My Little Dare Devil

A couple of weeks ago, we took dinner to the park and let the kids play. I had to document what a dare devil Alex is. He thinks that he is invincible. He refuses to go down the slide any way but head first and he loves it.

He wants to do everything that his big brother does.

I love that belly!

First One Out the Door!

So this was my first "official" photo shoot since becoming Lou Lou Photography(with nine more coming up this month). It was a wonderfully, fabulous time. Beautiful family. If you want to see more of this session and the others to come, check them out by clicking the link below.

Lou Lou Photography, The Blog.

Chocolate Cheesecakes

I made these little babies yesterday and man they are yummy, so I thought I would share!

Chocolate Cheesecakes

(Makes 24 cupcake sized individual cheesecakes)

24 Vanilla Wafers

2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325. Line muffin pans with foil bake cups. Place one vanilla wafer in bottom of each cup.

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, cocoa and flour. Blend well. Add eggs and beat well. Stir in sour cream and vanilla. fill each prepared cup almost full with cheese mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set. Remove from oven. Cool 5-10 minutes. Spread a heaping teaspoonful of sour cream topping on each cup. Cool completely in pans. Refrigerate.

Sour Cream Topping:

1 cup sour cream

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Stir until sugar dissolves.

Top with a large chocolate chip.

Out with the Old and in with the New...

This little beauty made it into my hot little hands yesterday afternoon. A little investment in my new business. I never thought I would be so excited about anything electronic. I literally had the door open before the UPS man could get to my porch.(Jazzie lets me know when someone is coming). I'm so excited for our new journey together! I know we will make wonderful memories for my family and others, together.

At the same time, I had to say goodbye to this friend of mine. Thank you for helping me fall in love with photography. For being by my side while I experimented and learned the ins and outs. Thanks for taking beautiful pictures and capturing important memories. I know you will serve my brother and sister in law well. Farewell old friend!

Home Made Bread in 1 Hour!

I have taken on a new project, no more store bought bread. I have always been a lover of home made bread, but have been a bit put off by the time involved. At our Enrichment Super Saturday this year, we had a 1 hour bread demonstration. I am here to say that it really only takes one hour and the bread is fabulous. You can make white or wheat and it is perfect for using food storage as it contains no eggs or oil. The binding ingredient is liquid soy lecithin. It is a 100% natural, soy based product that is found in almost all cookies and breads you already buy. I assume you can buy it at health food stores, but I ordered mine here because it was a great price. I've decided I can take an hour or two a week to make bread. So here are the recipes if you are interested. I used my Kitchen Aid Mixer, but I'm sure if you are ambitious enough you could do it by hand. This won't work in a bread maker.

White Bread

5 1/4 cup white bread flour (not all purpose, do not sift)

1/4 cup sugar (white, brown or honey)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 rounded tbsp. Saf-instant yeast(keep in freezer)

1 1/2 tbsp. liquid lecithin(dough enhancer)

2 cup hot tap water

Whole Wheat Bread

2 1/4 cup white bread flour(not all purpose, do not sift)

3 cup whole wheat flour(do not sift)

1/4 cup sugar(white, brown, or honey)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tbsp. Saf-instant yeast(keep in freezer)

1 1/2 tbsp. liquid lecithin(dough enhancer)

1-2 tsp. vanilla

2 cup hot tap water

Whole Wheat Supplements

1/2 cup applesauce(minus out 1/2 cup water)

1/2 cup prepared oatmeal

1/4 cup dry instant or steel cut oats

Nuts

Mix dry ingredients with regular hook to evenly mix yeast. Add lecithin and water. Mix for 1 minute with a dough hook and check consistency, must be sticky. If dough is too dry, add more water. If dough is too moist, add more flour. Mix for 5 minutes*. Do not add water or flour to the dough after it has finished mixing. Shape into two loaves, put in two greased loaf pans. Cover with a dish towel. Let raise for 25 min. Bake at 350 for 25 min.

Yields 2 loaves of bread

*for whole wheat bread mix for 10 min.

I've only made the wheat bread because that is what we eat at my house. I've tried a few variations and my favorite is to make it with brown sugar, substitute 1/2 cup water with 1/2 cup applesauce, and add 1/4 cup dry instant oats.

Alex at 18 Months

On Friday, Alex turned 18 months old. I have no idea where this past year and a half has gone. He is turning into a little boy right before my eyes. He FINALLY started walking at about sixteen and a half months and now he is a mover and a shaker. He is all over the place. The problem is he thinks he can do everything Isaac can, so consequently we have had many tumbles, falls, and scrapes. However he takes it in stride and rarely cries, he gets up and is on the go again. His pediatrician said "Isaac is the thinker and Alex is the doer". He weighed in at 27lbs. 13 oz.(74%) and 34 inches tall(91%).

Here are some facts about Alex Thomas at 18 months:

He is so mellow natured, a pretty easy going kid.

He idolizes his brother.

He gives the best kisses.

He is learning a new word almost everyday. His most recent is "why"

He knows where his nose, eyes, hair, mouth, tongue, belly, toes and fingers are.

He loves to sit on Isaac's tricycle, even though he can't move it.

He could care less if he is dirty and frequently has his hair full of sand.

Likes to go down all slides head first(He is a bit of a daredevil!)

Loves to wear hats and glasses.

He cries when we drop Isaac off at kindergarten.

He has a strange obsession with "Diego" from Nickelodeon.

He won't eat meat at the moment unless it is processed(hot dogs and chicken nuggets)

He would eat his body weight in grapes if I let him.

Isaac is one of the only ones that can get him to belly laugh.

He looks so much like his dad's toddler pictures, it is a bit scary.

He won't eat his food if I cut it up.

He has to wear his pj's for his nap due to many poop incidents.

He loves to play outside.

His eyes melt my heart.

IT IS OFFICIAL!!!

I am so EXCITED. I've finished the logo, came up with a name, and the website and blog are done! If you are wondering where the name came from, as a child my Mother always called me Mandi Lou. So as a tribute to my Mom, I wanted to use Lou, but didn't like just Lou. I added another Lou to make Lou Lou Photography. I had Rita at Coffeeshop help me make a little button that will link right to the website. She is so talented and it only cost me $5. You really should check out her blog if you haven't already. She has amazing free actions/presets for PSE, Photoshop and Lightroom. She has also gotten into blog design. There are tons of tutorials and other fun things to find there. If you feel so inclined, I would love any help to spread the word about Lou Lou Photography. All you have to do is copy and past the html code under the button on my side bar into an html gadget on your side bar. Here are the links to the website and blog.

website

blog

Remember that my fall special will be going from now through November. $50 sitting fee(up to 7 people, $5 each additional person) and $25 for the CD with 20-30 high resolution edited photos and copyright release. It's time to get those family photos done for Christmas!