Almost Perfect

Leia wanted to bake today

so we tried our hand 

at cinnamon rolls 

for the first time. 

Delicious!

We’ll probably try a different recipe next time.

These were almost, but not quite, perfect.

Didn’t stop us from eating them though. 

Baking Day

My plan for today was a leisurely afternoon 

baking bread with Jackie

for the first time

while Leanne worked on making her first bowl without Pop’s supervision.

Leanne finished more quickly than expected

and wanted to make pretzel bites - 

using a new recipe for the air fryer - 

and just like that my “leisurely” 

became a juggling act of over-boiling pots

and rising dough timers. 

The good? The pretzels and bread were delicious,

 and the handmade, stoneware baking dish I bought on Etsy from a cousin worked perfectly. 

The bad? Cooking pretzel bites eight at a time in an air fryer takes forEVER. Definitely using the oven next time. 

Chocolate!

In addition to pottery sessions, the big girls and I have been baking each day. 

Leia doesn’t like fruity/sour things, 

so when we talk about our next project, her vote always goes to chocolate. 

Leanne likes most anything sweet, so she’s much easier to please. 

Since I’m a chocolate fan too, that’s what we’ve concentrated on this week,

starting with lava cakes on Wednesday

and mini-chocolate soufflés today. (This recipe)

The girls (me too!) prefer semi-sweet chocolate so we switched out the bittersweet called for in the recipe. 

Genius move - it was sooooooo good. Tomorrow I’m thinking we’ll make a chili rellano quiche (for meeeeeee) - Leanne will enjoy rolling out the pie crust - and a batch of peasant bread, which is easy enough that Jackie can help.

And now a word from our sponsor:

The past two days activity made possible by this guy’s 3-hour naps. Yay, Donovan!

Leia’s Turn

Today was Leia’s turn on the pottery wheel.

Pop showed her how to condition her clay 

before sitting her down at the wheel.

Needless to say, she loved it,

 Wonky bit removed

even after her first project went wonky.

Pop showed her how to refashion it, just a teeny bit smaller than before, and all was well again.

And while Leia played on the wheel, Leanne made another bowl with modeling clay.

Both projects will need to dry for a day or two before painting happens. Stay tuned . . .

Paint Girls

Leanne’s first bowl had dried sufficiently that she was able to paint it today. 

She knew exactly how she wanted to finish it too.

Such a cute little watermelon.   

Because she’s a good big sister - 

and probably to get Jac to leave her alone for 30 seconds - 

Leanne set Jac up to do her own painting. 

And when I asked to take pictures of her pictures,

Jac put on quite a show. 

“Just one more picture, Granma!”

I’m really, really going to miss this silliness when she gets older. 

Fancy

“Grandma, put all them in my hair so they will call me Fancy Jackie”

(She has 4 sparkly barrettes in there and wanted more) 😂💕

Double Duty

When is a ping pong table not a ping pong table?

When Pop allows the little girls to climb up 

and use it as a super fun, crafty play zone. 

While Leanne concentrated on building a mechanical, wooden Pegasus,

and throwing 

her first bowl

on the pottery wheel, 

Jac practiced being tall. (She couldn’t believe she was actually allowed to stand.on.the.table. Such excitement!)