Stuffed Animal Beauty Pageant

Levi participated in a stuffed animal beauty pageant! This is an annual thing that has been going on for many years now. It was cute how they had it set up.

Levi decided to bring his monkey, which he named 'Five' (???). He wanted a dress for it, so I made one using the same fabrics as one of his shirts that I made for him.

He stood up at the podium and answered questions about his monkey. He is way better at public speaking that his mommy is! No fear and no problems answering the questions. (they asked a lot of stuff even to the little ones!)

Each child won a certificate and a 'title' . Levi and Five won 'Best Match' thanks to their custom, mommy made outfits!

Guy's Day Out

Happy Birthday Shawn! (Shawn and her friend Tyler)

For my sister's birthday we had a 'girls day out' and went to the spa. So Levi stayed with my dad, whom he calls 'Buddy'. It was 'big truck day' so he had the oppertunity to check out some big trucks! He even got to pull the horn on one.

Afterwards, Buddy took him to a baseball game. He got really into it and actually wanted to sit and watch the game. Buddy wanted to take him over to 'the hill' over by the out feild where the kids play around, but Levi insisted on 'seeing if the guy can hit the ball' first.

I don't know who had more fun, Levi or my dad!

County Fair

First of all, I won FIRST PLACE for my muffins! I randomly decided to enter, and won! I also won 2nd place for my brownies, and 3rd for my pasta sauce. Next year I want to enter the sewing competition as well, I KNOW I could beat the items I saw on display! Here is the recipe for you to enjoy!

Blueberry lemon muffins with Crumble Topping

Makes 12 regular muffins

Ingredients

Lemon Curd (you can also just buy a jar kind)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 TBS lemon zest
• ¾ Cup white sugar
• 4 TBS butter (we use earth’s balance)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Muffins (this is a great base recipe, you can add whatever you want to it, berries, cut up apple and cinnamon, raisins, etc)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup almond milk (or whatever kind of milk you like)
• 1 cup fresh organic blueberries

Topping
• 1/4 cup white sugar + ¼ cup organic brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed (again, we use earth’s balance)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions
Lemon curd: In double boiler wisk eggs sugar and lemon juice and zest until thick, cool slightly and strain. Allow to cool to room temperature. Can be stored in a jar in the fridge for up to 3months

Muffins: Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups ½ way, add a teaspoon of lemon curd and top with more batter, fill nearly to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes in preheated oven until done.

At the County Fair, Levi got to meet some animals! 4-H was there, and he got to pet a chicken, goats (including cute babies!), and milk a pretend cow (which had water in it, not real milk!). They also had eggs there that were just hatching. Levi loves animals so it was great to be able to see them up close and ask questions to the 4-H club kids.