Granny's Lemon Squares

I am spending a lot of time this week in the kitchen as I have dishes and baked goodies promised to Hannah's school almost everyday this week. Thankfully mom is on her spring break and is here the first part of the week to help with her favorite granddaughters. I spent today baking cookies and lemon squares for Hannah's Ultimate Author Day at school on Wednesday. The cookies are good but it is my grandmother's lemon squares that take the prize.   They are amazingly easy to make and are the best thing that I have put in my mouth in recent months.  **Bekah and Rachel - I am posting this for you so that you can add this to your cookbooks if you don't have it in there already.**

All you need are these ingredients for the crust.

Mix 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup confectioners sugar, and 2 sticks melted butter together and spread this out evenly in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish.

Place it in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes...

While the crust is baking pull out these ingredients for the filling...

Take your pretty lemons...

and grate 1 tablespoon of the rind...

then cut them in half...

and squeeze out 1/3 of a cup of lemon juice.

Dump both in a bowl along with 4 eggs, 2 cups sugar and 4 tablespoons flour.  Beat this all together until combined...

Your crust should be ready to go by now so pull it out of the oven and pour this mixture on top.  Bake for 25 more minutes at 350.  Once it has cooled, slice into squares and top with some confectioner's sugar...

Very sweet and very tangy and oh so very yummy!...

Thanks Granny for sharing!!  Please say a little prayer that I survive this crazy week.  Most importantly this week my sweet Hannah turns 4.   I am really having mixed emotions about what a big girl she is becoming and just how quickly time passes!  I will be back with more on this special birthday soon!

Celebrating Easter

We had a wonderful Easter and I hope you all did too.  There is nothing like singing that first Alleluia at Mass on Easter Sunday if you ask me!

I love that our dogwood tree fully bloomed the week of Easter.  Dogwoods have always been one of my favorite trees partly because of what they symbolize.  In case you aren't familiar, legend has it that the cross on which Jesus was crucified was made from a dogwood tree.  After Jesus' crucifixion God decreed that the dogwood tree would never again grow large enough to be used to make a cross.  Forevermore the dogwood became a small tree with symbolic flowers that bloom around Easter.

The flower of the dogwood has four petals which resemble the shape of a cross with a notch at each tip reminding us of the marks of the nails, brown with rust and stained with red.  The center of the flower reminds us of the crown of thorns that Jesus wore upon his head.   Certainly a special tree full of meaning and beauty to mark Easter each year and we are blessed to have one in our very own yard.

We had a great Easter morning with Hannah and Lily waking up to find some treats left just for them...

Hannah's jellybean jar was a big success throughout Lent and she was excited to see the white jellybeans, representing God's grace, appear on Easter morning.

That afternoon we had family over for Easter lunch, an egg hunt and picture time.

Happy Easter week to each of you!

Good Friday and More

Hannah has been talking about the arrival of Good Friday for the past week anxiously awaiting this very sad day.  She woke up late this morning, walked into the kitchen where her sister was eating breakfast and announced "Lily does not look sad!"  After breakfast we did a little reflecting on Good Friday and the events that led up to Jesus' crucifixion.  We pulled out our paper and crayons to put images with our words...

We began by tracing our feet and hands and talking about the nails that pierced Jesus' hands and feet..

We talked about the crown of thorns that sat on Jesus' head...

and the cross where Jesus was crucified and died...

I have been completely amazed this Lenten season at how much a 3 year old can understand about the death and resurrection of our Lord.  I have learned that it is never to early to start developing a child's faith and knowledge of God. 

After our Good Friday drawing session we went outside to enjoy a beautiful day.  Bekah gave Hannah and Lily cute new dresses covered with white and yellow flowers....

We decided to go on a flower hunting excursion to celebrate their new attire.  We took the camera and began a search for all the white and yellow flowers that we could find on our street.  We did not come up empty handed...

Thanks so much for the dresses and the inspiration for our flower hunt Sister!!  We were very successful and had lots of fun.

Before I leave you I have to tell you about my April Fool's joke I pulled on my dear husband.  It involved these...

I should preface this by saying that yes, I am 33, even though you might think I am 9 after I tell you this.  Okay back to my story.  So last night after I brushed my teeth I took our tube of toothpaste...

and inserted a raisin...

Now I knew Matt had not brushed his teeth yet, so after I put the raisin in I hopped into bed, pulled the covers up, giggled and waited.  Matt went into the bathroom and there I was under the covers trying not to laugh out loud waiting for his scream.  I am not sure what I thought he would think the raisin was when it came out of the tube onto his toothbrush, but I had a few guesses.  Anyway, next thing I knew Matt came quietly out of the bathroom and got in to bed.  No mention of anything unusual.  So I quickly reacted with a "Did you brush your teeth?"  Matt: "Yes! Why?"  Me: "Just wondering..."  Matt:  "Why?  What's wrong? Does my breath stink?"  Me:  "No no it's nothing.  Good night."  I couldn't believe that my plan hadn't worked, but I didn't say anything in hopes that it would be an April 2nd joke.  Well this morning Matt came out of the bathroom and said "Guess what was in the toothpaste tube!"  Me, laughing:  "What?"  Matt: "A raisin!"  Me, now dying laughing: "A raisin?!"  Matt:  "Did you put that in there?  I almost gagged!  I thought the toothpaste had molded and I knew the toothpaste tasted really weird last night!"  Me:  Nothing because I couldn't stop laughing.   I am still laughing right now though I have been promised payback.  It was totally worth it and you should try it on your husband the next time he brushes his teeth.  I have laughed all day long thinking about it.  Ok, again I promise I am 33 not 9.

Springtime - Part One

Spring is here and we are enjoying the beautiful warm weather that comes with it.  We have been outside as much as possible playing....

doing a little gardening (me)/digging in the dirt (Hannah and Lily)...

and my personal favorite, because my kitchen stays a little cleaner...grilling...

Hope you are outside enjoying your day too!

Our New Favorite Spot

Hannah and Lily have a new favorite perch these days.  It is a lovely little table that is just the right size for a one and three year old.  My cousin Lauren and her husband Chase picked it up for us from Ikea on a recent trip to Atlanta.  It has become a favorite spot to play music...

enjoy breakfast...

and create...

I have to be careful though because Lily can get a little bored while creating...

And once she is bored she now has easy access to the floor with her "just my size" chair.  Now she has the freedom to hop down and make a mess on the floor...

and then, well...hop back up and make some more mess on the floor...

Ahhhhhh....freedom!

Also, a note to any potential babysitters.  Now that we have this table DO NOT turn your back for even just one second or you, like me, might enter the room and find this...

One Year Anniversary

Today we celebrated the one year anniversary of Lily's baptism - the wonderful day when little Lils was officially welcomed into the church. After supper tonight we lit Lily's baptismal candle and said a prayer together as a family.

Lily sat quietly in her chair and tried to blow out the candle the entire time.

After the prayer we each took a turn blessing Lily on her forehead...

Once our prayer ended we enjoyed a special dessert picked out by Hannah for her sister...

Lily took a couple of little licks and much like her birthday cupcake sat it to the side and went about her business...

I am sure that soon enough she will be devouring these treats!  Happy Monday to you all!

A Peek Inside

I am praying that today is our last day of being home bound because of sickness for a while.  We have had quite a month thanks to sinus infections, viruses and stomach bugs.  While I certainly do not relish in the fact that any one of us is ever sick, I am trying to appreciate the time that it allows us to slow down, snuggle close and do nothing but take time for each other.  On one of our good days - meaning we were actually dressed and feeling ok - I took some photos of Hannah and Lily playing inside...

Hopefully life will return to "normal" tomorrow!