Signature Photography Studios

This is another Photography Studio that I would recommend in the Belding area.  Barb is my Creative Memories "Upline" but she is also a fantastic photographer - she goes outside the box.  One thing she does is "Quick Clicks" - which are themed photo shoots.  She offers affordable optoins where she snaps the photos and than sends you the CD to edit and print but also offers packages where she edits the best of the best too.  I have seen her work and it is fantastic and we are signed up to get our pictures taken in October.  One of the great things is that you "own" your photos so you can post them, print them, whatever you want because you bought them.  So, feel free to check her out. 

http://www.signaturephotographystudios.com/aboutSignature

(I know, I shouldn't list to photographers but they each do great work - depends on what you are looking for!! PLus there is enough distance between them that they really serve different areas !!)

31 in 31 - Day 5

We went for a walk tonight and this picture says alot:

1.  Josh is getting to enjoy his wagon

2.  Nate's first wagon ride - he was in awe

3.  A beautiful sunny day

4.  The humidty finally broke so we can actually GO for a walk and not die of heat exhaustion

5. Great family time

6.  And, if you look in the bottom right hand corner, even China got to go!

The Dainty Daisy

I've been meaning to add a couple more links for you to check out - this is The Dainty Daisy.  It is an Etsy Shop "owned" by another member of the group Darryl plays in currently.  Betsy crochet's some really adorable pieces.  Check out her etsy shop or her blog to see some of the great things she makes or to place an order!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheDaintyDaisy
http://www.thedaintydaisyblog.blogspot.com/

Southern Peach Cobbler

Last year, I discovered this recipe at a time when I had tons of peaches sitting around for the purpose of making baby food for Josh.  I decided to "steal" a few and try it out.  It was fantastic - too bad it was the tail end of peach season so I didn't get to make it again.  Well, peaches are coming in now so it is high time to make this cobbler :-)  Here's the recipe - enjoy!

Ingredients:
6-8 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted, and sliced into thin wedges
1/2 cup white sugar (divided)
1/2 cup brown sugar (divided)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter; chilled and cut into small pieces
1 cup boiling water
Mix:
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  To peel peaches, place them in boiling water for 1-2 minutes; remove and plunge into ice cold water.  Skins will generally slide right off or remove easily with a peeler.

In a large bowl, combine peaches, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstartch. Toss to coat evenly and pour into a 2 quart baking dish (I actually used an 8x8 pan).  Bake in preheated over for 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Stir in water until just combined.

Remove peaches from oven and drop spoonfuls of topping over them.  Sprinkle entire cobbler with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. 

Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes

Enjoy :-)

Tips:  I forgot that when I made this last year, I was going to double the topping mix - there are a lot of peaches under there!!  As with any recipe, I always recommend trying it the orignal way first and than tweaking it to fit your tastes.

I will be buying more peaches at this week and making this a few more times before the season is done

31 in 31 - Day 4

One of the reasons that this 31 in 31 day photo challenge interested me is because I kinda failed at another photo challenge :-)  At the beginning of the year, my Creative Memories Director challenged us to do a year of photos - meaning take one picture a day for 365 days and create a Pic-folio album.  Well, that lasted for about 1 week.  I like this one much better.  So here is today's photo:

Last year, right at the end of Peach season, I discovered a recipe for Souther Peach Cobbler and it was to die for!  On Thursday, the boys and I went to a farmer's maker and I picked up some fantastic peaches . .. with the sole purpose in mind of making this lovely dessert :-)  And, yes, it is as good as it looks! I will be posting the recipe as well so feel free to check it out! 

Can't wait until tonight to have a piece of this yummy dessert :-) 

31 in 31 - Day 3

Day 3 - Throughout the day, I spend time sitting in "my" recliner - relaxing, reading to one of my kids, feeding a bottle to the baby.  And this, is my view.  I love Willow trees - always have.  I find the "weeping" branches beautiful and would love to have a HUGE one where I could place a Hammock under neath the branches to relax in on a summer day.  Several years ago, we bought this try at 80% off from a local market.  Quite honestly, I didn't think it would survive.  The first summer, it got a few leaves but nothing major.  The second summer, I think it finally got leaves in July.  But now, several years later, it blocks the view from the road and it is so relaxing to see.  But there is more to this picture - notice the window sill?  The toys?  Yep - that is Josh's favorite play spot.  He lines up his cars and trucks, misc toys, books, anything he feels like up along that window sill.  The spill over to the arm of the couch, which is where he kneels for hours.  So beyond the view of the tree - I get the view of watching a little boy full of wonder as his imagination runs wild.  He's even warn the fabric through on the arm of my couch . . .but it's worth it to see "the view out of my window."

So, what's your picture for the day?  Let me know so I can check your blog!  (Or ir you don't have a blog and want to send it via e-mail let me know that too!)

31 in 31 - Day 2

Ironically, I took a picture this morning that I had in my head of what I wanted today's picture to be; I won't say what it is because I might take it again on another day and add it :-)  Instead this one just "happened".  I took my boys on an adventure today - we went to a Farmers Market and than to the mall.  We had lunch together - Josh and I shared, Nate got his own applesauce :-)  Than we did some window shopping.  I took time to put $0.75 in one of those little kiddy rides - Bob the Builder; Josh was very intrigued.  Than we went to the "plastic food playground"!!  You know the one - in the middle of the mall with plastic eggs, bacon, and other breakfast foods for kids to climb all over?  We had gone one other time and Josh was extremly overwhelmed with it all but not today - as soon as we got in there, he took off to play.  The nice thing is that Nate is a HUGE crawler and he is pulling himself up on everything so he got to play just as much.  We all had so much fun - my 21 month old dare devil stood on things with shaky feet, jumped off of things with courage, and always came running back to me just to make sure life was good :-)  Seriously, I hadn't backed out of the parking spot when my little guy was out cold LOL  Wouldn't it be great to rest like that?  To sit down and have your eyes be rolling back in your head before you had time to know it was happening?  Most nights, I lay there for an hour or more - oh to be like a toddler :-) 

So here's my picture for the day - what's yours?  Let me know so I can check it out!!