my beast of a PC that seriously is at least five years old, but not on David's newish laptop. You tell me. I guess I'll be making another call to Comcast to come and fix that problem. Sigh. Anyway, all the pictures are of course on David's laptop, so pictures and posts will still have to wait, but there are a few things I could share now. Last week I helped my good friend Thad with his Christmas party at his house. Between me and his sweet mother, we had a pretty good spread of food, if I do say so myself. My friend Laura was like, "You're blog is all about food, food, food, food." Well, yes, I guess it is. I like food, obviously. I like everything about it. I like shopping for it, preparing it, eating it, talking about it.... Yes, Laura, my blog is going to talk about some food. :) We had so much good stuff at the party, and earlier that day I had eaten lunch at DePalma's with some of my college roomies and good friends (Sara, Laura, and Cheyenne). Then we went back to Cheyenne's house and stuffed ourselves silly with sweets we had made. Seriously, I wasn't hungry again until about Monday at lunch. Sad, huh? Anyway, I feel compelled to share the Christmas Party menu. Thad's mom made a BEAUTIFUL turtle cheesecake,


homemade fudge, and marinated cheese that was OUT OF THIS WORLD. If she shares the recipe with me, I will definitely share it with all of you. You serve it on crackers, umm, umm, good. I made Bacon Cheese Mini Appetizers


(these are the pictures our friend Mike took of some of the food. He's a professional photographer who does mainly weddings, but he can take pictures of anything and make it look good. Check out his blog (www.michaelthemaven.com) and see what I mean. He also took our family pictures. He has some of those posted on his blog as well. The ones of my kids are absolutely priceless.) I also made Candy-Cane Crunch, this stuff called Puppy Chow (Crispix cereal coated in melted peanut butter and chocolate and tossed in powdered sugar - better than the name makes it sound!), a corn rotel dip with chips, Thad ordered a chicken tray from Chick-Fil-A, I made a vegetable tray in the shape of a Christmas tree using broccoli, carrots for the garland, and cherry tomatoes for the ornaments, Christmas Wassail (a fancy apple cider), but the hit of the party seemed to be my red velvet cake. Due to popular demand, I share the recipe here (here ya go Cassie, Jessie Ann, and Jill). This is the mother of all cakes, in my humble opinion. The people from out West at the party were especially wowed. Some of them had never even heard of it, much less tasted it. It is heaven in your mouth. Yes, I love food. I need a support group! So, for now, visit Mike's blogs for some of our family pictures and pictures from Thad's party, and here is the Red Velvet Cake Recipe, in all its glory. I promise to get this whole Internet thing sorted out soon and post some pictures of other fun stuff that has been going on in the Ennis household. Sara Katherine is now NINE months old, crawling like a champ, and she finally has two little bottom teeth. She passes on baby food and baby cereal and has gone straight to table food, her mama's girl. I hope you are all enjoying your holiday season! We have talk to Ethan every day about Baby Jesus and the Wise Men to off-set the over-commercialization of Christmas. I'm glad he associates Christmas with Santa, I just want him to associate it with Christ more. Until next time...

Red Velvet Cake

Batter:
1/2 c butter, softened (do not, do not, do not use margarine. I promise it will not be as good if you do - as a rule, I ALWAYS bake with butter, even if the recipe calls for magerine. It's cheaper for a reason).
1 1/2 c sugar
2 oz (2 bottles) red food coloring
1 T vinegar (yes, vinegar)
2 T cocoa
2 eggs
2 1/4 c flour
1 t salt
1 t soda
1 c buttermilk (I normally don't use anything 'light' or 'lowfat', but if you use lowfat buttermilk in this, it is just as good.)
1 t vanilla (not imitation - again, quality ingredients are key).

Frosting:

1 8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softenend
1 box (1 lb) powdered sugar
1 c finely chopped pecans (you could leave these out if you're not a pecan fan, but I LOVE the icing with the pecans)
1 t vanilla

For the batter:

Whisk together the vinegar, cocoa, and food coloring until combined. Cream the butter and sugar, then add eggs, one at a time until well-blended. Add the coloring mixture to the butter mixture and blend. Sift the flour, soda, and salt together. Add to the butter mixture alternately with the buttermilk (it's important to do it alternately). Add vanilla at the end. Spread into two greased and floured 9" round baking pans. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting:

Beat all ingredients together, except pecans. Fold those in by hand and spread on the cake. This is enough to frost a two-layer cake or 24 cupcakes, and I promise, there wont' be a drop left in the bowl! Enjoy!