Sophie's Birthday (Lemon Squares)

We had such a great weekend! For most of the day on Friday, I was preparing for Sophie's Hello Kitty birthday. At about 4:30 our first guest, one of our neighbors came over and started playing with Sophie. This was perfect timing because Sophie was getting really anxious about the party. Eventually, the other 4 girls got there. My dad came and picked up Bo and Reed so us girls could all ride together. We then made our way to the mall for a "food court" dinner, where we met the rest of the family and the boys. The girls were already having so much fun!

At 7:00 we moved on to Build A Bear Workshop where the kids had a blast! We played games, we ran around the store, and we stuffed and dressed our bears, kitties, and rabbits. After a long time at Build A Bear, we headed home for cake, ice cream and presents! Sophie loves each and every one of her friends.

The rest of the night was kind of a blur for me... We headed downstairs to work on some crafts, which I totally enjoyed! I think the girls had fun too.

After crafts and some dancing, we went outside so the girls could jump on the trampoline for a little while. Then we came back in for "Makeovers at Midnight." I don't know what I would have done without Madi and Ashtyn.After the makeovers, I got everyone's sleeping space ready, popped some popcorn, and put in High School Musical. The girls finally got settled down and I think Sophie was the first one to sleep at about 1:30. The rest of the girls dozed off shortly after Sophie. We only had 1 "casualty" of the sleepover. We did have to make a 4:00 AM wake-up call to one of the girls parents to let them know she was ready to come home. I couldn't let the girls sleep too late on Saturday morning because we had to leave at 10:30 for Bo's basketball game.

Sports Update: In Bo and Sophie's basketball league, they don't really keep an official score. BUT... the coaches keep score anyway. Bo's team won and Bo scored 6 points. Sophie's team won too. She didn't score any points, but she played awesome defense and caught a pass and got a shot off. I couldn't believe she actually knew what to do! I played tennis with my brother Lee as my partner on Sunday and we won. This was Lee's first official ALTA match and he was a nervous wreck about it. I couldn't believe how AWESOME he was at tennis. He is pretty athletic and he is pretty tall, so it shouldn't have been that surprising! I would be his partner any day!

Lastly, for Sophie's birthday she requested a Cookie Cake from the mall. Since we were having dessert here, I decided to make some lemon squares too.

I LOVE lemon squares! Here's the recipe:

Lemon Squares

crust:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

3/4 cup butter, very cold, sliced

Filling:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp grated lemon peel

1/3 cup lemon juice

confectioners' sugar

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 X 9 baking pan. For the crust: combine the flour, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and butter slices in a food processor until crumbly. Press evenly into prepared pan and bake for 20-22 minutes. For the Filling: In a separate bowl combine flour and baking powder and set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine the eggs, sugar, lemon peel, and lemon juice. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well. Pour the filling over the baked crust and bake for 26 minutes. When cooled, cut into squares and sift a light coat of confectioners sugar over them before serving.