Chocolate Bundt Cake

really just a glorified cake mix.

This is a really moist cake.

I've never baked it in a regular 9x13, but I'm sure you could.  I guess in the bundt pan it seems more fancy...especially when it's really just a cake mix with extras!

Bundt Chocolate Cake

1 pkg devil's food cake mix (or any chocolate, I think I used chocolate fudge cake for this)
1 (5.9 oz) pkg instant chocolate pudding
1 c. sour cream
1 c. oil
4 eggs
1/2 c. warm water
1 tsp vanilla
optional: add 2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.
In large bowl, mix together everything. Stir in chocolate chips at the end if you are using them. Pour batter into well greased 12 cup bundt pan.


Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until toothpick in center comes out clean. Let cake cool at least 1 hour before inverting pan to dump cake out.

For the frosting, I used Katherine's Dark Chocolate Ganache Recipe, but only used 1/4 recipe for this cake.  I'm not a frosting lover, so I spread it on pretty thin.



Sledding

Last week Rhett got off work early, so we took RJ sledding.

Or Rhett took him sledding while I watched.  I felt too big pregnant to sled myself.

We go sledding at the golf course nearby.  RJ rode the sled the majority of the ride there.

Talk about pampered kid.  His dad carried him up the hill every time. 

RJ was loving it, and despite the few spills and white washes, he kept wanting to go over and over. 

Then there was the bad crash where he jumped off and totally ate it.

He had dirt and snow all over his face, and even in his ears.

He stood up and yelled: "MOM!" He was more scared then hurt, and didn't end up crying. 

But he was pretty much done sledding after that.

Here  I am with only 2 months to go.  But that still seems really far away.

Hello 2011

Just a quick update.

RJ is getting big, in April he will be 3. We just started a little "preschool" with 3 other kids. Once a week a  mom teaches a little lesson.  So it's more like an organized play group, and I only have to be there and teach once a month.

Rhett is on a surgery rotation.  He really likes surgery.  After surgery he has OB, ER, then a week off the week our baby is due (which will be nice) and then he does a month of night float, which is the internal medicine night shift.

I am getting the huge basketball belly.  I have 9 weeks left until the baby's due date, and I most likely won't go into labor before then, and am planning on being induced.  But I had placenta previa, which has now resolved, which I'm glad because I'd rather not have a c-section.

I've got a list of projects I'd like to finish before the baby's born, so we'll see how much I get done in these next 2 months.

I'm kind of lazy about checking our mail.  So usually what happens is Rhett checks it at night at RJ gets zipped up in his coat and tucks his legs up so they don't "get freezy." 

Lately RJ's been more and more into books, which makes me glad.  Although I've been reading the same 4 Thomas books to him multiple times a day, and might hide them to give myself a break from Thomas the train and Percy.

Lately I've been trying to help RJ prepare for a baby coming into his kingdom to dethrone him.

So we talk about baby Ellie a lot.

I was telling him she doesn't have teeth.  That babies don't have teeth so they can't eat food, just drink milk.

A couple days later we hosted a dinner at our house for Rhett's program, and two babies around 12 months, had teeth.  He came up to me confused and kept telling me those babies have teeth!  He'd try to pry their jaws open to look at their teeth.

So now he's totally confused and probably thinks I'm a liar, because all the babies he's seeing lately have teeth.

When he saw this picture, he laughed and said: "RJ has scary teeth!"