Lemon Meringue Cookies

Good thing these are a pain to make, otherwise I'd be a lot fatter.

J calls them egg cookies since they look like raw eggs.

Lemon Meringue Cookies

Cookie:

2/3 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 unbeaten egg

2 c. flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Meringue:

3 egg whites

3/4 c. sugar

2 tsp. lemon juice

Lemon Filling:

1 c. sugar

1/4 c. lemon juice

1 tsp. lemon rind (optional)

3 slightly beaten egg yolks

3 tbsp. butter

Cookie Dough:

Cream butter; gradually add brown sugar and cream well. Add vanilla and egg and beat well. Sift together flour, soda and salt and add gradually to creamed mixture; mix well. Chill for about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, prepare lemon filling, then meringue. Shape chilled dough into balls, using a level tsp. for each. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and flatten with greased and floured glass bottom. Place a rounded tsp. of meringue on each cookie. Form a hollow in each with a tsp. dipped into cold water. Bake at 300 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until meringue is cream colored. Remove from baking sheets and cool. Fill hollow in top of each with 1/2 tsp Lemon filling.

Meringue:

Beat egg whites until slight mounds form. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition. Continue eating until meringue stands in stiff, glassy peaks. Blend in lemon juice and beat.

Lemon Filling:

Put all Lemon Filling ingredients but butter in a saucepan and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add butter. Cool thoroughly.

He Said, She Said

He calls it Wolverine, I call it White Trash...

The Princess Report

Heaven help us, she discovered Barbies and high heels yesterday.

My New Stress Ball

About a month ago, February 21st to be exact, I was sitting in church and noticed that my knee felt bruised. I figured I must have just been a clutz again. Later that night, while changing, I looked at my knee and was shocked at how swollen it was. I iced it several times a day for a couple days, but since we had our Great Wolf trip that week I didn't worry about seeing the doctor. My knee was super hot to the touch and even wearing pants the first couple days really hurt. Luckily the cool water at Great Wolf must have been helpful because it was significantly better after our trip. It continued to shrink for a few days, but since then it has stayed about the size of a ping pong ball. Right now it only hurts when I kneel on it. It is sickly fun to squish it. It does feel just like I'm kneeling on a stress ball. I almost went to the doctor, but between being tired of doctor's visits and saving up for Lasik I've decided to give it some more time. I'm pretty sure it is something called prepatellar bursitis. I have no idea what caused it in the first place besides the fact my knee is cursed.

I'm not sure how well this picture shows it, but you can see a bit of a bulge on my knee cap. I imagine if it goes on for too long I'll probably have to go get it drained.

Laughter

Last night as I was working on the computer I heard a lot of thunking above my head. I figured Loofa was probably up there stumbling around, trying to find the bathroom. When it went on for a few minutes I finally decided to go up there and see what was going on. He was in bed when I opened the door, but he was making this strange noise. I couldn't tell if he was laughing or crying. I was pretty sure it was laughter, but it took me a few minutes to be certain. I marched him into the bathroom, since sleepwalking in the past has been a sure indicator of that need. He continued to laugh through the bathroom visit. When he finished he immediately headed downstairs (with a few chuckles thrown in) as if he had somewhere to be. He climbed up on the couch next to Jacob, curled up and fell right back asleep. I wish I knew what he was dreaming.

I'm Dancing Mom!

Last week, Loofa asked to watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. While he was waiting for the good part to start Fefe had a great time. When Willie came out she exlaimed "Look mom, it's a princess!" When she started dancing I whipped out my handy dandy iphone and captured this footage. Make sure have your volume turned up.

Pretty in Pink

Backdrops

I bought some bulletin board paper from Michael's to test out as backgrounds. It turned out to be too shiny, but it gave me some more ideas. When I have a stretch of good weather I'm planning to dye my own backdrop. I have a website that shows how to do it and it doesn't look too bad. We'll see how it turns out. I'm excited to try out something more than the white and black I've been doing previously.

There were a lot of bunny ears in these pictures.

I figured out how to get Loofa to smile in a non-goofy way. Just tease him and try to snap a shot quickly.

Ephant's best friend.

A Fun Filled Birthday Week

As previously mentioned, Ephant had her 10th birthday party on the 13th. Today was her birthday and since it is Sunday we had to spread some of the birthday tradition out. Last night we took her to Red Robin for her birthday burger. I've never seen someone enjoy being sung to at Red Robin as much as her. She loved it! I wish I had video of her while they were singing.

She's reached a transitional age where toys really aren't very appropriate anymore. It was a bit of a shift to try and figure out what to get her for her birthday. She finally has a camera, although not the highest megapixels, it should keep her happy for awhile.

Now Ephant is finally old enough to babysit. Yay!

Distraction

In order to distract myself from the crushing blow to democracy and all we hold dear I'd thought I'd update my blog.

It's been awhile, but here are some highlights:

The third week of February we took off to The Great Wolf Lodge again. We had an even more fabulous trip this time around. Loofa was old enough to really enjoy himself. We still had to keep an eye on him, but not a death grip as with Fefe. He was big enough to ride every slide except the Howling Tornado. Thankfully, the kids enjoyed the hot tub as much as we do. Uncle S and Aunt C joined as well in order to double our fun. Sadly, Aunt C lost her wedding ring on the last day. Let this be a warning to all sis-in-laws, I now officially declare this a curse. Better super glue your rings to your fingers. Ephant and Brother B were able to run around and do whatever they wanted, we both enjoyed that freedom. They also became Master Magi's after completing the Magi Quest Adventures. Loofa can't wait till the next time we go so he can do it too. We only had one major problem while we were there. Fefe woke up at 1am the last night coughing, crying and barely able to breath. The poor kid had croup. I took her outside and walked her around for a few minutes. Once she calmed down her breathing got well enough to sleep. We put her in bed with us. It was a pretty restless night though because we were so worried about her. I was able to get her into the doctor as soon as we got back to get some steroids. We all slept pretty deep that night.

Fefe was very excited to wear a swim suit, she just forgot to put on the right one.

In February I also took Ephant and Brother B to see Percy Jackson. Ephant is utterly obsessed with that book. She sure learned alot of Greek mythology. I'm glad she enjoys reading. I did like those books, the movie wasn't all that great in comparison.

The beginning of March was pretty heavy duty stress for me. The first Wednesday the kids had their school concert. It would have been fine if I hadn't had to play single parent that night, but I almost lost it. It was one of those nights where I just had to shut myself in my room and ignore everyone. This was all because of how stressed out I was about the Relief Society Birthday dinner the following night. I had to make pulled pork for the dinner in a roaster. I usually do it in a crockpot so I was nervous it wouldn't turn out. My worst fears came true the next morning when I realized that pork that was supposed to be cooking all night was not cooking! The roaster I had borrowed was broken. So I called Aunt J really fast and arranged to get her other roaster. Luckily this one worked, but I had lost 12 hours of slow cooking time. I ended up having to really crank it up towards the end and it barely finished in time. So much for slow cooked. It still tasted delicious and I got plenty of compliments. We had a talent night theme and it was pretty cool to see what everyone brought. I bought a bunch of birthday balloons from the Dollar Store for decor. Fefe thought they were great.

Fefe's favorite show: Wubbzy

Three days later I had to teach in Relief Society. Thankfully I was blessed with a low stress level on that one. I think my body had reached it's absolute quota of what stress it could handle at that point. My best friend even surprised me and showed up for my lesson.

The craziness was not fully done with the completion of my lesson. Ephant had her 10th birthday party on the 13th. This required some planning and a lot of shopping. I had told her she could invite as many friends as she wanted. Word of advice, do not do that! It wasn't terrible, but it was definitely more of a crowd than I'm really comfortable with. She had a great time though and really enjoyed being the center of attention.

We had a wonderful visit with my Uncle and Aunt from Georgia about a week ago. They were out here for work so they dropped by for dinner and a chat. We don't get to see them too often so it was great to talk. We sure miss them.

Thankfully this last week was quite a bit slower. We have spring break this week and have quite a bit planned to do, including a trip up to Mt. St. Helens.

How Superman should have ended

How Terminator should have ended