Sunday, September 27, 2009

The Farmer Sr.




The other day I had the opportunity to shoot the Farmer Sr. in his element - checking calves.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Random Pics





This is what mean people do to their children for fun.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Piercing My Daughter







As some of you already know, for Sarah's 6th birthday the Farmer and I agreed that she could go to get her ears pierced. Sarah has been wanting this done ever since she could speak, and we have forever made her wait. Fearing that she would not be able to take care of them, or for that matter take the pain of getting them, I staved her off as long as I could. Well, as it turns out, the only one who could not take the pain, was her mother. She did not even shed a tear. Meanwhile I was sick to my stomach...
Now her little earlobes are gracefully adorned with tiny diamond and ruby flowers that she turns on the hour and she readily applies alcohol to to fight off any chance of infection. She is definitely a more responsible 6 yr old then I ever was.
The day of the piercing we also brought one of her friends with us and treated ourselves to manicures and pedicures. It was truly a "Girly" kind of day!
If there is one thing I am famous for in the colder months it would have to be my obsession with baking. As soon as the temperatures dip below 60 degrees the oven goes on until they hit 80 again. This time of year is one of my favorite times to bake. We have several apple trees on our farm and I just love the smell of freshly baked apples in the house.
So, as I embark on yet another baking season, I am sharing with you one of my favorite Apple Crisp recipes. It all starts with these amazing apples we have out back. Now, if you have a good husband, he will bring the newly picked apples in the garage for you when you ask him to. Ya know, before it rains on them and the ants feast on their tender flesh…I hate ants. I hate bugs. All bugs. In fact, anything with more than four legs…Even some things with only two…Birds, for instance…Did I mention someone put a bird on me this weekend? At the Steam show, a, what appeared to be harmless old lady came up to us with a parrot. Of course the kids loved the bird and wanted to see it. Being within 10 feet of it was fine with me, but apparently I looked as though I needed to touch the bird. I humored the woman and, albeit begrudgingly, touched the bird. But NOOOO that was not good enough. It seemed the bird liked me and she thought she needed to put it on my arm! I tried to get away, but I was holding baby…And the woman had lightening fast reflexes! She had that bird on my arm in the blink of an eye! I think she has tried to convert bird haters before…ARHG! A bird. On my arm. The kids thought it was cool though….
ANYWAY – apple crisp.
Here we go…
So, as I was saying. You will need 10 cups of apples, peeled and sliced. If you want to know how many apples 10 cups is, you will have to figure that out on your own, just as I had to the first time I made this recipe…OK OK -around 14 or so, depending on the size.


Now I always sliced the apples and then add them to a big bowl of cold water with about a teaspoon of sat added so they do not get all brown and mushy before I finish cutting, because I know I will be interrupted with the needs of small children about a hundred times before I finish.





Layer your apples in a 9 by 13 pan. I always spray my pan, even though it is probably not necessary – I just really dislike scrubbing…





Dang ants.


In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup of white sugar, 1T of all purpose flour and 1t of ground cinnamon and sprinkle over apples. Pour ½ cup of water evenly over apples and sugar mixture.






I reuse the same bowl – again, I dislike washing too many dishes – combine 1cup Quick cooking oats, 1 cup flour, 1 cup brown sugar (still with me? I know it is hard, but try to focus…), ¼ t baking sodee, ¼ t baking powder and ½ cup melted butter.




Crumble this mixture over top and bake for 45 minutes at 350. Meanwhile – hopefully your toddler is still asleep and you can look up other people’s blog posts for supper ideas. I found mine of Kraft Foods website for tonight –Bruschetta Chicken Bake – yum.

















Now, when the crisp is done –I highly recommend hiding it immediately so you can enjoy the whole thing yourself. If your family asks about the smell, tell them you lit a candle.

6 Already!?





Happy Birthday Grandma and Happy 6th Birthday Sarah Anne!! We celebrated with cake and ice cream on Sunday night at home. Sarah and Grandma share the same birthday, so we always have a joint party. Unfortunately Sarah was feeling a bit under the weather, as is evident in the photos. She looks a bit like a droopy flower...

Fall Festival







I am a little behind on my posting here, but I thought I would share some pictures from our little town's Fall Festival a couple weeks ago. We were only able to attend the festivities one night, this was the same weekend that we went up north for our cousin's wedding. Trust me though, one night is plenty. After running people over with our stroller, holding on to a screaming, squirming, slithering Aiden, and dishing out enough money for a mortgage payment so the kids could ride on the rides, I was done. As always, Sarah had a blast. Oblivious to any discomfort on my part - as it should be. She got to "hang out" with all her friends and even took her little brother on some rides with her. I have a feeling, this will not be the last time we see this motley group in a car together....I am just hoping it is always this innocent...

Monday, September 14, 2009

More Wedding Pics




High Hopes


He looks innocent enough, doesn't he?



The Farmer and I were asked to attend a wedding this past weekend up in Milwaukee. I was so excited to be able to go hoping I would be able to do some behind the scenes shooting of the bride and groom while I was there. I did not, however, calculate into that equation the 16 month old that I would be taking with me. I did not have much time to shoot between chasing him around the church and force feeding him crackers to keep him from screaming.
I did manage to get off a couple shots, which I am sharing with you here....

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Stalking in the First Degree

OK, so I am not a huge fan of Extreme Home Makeover, Ty Pennington does not make my heart go pitter-patter (sorry, Ty – I am sure you will recover) and I am not even sure I have seen all that many episodes of the show to tell you the truth, but when I heard that they were coming to our county…Well, let’s just say, even I got excited!
Not as excited as my friend, Nikki, who, since hearing the show was coming to our town, has been planning her grand wedding to Ty…Or as it turns out, anyone that is on the Extreme Makeover show. How she is going to do that when she is already married to and has a child with a wonderful man, I am not sure – details.
Anyway, today was the day of the big announcement; today they would let one lucky family know that they were getting a new home. I had a hard time sleeping last night; I could imagine what the five final families were going through! I did wake up this morning and check our local news, just to see if there was any word of who the family would be, but there was nothing. It wasn’t until my phone rang at 8:45 a.m. that I got the news that the Makeover team were heading in our direction.
You see, my friend, Nikki, whom I mentioned before, had, apparently, been staking out the hotel that the crew was staying at. She even scaled some nearby building to take pictures from the rooftop for a better angle….Anyway, she called me very excited and told me she had followed the Extreme convoy out of town and was now heading in my direction! I knew instantly who the family was that would receive the awesome news that they, within a week, would be living in one of the coolest houses in town!
So I gave Nikki directions to the farm that I was sure it was and sent her on her way. She made it all the way to the site, but, somehow, ended up at the wrong house snapping photos and trying to get arrested. Hilarious. She then called me on her way home for further directions out of the countryside she found herself wandering thinking to herself that she was the ONLY person who got up close pictures of the house in question and that she had come out on top, and, of course, I made her come over so I could see her pictures.
So she showed up. Unshowered and in her PJs – because stalking does not wait for good hygiene. To her dismay, I had to explain to her that she took pictures of the wrong house. She was not happy. This time I went back with her and showed her the correct house, and wadda know? We got there just as the crew was walking down the lane to share the news with the homeowners! Albeit, we were about a mile away due to the road blocks they have in place and the photos are blurry at best, we were still there. Part of history. And I have Nikki to thank. Thank you, Nikki for letting me come stalk Ty Pennington with you. My life is richer because of it.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Rain Day

Here's to prove that too many rain days in a row can drive a woman to do almost anything to keep from going insane. I did this with the help of Singlestonestudios.blogspot.com

Here is the "Before":




Taping it off, like a good girl...I have been known not to use tape and let's just say, the results ain't pretty.


The color:


My high paid helper:



She is VERY careful - see, it comes in handy to pass down my OCD genes!




The finished product:




This is where Single Stone Studio came into play. I ordered this great vinyl sign from their Etsy shop. It was easy to put up and even came personalized all for around $30.00. I have bumpy walls too (I would have used a more sophisticated word instead of bumpy, but I am still missing one letter on my keyboard) anyway - it still looks great - even with the bumps!