Lemon Poppy-seed Cake

This lemon poppy-seed cake is delicious!  Here is the recipe:

Cake:

2 sticks of butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

3 large eggs

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 lemon

2 TBSP poppy seeds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a Bundt pan
2. Beat butter and sugar until creamy
3. Beat in the sour cream
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
5. Mix in the baking soda and salt
6. Stir in the flour
7. Grate the rind of the lemon into the batter and then cut the lemon in half crosswise and juice one half into the mixing bowl - be careful not to let any seeds fall in!
8. Stir in the poppy seeds
9. Pour the batter into greased pan, and bake until the cake is set and the top is light golden brown, about 40-45 minutes.  Do not overbake!

While the cake is baking, make the glaze.  Here is the recipe:

2 cups confectioners' sugar

4 TBSP melted butter

1 lemon

1. Put the sugar in a small bowl and add the melted butter
2. Grate in the rind of the lemon
3. Cut the lemon in half crosswise and gradually juice in both halves, stirring the whole time.  Watch out for those seeds!  Continue to add juice until creamy and smooth.

When the cake is done baking, allow to cool for 30 minutes.  Turn the cake out onto a serving plate and spread the glaze evenly over the top, allowing it to drip down over the sides.  

I found this recipe in a local newspaper a few years ago.  It is a Dave Lieberman recipe and it is SOOOO good!  I always get a lot of compliments when I make it and people always ask for the recipe.  You should try it, you'll love it!  It's a perfect spring recipe.  I made it recently for a political function and then again for Mother's Day.  It never lasts long!

Hanging Up the Laundry

Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash by Sarah Weeks is a silly book that we love to read over and over again.  If you are not familiar with Mrs. McNosh, she hangs up everything within her reach when she is hanging up her wash - the mail, the dog, false teeth, a turkey, and more! 

R glued a piece of yarn to a blue piece of construction paper and we used glue dots to attach a few clothespins.  R found some stickers of silly things to hang on the clothes line, and then she drew a picture of Mrs. McNosh.

R hung up a dog, a piece of candy, a turkey, and a turtle!

I then had her continue the pattern of clothespins until she used all of them.

Do you do any fun learning activities with clothespins?

Wormy

All three of my children were playing outside today when C came running to find me in the house. 

"Mom, MOOOOOOOM, I FOUND A WORM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Take a picture!"

So, meet Wormy:

Kentucky Cardinals

We are currently learning about the state of Kentucky for our Fifty States Project.  For each state, we learn a little about an animal, insect, etc. from the state.  The Cardinal is the state bird of Kentucky.  You can find printable bird coloring pages by clicking here.

C and R colored the legs, beaks, and eyes and then glued torn construction paper on the rest of the bird.

Happy Mother's Day!

C learned about Pablo Picasso in school, and studied his work of art titled, "Posies".  He then drew flowers and used watercolors to paint them.  He traced and cut out his hand prints, and added them to his picture.  This was one of my Mother's Day presents.  I LOVE IT!  Don't you?

R gave me a magnetic frame with a beautiful picture of herself holding flowers.

They also made me beautiful cards:

T, C, and R also went shopping with Daddy and gave me some wonderful presents!

We spent the day at home with family, and it was a fantastic day!  I hope you had a wonderful day too!

Cookie Moons

We love reading The Moon Might Be Milk by Lisa Shulman.  The main character is a young girl named Rosie who wants to know what the moon is made of.  Rosie's animal friends have different ideas about what the moon is made of, but Gran knows best.  She uses ingredients to bake Rosie and her animal friends some cookie moons. 

We made sugar cookie moons following the recipe that is included in the back of the book.  The cookies were delicious!

*I want to thank Natalie from Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns for writing about this book on her blog. 

We Have a Winner

Random.org generated the number 45 as the winner of the CSN gift certificate.  The 45th comment was left by The Mom I Want to Be who blogs at Giving Up On A Clean House.  Congratulations!