Afton M.
Claire K.
I think tiny babies may be one of my favorite "things" to photograph. :)
You can see more my clicking on my facebook page below!
Frost on Flower Digital Photography
Promote Your Page Too
Thursday, June 30, 2011
babies!
I recently photographed these two brand new, super cute babies. They both belong to former coworkers of mine from Fraser.
I think tiny babies may be one of my favorite "things" to photograph. :)
You can see more my clicking on my facebook page below!
Frost on Flower Digital Photography
Promote Your Page Too
I think tiny babies may be one of my favorite "things" to photograph. :)
You can see more my clicking on my facebook page below!
Frost on Flower Digital Photography
Promote Your Page Too
Sunday, June 26, 2011
first food.
Today Olive enjoyed her first food! She seemed to really like the chunks of avocado that we put into a Sassy teething feeder for her at my family picnic. :)
[slideshow]
I can't wait to start Baby Led Weaning with her! More on that later..
[slideshow]
I can't wait to start Baby Led Weaning with her! More on that later..
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
sweet home chicago.
We're heading to my hometown for this weekend so don't expect any posts until next week. I may have time to squeeze a couple in but I can't guarantee...
We're going to Six Flags with Tyler's little brother and sister (we're so excited!) while my mom and Tyler's mom watch Olive. Tyler and I used to have season passes to Six Flags. We miss it a bunch! We'll also be going to my dad's family's annual family picnic which will include many more introductions to Olive.We're going to a Cubs game and showing Olive around Chicago. And then we're be driving back to MN.
Guess what we'll be driving home in?
Guess...
...
..
.
Our new silver 2002 VW Golf! Yippie! We got it today and its so cute! :) The couple that we bought it from seemed so neat and had the most wonderful home that the father designed and built many years ago. I would love to grow up and be just like them. They took wonderful care of the car and only put 66,000 miles on it. After listing it for sale the "check engine" light unfortunately turned on which resulted in the car getting a new water pump as well as a timing belt and a few other things while they were in there. He did all of these repairs before selling it to us - how nice! :) The drivetrain is also warrantied until 100,000 miles. Neat! Aaaand he said to give them a call if the car gives us any trouble in the near future.
What kind of car do you have? This is my first non-Ford car and I'm excited to see how it goes!
We're going to Six Flags with Tyler's little brother and sister (we're so excited!) while my mom and Tyler's mom watch Olive. Tyler and I used to have season passes to Six Flags. We miss it a bunch! We'll also be going to my dad's family's annual family picnic which will include many more introductions to Olive.We're going to a Cubs game and showing Olive around Chicago. And then we're be driving back to MN.
Guess what we'll be driving home in?
Guess...
...
..
.
Our new silver 2002 VW Golf! Yippie! We got it today and its so cute! :) The couple that we bought it from seemed so neat and had the most wonderful home that the father designed and built many years ago. I would love to grow up and be just like them. They took wonderful care of the car and only put 66,000 miles on it. After listing it for sale the "check engine" light unfortunately turned on which resulted in the car getting a new water pump as well as a timing belt and a few other things while they were in there. He did all of these repairs before selling it to us - how nice! :) The drivetrain is also warrantied until 100,000 miles. Neat! Aaaand he said to give them a call if the car gives us any trouble in the near future.
What kind of car do you have? This is my first non-Ford car and I'm excited to see how it goes!
Monday, June 20, 2011
four months old.
Today (Monday), Olive turned four months old. We started the day by driving Tyler to work, stopping at the post office, a nap, a bath, and a four month photo shoot! :)
We followed that up with a trip to my pre-Olive employer. We popped into the end of a weekly team meeting that I used to be a part of. It was really great to see everyone at the Bloomington office and I'm glad everyone finally got to meet Olive! Being there felt a little weird... It's strange to suddenly stop doing something that you used to do every single day and suddenly stop seeing people that you saw every single day (minus weekends!). But... despite being weird it was also very nice! :) And then we took a quick shopping trip to Seward Co-op where a woman in the parking lot told me that I have a cute baby.
At four months Olive weighs a little over 12 pounds and she's longer than she used to be. She hasn't been to the doctor for a couple of months so that's the best I can do!
She can hold her head up when on her tummy, she recently began supporting herself on her elbows, can roll onto her back from her tummy, and will occasionally roll onto her tummy from her back.
Olive tries to scoot on the floor when on her tummy but doesn't really go anywhere, though she has been known to slowly turn in circles. If she is on a blanket she will grab on and try to use that to scoot forward.
She reaches and grabs at many things.. including my hair!
When shown two preferred toys she will reach for and take one.
She will transfer toys between hands.
Olive loves to stand up, with support. She will stand well and wiggle a bit when supported at her arms, chest, or hips. When you tilt her around she corrects her balance really quickly!
Today Olive was more excited to see herself in the mirror than usual. She was talking to herself and touching the mirror.
Olive gets very excited when I get excited! Excited usually involves a wide open mouth.
She mouths her hands and nearly every object that she picks up.
Olive will sooth herself when falling asleep by sucking on her hand. She rarely uses a pacifier but I occasionally give her one if she needs help to calm down. Today the pacifier fell out of her mouth, she picked it up, turned it around the right way, and put it back in. I was shocked!
She recently began playing with her feet and I caught her sucking on a toe a few days ago!
Olive will play independently with preferred toys when laying on her back, tummy, in her rocker, in her bumbo, or in her car seat. I think her independent play attention lasts around 10-15 minutes. Though she does get bored easily..
She whines and fake cries!
She fake laughs!
Olive imitates smiles, "raspberries", and open mouths.
She plays back and forth with sounds.
Olive will calm to white noise and my singing songs really loudly.
She tries to get our attention by making sounds and blowing "raspberries".
She has a BM every other day or every three days and lately most are caught in her potty. We have been able to go a few weeks without a dirty diaper a few times!
More than 50% of the time Olives goes potty immediately after putting her on the potty.
Olive is super gassy! Thankfully it doesn't seem to upset her most of the time.
And... 27 photos of Olive:
The End! Congrats if you read the entire post & looked at all of the photos. :)
We followed that up with a trip to my pre-Olive employer. We popped into the end of a weekly team meeting that I used to be a part of. It was really great to see everyone at the Bloomington office and I'm glad everyone finally got to meet Olive! Being there felt a little weird... It's strange to suddenly stop doing something that you used to do every single day and suddenly stop seeing people that you saw every single day (minus weekends!). But... despite being weird it was also very nice! :) And then we took a quick shopping trip to Seward Co-op where a woman in the parking lot told me that I have a cute baby.
At four months Olive weighs a little over 12 pounds and she's longer than she used to be. She hasn't been to the doctor for a couple of months so that's the best I can do!
She can hold her head up when on her tummy, she recently began supporting herself on her elbows, can roll onto her back from her tummy, and will occasionally roll onto her tummy from her back.
Olive tries to scoot on the floor when on her tummy but doesn't really go anywhere, though she has been known to slowly turn in circles. If she is on a blanket she will grab on and try to use that to scoot forward.
She reaches and grabs at many things.. including my hair!
When shown two preferred toys she will reach for and take one.
She will transfer toys between hands.
Olive loves to stand up, with support. She will stand well and wiggle a bit when supported at her arms, chest, or hips. When you tilt her around she corrects her balance really quickly!
Today Olive was more excited to see herself in the mirror than usual. She was talking to herself and touching the mirror.
Olive gets very excited when I get excited! Excited usually involves a wide open mouth.
She mouths her hands and nearly every object that she picks up.
Olive will sooth herself when falling asleep by sucking on her hand. She rarely uses a pacifier but I occasionally give her one if she needs help to calm down. Today the pacifier fell out of her mouth, she picked it up, turned it around the right way, and put it back in. I was shocked!
She recently began playing with her feet and I caught her sucking on a toe a few days ago!
Olive will play independently with preferred toys when laying on her back, tummy, in her rocker, in her bumbo, or in her car seat. I think her independent play attention lasts around 10-15 minutes. Though she does get bored easily..
She whines and fake cries!
She fake laughs!
Olive imitates smiles, "raspberries", and open mouths.
She plays back and forth with sounds.
Olive will calm to white noise and my singing songs really loudly.
She tries to get our attention by making sounds and blowing "raspberries".
She has a BM every other day or every three days and lately most are caught in her potty. We have been able to go a few weeks without a dirty diaper a few times!
More than 50% of the time Olives goes potty immediately after putting her on the potty.
Olive is super gassy! Thankfully it doesn't seem to upset her most of the time.
And... 27 photos of Olive:
The End! Congrats if you read the entire post & looked at all of the photos. :)
Sunday, June 19, 2011
happy father's day!
Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!
Specifically, happy Father's Day to my dad, Ken, my stepdad, Wally, and to my father-in-law, Hal.
Annnnndddd, happy first Father's Day to Olive's popsicle, Tyler!
Friday, June 17, 2011
friday finacies!
Finally! Another Friday Fancies! :)
I'm keeping it simple this week because what Tyler & I currently fancy is pretty simple. We have yet to find a new (used) car, you see. We've looked and we can just can't seem to find what we want within our budget (which is rather small). There is another prospect that we're going to view tonight. It's more than we want to spend but it's well taken care of, has low miles, and is only being sold because the owner can no longer drive due to a handicap. Is it bad that I want to buy it from him because I feel bad that he can no longer drive due to some unfortunate circumstance? Because that's kind of why I want to buy it. Though buying it would involve another small loan from my dad. Bah.
Here it is.... a 2002 VW Golf!
It doesn't have to be a 2002, but we've seen a lot of them around. It doesn't have to be blue. It must have cruise control and 4 doors. A sunroof would be wonderful. Manual and diesel would be even better!
This is what we fancy on this fine Friday. Hopefully we'll find one before our trip to Illinois next weekend - it'd be nice to have our own vehicle rather than needing to rent one again. Especially because our trip will be cut short by a day if we rent!
What do you fancy this Friday? Anything neat??
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
chicken biryani.
I haven't been photographing our dinners lately and I'm a little disappointed. For the past few months I've been making lots of new things - I have rarely repeated a recipe. It's been nice to try new things rather than getting stuck in the rut of uninteresting staples. When I started dinner last night I grabbed my camera and made sure to photograph nearly every step.
I made Chicken Biryani from The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman (which can be found in my Amazon store). With some tiny variations.
For this recipe you'll need:
2 T butter
1 onion (chopped)
salt & pepper
1 cinnamon stick
10 cardamom pods
5 cloves
1 T ginger (minced or grated)
1.5 cups basmati rice
3 cups chicken stock
A whole chicken (cut up) or chicken pieces
Take an onion..
Chop chop chop it up. Messy chop.
Melt two Tablespoons of butter. I often cook in dutch ovens... so I suggest that.
Add the onion and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top. Cook until the onion is soft and brown (5-10 mins).
While the onion cooks grab your spices...
Make a funny face with your spices...
Make a pretty picture with your spices...
Mince some ginger.
In a little bit you'll need the chicken stock so if you have any prep in that area do it now. Thanks to Brooke I now use this (which I suggest you use, too!).
When the onion is soft and a little browned at your spices. Wait about a minute and then...
Add the rice.
Mix together until the rice is coated and shiny (2-3 mins).
Add the stock and the chicken.
Cook for about 25 minutes - it's done when the rice and chicken are both tender and the liquid has been reabsorbed. If you need more cooking time add a bit of water if necessary.
If you're anything like me the smell of the cardamom pods and the rice will make you think of kheer. And then you'll really really need some kheer. So you'll make some.
Simmer 8 cups of water with two cardamom pods for about an hour or until the milk has reduced by half.
Add 1/2 cup of rice and cook for about 20 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup of sugar (or a little less.. 1/2 cup was kind of sweet for me) and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
Make sure you're stirring often and the milk does not begin to boil.
Yuuummmmm!
I made Chicken Biryani from The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman (which can be found in my Amazon store). With some tiny variations.
For this recipe you'll need:
2 T butter
1 onion (chopped)
salt & pepper
1 cinnamon stick
10 cardamom pods
5 cloves
1 T ginger (minced or grated)
1.5 cups basmati rice
3 cups chicken stock
A whole chicken (cut up) or chicken pieces
Take an onion..
Chop chop chop it up. Messy chop.
Melt two Tablespoons of butter. I often cook in dutch ovens... so I suggest that.
Add the onion and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top. Cook until the onion is soft and brown (5-10 mins).
While the onion cooks grab your spices...
Make a funny face with your spices...
Make a pretty picture with your spices...
Mince some ginger.
In a little bit you'll need the chicken stock so if you have any prep in that area do it now. Thanks to Brooke I now use this (which I suggest you use, too!).
When the onion is soft and a little browned at your spices. Wait about a minute and then...
Add the rice.
Mix together until the rice is coated and shiny (2-3 mins).
Add the stock and the chicken.
Cook for about 25 minutes - it's done when the rice and chicken are both tender and the liquid has been reabsorbed. If you need more cooking time add a bit of water if necessary.
Put it on a plate and eat it up! :)
If you're anything like me the smell of the cardamom pods and the rice will make you think of kheer. And then you'll really really need some kheer. So you'll make some.
Simmer 8 cups of water with two cardamom pods for about an hour or until the milk has reduced by half.
Add 1/2 cup of rice and cook for about 20 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup of sugar (or a little less.. 1/2 cup was kind of sweet for me) and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
Make sure you're stirring often and the milk does not begin to boil.
Yuuummmmm!
Monday, June 13, 2011
diy mobiles for baby.
Finally! I present to you my long awaited, much overdue, post about how I made two mobiles for Olive out of yarn and other things. :)
First, I hunted through my craft room and realized that I didn't have very interesting yarn color choices. I asked Brooke if I could borrow some of her yarn and she let me borrow a big bag full. :)
I looked around online for ways to make yarn puff balls.. or as most people call them "pom-poms". I prefer "puff ball". I settled on the following method and after a few tries streamlined the process a bit.
How to make a puff ball:
Cut out two cardboard doughnut shapes with a slit and a notch cut in each one. They can be any size. The diameter of the cardboard doughnut will be the approximate diameter of your puff ball.
Put the cardboard pieces back to back so it looks like you have only one.
Start on one side of the slit cut into the cardboard and wrap the yarn around. Wrap yarn over the end piece so it doesn't come undone - you don't need to do anything fancy.. just wrap yarn over it a couple of times. Do not wrap the yarn too tight as you will need it to give slightly when you cut it off the cardboard later.
Wrap the yarn all the way around the cardboard until you reach the other end of the slit then backtrack. The thicker you put the yarn on the more dense your puff ball will be.
I wrapped my yarn around until I couldn't really see the cardboard anymore. But again, that's totally up to you.. it just determines the density of your puff ball.
This is why your yarn needs to have a little give. Cut between the two cardboard pieces all the way around. If your yarn is wound too tight you won't be able to get the scissors in. Be careful here so that all of your little yarn pieces don't fall out. If they do, pretend they are caterpillars.
Cut a piece of yarn and put it between the two cardboard pieces. Tie it and then tie it again on the opposite side. And again if you're afraid that your little yarn caterpillars will wiggle out.
And voila! A puff ball!
Here are some photos of the puff balls being all cute in a row as well as photos of the finished products.
There are two mobiles - one is a circle and the other is a wavy line.
The top part is copper jewelry wire that I bought at a garage sale when I was in high school.
In the photos they are hanging on the ceiling fans in our living room.
The wavy line is now in Olive's room above her changing table. She really likes to look at it!
The circle is still on the fan in the living room. It's on the fan that is above our rug where we spend a lot of time every day. It's supposed to go above her crib but she doesn't spend much time there!
The end! Let me know if you have any questions about the process. It's super easy and very fast! I made the puff balls while talking on the phone, reading blogs, and while in the car. These would be great to make for your own home - with our without baby - or as gifts! :)
First, I hunted through my craft room and realized that I didn't have very interesting yarn color choices. I asked Brooke if I could borrow some of her yarn and she let me borrow a big bag full. :)
I looked around online for ways to make yarn puff balls.. or as most people call them "pom-poms". I prefer "puff ball". I settled on the following method and after a few tries streamlined the process a bit.
How to make a puff ball:
Cut out two cardboard doughnut shapes with a slit and a notch cut in each one. They can be any size. The diameter of the cardboard doughnut will be the approximate diameter of your puff ball.
Put the cardboard pieces back to back so it looks like you have only one.
Start on one side of the slit cut into the cardboard and wrap the yarn around. Wrap yarn over the end piece so it doesn't come undone - you don't need to do anything fancy.. just wrap yarn over it a couple of times. Do not wrap the yarn too tight as you will need it to give slightly when you cut it off the cardboard later.
Wrap the yarn all the way around the cardboard until you reach the other end of the slit then backtrack. The thicker you put the yarn on the more dense your puff ball will be.
I wrapped my yarn around until I couldn't really see the cardboard anymore. But again, that's totally up to you.. it just determines the density of your puff ball.
This is why your yarn needs to have a little give. Cut between the two cardboard pieces all the way around. If your yarn is wound too tight you won't be able to get the scissors in. Be careful here so that all of your little yarn pieces don't fall out. If they do, pretend they are caterpillars.
Cut a piece of yarn and put it between the two cardboard pieces. Tie it and then tie it again on the opposite side. And again if you're afraid that your little yarn caterpillars will wiggle out.
And voila! A puff ball!
Here are some photos of the puff balls being all cute in a row as well as photos of the finished products.
There are two mobiles - one is a circle and the other is a wavy line.
The top part is copper jewelry wire that I bought at a garage sale when I was in high school.
In the photos they are hanging on the ceiling fans in our living room.
The wavy line is now in Olive's room above her changing table. She really likes to look at it!
The circle is still on the fan in the living room. It's on the fan that is above our rug where we spend a lot of time every day. It's supposed to go above her crib but she doesn't spend much time there!
The end! Let me know if you have any questions about the process. It's super easy and very fast! I made the puff balls while talking on the phone, reading blogs, and while in the car. These would be great to make for your own home - with our without baby - or as gifts! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)