Monday, April 28, 2014

Blueberry Picking


So we may have skipped school today to go blueberry picking!  I felt we needed a fun day, a reset, a break in the monotony of schedules, and the weekend just didn't feel long enough. I have to say it was absolutely 100% worth it! We woke up when we wanted, had breakfast and headed to Lake Catherine blueberry farm.

 We have been going and doing this for the past three years but this year the kids actually were really into picking. They were on the hunt for the biggest and bluest and every other one was "the best one so far!"




We came away with a great supply! 


We will freeze lots for smoothies and snacks and we will be making, many times over, a staple in our house, blueberry crisp! I found this amazing recipe from Shauna Niequist's book Bread and Wine.

 We eat it by itself a lot, but we also have it on top of our plain Greek yogurt in the morning or with a scoop of Greenwise vanilla organic ice cream for a special treat!!


I know lots of my friends have been hitting the farms so here is the crisp recipe. You can really use whatever your favorite fruit is or as we do, whatever is in season for the base. It is so simple and so good! Even Taylor knows how to make it!






Ingredients



4 cups blueberries 

Crisp topping:

1 cup old fashioned oats

½ cup pecans

½ cup almond meal (available at Publix, Whole Foods, health food stores, or made by putting almonds in food processor until fine, but before they turn to almond butter)

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup olive oil

½ tsp salt

Instructions

Pour four cups fruit into 8×8 pan. Spread crisp topping over the fruit. Bake at 350 degrees 35-40 minutes, or longer if topping and fruit are frozen, until fruit is bubbling and topping is crisp and golden.

Serves 4
 

Much Blueberry Love, 

Lauren

Friday, April 25, 2014

Happy Birthday Mojito


As I promised here is the grapefruit mojito I made for the adults at Taylor's birthday dinner! I picked grapefruit because the color matched her decor but they turned out great! 

It felt right to post this today because it is my sweet friend Sarah's birthday and we are celebrating her with friends, soaking up the Florida sun by our pool! Adults only! Sarah is preggers so we will all be having cocktails on her behalf. It is a tough job but we just love her so much, so we are more than willing to do that for her. Anyways, here it is!

Grapefruit Mojito Recipe:
(Makes 4 Drinks)

Juice of four limes
Two cups of fresh squeezed Grapefruit juice
Six ounces rum - light or dark
1/4 cup mint simple syrup (recipe below)
Soda water
Ice
Fresh mint leaves for garnish

Mix lime juice, grapefruit juice, simple syrup and rum in a small pitcher 
Fill four tall glasses with ice then fill glasses 3/4 full with juice mixture
Top off with soda water
Garnish with mint

Mint Simple Syrup
1 cup sugar, 1 cup water and 1 cup mint leaves
Heat in saucepan on medium high heat until sugar is dissolved
Add mint leaves, cover and let seep for 30 minutes to 1 hour
Strain out mint
Store syrup in refrigerator (keeps for several weeks)


Happy Saturday and cheers to whatever or whoever you are celebrating!

Much Mojito Love,
Lauren


Friday, April 18, 2014

She leaves a little Sparkle wherever she goes





 Our smart, beautiful, spirited, loud, loving, full of life baby girl turned 6! Our hearts are so full because of her! We spent the whole weekend celebrating with our girl. It was so much fun!

This year she was turning 6 on the 6th so because it was her "Golden" birthday we had to incorporate gold in the color scheme and decor! I spent the whole week making fun decorations! It is always a lot of work but I really love celebrating people and especially my baby girl! She gets really 
into the decorations and appreciates it and loves it so much, so I love to do it for her! Her little face lights up every time I show her something I made!











 She picked the menu and it turned out great! Jon grilled burgers and hot dogs. We had caesar salad, her favorite, and a kale salad, my favorite, plus corn on the cob! I also made grapefruit mojitos for the adults! You need the recipe I promise you. So I will post soon!

This year she didn't want a cake but wanted to have ice cream sandwiches instead so I let each kid pick what kind of cookie they wanted and what flavor ice cream and then they loaded them with sprinkles and hot fudge...I mean loaded them!





As always the best part of the whole night was the people who were there to celebrate her!













A few of the cuzzies spent the night. 






Saturday we relaxed by the pool with our friends and Taylor spent some time with her little friend Sydney!





Sunday we woke up on her actual birthday and headed to Winter Park for brunch at Marlow's Tavern just the 4 of us! Then we took Taylor to paint pottery! Her choice!







I think she felt loved and cherished and that was our main goal so I think it was a success!! Happy Golden Birthday baby girl!


Much Birthday Love!

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Spring Photos by Michelle Morris

Every once in a while I meet someone who inspires me like crazy because the minute you meet them you feel like they are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing in life! They are inspiring because they are so so good at what they do. They are so natural they make it look effortless and fun that you almost for a second you think it could be easy.

Months ago I started stalking photographer Michelle Morris on Facebook and Instagram. She went to high school with my husband but moved to Savannah, GA with her high school sweetheart and three out of this world cutie patootie boys! I had never met her but I just loved her work. She catches the simple moments of life in a way that is so beautiful and raw. I couldn't wait for her to photograph my kids!

Jon and I opted out of being part of the session this time because we have done many before and we both end up hating how we look. We always feel like awkward family photos. We love how the kids look and get super critical of ourselves. I always feel way to uptight and unnatural. However, I wish we would have thrown back a few shots of Patron and jumped in! Next time we most definitely will!

I let her take the reigns and I am glad I did! She has a way of engaging with the kids and keeps them having fun all the while getting great moments of them! I couldn't believe how well she manages the whole thing!

I could really go on and on but I will let the photos speak for themselves! I was going to only select a few to share but I really couldn't pick so here they ALL are!