Pinterest Challenge

Every year I make a photo book after each kid’s birthday to chronicle the last year. I finished the photo books over a month ago, but was waiting for a big coupon code. They are finally here. Keira turned three last year and besides the pictures I wanted a way to capture a little more of who she was during her year of being two. I saw some fun personalized “likes posters” on Pinterest and decided to make one. I first created this in Microsoft Word and then used Adobe to turn it into a PDF. Instead of a poster this is the first page of her photo book. Once in PDF you can save it to GIF format and upload as a picture to whatever site you use to create your photo books.

This is post is part of YoungHouseLove’s Pinterst Challenge, encouraging everyone to actually create the things on Pinterest and share.

Click Chicks Challenge - Nature

I've had every intention of getting outside with my camera this week, but I missed my chance. It is currently below zero and I've been up with a sick child since 3:00 AM. My "free" time tonight after work will be used to get everyone ready for bed including my self as quickly as possible. I did manage to snap a quick pick of the tree bark in our front yard. It has an interesting texture and if I had more time to with it I'm would have tried playing with the focus a little more.

Winter Beach Party at the Zoo

Every year the zoo brings in a giant sandbox for a weekend in the middle of winter. They place it near the tropics trail so it is nice and warm. Not much of a novelty for people in moderate climates, but here in Minnesota going to the beach in the middle of winter is a lot fun even if you can't go swimming. Everyone needed a bath when we got home but it was worth the mess.

 

Spinach Mushroom Risotto

I like to try different risottos, but this is one I keep coming back to because it is always a hit. I often throw in a splash of white wine before I start in with the broth and a splash of cream at the end. They aren't necessary, but add extra layers of flavor. I also usually toast the rice, but if you are new to making risotto this is a solid recipe. I served mine with an apple-gouda, chicken sausage.

Can't Stop For A Picture Mom

I need a camera with faster shutter speed.

Still Beautiful

Five Things Friday

1)    CNN had an article on Ronen Goldman a while back. He is a photographer who uses photo editing programs to create pictures that are inspired by his dreams. I have some really crazy dreams and thought this would be a really fun photo project. Back when we were still dating my husband told me about a dream he had where we got married. One of the things that stuck out to him in the dream was that all the bridesmaids were wearing leopard print and he absolutely hated their dresses. I shared the dream with his family after we got engaged and as a joke his sister brought some leopard print fabric to the rehearsal.

2) Ashley at a The Handmadhome wrote a beautiful and funny post about how a house is place to live in not a show room.  A wonderful reminder to live in the now and take action and change things rather than envy others. It made me cringe slightly less knowing our house was a mess and Neal had all his friends coming over later that night. I had a full week of good and exhausting things and those were more important than cleaning up the mess.


3)  Speaking of living in the now. Someone pointed out this post on making sure you get in front of the camera and are not always behind it. A few weeks ago I tried to find a picture of my husband and me for every year we have been together. The year my daughter was born there was almost nothing to choose from. Between our obvious distraction of our beautiful new daughter and my dislike on how nothing fit right I avoided the camera. It is wonderful to have so many photos of the kids, but I need to make sure I jump in more and take some with just my husband. Though I usually am not happy with how I look in the moment, time makes me kinder and I look back at older photos and am happy with how I look. Photo below was taken by Eric Holtam. 

s   4) Wooden spoons are great, but I always worry that they never really get clean and that all sorts of nasty bacteria live in them. These spatulas make me happy. I asked for more for Christmas because the two we had were always dirty when I one. They are heat resistant so I use them to sauté veggies and scramble eggs. They are sturdy so they mix thick batters. They are shaped at both ends so you have two size spatulas in one. They are the most used tool in our kitchen.

5) My baby finally decided to start walking! It wasn’t that he couldn’t he just didn’t want to. Tuesday night he decided he wanted to and now he has been toddling around none stop.