Because I am FOUR

Love me because I am four. I spell three letter words that crack me up--poo, pee, but... I love to do what the big guys do--monkey bars, video games, scooters, and car races.  I love to eat junk food and pick them over most things--chicken nuggets and french fries with chocolate milk is my favorite meal. And today my mommy and sister made me yummy brownies for dessert! 

I spend my days jumping in puddles, running as fast as I can and walking on my tippy toes!  And if something really excites my I will run around and do a happy dance. I don't think there is anything more relaxing than a long warm bubble bath followed by cuddling with my mommy.

So, here is to ME, Mr. Four Years Old. Cheers! (I actually say cheers when I drink anything.)

I baked you a cake...

I baked you a cake. No. It isn't pretty but, it tastes really good. And plus, it didn't come from a box. None of the parts, not even that luscious butter cream icing that coats it.

It is banana cake.  But, not just a regular old banana cake. It has yummy bits of pecan throughout the cake. The center is filled with thick pecan filling. It has a shredded coconut crust and a rich vanilla butter cream frosting. It smells wonderful and I can't wait to cut into. I hope you can imagine how yummy this cake will taste when I get my knife to it.

A very merry un-birthday to you!

Kindle? or SuperBowl?

This is what my three year old did during the Super Bowl this year.  I think he is too comfortable with technology.  I intended on putting up higher quality images but, they take too long to download.  I hope you like these. Another peek into our daily lives.

Oh! Today I went to middle school orientation for miss pink. She is totally excited. I am happy sad. So, there is a whole lot of emotional, mental, and physical maturation happening in the Scarborough House. Pray for me. ;o)

Little Men

Just pulling off some of my photos from my fabulous camera.  Well, it helps that I have mad photo skills.  Anyway, it is sharing time and here are a few that I thought were noteworthy.

Isn't he the most intense little man? I mean seriously. I don't ask him "to pose" or "to be serious".  Every now and then, I get to catch him out of concentration when he is giggling or clowning around. Usually, it happens so fast and furiously, that I miss the chance to grab my trust camera. The first two were just kind of artsy but, that was on a longer car ride so he was almost asleep.  He couldn't help the subdued look. The last one was when I interrupted something very important--probably Lego related. :)

These are of the little guy playing with a gun.  Don't worry it wasn't real. I liked the first one for it's perspective and for the excellent depth of field.  The last one with him spotting was pretty neat. He  really felt like he was an expert.  But, my favorite one was the middle shot because he had just shot at a target and he was completely impressed by his own prowess.  I love to see him satisfied with his "skills". He made me laugh.

This was just in memory of my TV.  You see, this long haired three year old hijacked my TV to play Lego Batman.  I am oh so sad. I don't get to see much of the three year old or the TV anymore.  But, I see a LOT of Lego batman and the back of this cute little head.

So there are a few peeks into our home life.  I have a couple of others to share. I will get to them but, right now it is snack time and bath time for the previously mentioned 3 year old.

Short

Some days I just feel short.  Short in height, short tempered, short on time, or like a short order cook. short, short, short.  Am I short-sighted to think this feeling will be short-lived. :oP

January Jones Park Jaunt

We and by we I mean I decided to go to Jones Park today.  We were all just sitting in front of the TV or the computer screen. I took the opportunity to get a couple of updated pictures of my kids.  Pink asked me why I love taking pictures of Milky so much.  I told her a lot of it is that he is growing up with mommy taking photos so he is relaxed and welcomes my shots.  So, she has decided that if she wants to be in shots, that she would actually allow  me to shoot.  The middle one is still hard for me to catch but, I will work on him.

I think it is fairly evident that the child in the following shot, is very comfortable in front of a Nikon. In fact, he feels so comfy he always wants to "borrow" my D50.

Since he is my aspiring photographer, I get him to take a shot of me or my hubby.  Here he shot us both and he got most of us but, really he got me. With my frizzy hair and all. So that is what I look like behind the scenes.

What do you do on really cold windy days?  I can tell you what we do (or at least what he did).  I always love to see kids resting and breathing deeply. It is just beautiful. I really hated to wake this guy up. He was sleeping so well.  But, a mom has to do what a mom has to do.

Tonight will be a hard freeze. I need to go back outside and cover my herbs. Not looking forward to it...at all.

Anyhow, happy dreams tonight.

Warmly,
From The Scarborough House

Galette de Rois

One of my college friends and I are on a baking mission.  She has completed hers but, I have not.   I plan to make this today sometime.  I planned to do it yesterday but, I couldn't find 1 of the ingredients that I needed. I may need to substitute it or something. Aren't these beautiful?

This is the french version of King's Cake (Galette de Rois).  She gave me the recipe but, I have to ask her if she comfortable with me sharing it with the world.

Christmas Nuts- A Recipe

Christmas Nuts

Everybody has a favorite nut in their family, sometimes it is an Aunt or Uncle. And sometimes it is something delicious and sweet.  I swiped this from a book I am not sure which one, if you know it, please give credit.  I found it in a notebook in which I write/wrote interesting recipes to use in the far off future.  These are old things before I blogged so, source credits were not written down. I know...tsk tsk. I know better.

The Christmas Nut!

Materials:

2 cups of almonds (raw)

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp salt (to taste)

2 tsp ground ginger

2tbsp veg oil

2tbsp golden honey

Procedure:

1. Roast raw nuts for 5 mins at 350F.
2. While nuts are roasting: a. combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan over med-low heat until warm and melty.
3. Pour over 5min nuts, and return it to the oven to roast for 10 more minutes at 325F.
4. After they have roasted and the yumminess is good and stuck, pour them on a cooling rack to harden. 
5. Serve warm or room temp.
6. Take a picture and post it on the web.

Notes:

This is sticky. Line your roasting pans and drip trays with foil or parchment for quick clean up.
MAKE MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU WILL NEED-they go pretty fast.

35mm Tests

Look what my 35mm lens did! I love this new lens. It doesn't zoom but, it has lots of great features. Large aperture, super sharp shots, great color registration, little to no distortion as in so many lenses.  And best of all it is FAST!

Isn't this little guy guilty looking? Makes you wonder if he is on the naughty or nice list. ha!

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday.  I am not very old but, old enough to appreciate my day.  I spent most of the morning in bed. My kids made me breakfast in bed which consisted of a 1/2 cup jelly toast (because that is how much they used to jelly the toast); fruit salad (apples, grapes, and tomatoes); and tart orange juice to wash it all down. I had  chance to chat with my Dad but, missed my Mom's phone call while I was in my uber hot shower.  When I finally got downstairs, I was greeted with a hot cup of DH's coffee and red crepe paper streamers and balloons.

We then went to see The Muppet Movie.  I saw 75% of it because my middle blessing started to feel sick.  He had a sour stomach and we wound up waiting till the end of the movie in the car. On the way home, he puked for about 2 of the 5 miles that we drove. Of course, into a bag next to my sensitive first blessing. Sadly, we even stopped for Pepto to help w/ the upset stomach but, it had no positive effect.

We made a light lunch and lounged between bouts of vomit. Somehow, my DH managed to bake me a cake and bring home a delicious dinner.  While he was gone my third blessing tore into the cooling (un iced) cake and damaged one completely.

So, DH came home and fixed the cakes, set the table, coaxed the kids into the kitchen, decorated the cakes, fed the baby, and presented me with a beautiful card and a great gift.  He did all of this for me. He didn't throw his hands up and cry because it didn't go as planned. He smiled and breathed and just let the moments be.  Thank you my love. I love you more than you could ever know. Thank you for trying to make my day spectacular. I will never forget it!

Oh and I got lots of well wishes from my FB friends.  That was kind of nice.  It is almost like getting a dollar corsage pinned on my shirt. That was such a fun tradition.  I should start that up again. 

Can you guess what my DH got me for my bday? A brand new 35mm lens. Yeah baby! Can't wait to crack into that one! So excited!

I took some time today to take a couple of impromptu learning shots on my daughter.  Pink is her avatar on line, you will see why.  Anyhow, I was working with my old lenses which I absolutely love.  My goal this afternoon was SHARP details.  I did pretty well.  I love these of my big girl.  The in between age.  So special and such a short period of time. God I love this girl.  I wish I could be more like her.

So here is Pink.  She has very little patience for me and my camera.  There was not adjusting ISO settings or for bracketing or any of the learning things I wanted to work on.

I LOVE Natural light.  It is so beautiful and so daunting.  It takes so much work just to keep up with shadows and hot spots and all that mumbo jumbo. But, hey. Look how lovely my sweetie is. And this is because she hates it when I shoot my camera at her.

Thanksgiving has already passed me by!

Hey there internets!  It has been a really long while.  I know...but, I truly have been busy raising my family, teaching, cleaning, and the list goes on.

I hope to blog a little more often over the next few weeks.  But, I can't make promises.  I am trying to stay abreast of all my interests but, still not as good at it as I would like.

I am just now getting into my photo gig.  And I hope soon, people will insist on tipping me for my free photos.  But, I guess I will need to be more aggressive in my saleswoman role.  No business is successful if there is not monetary anchor.

Wish me luck.  I hope more blessings come my way.

Michelle

Meanwhile at the Scarborough House....

Some days are just like this.

Natural Posers ;)

Have you ever had a day that is so beautiful you just had to capture some of it on film or memory card for us digital geeks?  Well I do from time to time and there is always so much nature in my yard.  I try and try to catch those pesky butterflies but, they are still a challenge for me. 

However, I can always get a very willing dragonfly to hang out on a limb and just let me shoot away.  These guys literally let me get six inches or closer to them and never fly away.  So what is it?  Why are they so willing to smile for the camera?

Here is the one I liked from today.  I actually had a couple but, this lil guy made me smile (mostly because he is smiling in the photo--you have to look really closely).

So let's talk the techie stuff about this one.  I love the Bokeh in the background.  I think the composition is pretty good and the color scheme is right on. I did saturate it a little by 5 points but, that was to add some depth to the blue sky.  The colors are good (the green azaleas look yellow because they are suffering from the drought).  I didn't lighten the shadow on the face because I feel it draws the viewers interest.  And besides, his face was shaded. When this shot is at full size the details are sharp and good--you can even see the veins in each wing and the hairs on his thorax.  Not sure if you can blow it up or not but, try.  So overall, I like this shot, it is not unique but, it is well done.