Art of Editing

Well, my good friend Lisa has started teaching classes on Photoshop and the Art of Editing. I have always been a bit envious of her pictures and now I have the chance to learn how she edits them. Yay! She is also going to be teaching a few other classes -- Lightroom and a more advanced Photoshop class. She has 3 classes in March and when she finishes those she will schedule her April classes. You can click on the button below to find out more info....

Pretty roses.....

Well, it is time again for black and white Wednesday. My darling husband always gives me roses for Valentine's Day. He started the first Valentine's day that were together/married (they are the same since we met in March and were married in September of the same year). Back in the day, they were delivered to me at work but now he just gets them and has them on the table for when I get up in the morning. He has started getting the girls their own flowers but not roses. He bought them tulips that they can plant together. Here are my flowers with just a little bit of color....



Check out Lisa's blog for more Black and White Wednesday.

B&W Wednesday -- Sophia's new love

Well here it is another week has gone by and it is time for Black & White Wednesday. This is a throwback to Christmas. Sophia has asked for well over a year for a DS. She saw her cousin's DS which is how she knew about them. I was so set against it because I did not/will not have the child that takes their DS everywhere (restaurants, family member's houses). I, however, relented and Santa brought her one for Christmas. I set time limits on them and where and when they can play them. Here she is Christmas morning with her beloved toy:

Please go and see Lisa at The Long Road to China for more Black and White Wednesday pictures. Also she is starting something fantastic if you want to learn more about Photoshop and/or Lightroom.

Our queen...

Well, last Friday night my niece Bailee was on the court for her school's Basketball Homecoming Queen. My mom, the girls, my niece Alexis, my brother and my sister-in-law went to see if she won queen. She didn't win but she will always be a queen to us. I took a few pictures and decided to make one of them black and white for Lisa's Black and White Wednesday.


To see more Black and Whites go to Lisa's blog HERE.

B&W Wednesday and 6 yrs ago

Well it is Black & White Wednesday again. I am still learning how to convert but am having fun doing so especially going back through my lightroom and picking out photos I haven't processed before. This is from this past summer. I took the girls for a photoshoot in their pettiskirts. I wish I knew how to add just a little of the pink that was in Olivia's clothes for this shot.


Now for the 6 yrs ago part -- 6 yrs ago yesterday Olivia was placed in my arms. We got to our hotel about 9 pm and we were handed our babies at 9:30. We had only found out about 4 hours (at the airport waiting for flight to Nanchang) before that we were going to be getting them that night instead of in the morning like the original plan. There were 14 sets of anxious and nervous parents. We have a reunion with our travel group every year (usually February or March) and I can't wait to see our group this year. We celebrated her family day on Sunday by going bowling, the bookstore, dinner of her choice and the ice cream parlor for dessert. I can't imagine our lives without this amazing girl!

Recipe Monday time...Updated with pic and a few notes

It is time again for Recipe Monday that my good friend Colleen of The Nuthouse started. We got several inches of snow on Friday night/Saturday morning so we took the time to stay indoors tried out a new recipe. Mine did not look like the picture in the book -- well it could be because I changed it up a bit LOL. I will put what we did and include the original recipe at the end. I attempted to take a picture of the finished product but it didn't look pretty. It did however taste wonderful! **Pic is now added**

Ice Cream Sandwiches

1 roll (18 oz) of chocolate chip refrigerated cookie dough
1/2 cup caramel sauce
4 cups chocolate chip ice cream, softened
Hot Fudge topping (optional)
Whipped cream (optional)
9 maraschino cherries (optional)

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 13x9-inch baking pan. Let dough stand at room temperature about 15 minutes.

2.) Spread dough evenly into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake about 18 minutes or until the edges are light brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. **Make sure you keep an eye on the cookie. Mine went 22 min per the original recipe and they were a little too hard so I cut the cook time a few minutes.**

3.) Line 8x8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil or plastic wrap, allowing some to hang over edges of pan. Remove cooled cookie from pan; cut in half crosswise. Place 1cookie half, top side down, in prepared pan, trimming edges to fit, if necessary. Spread 1/4 cup caramel evenly over cookie in pan. Spread ice cream evenly over caramel. Spread remaining caramel over bottom of remaining cookie half; place caramel side down on ice cream. Cover tightly with foil or plastic wrap; freeze at least 2 hours or overnight. **We tried it after 2 hours but overnight works much better!**

4.) Cut into bars and top with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream and cherries just before serving, if desired.



Now for the original recipe:

Banana Split Ice Cream Sandwiches

1 roll (18 oz) of chocolate chip refrigerated cookie dough
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup strawberry jam, divided
4 cups strawberry ice cream, softened
Hot Fudge topping (optional)
Whipped cream (optional)
9 maraschino cherries (optional)

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 13x9-inch baking pan. Let dough stand at room temperature about 15 minutes.

2.) Combine dough and bananas in large bowl; beat with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Spread dough evenly into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake about 22 minutes or until the edges are light brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

3.) Line 8x8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil or plastic wrap, allowing some to hang over edges of pan. Remove cooled cookie from pan; cut in half crosswise. Place 1cookie half, top side down, in prepared pan, trimming edges to fit, if necessary. Spread 1/4 cup jam evenly over cookie in pan. Spread ice cream evenly over jam. Spread remaining jam over bottom of remaining cookie half; place jam side down on ice cream. Cover tightly with foil or plastic wrap; freeze at least 2 hours or overnight.

4.) Cut into bars and top with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream and cherries just before serving, if desired.