Twenty Thirteen

{2013}

Twenty thirteen was a year for us to gain our footing and find rhythms in navigating life with two toddlers.  The (I'm going to say it) struggles of having two small children were very challenging to say the least, but there was also a lot of cute and beauty and humility and growth.  We found ourselves in many ways, and are so happy to have had the year we had together.  We moved into a great little place that we will call home until we find a home to buy, and as we settled in, gaining confidence in our abilities to be flexible and adventurous, we decided that "We do stuff now." After a year or more of feeling "grounded" in the whirlwind of welcoming a second child, what seemed like one reason after another to stay in and forego the stress of getting out with our two lively Boys, we decided to stop making excuses and we went.  And we did stuff.


{WINTER}

What I love about this photo is how finding it brought such a smile,
knowing how this game of cushions off the couch romp would become such a huge
part of our daily life.  I love seeing this capture of one of their very first adventures. 

jasper's first birthday candle

{SPRING}

moving day, may 

This scene.  Every Morning.
Every night, Between us they sleep.
It won't last forever.

a visit from my baby brother Gage

{SUMMER}

One of the greatest joys for me, looking back on this past year, is the progress I've made in my (amateur) photography.  As time goes on and I see the evolution of my attempts and my ability to frame a shot and find the good light and document little moments- I just don't know if anything else has ever felt like such a good fit in expressing my creativity, in Making an Art piece out of my life.  My dad gifted me a DSLR camera mid-year and I've loved working with it.

it was great year for thrifting: journal page from the 1800s. $5, Goodwill

the grandest sunflowers, and the sneakiest tomato snipe

half-birthday boy

walks to thai food and boys in sandals

frozen yogurt at bedtime, while the sun still shines 

Fayetteville Roots Festival- photo by Meredith Mashburn Photography

{FALL}

CHICAGO

photo credit: stranger

LAKE MICHIGAN

***

husband said this was his favorite moment of the year
seeing his boys play his grandma's organ, in Indiana

baby boy sleeping under a quilt his great grandma made out of his grandpa
and great aunts' and uncle's clothes- on the bed his daddy kept when
he stayed summers in his youth

****

peppermint falls at the walton family persimmon seed spit

private air show on the top of a mountain, deep in the ozarks on a chilly fall day

HALLOWEEN

HORSESHOE CANYON RANCH, JASPER, ARKANSAS

Thanksgiving scene

our Big Boy Turned FOUR

and one to grow on...

{WINTER, again}

Real life- the trials of toddlerhood.  it's beautiful in its own rite

winter essentials

my last thrift venture of 2013 ended in my finding old coin and movie ticket stubs in a 30yr+ old pair of slacks

new year, new feathers.

My Goodness was it a lovely year.  We are looking forward to what the coming weeks and months will bring.  There are a lot of changes up ahead in our growing family restaurant business (including my joining the staff) and I look forward to sharing bits and pieces, photos and words with you here on this little Blog.  Thank you all for joining along and we'll see what more we can get into around here. It's an on going catch-phrase with my partner in crime and me: "We do stuff now."  And I'm so glad that it's so.  Happy New Year Friends.

Love to you and Yours.

Favorite Instagrams of the year: {@ozarkmamadeer}

  

gregory alan isokav at cooper chapel

D.I.Y. Organic Raw Almond Milk

Yesterday Morning, while I scurried around the house trying to keep up with my two little ones in the daily wake up haze- groggy, waiting for coffee to brew, changing Jasper's diaper, getting pre-breakfast snacks (my kids are snacky people)- I realized it was almond milk making morning and thought, "well, hey, why don't I just take a few photos for the blog while I whip up a batch."  You know- for added circus-like effect.  I've been meaning to share our process of making Raw Organic Almond Milk for some time, and at long last:  today is the day.

We started making our own almond milk early last year when we began to feel uneasy about the sugar additives in the packaged nut milks we were buying at our co-op.  Using cow's milk is not an option for us, as our children are very sensitive to dairy and we ditched rice milk (our first try at non dairy milk) after noticing it, too, was very sugary.  (Bonus!) Making our own milk costs about HALF as much as buying it in the store which is a great thing because almond milk goes fast in this house: we make 2 quarts every two or three days.  While opening a package of milk is admittedly much easier, I feel good about serving a milk beverage to my kids with these five ingredients that I know are simple and pure and, well, healthy:

1c. of Raw Organic Almonds *soaked in 2c. filtered water over night, drain*
7c. filtered water
3 pitted Dates
1/2 vanilla bean
pinch of sea salt

Tools:
nutmilk filter bag (I ordered mine on amazon)
high power blender (we use a Vitamix blender)
Container (this one is our fave)

It was actually my pal Mandy that I friended in (home) child birthing classes whom guided my first attempts at making almond milk.  She writes a really great food blog called Eating Innately, and I've loved every recipe that I've tried.  Especially this one and this one.  I've tweaked our almond milk to our liking and you can do the same (no salt, less sweet- i.e. few dates, no vanilla etc)

Here's the big secret about making almond milk:  it's super easy.  Three steps:  Soak Almonds, Blend ingredients for a few minutes, Strain.  The biggest hang up is preparation.  If you miss a night of almond soaking you are out of luck.  You can always just soak from morning til afternoon, though.

See:

 SOAK:

BLEND (I didn't take blending photos, because, well, it's not pretty)

 STRAIN:

I like to pour a little at a time, squeeze the milk through the mesh and dump the pulp as I go.  It's a little messy but the clean up is no big deal, and the entire make time is under 10 minutes.

I've used this pulp before in another one of Mandy's (eating innately) recipes, and it's also really yum.

 VIOLA!  You've got almond milk, folks!

 I hope you try this easy little DIY yumminess!  My favorite applications include:  with granola (obvi), in a glass over ice with some cold coffee home brew, a great additive to pancakes, smoothies, and even as a substitute for water in making rice!  My kids also drink it by the glass and love it!

Let me know if you try your hand at milk making.  And pass it along- Facebook it, tweet it, pin it, email it to your colleagues.  The jig is up- almond milk is easy to make and it's here to stay.

Enjoy!!