So-Gal's Recipe: Lemon Bars

You will need:

• For the crust:
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 cup of unsalted butter
• For the filling:
• 8 oz. of cream cheese, softened
• 2 eggs
• 5 oz. of evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp. of all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. of lemon juice
• Yellow food coloring
• For the top:
• Powdered sugar

1. Combine flour and powdered sugar in a bowl. Mix in softened butter until crumbly. Press into the bottom and 1" up the sides of a lightly-greased 9x13. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
2. In a mixer, combine cream cheese, eggs, evaporated milk, sugar, flour, lemon juice, and food coloring. Blend until smooth. Pour into crust.
3. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack, refrigerate for 3 hours.
4. Before serving, cut into bars and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Local And Loving It

Today, I loaded up my enormous Brighton tote bag with snacks, the camera, cash, juice, wipes, and all the other essentials for spending a few hours downtown. I love Little Rock's downtown. I enjoy exploring all the shops and restaurants and museums. It's just a cool place to hangout, okay? :)

When I go, it's usually for book work, and today was no different. We met up with some of our friends and checked out a waaaay fun playdate spot. Definitely will be making its way into the book!

And then we ate lunch in the River Market. I was already freezing, and so I had the brilliant idea to order a huge smoothie from Tropical Smoothie. (This is why my lips are purple in these pictures, in case you were wondering.)

Although I think I said, "Stop that!" and "No!" and "Get up off the floor!" about fifty-nine times, we had a wonderful time with good friends enjoying the downtown atmosphere and discovering a new (free!) playdate location. Fun, fun!

And now, I have to go check on my lemon cheesecake bars that are in the oven. Be looking for the recipe soon on the blog. . .if they turn out as scrumptious as they sound!

Go do something fun and random and adventurous with your little one/ones today! I'm serious, load up your tote bag and head out the door!

A Bloody Mess

I was particularly exhausted and craving my afternoon nap as I put the toddler in his bed, told him it was nap time and that he wasn't to get out of bed, and made my way to the office to check a few e-mails before lying down.

He was making all the usual noises of hey-mom-I'm-not-sleepy-at-all-I-think-I'll-just-jump-on-my-bed-for-the-next-ninety-minutes "nap time." And then, he got quiet. Really quiet. But not the kind of heavy, even-breathing quiet that says "sleep." I figured he was going to need a diaper change. So, I made my way into his room.

I wasn't expecting my child to be covered in his own blood.

I knew immediately what had happened. He was in no pain. He wasn't fussing or upset. He was just covered head to toe in bright red blood.

Well, last week we went to the park with the toddler's friend Carson. The toddler fell down on the playground and scraped his elbow. It turned into the biggest scab he's ever had.

Well, yeah, you do the math.

I quickly grabbed him, stripped him down, and headed to the bath tub.

And here is what his sheets and clothes looked like:

But, as I said, he was in no pain, and so he enjoyed his bath. After the bath, I slapped a Spiderman bandaid on his arm, and he was elated to be doing anything other than taking a nap.

He informed me of his bed sheets, declaring, "It's a mess! Clean up!" And he did just that. Sort of.

Do you like the soccer shorts and long-sleeved t-shirt look? It just screams "my Momma doesn't care if I get blood on this--unlike the jon-jon that I hopefully didn't ruin."

Well, if you made it this far, I think it's safe to say that you can stomach the sight of blood. Hopefully, I never have another blog post titled, "A Bloody Mess." But boy was he!

Moving The Hydrangea Bush

I love hydrangeas. But my poor hydrangea bush was creeping farther and farther into the sunlight, and was getting zapped (literally) as a result. So my sweet hubby came to the rescue!

My little man also came to the rescue.

See the "zappage?"

They uprooted my hydrangea bush!

And relocated it! It's between my azalea bush and my oakleaf hydrangeas. Hopefully, it will get enough shade/filtered sunlight here to be happy.

These Days

These days are grand--really, truly magnificent.

Having an almost (four weeks away!) two-year-old is just fun, okay!? My little Butch Cassidy makes me laugh out loud at least seventeen times a day. He's transitioned so well to his "big boy" bed, his clothes are looking larger and larger, the soles of his little (smelly) feet are black by the end of the day, he always requests bubbles in his bath, and every day we try to go on an adventure.

Some of the toddler's favorite things right now: popsicles, water, being barefoot (I cannot keep shoes on my child, really), playing in the sprinklers, going to the park, and throwing rocks into any pond we happen to spot.

Our days are blessed, full, and fun. I'm soaking in my quickly-turning-into-a-big-boy son, and enjoying the flexibility that summer brings (as well as the freckles, and sticky fingers from melting purple popsicles).

The hubbs has 20 more days until the end of his third year of medical school. We keep saying, "Can you believe fourth year is almost here!?" We're giddy with excitement. I can't wait to find out where we'll be living and what new adventures are ahead. God is in control, and when He leads, it's always better. I'm learning to give Him the wheel more and more. He steers us in new, better directions; and I know residency will be no different.

And me? I'm celebrating the fact that I'm finished with graduate school. What a huge burden off my shoulders. I'm l.o.v.i.n.g. my new job! I have amazing co-workers, my own office, and I'm making more working 15 hours a week than I was when I worked over 40 hours a week! (Was that Master's degree worth it? Oh, heck yes!) The book is coming along. It's such a labor of love to write a book. I'm not used to getting an assignment and not finishing it within a couple weeks. It has taken much adjusting to work on something slowly, diligently, for almost a year now. I know I will be glad when it's finished, and so glad that I did it.

These days are good. So good.

Gosh being a mom is fun. I cherish waffles-and-PBS time in the mornings. I cherish our trips to the library. I cherish our trips to the park. I cherish our daily walks with friends. I cherish play dates and outings. I cherish nap time (oh, do I), when little man falls asleep in his bed and I fall asleep on the couch. I cherish our afternoons spent playing in the front yard with scooter, bouncy ball, soccer ball, "chalks," bubbles, lawn chairs, etc. I cherish dinner time and waiting for Daddy to get home. I cherish bubble baths, and story time, and prayers, and that moment right before I lay him down in his bed. . .

when he says, "No, Mommy, please."

"Shh," I say, as I stroke his hair, "It's night-night time. It's time to go to bed." And I kiss his forehead and nuzzle my face close to his. And he relaxes, and because our days are so crazy full, he usually collapses into bed and is snoring within minutes.

It gives me the peace to look forward to the morning, when he comes pattering down the hallway with Bear-Bear and blankie in tow, and asks, "Waffle? Juice?" And I always get a hug, always.

And some mornings, every once and a while, there are chocolate doughnuts for breakfast. :)

No-Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

This is not one of my own recipes. I've got to give credit to Southern Living for this one. But make these--they take all of about ten minutes to make. And they yield 3-4 dozen, so there's enough for you to take some to your girlfriends and your co-workers!

You will need:

• 2 cups of granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup of cocoa
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 2 1/2 cups of uncooked oats
• 3/4 cup of creamy peanut butter
• 2 tsp. of vanilla extract

1. Combine sugar, cocoa, butter, and milk in a saucepan; stir well. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil; boil 1 minute.

2. Remove from heat. Stir in oats, peanut butter, and vanilla.

3. Drop dough by spoonfulls onto lightly-greased wax paper. Let cool completely.

---------------

I know what my friends are thinking: "Isn't your husband deathly allergic to peanuts?"

Yes, yes he is. And I thought he wasn't going to be home until 8:00 PM at the earliest. The toddler and I were both licking peanut butter off of spoons and basking in the fact that the entire house smelled like peanut butter right as my husband walked through the door at 6:40.

Oops!

Needless to say, to the toddler's extreme delight, there was much lighting of candles, opening of windows, spraying of Lysol, and turning on of ceiling fans. :)

From Couch Potato To Climbing Everest

source

We were so excited about Memorial Day weekend. I mean so, so, so, so excited. We had plans with friends for each glorious day that involved grilling, swimming, pizza, beer, laying out, popsicles, and anything else that you can group into the Americana-perfect-way-to-spend-a-lazy-sunny-day category.

This weekend was also going to be the calm before the storm. My hubby wasn't on call all weekend, and Tuesday would mark the beginning of four weeks of see-ya-honey-while-you-get-up-at-3:00 AM-and-get-home-at-9:00PM.

You get the picture. We were partying hard and living it up this weekend.

That is until I got a scratchy, sore throat and the toddler had green snot coming out of his nose on the exact same day. That night, the toddler cried like a newborn, and we were up with him off and on until 4:10 AM. I know, because at 4:11 AM, I crawled into a warm bath and clutched tightly to my throat like I was suffocating. It wasn't Strep, I knew, but it was a freaking bad sore throat.

And then, at 7:00AM, came the pounding headache, my snotty nose, and extreme exhaustion coupled with the toddler's 102 fever, sore throat, snotty nose, and extreme exhaustion.

And that's how we were all.weekend.long. No hot dogs smothered in mustard. No hanging out with friends. No cannon balls into the pool.

Nope. It was Kung Fu Panda 2, Despicable Me, Fireman Sam, and Robin Hood when the toddler was awake; and it was too many episodes of Bethenny Ever After and Don't Be Tardy For The Wedding when the toddler was asleep. (Don't judge.)

All weekend long, this is what we did: sat on the couch and watched television. Sorry, James Dobson, I just threw your "no more than 30 minutes of television per day" out the dadgum window. We sat and cuddled and were miserable, while my husband studied and ran out at mealtimes to get food for us. Pathetic, I tell you.

But today is better. We aren't feeling rotten; I just have zero energy.

One of my friends texted me today: "How are y'all feeling today?"

My response: "Pooped. No longer too sick, just no energy. I just went grocery shopping and I feel like I just climbed Everest."

Not kidding. Get me a freaking Sherpa because by the time I got to my car, I was just about shaking.

But I have managed to run a few errands for the toddler's birthday party (insert applause). He acted awful. I looked like a zombie, or a poorly-equipped individual plodding many yards behind a Sherpa (I'm sorry, I'm on the Sherpa metaphor again), but we got some stuff accomplished. Oh, and I discovered Dollar Tree. My life is now complete.

I bet your Memorial Day weekend was tons better than mine, huh? Shut up, I don't want to hear about it. ;)

H2Obsessed

When my husband's family moved to America, they bought a house right down the street from the beach. So my husband grew up loving the water. In fact, whenever it rained, he would grab his galoshes and goggles and run outside to welcome the precipitation with open arms.

It's no surprise to me that my son adores the water because the H20-loving gene is in his DNA. :)

No summer day is complete in this household without some water fun. (And some stripping down in the yard.)

All this time in the sun is bringing out some adorable freckles that I'm completely in love with and cannot kiss enough times during the day. I'm sorry, but freckles are just about the cutest thing in the world to me. And when you put them on my blue-eyed, strawberry-blonde hair, little boy, I.melt.

It doesn't matter if it's a sprinkler, a garden hose, a swimming pool, or a blow-up pool, if you've got water, the toddler is thrilled about it.

All you have to say is one of the magic words: water, floaties, or swimming pool. He's screaming and jumping before you can get the rest of the word out.

It's gunna' be a water-filled summer. And I'm a-okay with that. :)



Taking Steps Backwards

You hear oftentimes about the parent who, in a fit of desperation at 3:15 AM, loads the little one into the car and drives around until the baby falls asleep.

I was never that parent.

Until now.

The toddler believes that now that he's in a big-boy bed, he doesn't have to nap. He can play, scream, talk really loudly, read books, bang on the door. Pretty much anything but nap.

So I have a new system. Yes, I am now that creepy woman who just drove past your house for the third time. Please don't call the cops on me. I've got Jewel's lullabies blaring, the cold air set to 2 in the back, and a slowly-but-surely-winding-down-and-falling-asleep two-year-old angel in the car seat.

Good thing gas is so cheap right now, huh?

I Was Missing My Chauffeur

One thing that you always hear when you're pregnant with your first is: "You won't be able to imagine your life before, without him."

When I was in the middle of Newborn Land, where you teeter precariously on the edge of insanity, and you do cartwheels if you get four hours of sleep, I used to think, "What on earth were those people talking about!?" Of course I could remember life before my two-week-old screaming/pooping/constantly-needing-something child. I could remember relaxing in Mexico, going to parties, being thin, hanging out with friends until 2 AM, getting 10 hours of sleep per night, etc etc.

Okay, you get the picture.

But then, over time, something happens. You think of that fabulous date that you went on, and you can't imagine what you talked about. Didn't you want to jump up and suddenly say, "Wait! We're missing somebody!"

And there you are. You really can't imagine your life before your child. Welcome to Motherhood, pretty much the greatest/most exhausting/most exhilarating/most hilarious/most challenging thing in the world.

My Mother's Day was wonderful. It started off with my hubby telling me to stay in bed, and while I relaxed in bed I could smell breakfast cooking and my sweet son came in just to give me a kiss. Heaven. :)

Then it was time for breakfast in bed. Funny, I don't remember the toddler eating half of it last year!

And then what did I do? I turned on my favorite Pandora station. . .

Dropped this beautiful bath bomb in the tub, and took a long, relaxing bubble bath.

Before we headed out the door, I took some pictures with my little man.

My son is so thoughtful; try not to be jealous. He chauffeured me all around town! He even drove me to lunch and opened my door like a perfect little gentleman! ;)

This afternoon was made even more delightful by the toddler taking a four-hour nap, and I got to enjoy a three-hour nap!

Every day, I thank God for my little boy. He brings more joy into my life than he will ever know. He makes me crack up laughing all the time. And even on those days full of time-outs and spankings and desperate prayers, I love my little Butch Cassidy with every cell in my body.

The blessing of motherhood is indescribable, isn't it?