Crowns, Wands and Princesses.

A "castle" under the trees, 12 little princesses all dressed up. Crowns, wand making, and "dragons and princesses" were all part of the party fun. Pink cupcakes, little croissants, veggies and juice, on a blanket under the "castle." Drama free!

PRISTEEN Magazine Cover Shoot 2014

I recently had the most amazing opportunity to work on the design and cover photoshoot for PRISTEEN magazine. It was so much fun working with Heather Moss, Editor-in-Chief, model Elese and the amazing hair & makeup artist Kim Sanders.

PRISTEEN magazine is a new teen magazine that promotes modest clothing, ideas and content. It hits stands in the Spring! You can check out their website here:

http://www.pristeenmagazine.com/

If you have teenage girls or friends, it's definitely worth a look!

A little behind the scenes and magazine preview...

 

And our beautiful model...

 

 

 

Back to School!

School has started here in Dallas. My baby started Kindergarten and she's loving it! We've been looking forward to this day for a year now. Her teacher will definitely earn her paycheck! How is that all my kids are in school now and I still have no free time. What?!

All three kiddos (and Samson) excited about school... now only if they'd just look at the camera!

And the kiddos running home after school...

I heart school!

Milking Goats and Feeding Chickens!

A friend of mine invited the kids over to her farm to milk the goats and feed the chickens. Of course my kids were all over that! First we fed the goats, then the kids each took turns learning to milk the goats. And let me just say, it's a lot trickier than it looks!

Miss Debra sent us home with some goat milk and an ice cream maker and we've been enjoying homemade ice cream every day! (photos to come...)

I love how all the animals follow Miss Debra, like obedient little children (what's the secret?)...

Miss Debra uses the goat milk to drink, make cheese, yogurt and most importantly, ice cream!

My kids are fitting right in here in Texas... but they are still very loyal Bostonians!

The best homemade granola bars!

My kids go through granola bars at a very unusual pace! I hate buying the store bought ones that are filled with preservatives, and well, they can get very expensive. I've been searching for a good homemade recipe for a while now and I think I've finally find out!

Don't these look delish! (not the best photo but I had to snap it quick before they were eaten by 3 little monsters).

No-Bake Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

1/4 c unsalted butter
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c honey
1/4 c natural peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c oats
1/2 c crispy rice cereal
3/4 c chopped pretzels (you can substitute for extra nuts if you want)
1/4 c mini chocolate chips (substitute with raisins if you have something against chocolate)

1. In large sauce pan, add butter, sugar, honey and peanut butter. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until mixture starts to bubble. Once bubbling, cook for 2 minutes while stirring. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

2. Stir in the oats, crispy cereal, and pretzels. Stir until well coated. Prepare 8x8 pan with layer of parchment paper. Pour into pan. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and gently press into the granola bars.

3. Place in refrigerator and let cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Note: I individual wrap the bars and store them in the refrigerator. You can also keep them in the freeze for lunches, but mine don't usually last that long!

Enjoy!

Project 365: Everyday life.

Some days are a little monotonous (who am I kidding, most days are like this!), and I'm trying to find a little more fun and be a little more thankful each day. I like taking photos of some of the basic stuff we do every day, not only to have a record, but well, because I think my kids are so stinkin' cute! No matter how annoyed I am with them sometimes!).

My little one loves to color and do art, so we do this almost every day together.

My oldest loves to wind down at the end of the day, by lying on the shag carpet and reading a book.

And my youngest, well let's just say, the top thing on his Christmas list was his own iphone.

These are all such quite moments with my kids, next time I'll show you what they're really like!

Getting a great Macro shot.

At a recent wedding I photographed, the other photographer I was working with had a very cool macro tube extension for her lens. I've always loved macro photography, but never really found the need to spend money on getting a macro lens. These amazing attachments connect to your lens and you can get one for under $100! You do have to shoot and focus manually, but they are a lot of fun for minimal cost.

So of course I bought some right away and have just now had the chance to play around with them a bit. They take a little getting used to but are pretty easy to use overall.

If you're interested in macro photography - go check these out!
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=canon+extension+tube+set&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=