Christiana Childers Photography Blog

This little cherry was so perfect I had to take a photo of it and share it with you all. 

Look at that little curly curl!  So sweet…and it’s of course from Yakima, my home town…

I’ve been over and over how to introduce this family to you.  My words don’t have the depth of meaning that I want them to carry as you look at these photos.  All I can say is that they are my favorites.  I can’t imagine my life, my day, without this family.  I do love them so.

Now a little back story on the actual session.  We stopped in Leavenworth on our way back home from a weekend in Chelan.  Whatever you might think about Leavenworth, if you bring with you someone from Switzerland…well, then…it turns embarrassing.  It might be fun and kitschy go and buy taffy and pretend to be in the Alps when you are with other Americans who understand that we tend to fabricate charm because we don’t have the years behind us to make charm on it’s own but to bring someone who lives by the actual Alps…you get my point, right?   Also the piped yodeling/accordion music made me want to step in front of a bus!  So C’s boyfriend is from Switzerland and was with us for the trip. I got some great photos of C and M while there.  Knowing the back story, this one is pretty funny, don’t you think? -

Here are a few more.  It was hard to pick just a few!

Aww!  You kill me, you two!

After the session we went to this amazing Mexican food place called South…in Leavenworth…next to the Australian shop…Anyone getting this?!  Anyway, this place was so yummy.  I’d even brave the yodeling to go back.  And they give the kids those little wax sticks to play with while you wait for you food.

We had our home group over for dinner this weekend again.  It really is one of my favorite things to do.  We had such a great time that the neighbors up and down the block commented on it the following day.  Now that is a party! My cheeks still hurt from laughing.  We had a tacofest.  Here are some photos from the night -

Ben has been working hard to get our wall of windows and doors finished for the party.  I love how it turned out!

I made Whoopie Pies for dessert!  I’ve never made them before and will definitely be making them again.  The ones with Oatmeal have a Bacon-Maple filling.  Yum!  I’m not kidding!  You can find the recipe here.

But the yummiest dish of the night…these cheeks here -

Doesn’t the wall look so pretty?!My friend Dawn grabbed my little camera and took some great shots of the night.  I made a collage of them -

Oh!  They are going to kill me for posting that!  So long world!

Every time someone is coming from Ireland we ask them to bring us back some brown bread.  We instantly throw it in the freezer and slowly savor it.  Last time someone came, he brought me flour so I could make my own Irish Brown Bread.  Seeing these bags of flour on my counter gives me the same feeling as looking at a baby bunny or sweet little baby finger nails.  I don’t know why.  I’m strange I guess.  But then you already knew that.  But what makes it even greater is the patch job that our friend did because the bag ripped -

Does that not kill you?!  No?  Really?!  Ah well.  I think it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen….

Here’s my first loaf of THE brown bread.

It was absolutely delicious and we gobbled it up.  I’m so happy that I can now make it!  There is something so cool about making something that you know has been made and sustaining people for centuries.  Love it.

While we are on the topic of Ireland.  Our good friend from when we lived in Ireland wrote a song for a competition for the Irish Times for a new national anthem and won!  We are so proud him!  The song is quite catchy.  We’ve listened to it quite a bit in our house this week -

Here’s a photo of Kalle taken when we lived in Ireland during our many “sessions”.

Come on Ireland!

I like to cook.  A lot.  I love the menu planning, the prep, the presentation and, of course, eating it.  One of my favorite things I do is cook for my homegroup a few times a year.  We had a Valentine’s Dinner last weekend and I wanted to show you what we did.  So fun!

First, I was inspired by my trip to NY where a lot of the window displays and store decorations where made out of old books.  So I bought this book at “the Boutique”  (that’s my code word for Value Village!).  I love old books and I kind of hate to tear them apart especially when someone like Vern J Cole has written in it claiming it as his own in that cool old fashionedy writing..

Ah well!  So I made invitations by tea-staining an old sheet I had.  I then printed out the invite on an iron-on transfer to the fabric and sewed it to one of the book pages.

For decorations, Lora and I made paper flowers out of tissue paper and some more pages.

We also made some lanterns out of sewing book pages together -

Now onto the food!!  Well, at least the soup.  I forgot to take photos of the rest of the food but the soup was my favorite!  Here’s some photos of the beet soup in progress (note: you might die from saturated color! Did anyone else hear me channeling Sue Shoop just then?  One day my mom will read my blog and see all these references to herself…)

I made a second soup – a pea soup and then we put them side by side.  Ben made it look pretty (he’s way better at that than me!) -

Kari took couples photos of everyone.  Here’s ours

And one last photo that I couldn’t resist posting…

I’m sorry to do this to you all again.  I have more photos of my breakfast.  Maybe there is a self-help group I could join.  But this one is special and I’ll try to explain why.  First, for Christmas I was given the first dozen eggs from my sister-in-law and brothers chickens.  For all the teasing I’ve giving them for having chickens, I loved this gift.  I mean, would you just look at how beautiful they are?!

Then I made a perfect soft boiled egg, toasted some Irish brown bread that I’ve been savoring since a recent delivery from Ireland and served it with homemade jam from our neighbors.  Wouldn’t you take a photo too?  Please tell me you would…

If you think you have the best friends in the world, well, your wrong.  I do .  I had to do a quick post on the party my friends threw for me on Saturday night.  As my birthday is on the shortest day of the year (like being four days away from Christmas isn’t lemon juice in the paper cut enough!), my friends had a “Big Night” party for me!  Remember that movie?  It’s about an Italian Restaurant set in the 50s.  If you’re a foodie like me, you’ll remember!  Anyway, they made it all Italian themed in my friends garage (which we call the Garage Mahal -  nothing like MY garage!) Here are some shots from the night…

Is that cake the best or what?!  I tasted great too!  Greg, you have to leave a comment on who made the cake!

My nickname is Sugar, btw…

Ah, Bono.  A birthday isn’t complete without you.  Sorry you couldn’t make it this time…

Here’s me feeling so grateful and humbled by the toasts.

Time for cake!

I wish….what could I possibly have that is better than this.  I love you all so much.

Ben surprised me for my birthday with a trip to NYC!  I’ve been dying to go ever since my cousin,  Sweet Miriam (of a Mississippi Wedding post) moved there. We had a fabulous time!  We’re big foodies so we made that a big focus but it was just so great to be there on so many levels besides just the food…the glorious food!  We went with our long time friends Scott and Mary (of the Apple Press post!). Mary goes to NY several times a year on business so between Mir and Mare we felt like we weren’t tourists but living in city which is how I love to visit a city!  Here are some shots from our trip -

Scott and Mary.  Isn’t that cool with the train going by in the background.  Love it!

I like to do little hip-shots sometimes.  Occasionally I’m surprised at the result.  I thought this one was kind of cool.

I didn’t Photoshop the “Ring Bell” in there but doesn’t look like it?

I’ve always wanted to do one of those shots with a slow shutter speed of Grand Central.  Ben and I got off the train there so I could do that!  Isn’t my husband patient?!

Ben took this of me and Mir in Brooklyn!

I wish I could tell and show you much more because this barely scratches the surface but I’m afraid this post would be just miles too long.  Sigh.  It was a big time in the Big Apple!

The rain today is hardly bothering me.  I’m still enjoying the glow from spending my weekend in the “Palm Springs of Washington”.  That’s right, my hometown – Yakima, Washington.  I haven’t been to Yak for many years now because my parents moved away my Senior year of High School so I didn’t have the pull back to my hometown like I would have if they’d stayed.  But we have some dear friends, the Erickson’s, that still live there and, before kids, we got to visit them quite a bit with Scott and Mary (our friends, their daughter/son-in-law!).  Well, it’s been far too long since we’ve made the trek.  My youngest hasn’t even been to Yakima before!  Shame on me!  I was rolling in nostalgia this weekend like never before because I was watching my kids do the same things at our friend’s home that I used to do at their house when I was a kid.  I realized that there isn’t a place like that other than the Erickson’s house for me because my parents no longer live in the home I grew up in.  What a treat to watch them play on swings, playing in the leaves and help with the cider making process!  The cider was a big reason why we went over this weekend, btw.  Here are some shots of the cider press and process (the very one I threw apples into as a kid!)  –

Kids at play making mud pies, playing in the leaves….just like I did!

I’m sure this is the very tricycle I rode! (Is this getting old for anyone yet?  Well, I don’t care! I’m enjoying myself!).

The kids thought it’d be fun to roast apples and it turned out to be a big hit.  A new tradition started, I think.

Aunt Pat has a fabulous antique/garden shop out of the Carriage House called Country Garden Antiques.  She specializes in things for the garden but has something for everyone in her shop.  I always come away with a few treasures.   I picked up some of my favorite pottery (Emma Bridgewater) for myself  and a couple gifts.  Here’s some shots of the shop.  If you are ever in the area, I’d recommend a drop-by.

I haven’t yet mentioned that my husband also grew up coming to the Erickson’s for Apple Press so this place also has a special place in his heart AND it is where we had our wedding reception!

The older boys, being boys, thought it’d be fun to bash apples.  We decided that men, instead of having a combined IQ when together their IQ actually goes down.  I mean this with the greatest respect.  I was laughing just as hard as the rest of them!  Here is a shot of Ben apple bashing…right before it sprayed all over me!

And a group shot!  Thank you Pat and Fred, Scott and Mary and Robbin and Maria for a most fabulous and restful weekend!

Lastly – the house I grew up in…on Memory Lane (just joking!).  Isn’t it cute!

I feel a twinge of sadness as I say goodbye to summer like you do when you say goodbye to a good friend who you loved to have visit but didn’t get anything done while she was here.  So now we are back to the schedule of school which means that I get to go back to walking in the morning!  Yeah!  Lora and I go on a walk most mornings that, up until a few days ago, was laced with beautiful juicy blackberries.  Hmm, blackberry pie!

We also celebrated G’s birthday and I had to share this one with you because I thought it was a great idea and it was a big success!  Ben came up with this one, actually.  He suggested that we have all the girls over for breakfast on the morning of G’s birthday.  We gave prizes for the best bedhead.  Which is perfect for G because G regularly has THE most impressive bedhead you’ve ever seen.  Hands down, bar none.  I’ve started a photo collection dedicated to the record of her bedhead.  Here’s a recent one.

The girls really got into it and had a big time.  

They also decimated 3 pounds of bacon!

And last but not least!  We are now the proud owners of a new puppy!  We are over the moon with him.  His name is Blue.

Can you get over the cuteness!

Happy Fall!