J.A. Laub Photography

Disclaimer:  As if the two of you who read this didn't notice, I'm in a bit of a blogging slump.  Promise to take pictures over the next few weeks and post a lot to make up for my slacking as of late.

The last time we  had professional family pictures taken, Ace was 8 weeks old.  We really liked those pictures, but man oh MAN was I still a blimp, haha!  A couple weeks ago, we had our photos taken in our neighborhood by J.A. Laub Photography.  LOVE them!  Abby came to our house on her lunch break and got some precious shots!  We are so thankful to have found her!  We used several on our Christmas/New Year's cards (want one?  send me your address)! 

We adore these!

Apple Pie

I passed this recipe on to a fellow blogger today, and decided I needed to make it again to get more exact measurements.

Filling:
2 or 3 Granny Smith apples, cubed (I like to leave the peel on - ends up being between 3-4 cups)
A little lemon juice - maybe a tablespoon
2 T Cinnamon
10 or so grates of fresh Nutmeg
Splenda
1/4 C brown sugar
A tiny bit of corn starch to thicken the mixture

I just mix all of that together, using as much Splenda as I think it needs to make it as sweet as I want it(usually about 1/2 a cup).  Sometimes I add some brown sugar, which makes it taste a little caramel-y.

Crust:  (Makes a top and bottom)
1/2 C Canola Oil
1/4 C milk
2 C plain flour
1 tsp salt

Pour oil and milk together.  Stir in flour and salt.  Stir and roll out between two sheets of wax paper.  *I once added a little water because it was too crumbly to roll out.

When you lay the top on the pie filling, prick a few holes in the top to let steam out.

I like putting dabs of spray butter for a little splash of color...or something like that...

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

It's better with ice cream

so.good.so.worthit.

Our chicken and orzo spinach soup...we had this before the pie.  Promise.

For Eebop

Ace and I have been a bit under the weather, so it's taking me a little while to catch up on laundry, cleaning, picture-editing and blogging.

 I'd probably get things done a lot quicker if I wasn't always stopping to photograph this cutie.

I dry Ace's hair every night with a hair dryer and put product in it and this is how it turns out, on a good night.  My parents and siblings got a kick out of it.  

Here you go, Mom(aka Eebop)!

How Granola of Me

I have been planning to make granola for two years.  Yep.  And I finally made it today and it was a success!  Here's the super simple and ridiculously easy recipe.  The recipe I looked at for ratios used sesame seeds instead of the crushed roasted almond slivers.  I'll try sesame seeds the next time we have them - did you know they're a pretty good source of calcium?  Please note, I definitely didn't use exact measurements so these are all approximate. 

Ingredients:
2 T butter
2 T honey
1/4 C roasted almond slivers
1 C Oats (I used old-fashioned, not quick-cooking, but either would do)

Directions:
Preheat a non-stick skillet on medium high.  Crush up the almonds (I used my hands) and toss them into the skillet.  Once the almonds are aromatic(you'll know when they're ready), drop in the butter.  Once the butter is melted, drizzle in the honey.  Once the almonds, butter, and honey are well-mixed, pour in the oats.  Fully coat the oats in the mixture and let cook for just a bit.  Pour granola onto a pan and stick into the oven on Hi Broil. 

Make the pile of granola higher in the middle - it crumbles better that way.  Once it's as brown or as crisp as you want, it's ready!

 Enjoy!

Ace and I put our granola on these smoothies, but the blender and I were at odds this morning, so they were even more like icees than usual.  Mace doesn't like that my smoothies are a little grainy, but I like the texture.  You can add more yogurt and less ice for a smoother texture.  Again, not exact measurements, so eyeball it.

Ingredients:
2 C ice
1 light vanilla yogurt cup
a little more (maybe 1/2 C) light, non-flavored yogurt (I used Stonyfield)
1/2 C frozen raspberries
1 T sugar

Directions:
Put ingredients into blender in the order listed.  Hopefully you and your blender will be on speaking terms when you give it a try!

 So pink, so good!

It was cold, but really tasty!  Ace gobbled it up!

Hope your mess isn't as big as mine was!

Sweaty Pits and Ashy Skin

I'm a sweater.  Not like the kind you wear when it's cold.  Nope, sweat wears ME when I'm hot...or anxious...or, well, okay...I just sweat.  A lot.  All the time.  When I was in middle school, I had this awful prescription liquid that was toxic enough to make me not sweat and smell like a patch of onions as long as I used it nightly.  At some point, I was able to stop using it and regular(Secret, I've always been a Secret girl) deodorant worked just fine.  Every once in a while, I have had to change types of deodorant because my pits become immune to it, or something.  It stops working and I start stinking, is all I know!
And then I discovered Secret's Clinical Strength deodorant.  It was amazing!  I didn't even notice myself sweating(and going from sopping armpits in middle school to not noticing seems pretty miraculous)!  The only problem was that this deoderant is about as much as a pack of diapers.  And, true, it lasted for a while, but I hated spending that much for anti-sweat and anti-stink.

So last month, I discovered Suave's version of clinical strength.  It's about HALF the price!!  And it works!  I like it much better than the other brand...whether that's all product or mental, I love it!

two of my cheap-o beauty tricks...they work well together

Suave also happens to make my new fave lotion.  I'm a redhead and have some of the most ridiculously sensitive skin.  Ashy, splotchy, rashy, bumps on arms...pretty common for me.  I'm also pretty picky about my lotion.  My mother in-law uses Suave's cocoa butter, so when she recommended the oatmeal one, I jumped on it!  It smells good, but doesn't have a heavy floral scent, and is lightweight but lasts for a really long time(and that huge thing PLUS my deodorant was still less than the "other" deodorant)!  Score!

Does anyone use any less expensive "beauty"(or others) brands that you feel are just as good as or better than the more expensive competing brands (any BareMinerals lovers tried the drugstores' "equals," etc)?!

First (Walking) Halloween

Halloween in Kentucky was chilly and rainy and I was on day three of a migraine that max doses of ibuprofen, sudafed 12-hour, and darvocet were barely touching.  Not much motivation to trick-or-treat with 19 month old wild-man.  BUT, we had found the perfect costume for the boy who loves all things Cars and I had spent a little time tweaking the costume so it would be less lame(the darn thing was so flimsy...can't have a flimsy car), so we bundled up the way every good Georgian does...in fleece, pullovers, and flip-flops, and headed out into the 'hood for a few goodies.

 boy knows how to wear a hat

 

pre-costume prep=dawh-dawh snuggling

 

pushing his doggie in the box...fascinating

I.Am. LIGHTNING.

 

Can someone get me out of this thing?!

 

Cartoon-y Lightning McQueen trying to bail on us...

 

 medicated bumper ointment

 

 this hat is whack!

 

 hm...maybe this isn't SO bad(Smarty Pants picked the Reese's all by himself)...

(even though he was traumatized by our neighbor, Super Mario and his mustache)

 

(insert really impressive car noises)

 

really cold

 

binky and a leaf and he's good to go...inside, that is!

 

 (pit) crew chief

 

 have to have the blankie and mama...makes everything better...even a being forced to wear a humiliating costume.

The "Great" Pumpkin(s) '09

Last year we went perfect-pumpkin-hunting with our dear friends John, Kara, and June.  I cannot believe how much our babes have grown in a year!

 

 So sweet...we miss this gal(and her parents and sibling in utero) so much!

This year Mace, Ace and I were hoping to go to a farm here in Kentucky to pick apples and find a pumpkin at their patch, but it never worked out so we went to a church we had passed on Sunday that was selling pumpkins.  We got Ace two pumpkins for less than two bucks and this "pumpkin patch" was only 10 minutes from the house.  Winner! 

 He pretty much touched every pumpkin we walked past

 They were wet on the bottom...he's saying, "eeeew"

 

 Off to find the perfect punkin

 

Finding beauty in the ugliness

 

Very intrigued by the wart-y ones 

 Touching...

 

 every...

 

 pumpkin...

 So many to choose from

 

 yeah, he's barefoot...parents of the year

 

run, fat boy, run

 pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere

 I CAN'T PICK THIS ONE UP!!

 

 I asked him to sit with the pumpkins (please notice his anti-grass hands)

 

 poppin' a squat with the pumpkins

 

 found more wart-y ones

 

 not that one

 

 trying to get the warts off

 

 two-timing

 

we hope his infatuation with warts exists only with warts on pumpkins

 

 nasty

 

 sweet baby(I know, I know, big boy) hands

 

 And this is exactly where we were when Mace asked, "what kind of church is this?"

  Love you, Captain Obvious

 

 These are more like it

 Got me a pumpkin

  

 hey, hey, hey, hey!

 

 another weird pumpkin/gourd

 

Ace and the Giant Scrotums

 

 Wanted this weird white pumpkin

 

Warts, what else?

 

 Perfection

 

 He needed two

 

Inspecting

 

Hey, look everyone...

 

me Ace. you pumpkin

 

 A whole bunch of the weirdest, ugliest I've ever seen

 

 have you ever?

 

 Pride

 

 satisfied

 

 counting the pumpkins

 

holding his pumpkins

 

Checking out their smell...please notice it IS in his nostril

 

peace and a pumpkin