my first "mini" wedding at berry college // wedding photography

Where has the time gone? Oh yeah...between being a wife and mom, spending almost 2 months at the beach with the ministry we work with, and putting about 3000 miles on the car, it's been hard to keep track of life...especially documenting it on my blog. 

I have to do a little back tracking. I'll start with the wedding I photographed in April.
But not just any wedding. A kindergarten wedding.

Yes. A kindergarten wedding.

Every year the Berry College Elementary School Kindergarten class puts on their very own wedding. During the year the kids learn about how different countries celebrate marital unions around the world. At the end of the year it culminates in their reenacting a wedding ceremony. Each child has his own special role to play. The best part is that they exchange vows to be friends forever "through thick and thin". It is the sweetest thing ever complete with bride, groom, bridesmaids and groomsmen all chosen by drawing names out of a hat. After the ceremony, they rush down to the reception. This year  they had a circus theme: popcorn, clown noses, cotton candy, cake, and decorations galore. All of this in the span of about 2 1/2 hours. It was hard work, but I had so much fun and am so thankful to have been asked to capture this special occasion.

Looking through his mom and dad's wedding album.

What little girl doesn't love playing dress up?

Already admiring each others' shoes...

wearing her mother's veil

trying to stay warm before heading down the isle.

now you may HUG your friend.

on to the reception.

I'm pretty sure they had a blast and will never forget this experience.
Neither will I.

apple cinnamon oat muffins

 I've been wanting to share and document this recipe for some time.

It has to be one of the easiest muffin recipes ever.

And, I think it's gluten free.*

*I have read the only way you can be for sure is if the oats 

are labeled "gluten free" and packaged in a factory that does not

process wheat products. So, I may be missing the boat with my GV oats.

(Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm still learning.)

Apple Cinnamon Oat Muffins.

We have these AT LEAST once a week.

They only take about 5 minutes to prepare.

Here are the ingredients:

oat flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, stevia (honey or sugar if you prefer),

unsweetened applesauce, extra light olive oil, eggs, vanilla extract

& chocolate chips.

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Grind your oats into flour.

You can use a food processor

or a coffee grinder.

I love my coffee grinder, which I have in fact never used to grind coffee.
 It was my $2 thrift store find. I use it to make oat flour, almond flour, rice flour, etc.

Mix oat flour with the remaining dry ingredients.

Then add your wet ingredients one at a time.

Here's what the muffin batter looks like.

Now for my favorite part.

Add a handful of chocolate chips.

Just enough to get a few in each muffin.

Spoon batter into muffin tin.

I can usually get nine muffins out of one recipe.

Pop them in the oven

and

20 minutes later...

Dawson loves these.

I have made them as mini muffins, too.

They are great for snacks and taking on the road.

A yummy breakfast.

Goodness right there on a plate.

(Special shout out to my husband for the deer sausage he made himself.)

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

2 cups oat flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 tsp/package stevia (or a couple Tbsp of honey or sugar)

2 eggs beaten

1/2 cup extra light olive oil (i've used EVOO, too)

3/4 - 1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease muffin tin for 8-9 muffins. 

Mix dry ingredients well. Add wet ingredients to dry mixture. Mix all ingredients until well blended. Fold in handful of chocolate chips (or whatever you like). Spoon into muffin tin. Bake at 350°F for approx. 20 minutes. Mini muffins take about 8 minutes.

Enjoy!

I'd love to hear how these turn our for you if you make them. What changes would you make? 

banana fana

ok.

so, yes, i feel like i've fallen off the face of the blog world.

i have full intentions of catching up.

really, i do.

but until then, 

here are some shots of the sweetest baby 

and his first bites of banana.

i think he liked the spoon more than the banana.

later gator.

3 years old!

Guess who just turned three!

We had fun celebrating Dawson the week of his birthday.

We started off the day with a Phineas and Ferb birthday card.

It had an inflatable guitar inside!

Then we opened a few presents.

Here he is with some new cars to add to his ever growing collection.

He loved the batman balloons hanging from his door.

Then it was off to IHOP for one of (if not) his favorite meals - PANCAKES!

(We were too busy eating to pose for pictures.)

Of course I had to do a test run of the cupcakes I would be making on

Sunday for his birthday lunch.

They became our after dinner treat. 

  Blow out your candles!

Time for bed, birthday boy.

bedtime story with daddy.

Sunday came...

now to celebrate with friends!

His repeated request was for a Batman cake.

Simple and relatively easy.

I just printed out the batman symbol and traced it on top of

some black (pre made) fondant.

Add his batman figurine to homemade yellow icing...

Wah lah!

A batman cake.

And I must say, it tasted quite amazing!

Chocolate Applesauce Cake with Butter Cream Cheese Icing.

oh. my. goodness.

Sooo yummy!

Kind of looks like batman is trudging through yellow snow, huh?

But hey, Dawson loved it and it tasted good.

Isn't that what counts?

I had a fun week celebrating you,

Dawson.

My first born.

I love you, sweet boy.

You have changed my life forever.

I love your sensitive heart,

your huge smile,

and those sweet curls.

So thankful for your life.

Thankful to be your mommy.

in between.

oh my goodness.

it's been too long since i last posted.

the little man's arrival has been quite an adjustment

and just now we are getting into some kind of routine.

(well, more or less.)

but in between

the feedings

and cooking,

and cleaning up messes,

and just being with my boys,

i've managed to capture a few

moments with them.

here's a morning with some play dough.

his "tower"... that he is also slicing in two.

we've been

watching little brother

do new things.

like roll over.

and coo and babble.

and punch animals dangling from his activity mat.

here he is

on his 2 month old birthday.

sept 25.

we took a road trip to see my sweet sister

and celebrate the birth of her own little one.

my mom, my sister and liam.

we've partied when daddy is home.

those times are our favorites of the day.

there is always a sigh of relief when

we hear the door open and we see his face.

he's our super hero.

his special power is saving us me from our busyness

and task mode.

i confess, i resist often

and see his presence a lot of times as a way to 

actually get MORE things done.

but on the days that i actually stop

and make the most of him being with us,

i get to capture moments like this:

so thankful for those 

"in between" moments.