{Recipe} Lemon Layer Delight

Filed Under: Recipes

Jul52012

This recipe is quickly becoming my favorite summer time dessert. It’s not a super quick recipe to make, but it is worth every single minute!

Some of my very favorite recipes are the ones that are passed down in church cookbooks and Junior League cookbooks. My Aunt Johnette gave this recipe to my mom and we made it at the beach a few weeks ago.

And we had it again yesterday for the 4th of July.

There are a few steps involved and little boys love to lick the beaters in between the steps!

This dessert is served cold and has four layers. So the recipe is organized by the layers.

Lemon Layer Delight!

Crust (bottom layer)

1 cup flour

1 stick melted butter

1 cup finely chopped pecans

Directions: Mix well and spread in a 9 1/2 x 13 baking dish and bake at 350 degree for 30 minutes or until slightly browned. Let the crust set out and cool completely.

Layer #1

1 cup Cool Whip

1 8 oz package of cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

Directions: Mix well and spread over the cooled crust.

Layer #2

2 egg yolks

Juice of 2 lemons

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

Directions: Stir together and pour over the first layer.

Layer #3

Top with a container of Cool Whip (or real whipped cream, as we prefer!) and garnish if you like. Refrigerate until you’re ready to eat!

Note: There are raw egg yolks in this recipe. I Googled some options for a substitute and didn’t really see anything that would work other than heavy cream. But unless you or a guest has a raw egg allergy it is fine. Just make sure you buy pasteurized eggs for this recipe.

You can fix this recipe with different flavors for the filling, but I love the lemon in the summer time. I’ve had it with chocolate a lot, too, and that’s also a crowd pleaser.

I just love garnishing with sliced lemons and lemon zest.

let freedom ring!

Filed Under: Every Day

Jul52012

We had a wonderful day celebrating our nation’s independence. The only thing that would have made it better is if Todd had been with us. It was just a great day of time with family, relaxing, and eating great food!

My mom and I fixed a big breakfast and then we just kind of chilled out. Hudson is still potty training (and things are going really, really well!), so we’ve been staying close to the house. I’m so happy I decided to potty train while we’re visiting my parents. Having an extra set of hands to occupy Hayes has been so great.

Hudson ran around my parents’ yard and played in the sprinkler and ate some watermelon. Does anything say summer time better than running through the sprinklers in your underwear while eating some watermelon?

Then Hudson wanted to play in the big baby pool in the backyard, so we got that all set up for him. It was a little cold, but he had a good time. My dad and I sat out there with him.

Hudson is so funny right now. He is very, very spirited and is constantly talking. He is always either asking questions or just providing commentary on stuff. Our biggest issue in the 3 year old stage is the back-talking. I know that this is payback for the way I behaved growing up.

But he is also so, so sweet. He explains things very well and is so tender-hearted. His little feelings get hurt so easily, so I always do my best to explain to him why he is in trouble or why I can’t pick him up and hold him right that second. I just love him so much!

On Monday, we were flipping channels on the TV and came across White Fang the movie. I remember seeing it in the theater as a kid and just crying my eyes out. But Hudson wanted to watch the wolves, so we watched it. He didn’t move for the whole movie. He absolutely loved it. So, of course, we have watched in 5 times in three days. When he came in from swimming today, he wanted to lie down on the floor and watch White Fang again.

After an amazing home cooked lunch by my mom (seriously amazing!), the boys went down for long afternoon naps and my parents and I all got a nap, too. It was glorious. When we woke up, we got everyone fed again and got dressed to go watch the fireworks in Muncie.

The boys wore adorable outfits from my friend She She Made and I wore a red and white striped tank from Blithe Boutique

We had to go a couple of hours before the fireworks started, so I was worried that the boys would be so tired and so bored before the fireworks began. But they really did great. It helped that they had late naps and they had lots to entertain them. Hudson loves to play games on the iPhone.

And Hayes just kind of toddled around our little area and smiled at everyone. I couldn’t believe that he stuck it out for so long.

And both boys loved the fireworks. Hudson went bananas went they started going off. He could not stop laughing! He was dancing around and just laughing. I couldn’t believe how excited he got.

And I fully expected Hayes to get upset over the loud noise, but he just sat and looked up at the sky the whole time. I was so excited that they both loved it so much.

I hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful holiday! I have a delicious summer dessert recipe to share with y’all later!

my fuel

Filed Under: Faith

Jul32012

I have been so incredibly blessed by the “Living the Surrendered Life” devotional as a part of #SheReadsTruth. Every single day, this devotional speaks to me and challenges me. Yesterday’s devotion about mercy about knocked me over. I haven’t ever been much of a grudge holder, but I do struggle in some areas with showing mercy and grace to people that hurt me. But if I stop and think about someone’s intentions, my feelings change. Because I truly don’t think that people set out to hurt or disappoint others. If you haven’t read yesterday’s entry yet, I encourage you to get on that! If God can show me mercy every single day, can’t I show it to the people in my life?

Moving right along…

This morning, the devotion is about taking care of ourselves. The fuel that we need for our bodies, our minds, our hearts, our spirituality, our mental well-being. It’s the brain fuel and the physical fuel. The emotional and spiritual fuel.

It’s so hard to always be putting so many people and responsibilities ahead of our simplest needs. Because our needs are pretty simple, right? It may just be the need to get a shower and put on makeup every day.

And if those needs aren’t met, I know that after a few days I start to shut down. Things don’t get done. I want to go to bed as soon as the kids go to bed because I’m just wiped out. I become overwhelmed. When I don’t take the time (or make the time) to take care of myself in the ways that I need it, it gets harder and harder for me to take care of my people. And all I really ever want is to take care of my people and give them the very best of me.

So, in today’s #SheReadsTruth, we’re asked to spend some time making a plan of how we’ll take care of our needs so we can better take care of the needs of our people.

So what are my needs? What fuel do I need? Besides coffee, of course.

Exercise. I feel better when I exercise. I don’t love doing it, but I go to bed feeling better physically and feeling better about myself.
Quiet time with the Lord. I really just need fifteen quiet minutes alone.
A good meal with my family every night. And this requires me building in the time to get that done for me and for them.
Outside time with my family. Even if we just go on a walk.
An opportunity to write every day.

I always feel better when my whole to-do list gets done, but I know that’s not always possible. But my fuel is so important to my daily mental and physical health. I need time with the Lord. I need exercise. I feel better when I know I’ve fed my family well. We all feel better when we’ve been outside and I prefer if we all do it together before my kids are old enough not to want to spend time with me.

And I need to write. I feel better when I write and I feel like my day was incomplete if I go to bed without writing.

It’s not always possible to take care of all of my “fuel” before I take care of my people. But I try to do some of it. Because if the whole day goes by and I haven’t taken any time to take care of myself, I just feel completely wiped out and lost.

What fuels you every day?

Hayes's Noggin – Part 2 {doc band results}

Filed Under: doc band, Hayes

Jul22012

Back in February, we visited Cranial Technologies for the first time in Charlotte. We had been referred there by our pediatrician to look into correcting Hayes’s head shape. For the most part this was a completely cosmetic issue, but because Hayes is a boy, we thought he’d appreciate us doing everything we could to help him with this.

These are some pictures that I took of his profile around Christmas time

Hayes loved to sit up and try to crawl. When he was awake he was never flat on his back. But when he slept, he slept directly on the back of his head. He never moved and rarely turned his head. It wasn’t until after he got the doc band that he started sleeping on his stomach.

Our visits to Cranial Technologies were very pleasant and I’m so thankful that we went ahead with the process. About a week after we decided to go forward with getting the doc band, Todd’s firm was bought by a much larger firm, and we switched insurance providers. Our previous insurance provider denied coverage for the doc band. And the new provider accepted it. We didn’t pay a dime.

We didn’t know this when we decided to go forward with the doc band for Hayes, but we did take a big leap of faith. We are so happy that it was covered. But we are even happier that we did this for Hayes. The results are just remarkable.

I’ve said before that we only a couple of instances with children staring or talking about him, which were, of course, more hurtful to me than to Hayes. And the only “issue” Hayes had was that he’d get hot occasionally and get some minor heat rash.

We went for our “graduation” appointment the other day and Hayes had the same pictures taken that he had at his very first consultation. He got a little certificate and we got to bring home his doc band (never to wear it again) and the actual size mold of Hayes’s head from the beginning of the process.

I shared this whole process because I want other mothers who have to make this decision to know that someone else has gone through it. I was so very thankful for the friends and readers who shared their experiences with me. I also wanted to help “educate” anyone who wasn’t familiar with this process and treatment.

So the before and after pictures. We are so excited about the results and Hayes will never know the difference. The “before” photos were taken in February, about two months after the pictures I posted above. I can tell that once he started crawling, his head started rounding out more just on its own.

And the “after” pictures were taken two weeks ago. I think the changes are just remarkable!

Bless his little heart. The look on his face in both of these pictures just makes me laugh. But here I can see how his facial symmetry corrected, especially in his cheeks and ears.

In this picture, you can see how his head grew longer from front to back where it had been wider and more round before.

And in this angle, his face is less wide and grew “back,” bringing his cheeks into a more symmetrical place.

So, those are the results. We’re really pleased with them. It took a bit of courage for me to post these and I pray that any comments will be kind toward my baby boy.

I am happy to answer any questions about the process! We’re just thankful for a good experience and glad that the last four months went by so quickly.

Some other posts to check out:

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