Moments in Time

This morning I got to take pictures of a friends little boy. I really do miss spending time behind the camera. I know I take lots of pictures of my own children, but it is really awesome to take other people's pictures and be able to capture moments for them.
I was really pleased on how the pictures came out this morning. I was able to "tweak" them in Photoshop and play with them a little. Here is one of my favorites:

I have noticed that little boys always like showing off their muscles! I was also able to capture a tender moment with his sister.

Its a good reminder that even though they might fight they really do have alot of love for each other.

But here is my favorite picture of the day:

Its just a fun shot!!!

My name is Kate...and I am a Pinterest Addict

As I mentioned in a previous post I am loving the new Pinterest site! It provides some much inspiration for home, crafts, cooking, photoshoots and more!
Now that Cameron is in school I figured it is time to introduce Reagan to the wonderful world of arts and crafts. Yesterday day I took a look at my handy Pinterest board of crafts and found a cute easy craft for the fall. Here it is:

All you need is paper, crayons and some WASHABLE stamp pads. Once I got Reagan to understand to use her thumb, and not her tongue the craft went quite well. It is now hung with honor on our art wall.
I can't wait to try all the other great ideas I have seen on Pinterest!

Hidden Dirt

"Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting."

These verses from Psalm 139 have been on my mind alot this week. The reason, I was fall cleaning my house.

At least twice a year I try to deep clean my house. That involves lovely things, like vacuuming under couch cushions, moving furniture to vacuum, taking everything off shelves and dusting, baseboards, vents and more. As I was cleaning I started thinking about the fact that my house looks clean, but hidden dirt is still dirt.

God showed me that it is the same with our lives. We may look "clean" on the outside, but we all have some "hidden dirt".

We may be able to hide it from people, we may even be able to fool ourselves that the "dirt" isn't really that bad, it isn't harming anyone, but God knows that it is there. God wants to lovingly clean out the "hidden dirt". God wants to take our hand and go through each "room" of our heart and deep clean it. He knows each part of us, because he made it. Psalm 139 also states: "For you created my inmost being;you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;your works are wonderful,"

God wants our insides to match our outsides. My prayer is that I would make time to sit still and let Him show me the areas in my life that need to be cleaned out.

Can You Tell I Am Obsessed with Fall Yet?

Thanks to a dear friend of mine I got introduced to "Pintrest". It is a great website that helps keep all of my websites organized. I can easily keep track of all of my craft ideas, recipes, etc.
We made these awesome leaf cookies today. All it is, is a basic sugar cookie recipe.

Sugar Cookies
Ingredients

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla paste or vanilla extract

Directions

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat the butter and both sugars in another medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Add the eggs and vanilla mixing until fully incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture, and continue beating just until the dough comes together, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divide dough in half, pat into disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

Generously flour a clean work surface. (For a nice, even layer of flour, lightly sift flour over the work surface.) Gently roll chilled dough about 1/4-inch thick. Cut into desired shape using a cookie cutter, working quickly enough so dough remains chilled. If dough gets too soft, refrigerate on a lined baking sheet until firm again, about 30 minutes.

Transfer cut cookies to un-greased baking sheets, leaving about 1-inch between cookies. Refrigerate the formed cookies for at least 30 minutes. Lightly dust off excess flour with a dry pastry brush. (Excess dough can be pressed into a disk, chilled and rerolled.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Bake the cookies, until the bottoms are golden, about 12 to 15 minutes depending on shape. Cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to transfer to a rack to cool. Decorate as desired and serve. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week
I got these awesome cookie cutters at Hobby Lobby. They were under a dollar on sale, and worked perfectly for these cookies.

The cookie cutters, along with cookie icing, and mist icing, which I just dicovered and is awesome, we created these colorful cookies that brought a bit of fall indoors...since it is still too early for the real leaves to change color!

The tools I used.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

My little guy is 5 years old, although he has a vocabulary of an 8 year old. He loves to read and learn new things, so because of that I will call him Professor.
This evening we were driving home from a friends house and had an interesting conversation.
Professor: "Mommy, maybe we are really just a book and someone is reading us"
Me: "Well that would be cool." (as my mind is reeling trying to think of a wise answer)
Professor: "I bet it is a book that will go on forever!"
Me: "Well, ok then." (again, note my deep philosophical answer"
We got home and he started getting ready for bed. When he decided to revive the conversation with this jewel...
Professor: "We are a book, God is the one reading us."
That's my boy!!!

A Twist on a Basic

In our house chocolate chip cookies are a must! To be perfectly honest I use the recipe on the back of the Toll House chips, it is my favorite of all the ones I have tried.
Over the past year I have tried a couple of variations on the recipe. I have added instant coffee, which makes a wonderful mocha cookie, and some cinnamon gives the cookies a nice spice.
Today I was using oranges in some other baking that I was doing, so I thought, why not put it in chocolate chip cookies? I love chocolate oranges! So to my basic chocolate chip cookies I added the zest of one orange, and about a 1/4 tsp of cloves. They made my house smell so good and were quite tasty! The orange is very subtle and accents the chocolate just right!

It's Fall.....let the crafting begin!!!

I love the fall. The smells, the colors, the weather and the food.
One of my favorite things is the fact that I have more time to do crafts. The weather isn't as nice as the summer, so we are inside more.
Tonight, since my dear husband is gone I got out my supplies to do a quick craft that I came across from one of the blogs I follow.
All it took was some 8x10 canvas, fall scrapbooking paper, a pumpkin stencil and some foam adhesive circles. Put them together and this is what you come up with:

I love how the adhesive circles provide some dimension to the final product. I plan on using this idea to translate into other holidays as well!

Welcome !!!!

I have been blogging for over a year now, but was trying to keep up with three different pages! So this page will have everything....maybe even the kitchen sink! There will be recipes, crafts and anecdotes of the craziness that is our life. It is a daily journey, and as in every journey there are ups and downs, but there are lessons in all of it, moments to savor and memories to make.