Family Food Faves

Strawberry shortcake is my all-time favorite dessert. In my opinion, it is best made with warm shortcake, lots of strawberries, vanilla ice cream and a dollop of homemade whipped cream on top! My mother-in-law and I both wanted homemade strawberry shortcake for our birthday dessert but I was too lazy to make it. Jimmy had an awesome suggestion - homemade lemon cake topped with fresh strawberries. The lemon-strawberry combination sounded so tasty, so I took a little help from the store!

Lemony Strawberry Shortcake
Lemon Creme Cake (I bought it pre-sliced in the Wal-Mart Bakery - it looks like pound cake)
Fresh strawberries, sliced, with just a sprinkle of sugar to help make them juicy
Vanilla ice cream (the good kind, like Breyer's homemade vanilla)

In a bowl, simply top a piece (or 2) of sliced lemon cake with a heaping spoonful of strawberries and a scoop of ice cream. Oh so good and NO BAKING REQUIRED!


If you prefer to make your cake from scratch, this is a really yummy recipe from Barefoot Contessa.

Lemon Cakes

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6 to 8 large lemons)
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided
3/4 cup buttermilk,
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the glaze:
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour 2 (8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch) loaf pans. You may also line the bottom with parchment paper, if desired.
Cream the butter and 2 cups granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, and the lemon zest.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, the buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.
Combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. When the cakes are done, allow to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans and set them on a rack set over a tray or sheet pan; spoon the lemon syrup over them. Allow the cakes to cool completely.
For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and the lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over the tops of the cakes and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.

Musical Cribs!

How ironic. Yesterday, I blog about my sweet, sleeping babies. Today, I'm ready to pull my hair out, cry and scream...because the babies are not sleeping!

If someone were to ask me what the hardest part of having twins is, my answer would be (besides my pregnancy) one word. SLEEP! It seems like every few months, we go through a new phase. We are in the "I don't want to sleep, it's more fun to climb in and out our cribs and do what we want phase!"

My boys, of course, are TOTALLY different.

When it comes to sleep, Bryce probably is more like me. We love it! Once we go through "the nite-nite routine" with him, he typically lays on his pillow and falls right to sleep. If he struggles to fall asleep immediately, it's usually because his crazy brother is talking, jumping or doing something loud to keep him awake!

Drew, on the other hand, is more like Jimmy. He just won't give up! He doesn't want to miss out on anything! The funny thing is he likes his naps and often sleeps in later than Bryce in the mornings, but it's a struggle to get him to finally fall asleep. He is smart enough to realize that if he gives into a nap, he's going to miss out on fun play time. So, he finds every excuse in the book to stay up. "Mommy, eat!" "Mommy, Micky Mouse!" "Mommy, book!" etc, etc, etc! He has become quite manipulative. So, for the past 2 weeks, to prove that he IS NOT going to sleep, he has been crawling out of his crib at nap time. In the beginning, it would usually occur after Bryce had fallen asleep so thankfully Bryce wasn't witnessing his brother's disobedience! As frustrated as I was with Drew, I would take advantage of our time together, feed him a snack, read him a book and then he would ultimately fall asleep, on HIS time frame!

A few days before our trip to KC, Bryce was not quite ready for his nap. I had put the boys to bed but could hear the typical chatter and giggles from the baby monitor. Then it got louder. Then I hear a CRASH! BANG! WAAH! Bryce had watched his little brother crawl ever so effortlessly out of his crib so he thought he could give it a try and landed on his head... not once, but twice!

Now I've got to do something. It's turned into a huge safety issue.

So, the next day, I drive 3 hours to the big city in search of these crib tents.My cousin Marcy's little boy Dane has one and loves it. I was thrilled to find them on clearance at Toys R Us and felt so relieved that I could keep the boys zipped up and safe for many more months in their cribs. But of course, my luck, they don't fit the boys' 3-in-1 cribs...ARGH! Drew slept in Dane's crib while we were in KC and loved the tent. He would say, "Mommy, zip tent, pwease!"

Yesterday, I put the boys down for their nap. I started my usual afternoon cleanup and listened to them chatting and laughing on the monitor. It sounded like they were scheming up a plan. Well... they were! When I went to check on them, Drew had climbed into Bryce's crib and they were playing ever so nicely together. I separated them, told them to stay in their own cribs and walked out. The next time I went in, they had both climbed out of their cribs and were playing with their bedroom toys, as if it was just regular ole playtime! They got a swat and put back to bed. Things got really quiet on the monitor so I knew something was up. This time I went in to find Bryce in Drew's crib and Drew in Bryce's crib - with big smiles on their faces! They each got a timeout and put back to bed. The fourth time I went in to find them both in the same crib again! I was so FURIOUS! Are they NOT understanding me? Don't they know how much I need to get done during their 2 hour nap? Don't they know how precious naps really are?

Instead of reacting to my anger I just stood there with my arms crossed with a scowl on my face. You know the one I'm talking about. The very same one our mother's had on their faces when we did something wrong!

Bryce said, "Oh, Mommy's angwy! Dew, Mommy's angwy. Oh no, Mommy's angwy!" Pretty smart boy, I thought to myself.

Even with "timeouts" and spankings, the games continued for quite awhile longer. They thought it was so funny and didn't really mind the discipline, so I finally just had to separate them. I put Bryce in my bed and he immediately fell asleep. Imagine that! Drew stayed up another hour before falling asleep. Needless to say, I got nothing accomplished during nap time!

Sleeping Babies

My blogger friend Katie, who is also a mom of twin boys, did a cute blog the other day. She posted some of her favorite pics of her babies sleeping. Of course, after I saw the sweet pics of her boys I had to look through our ginormous library of pics and add my faves. It was too hard to just choose a few so here's a little walk down baby-lane!























To all of my other blogging friends, I would love to see pics of your itty bitties. Get to posting!

4th of July in Kansas City

We had an awesome few days with my cousin and her family in Kansas City. It was an extra treat to be able to spend time with my Aunt and Uncle who were also visiting from California. We are so thankful Bryce and Drew like to travel. They did not make a peep on the 5 hour drive to or from Kansas City!

(Trey - 12, Marcy, Uncle Chuck, Aunt Diane, Ellie - 10 w/Bryce, Dane - 2, Me, Jimmy w/ Drew and Cy - almost 5)
Marcy's children are all so fun to be with. They are each so unique and special! My boys love playing with all of them and the attention they receive! Trey and Ellie are especially sweet and attentive with Bryce and Drew.



Sweet little boys!
Drew

Cy

Dane

Bryce

On the 4th we had a blast at the water fountains in downtown KC.





After playing at the fountains we went to The T-Rex Cafe - a really cool dinsosaur- themed restaurant. We went there at Christmas time when we were visiting and my boys had a blast, so we had to go back!



That evening we went to the local park for their fireworks show. We sat in the back of their pickup and in lawn chairs and enjoyed an awesome view of the show!




My boys have never seen fireworks before so it was a pretty amazing sight and sound for them! They clapped and yelled and threw their hands in the air after each one went off! The little boys were so cute playing together, eating their popcorn and going crazy!


My cousin Marcy is just 3 weeks older than me. We both lived in Washington state growing up and were like sisters. We used to plan that as adults we would marry, live next door to one another and raise our same-age kids together. Our husbands both have careers that have moved us around the country so it was pretty amazing that we ended up relocating just 5 hours away! She had 3 children and was pregnant with her 4th before I even got pregnant so it was an added bonus when I got pregnant just a few months later. And how cool that we have 3 boys, just 3 months apart!

We have thorouhgly enjoyed spending time with Marcy and her family over the past 2 years and are so sad that they are relocating to the Chicago area. We will be praying that your move goes smoothly. Thank you for having us this weekend and for your hospitality. Uncle Chuck and Auntie Di, it was great seeing you both. Thank you for loving us and our boys! We love YOU ALL and will miss you being so close!

Happy 4th Of July!

We are driving to Kansas City today to visit my cousin and her family. My Aunt and Uncle are also there visiting from California so it will be a fun, family-filled weekend.

Hope you all have a safe and fun holiday with your family and friends too!