Watching the G Girls

It's Summer & Alisa often has photography opportunities with Ashley, Pinky.  Why not?  Drop the girls off at Gma & Gpa's.  They'll keep them busy, right?

Well of course it's craft time!  Had Nysa bring the box of crafting/watercolor supplies that we gave her for her 11th birthday last Sunday.  I broke out their little booklets that they made last time they came over & gave them the assignment of writing  What does Summer mean to you...  They completed that and then cut up index prints to glue into their books.  I just got a Canon Selphy Printer & can print multiple pictures on one 4x6 inch=1, 2, 4, 8, 20, 30 (index).  I'm having so much fun!

So when Celina came over on Saturday, she brought a bag of goodies: Tim Tam, two kinds of Cadbury chocolate treats for Gramma's School (I didn't know Cadbury is made in Australia), a fun set of "retirement dice" and a bag of fabric sample swatches from her other niece Michelle.

Sorted out the swatches and after our spaghetti lunch, I decided to sew six of the swatches together to make a bag.  Each swatch had an grommet from whence the swatches were connected.  The edges were pinked and as I pondered out loud whether to fold the top down and add a handle, Kwyn--the 5 year old said she liked the unfinished edge and why don't I put something in the holes.  Used cable cord and voila--she loved it!  Then I had to make two more...  I let them pick out their prints and what order they wanted.  Pleased with how they turned out.  USE WHAT YOU HAVE.

Sew Blessed & Grateful

Celina's Visit and Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping

My classmate, friend, maid-of-honor Celina is here visiting from Australia.  Her niece arranged for her travel for her dad's (Celina's brother) birthday.  She found some time that worked out for the both of us on Saturday morning.  She suggested Starbucks and I thought to make some Blueberry Muffins & bring the Starbucks home.

Here's the recipe from Cynthia Won.  I've tweeked it with a crumble topping from The Pioneer Woman's Pear-Cinnamon Crisp.  It is ever so yummy.

2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 3/4 cup sifted flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries (I use frozen, found it cheaper at Costco)
1 tablespoon flour

Cream butter and sugar.  Add milk and egg and beat until smooth.  Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to creamed mixture.  Mix until moistened.

Toss blueberries with flour and fold into batter.  Fill a well-greased muffin pan 2/3 full with the batter.

Topping ingredients for 9x13 pear crisp (I halve the recipe)
1 1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cu pecans, finely chopped
1 stick butter, melted
Stir with fork until combined and sprinkle evenly over the 12 muffins.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.  Smear with even more butter and enjoy!

Store leftover muffins if there are any uncovered in the refrigerator.  If stored in covered container, the crumb loses its crunch.

No photo :( on computer--it's on the phone or ipad mini.  Next challenge is to figure out how to add to post.

So we had a lovely visit, got caught up & talked about writing:family history, thoughts, what we've learned and decided we'd share with each other what we do.

this was taken at Main Street Station at our 45th Class Reunion in Las Vegas 10/14.