Last weekend I was 37 weeks pregnant and our family decided to spend part of our Sunday at a local beach before the storms came thundering in and chased us away!  There is construction going on at the end one of the piers and I thought it looked really cool (both temperature and looks) standing under the pier and decided to snap some pictures under the wooden architecture.  Here are a few that we got.

Since my hubby and I met on the beach we had a beach themed wedding cake complete with realistic-looking and delicious candy seashells cascading down the cake. The cake was so beautiful! She also made the shells so realistic that some of our wedding guests would not bite into them because they thought they were real seashells!

One tradition that we have done each year on our anniversary since our first anniversary is watch our video from our wedding. Now we did get married before the digital age so the color quality is...90ish, but the memories of our day continue to be with us each time we play our video. We did copy it onto a DVD to help make it last longer. 

 

It is a joy to now watch the video with our cupcakes as they ask why they weren't there to celebrate with us ;-) Each year we are not only reminded of our holy vows we took in front of our Lord, family, and friends, but we also get to see friends and loved ones that are no longer with us here on earth. You know I still get "butterflies" and filled with excitement just before I watch the part of the video where I'm about to meet my true love at the altar and begin our lives as husband and wife!

 

Like Mr. de Souza, our children and family are big fans of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, fantasy, and using our imagination to explore new worlds.  The Ring of Fantasy reminded our family alot of the Narnia books, which is one of the many reasons it kept everyone's attention.

My 11 year old son liked the fighting scenes because he felt like he was there in the battles. He loved the imaginary characters and following Joshua Douglas' journey to rescue his sister, Tess. 

My husband was a big fan of the book and he was the first one to pipe up and ask me to continue reading when I finished each chapter!  He kept mentioning what a great story The Ring of Fantasy was and how it can really be enjoyed by children and adults alike! My husband really liked the imaginative characters and that it was very descriptive and easy to picture the story in his mind. He also enjoys happy endings which Ring of Fantasy had. 

I think this novel was a great read aloud, as it is advertised.  The chapters were short, but filled with enough descriptive language to keep our family motivated to keep turning the pages to see what was the next adventure for the main character, Joshua Douglas.  I loved how all ages could enjoy this book together and it was fun to discuss with our children what they thought was going to happen next in the story.   I would highly recommend de Souza's book for any family.

De Souza is a very talented Catholic author and illustrator and we hope he will have more novels in the future that can be enjoyed once again by our family and yours! 

For more information about The Ring of Fantasy, to print a free coloring page of the book characters illustrated by the author himself, and where you can purchase your copy, go HERE. 

To read a summary and another book review go HERE.

Also, be sure to check out Dominic de Souza's 2 beautiful sacred coloring books HERE and HERE! 

  


   

My mom passed on the recipe to me and it's as delicious as it is festive for any 4th of July gathering!


Ingredients:
1 box of white cake mix ( I used a box of Duncan Hines white cake mix)
3 oz. package of Raspberry Jello
3 oz. package of Berry Blue Jello
8 oz. thawed Cool-Whip

Directions:

•  Prepare cake mix as directed.  Pour batter into two 8/9 in. round cake pans.
• Bake as directed on box.  Cool 10 minutes while still in pans.  Remove cakes from pans and cool completely.

• Place 2 cakes back in their pans, with their tops up
• Prick each cake with utility fork at about 1/2 in. intervals 

• Mix 1 cup boiling water with Raspberry Jello package; stir to dissolve 
• Spoon Raspberry Jello over 1 cake layer making sure to spoon watery mixture over the pricked holes.
• Repeat with the Berry Blue Jello and spoon Jello over other cake layer.  I used almost all of the Jello mixtures when I spooned/poured it over each layer.  

• Refrigerate cakes for about 3 hours.
• Dip each cake pan into warm water to loosen the cakes, then remove each cake from their pan.

• Spread the red layer with Cool Whip topping

• Put the blue layer on top of red layer and frost cakes with remaining Cool Whip
• Refrigerate until ready to serve

You can then decorate the cake any way you want.  Since I was bringing this to a 4th of July gathering I made this design with strawberries and blueberries:


And the inside looks like this:


So if you need a great festive cake for this 4th of July, give this one a try!  It has been a hit with family and friends and I will definitely be baking this great dessert again!

For more festive food ideas for the 4th be sure to check out THIS post from Catholic Cuisine which includes a Link-Up with others' fun 4th food ideas! 

Have a safe, happy, and blessed July 4th with family and friends!  

Mason jars with safety pins attached to the sides that were our drinking glasses.  My friend is so creative as we rinsed out our drinking glasses at the end of the shower and filled them with homemade bath crystals to take home with us.