I ♥ Faces Happy Birthday

This week at I Heart Faces the theme is Happy Birthday. This is my entry, it was my daughters first birthday with a family!

My daughter spent her first birthday in an orphanage.

When we got home from China with our Angel the first thing that I did was plan her Birthday party.

She loved the cake!

I love the look on her face it this photo, it was about a month after we got home.

It is amazing to see the transformation she has made!

More Fun Pool Photos

You Capture -Family-

Family is...

Spending the weekend with your family that lives far far away!!!!

Well, it's not really that far, but we certainly don't see them often enough!

I know they aren't the best quality photos I could have taken, but they capture how wonderful my sister and her husband are and how much our children love them!

The Princess with her Aunt

The Little Emperor with his Uncle

Make sure to go on over to I Should Be Folding Laundry and check out all of the awesome photos!

The Princess and The Pool

The Princess did not miss out on the water fun, this was yesterday at the pool.

What Being A Kid Is All About

This is the first time my son has ever played in the hose in the yard. Needless to say he loved it!!

I love watching him have new experiences, his world is expanding every minute!

That smile about sums it up, grass on face and all!

What's Your Play? -no. 46

I found this on a fellow Mom's blog and thought I would give it a shot, I am new to editing. Let me know what you think. Original

My edited version

I upped the hue and saturation
Converted to BW
Then reversed the color on two leaves

Go check out all the other cool fixes in the comments section of

Dolce Pics What's Your Play? no. 46

You Capture -Sweet-

This weeks theme at I Should Be Folding Laundry is sweet.

We spent this past weekend at my sisters deep in the woods. She has 5 beautiful daughters and they have now multiplied.

My oldest niece lives in Texas her husband who is in the Army and is now on tour overseas. This was the first time I have seen my niece in years. She has a beautiful two year old daughter that I just fell in love with. So my entry this week is my gorgeous great niece who is the sweetest thing ever, look at those eyes!

Make sure to go on over to I Should Be Folding Laundry and check out all of the awesome photos!

I ♥ Faces -Blurb Book Contest Week-

This week over at I Heart Faces the theme is your best photo.

Here is my submission.

My kids love to eat lunch outside. During one of our front porch picnics last week I grabbed the camera and shot some photos of my daughter eating Gold Fish with her lunch.

This is one of my favorite photos of her.

Make sure to stop by and see all of the cool photos.

I am submitting this photo into the I Heart Faces Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.
If this wording is not in your post, your photo will not be considered for the purposes of this contest.

I Heart Faces -Laughter-

Laughter is the theme this week at I Heart Faces.

I love this theme, one of the most beautiful things in the world is hearing your children laugh.

I took this photo of my son in March. He was laughing and having fun at the park.

This photo is very special to me since we had just started working with his speech therapist to get his lip muscles really loosened up. His improvement is so noticeable to me in this photo.

His grin just gets wider and brighter each day.

Please take a few moments and visit I Heart Faces you won't regret it.

There are some very talented people taking photos out in our world!

We Picture This -Hats-

We Picture This contest this week is 'Hats'.

Our Little man hates and I mean hates having hats on.

He takes them off as fast as I put them on him.

I had to shoot fast to catch these shots and I

had a hard time choosing which photo I like better.

As you can see in the first photo, he is "Mr. Serious" and really enjoying

wearing this lovely hat and getting his photos taken.

You can just imagine what he is thinking.

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Mode: Manual
Shutter Speed: 1/60
Aperture: F6.3
ISO: 200

Please go over to We Picture This and check out all of the cool and awesome photos!

Smoked Pork Roast

Here it is.

It was on the smoker for over 8 hours. It was fabulous!!

I served it with Baked Beans with Bacon, Steak Fries, of course Dill Pickle slices and sliced bread.

The leftovers tasted great today chopped up on bread with BBQ sauce.

Sorry, there is really no recipe for this.

I just made the rub with brown sugar, paprika, chili powder, onion powder and garlic salt. I slathered it all over the meat and then let it smoke. I used Mesquite wood during smoking.

You Capture -Expression-

How's this for some expression?

My son with a mouth full of rice cake and a big ole' grin on his face.

His new thing is every time I have the camera out he shoves his face in front of it and scrunches his face up into the cutest smiles. That's a two year old for you.

This is my entry for this weeks theme at I Should Be Folding Laundry.



Make sure to stop by and see all of the Expressions!!

Editing is Fun

I finally decided to get off my @#$% and start playing with really editing photos. Here are my first shots, it really is fun. No telling what you will get from here on out.

I Heart Faces -Hats-

This week at I Heart Faces the theme is Hats. Who doesn't love a fun hat?

Here is my entry for this week for the adult category. There is nothing better than my husband going down into the basement and digging out his array of '90's hats.

Here he is with our little man.

This is my first time entering the Adult category, let me what you think, I am still a beginner.

Make sure you stop by I Heart Faces and check out all of the really cool photos.

I Heart Faces -HATS-

This week at I Heart Faces the theme is Hats, how fun. Here is Kids my entry for this week.

I know she is mine and I am biased but I am mesmerized by my daughters beauty!

Make sure you stop by I Heart Faces and check out all of the really cool photos.

Roasted Chick Peas/Garbanzo Beans

Here I go again with the healthy stuff. What can I say I am a changed woman. Not by choice mind you. None the less these are delicious and healthy. Give them a try and let me know what you think. Another recipe that falls under super easy and low maintenance.

Roasted Chick Peas

Adapted by me.

1 Can Chick Peas
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Kosher Salt
Pre-Heat oven to 450.
Drain and rinse Chick Peas, pat dry if necessary.
Put in zip lock bag and coat with olive oil.
Place on black bottom baking sheet
Sprinkle with salt or flavoring of your choice. I hear they are great with Garam Marsala too.
Bake in over 30-40 mins, shaking pan occasionally
Cool and eat.

The Eyes Have It!

Two pair of the most beautiful eyes in the world. That's how I see it anyway!

Baked WonTon Crisps

Hungry for a healthier snack, then try these on for size and not to mention they are super easy to make. High taste low maintenance, my favorite kind of recipe.

I always have tons of won ton wrappers just laying around (we cook lots of Chinese food in this household).

These tasted pretty good and were very satisfying.

Baked Won ton Crisps
Adapted from Sweet Nicks

1 pkg won ton wrappers (3-inch squares)
cooking spray
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
toppings of your choice (i.e., Parmesan cheese, herbs, sesame seeds)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray (i.e., Pam), and arrange the won ton wrappers on the sheet, making sure they don’t touch. Spray the tops of the won ton wrappers with cooking spray and then sprinkle with salt, pepper and toppings of your choice. Bake until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Remove the won ton crisps to a wire rack, and let cool.

I did three different flavors, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, Parmesan cheese and black sesame seed. My favorite were the salt and pepper.