Photo - Before & After

Photography has always been a passing interest of mine, but in the past year I have really begun to develop a passion for it. All the technical "stuff" deterred me for a while, however, I am trying to read books on the subject and better my skills. (It helps that we own a sweet camera, have the best subject to practice on (Tennyson), and I am way more comfortable using iPhoto than this time last year.)

Someday very soon I hope to own Photoshop Elements to really make my photos something amazing. And in the not too distant future I am hoping to buy a couple new lenses I've had my eye on. *sigh* We'll see what other priorities pop up first though.

Anyway, I was messing around in iPhoto today to try and teach myself some new techniques and was proud to see an improvement on an already great picture I took of Tennyson recently. So here's the before and after.

Before

After

It's not perfect, but it's a start, I guess.

Tasty Tuesday ~ My Mashed Potatoes

Does everyone do this, find a handful of good recipes and make them often? Well, that's usually what happens in our house. Over the weekend I made a standard favorite, BBQ roast, only this time I used a less fatty cut of meat, sirloin tip roast. We also made a little trip to the farmer's market for some fresh produce: redskin potatoes, cucumbers, sweet vidalia onions, and tomatoes. I served the cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes with Italian dressing. It's such a simple and refreshing salad to make in the summer!

Now I know everyone does mashed potatoes their own delicious way, but this is how I made these tasty taters:

~ Srubbed, quartered, and boiled approx. 7 small redskin potatoes until they were soft all the way through.
~ Mashed them just the right amounts of butter, salt, black pepper, milk and garlic powder.
~ Stirred in fresh, chopped chives/green onions.

I would have added light sour cream as well, but my husband is not a fan. Oh well. They were fabulous anyway!!!

Cool Baby

Aren't babies in sunglasses just hilarious? Tennyson loves to wear ours and he just sits really still so they don't fall off and gives us this huge smile every time.

That's right, looking good for the laaadies.

Father & Son Bonding Time (a.k.a. Smackdown!)

Tom and Tennyson love to wrestle. In fact, it is a daily occurrence in our home. And Little T is pretty advanced in his fighting skills, as you can tell from the photos below. These are from some of the best smackdowns yet!

The Ultimate Face Smack

Crawling over Daddy's head

Conquering The Dada!!
Tennyson's game face
(it's blurry because he's crawling at lightening speed during these matches)

Daddy can't even smell the competition

Must...stop...to...grab...toes

Now Daddy can't see his competition. Sneaky!!!

Giving his best evil laugh to celebrate his victory!

From today's wrestling match

"This cute smile is just to distract you, Daddy....."

"....while I prepare to....."

"smack your stomach!!!"

Just Because

I just wanted to post this photo because the subject is just so darn cute!!! *Beware shameless bragging follows.* We honestly can not take Tennyson out of the house without strangers telling us how adorable he is! For example, the other day we were at the drive-through at the bank, three lanes away from the teller window, and she comes over the intercom and says, "That's a cute baby you have there."

And I must say, we agree whole-heartedly. We're so in love with our happy, adorable, baby boy! With that smiling face, how could we not be?

I'll Stop Him......After I Get Some Good Photos

I do keep an eye on Tennyson eye minute of every day, but there are times when he must be left alone for anywhere from 10 seconds to 2 minutes. This allows plenty of time for him to get into....anything and subsequently destroy it.

So this is where I found him the other morning, tearing up and tasting Tom's Civil War magazine. I think if it had been Mommy Southern Living I may have only taken 3 photos, as opposed to 33, before I found something else for our son to do.

"Oh, hi Mommy."
(notice the little foot beneath the tattered pages)

"Let's see what this tastes like."

"Hmm, not bad so far."

"Okay, that's definitely yucky!"

"Maybe salt would help."

Tasty Tuesday ~ Baked Oatmeal

BAKED OATMEAL

This is a delicious and healthy way to eat your oats. It makes so much we can eat it most every morning for the week.

Ingredients:

3 cups old-fashioned oats
4 1/2 cups boiling water
2 eggs
1/2 cup light brown sugar or 1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup oil (for a healthier version I fill the measuring cup most of the way with mashed banana first. You can also use applesauce of pumpkin puree.)
1/2 cup chopped nuts, raisins, or other fruit

How to Make It:

1) Mix oatmeal and boiling water in a large bowl. Let stand 15 minutes.
2) Add all other ingredients. Mix well.
3) Spread in greased 9x13 pan.
4) Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
5) Serve warm with either fruit, nuts, milk, sugar, or apple-cinnamon topping.

Apple-Cinnamon Topping

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 - 3/4 cups sugar (depending on sweetness desired)
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 cups apples, peeled and cubed
2 Tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water

1) Heat water, sugar, and cinnamon together in a small pot.
2) Add sliced apples.
3) Cook slowly for 5 minutes or until apples are tender.
4) Thicken with cornstarch and water mixture. Cook until thickened.
5) Serve warm over oatmeal.