Lemon Shortbread with a lemon sugar glaze

I have been craving lemon shortbread cookies now for a little while. When I worked at Starbucks there were these little lemon shortbread flower cookies with a glaze on them and for some reason I just can't stop thinking about them lately. So Adam and I gave it a shot. The recipe we used as a base was from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook for plain shortbread, and then we changed it up a bit.

The Shortbread:

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour, plus extra for the counter
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
6 tsp. lemon juice

The Glaze:

confectioner's sugar
lemon juice
Mix together equal parts until desired thickness.



1. Whisk flour and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside. Beat the butter and confectioner's sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-6 min., scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed. Slowly add the lemon juice and mix well. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 sec.

2. Using your hands, press the dough into a ball in the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured counter and knead until it is very smooth, about 3 min. Press the dough into a round disk, then place it on top of a large piece of parchment and roll out into a 9" circle, about 1/2" thick, using a rolling pin.

3. Transfer the dough and parchment to a parchment lined baking sheet. Crimp the edges, then poke all over with a fork, and score into 16 wedges. Refrigerate the dough for 20 min.

4. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 300 degrees. Bake until the shortbread is pale golden brown, 40-45 min, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking.

5. Pour glaze over shortbread making sure the entire cookie is covered. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and using a sharp knife, cut through the scored marks to separate the wedges. Let cool on the baking sheet for 1 hour before serving.




Yes some are missing. We just had to try them last night before they cooled!

Big Girl Bed

A few days ago we switched D's crib into her big girl bed. It was super easy, just take the side off. The first night went great, other than the fact that she fell out within 2 hours of being in bed. And when we went in to check on her, she was flat on her tummy with her arms and legs straight out. Not sure how she managed to fall like that. And then in the morning she was so cute. I went in to get them out of bed, and she would not climb down out of bed. She kept insisting "Picka me up mommy, picka me up!!" So every day has gone very well. Much better than L did when we switched him last year at this time. I use to say that if it wasn't bad to tie him to the bed, I would do it! But last night we heard her fall out of bed again. She just let out a little whimper and went right back to sleep. When we checked on her she looked like this.....

And notice how L and D are sleeping. It is too funny!!

This morning we heard D get up again. She started to cry, and told us that she fell. We let her know that we were coming and when we walked in she had her feet still on the bed, but her face was on the floor. I think she was stuck. Why would you stay like that??? Oh well, she really loves being a big girl now, and it makes mommy sad. No more babies in the crib in this house ever again, and my baby turns 2 in less than a month. Where did the time go???

June calendar

I just realized that I never posted the June calendar. So here it goes!!!!

1-Oscar the grouch birthday play date
2-evening walk at Notre Dame
3-
4-zoo day
5-first Fridays downtown (live music, later shopping)
-donut day!
6-Ft. Wayne zoo
7-banana split day
8-super hero dress up at park
9-evening walk
10-
11-lady bug picnic
-kids 2 and 3 year Dr. appointment
12-garage sale group
-mom's night out
13-daddy and kid fishing trip
-June birthday celebration
14-my kids family birthday party
15-bike play date
16-D's 2nd birthday!!!!!
17-
18-Father's day craft and cookout
19-
20-L's 3rd birthday!!!!!
-Eco fest
21-Father's day
-summer solstice
22- home play date
23- evening walk
24-u-pick berries
25-garage sale set up
26-family garage sale
27-family garage sale
-National backyard camp out day
28-comcast family day at East Race
-free out door concert in the evening
29-zoo
30-evening walk



Did you notice that my kids will be the same age for 4 days??? Yes that is right, I will have two 2 year olds for 4 days! Yikes!!!!!

I post these so if you are looking for fun ideas to do with your kids or mom's groups you can steal our ideas!

Sesame Street Live

These next few posts, the pictures are not very good quality and they are from the beginning of May. The reason is because the kids and I went to Sesame Street Live with my mom and I forgot the digital camera! So I headed to Walgreens and picked up a disposable one. Needless to say I just finished the camera and got it developed.

Sesame Street Live was great! The kids had a blast, Grammy bought them lunch before hand, t-shirts, and a program to remember it by. I picked up some popcorn for all of us to share, and L ate the entire small box himself. He loves popcorn!

The characters during the show. Our seats were pretty close!

L munching on popcorn, and sitting on Grammy's arm rest to see.

D was totally mesmerized! She LOVED it!

Doesn't she look so grown up here???

All Grown up

My little boy is all grown up! We got the trikes out for the first time outside a few days ago, and L rode about 6 feet all by himself! It was crazy! It seems like just yesterday when he was born, and know he is figuring out how to ride his bike all by himself. I guess they really do grow up fast!

Costume Play Date

We had a costume play date that was suppose to take place at a park, but we got rained out and the person bringing the costumes had to cancel, both her boys were sick. So I quickly told everyone to come here and I pulled out our bins full of hat, scarves, and mittens for winter. The kids had a blast! They totally came up with some crazy combinations! I also pulled out capes from the Halloween box. The red cape that L is wearing is from this Halloween, and the yellow cape that D is wearing is actually from L's first Halloween ( he was Robin to Adam's Batman!).

Ice Cream!!

One night 2 weeks ago, Adam decided to take us out for ice cream after dinner. Hurray!!! We never go out for ice cream anymore! He had gotten a Coldstone gift card for his birthday and we found a buy one get one half off coupon in the paper. We were good to go. So now the struggle is what type do we get the kids that we know they will eat. We decided that Adam and the kids would get the oreo explosion or something like that, and I got a latte thing that I added a brownie to. The guy grabs a huge heap of ice cream and exclaims that he is making the three that are the same. Now mind you we ordered the smallest (like it)! The girl working goes to make mine. The way the guy made the 3 they turned out to be the largest size they make (gotta have it), all three of them!!! The kids were super excited about their jug of ice cream. Mine of course was the size I was suppose to get, bummer! D was happy to share her's with us. L on the other hand, we had to keep tricking him so that he wouldn't eat the whole thing. And he could have if we let him, he eats ice cream like his mommy! Adam ate most of his out of his own bowl and then while L was looking away, he switched it. Then when D was looking away we switched hers too. The funniest thing was that I told Adam we should just bring the rest home for later and stick it in the freezer. He insisted that it wouldn't make the trip home (10 min.), and he ate all the rest of the ice cream. When he finished he had the nerve to tell me he didn't feel good. Well, of course you don't feel good you just ate a gallon of ice cream yourself!

Cheap easy dinner

Alright, so this isn't the most fanciest dinner in the world, but it was yummy, cheap, and easy.

I took 2 boxes of Jiffy corn bread mix (like .50 per box) made it following the directions (just adding milk and eggs), and poured that into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Then I sliced 4 hot dogs (.60 a package at Aldi) into 1/2" chunks and pushed those into the cornbread batter standing up. It made a neat line of hot dogs and the corn bread cooked up around it. I just added some green peas (canned because that was what I had in the house, .79) and some fresh fruit for dessert (strawberries on sale 3/$5!).

Super cheap!!! Under $5 for an entire meal! Not bad! The kids even ate all that was on their plate.

Mother's Day

Hope all you mommies out there had a great Mother's day. Mine was spread out over a few days really. It started with the Sunday before, D and I headed out for tea and cookies at the local coffeehouse. It was a tradition that I started last year, that I have special one on one time with each kid for mother's day. We rarely get that special time, so when would be better. D doesn't like chamomile tea! Oh well, then we went for a walk and headed to the library. The Saturday before mother's day, L and I headed to the chocolate cafe for ice tea and ice cream. He picked out superman ice cream in a cone and I had bubble gum. Yummy!! After ice cream we headed over to the big indoor play ground that they have there. On our way out of the candy shop part, L was admiring the lemon heads in a giant glass jar. The lady working there gave him one, and he loved it! Then she gave him a sucker to top it off. This kid was sooooo sugared up! On our way out he ran over to the monkey statue (see pics below).

My mother's day present was a video of Adam singing and playing guitar to one of my favorite songs. It's called "The way I am" by Ingrid Michealson. He did a great job, especially since he only picked up the guitar 3 weeks ago! On the actually day, the kids and I went outside to blow bubbles for awhile. After naps, we headed out to my mom's house for a cook out. It was a very busy weekend, but tons of fun.

That is until the kids didn't go to bed until 3 am Sunday night. But that's another story!

L and the monkey statue. He said he was holding him up!

Fist bump!

On the swing on the porch blowing bubbles.

messy bubbles!

Free 8x10 from Walgreens

If you have a Walgreens photo account, tomorrow is free 8x10 day. Just enter in the coupon code MOTHER and you can get 1 free 8x10! Share with all your friends. Just another great idea for a free mother's day gift.

Free crafts

This week at Michael's craft stores they are hosting a free craft event everyday for Mother's day. So dads out there, please take your kids so they can make mom a free gift for mother's day. She will love it, I promise!!!


Check it all out here

Answers to Adam's birthday crossword puzzle

So to all of you that don't know us in real life this post is going to be confusing. But for all of you that do know us, you may already know these answers. I made Adam, with the help of our friends and family, a crossword puzzle that has clues that spans his entire 30 years. It was a ton of fun, and he really enjoyed it. So here are the answers....

Across
3.cowboy boots
4.hooch
8.simon stimpson
10.sandals
11. potato
12. prep master
15.fully functional
19.breathing
20. dauphin island
22.mustache top hat
23.popeye
24.remus
26.fewer
29.staple
30.colman clark
31.gatlinburg
33.voss
34.finger
37.smile
39. rainbow bright
42.highlander
43.navy pier
44.blue
47.morphine
50. pumpkin
54.haycrafts
56.frommage
57.boots
58.assiram
59.hoot
60.sanctuary
61.cable


Down
1. bob the builder
2. bosco
5. banana
6.you
7.claytons
9.station wagon
13.enter the dragon
14.tiberius
16.lincoln logs
17.max johnson
18.shower
21.fists of fury
22.mumbles
25.hal higdon
27.earthworm jim
28.belt
32.goldie hawn
35.pool
36.charlie
39.bailing hay
40.thumb
41.hair cut
45.pensacola
46.apples
48.scotland
49.biscuit
51.indy
52.karnov
53.tuesday
55.miagia