I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the pictures of bears we saw in Cades Cove last week. We saw a total of 17 in the 3 drives we made around the loop. Several of those were mother bears with 3 cubs each.

This bear has 3 cubs up in the tree (but not visible in the picture); taken right next to Cades Cove visitor center

2 cubs

Mother bear and cubs; the spot on the log is where she was hitting it with her paw to find food

Male bear

Mother bear in field; she had 3 cubs that were behind her, but they are not visible in the picture

During our trip to  the Smoky Mountains last week , we saw several black bears…more than we have ever seen before. I got a short video clip of a mother bear that had 3 cubs. The video may make you dizzy as I try to follow the bears crossing the road in front of our car, so I apologize for the quality. You should still watch it, though! It was pretty cool to be that close to the bears.

I do very amateur cake decorating, usually just for my kids’ birthdays. However, I was asked to do a cake for a graduation party for our friend Johnna, who graduated from high school this year. I decided to also make one for our friend Laura, who just completed her Masters Degree at Marshall University. As you can see, they are quite similar.

For Laura’s,  I used strawberries around the bottom of the cake and as garnish on the top. I used a Golden Oreo FunStix for the scroll, with a green ribbon tied around it. Then I sprinkled shaved chocolate on the top. Just for your reference, if you are going to decorate with fresh fruit, do not put it on until right before you are ready to serve it, and store it in the refrigerator.

For Johnna’s cake, I put Andes candy around the bottom and shaved some to sprinkle around the top. I broke a Hershey’s bar into four rectangles and placed them in the middle of the cake, spread them with glitter gel, and wrote the numbers on there. My writing is not that great, but I was pleased with how they turned out overall. Most importantly, they tasted good!

My husband and I recently celebrated our 15th anniversary, and he surprised me by planning a trip to the Smoky Mountains (in addition to flowers and chocolates–I was thoroughly spoiled). Our children are visiting his parents for the week, and we enjoyed a little vacation. We stayed in Townsend, TN, and did some hiking, fishing, and driving around Cades Cove. We saw quite a bit of wildlife, including several black bears in Cades Cove. I have been there quite a few times, and have never seen bears like we did on this trip. I will try to post some pictures soon. We had a very good and relaxing time.  The kids are still away, and even though I miss them, I know they are having fun with grandparents and other family. And I cleaned out the closet in Jacob’s room without any interruptions!

The griddle was still out from making cornbread griddle cakes last night for supper, and I had three very ripe bananas lying on the counter. My husband really likes banana anything, so I decided to try some banana pancakes. I looked online for recipes, and after reading a few and changing some things to suit me, here is what I came up with:

2 cups self-rising flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups milk

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 medium bananas, mashed

Stir together flour and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, milk, oil, vanilla, and banana. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients, and stir just until combined. Scoop batter onto hot greased griddle or skillet (I  use an ice cream scoop). Cook until bubbly on one side, then flip and cook until browned on both sides.

I put my griddle at 300 degrees. Don’t brown these too fast, or they will be mushy in the middle. This batch made 30 small pancakes (3 to 4 inches). They were eaten quickly by everyone, so this is definitely a keeper!

I just printed out some new calendar pages from Vertex42. I did this about the same time last year, and it has worked really well. I just printed out the calendar pages, which are free, and put them in a 3-ring binder. I added some notebook paper and dividers, and I have my own planner. I keep everything together in the binder–lists of things to do, meal lists, lesson plans, and anything else I need to write down and keep up with. I use the monthly calendars, but Vertex42 has several different calendars to choose from. They are in PDF files, so you just open them and print. Easy and free!

5 Minutes for Parenting has a column called “A Dose of Humor.” A recent post on there was written by Heather, and I must say I laughed out loud while feeling guilty about laughing! The story she told was hilarious, and yet I could feel her horror when she saw…well, I’m not going to spoil it for you. Go read Have You Seen My Hat?!

I have made a couple of graduation cakes recently, which I will probably share pictures of soon. In the meantime, look at these very cute graduation cupcakes at Susie’s Homemade.

If you need a quick and easy recipe for pizza dough, try this one at 50′s Housewife. We just had this Friday night, and it was great!

Dear Blog,

I have not deserted you. I have had much to blog about lately, but no time to blog about it. Life has been full and busy. Friends and family have needed a little extra attention over the past week, and so you have been neglected. I have celebrated, mourned, and prayed extra hard this week. It is amazing how many extremely different emotions one can experience in just one day.

I am returning to you now, though, and hoping that my readers have not given up on me. I have a feeling that they understand. I’ll be back on track with you tomorrow.

Cynthia