Family photo shoot 2011

Fine, you can disregard the post below. I got ambitious and decided to post the pictures from our family photo shoot this summer. It sounded more interesting than picking out Aubrey's hand writing assignments for this week.

I couldn't be happier with how our photos turned out. Aren't they awesome?! Our talented photographer was also our long time friend Eric Strate (best man in our wedding). He doesn't do anything half hearted and when he decided to pursue photography he didn't just buy a Canon Rebel and call himself a pro. He has great equipment, top notch photography skills, and a lot of good ideas for the photos themselves. He spent nearly two hours with our family, kept his patience with the Johanna meltdown, took tons of beautiful pictures, retouched them, and was worth every penny. His prices are very reasonable and he does beautiful work. Yep, this is his free plug from us and he is worth it!

Check out his other photos on his website, www.ericstratephotography.com. Get a hold of him. Have him take your pretty pictures. You won't regret it.

Johanna's 9 month photo shoot

Even though I wasn't happy with how Dane's 3 year pictures turned out, I decided to try my hand at Johanna's 9 month pictures. These are the results of session one. I want to try and take some outside as well but this morning there was good lighting in her bedroom and I took a few impromptu shots. She was very precious and very uncooperative. A moving baby target is not the easiest thing to photograph! Here are the results with a couple that I think are especially cute. Of course, I will take any pointers as to how one photoshops out drool!

These are a few of my favorite things

1. Jesus Christ, whose birth gives us a reason to celebrate.

2. This gorgeous family of mine.

3. A truly wonderful Christmas.

4. The smoking hot new camera lens I got for Christmas.

5. Playing around with black and white photos.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

Cameras and birthdays and Halloween, oh my!

Some important things you should know about the following pictures.

1) For my, ahem, 29+1 birthday, I got a fancy pants new camera. It's a Canon Rebel XSi and while I know virtually nothing about it I did take all the following pictures with it and felt like paparazzi.

2) We celebrated Gracie Baerlocher's 2nd birthday with her and her family in the Tri-Cities. We had a wonderful time and ate so much good food it was obscene.

3) It was Halloween. Duh. You may notice a lovely flower fairy and Bones I and Bones II in the following pictures. Have you ever seen such cute skeletons and flower fairy?

Enjoy!

Don't you with your husband was hot like mine??

Birthday girl Gracie wondering why I have to bug her while she's eating.

They napped together on the couch today. It doesn't get better than that.

Dancing and photos and food, oh my!

This could have been an epic, philosophical post but I had to watch the finale of "So You Think You Can Dance." It didn't disappoint. If you don't watch then you are crazy. It's always been a summer show but this year they are starting it again in the fall. September 2 for you crazies out there is the day to get on board.

I still don't have a camera. It might be a sin to have small children and no working camera. Do children actually grow if it's not documented on film (or digital memory)? I've decided that I'd like a fancy SLR. I'm diving in. Someone recommended a Canon Rebel as a place to start. Anyone else have an opinion? I have been wanting to learn about photography and I'm just going to force myself into it. Now I'm stuck in indecision land. What do I get? If I'm only going to get one extra lens, what should it be? What the heck is an F stop? How do I get that cool blurry background on photos? I think I want a photo editing program. What one should I get? Will I ever have time to learn how to use all these things? While I ponder all these questions I resort to doing nothing. FYI, doing nothing is rather unproductive.


I am concluding with a recipe that will change your life. Melissa, I got the recipe from your Christmas cookie exchange last year. Readers, make these tomorrow for health and happiness.

Soft Almond Cookies

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1 egg (the recipe says 1 LAND O LAKES All Natural Farm Fresh Egg. If you use their product your cookie will not only be delicious but calorie free.)
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1-2 tablespoons milk

Heat oven to 350. Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Add ricotta cheese, egg, and 1 tsp. almond extract, continue beating until well mixed. Reduce speed to low; gradually add flour, baking powder, and salt, beating well after each addition. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes (my oven takes about 14) or until lightly browned . Cool on cookie sheet 2 minutes (LONGER!); remove to cooling rack.

Combine powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and enough milk for desired glazing consistency in small bowl; mix well. Spoon onto completely cooled cookie. Decorate with sprinkles if desired.

Send testimonies of these cookie's life changing properties to my comments section.