Ingredients & Tools:
-4 cups of raw almonds
-food processor
-empty jar/container
How To Make It:
Step 1. Pour just 2 of the 4 cups of almonds into your food processor. It works best with half the amount of almonds at a time.
Please read Michael's original entry and then enjoy the pictures, after hearing about such a wonderful family:
"I'd like to nominate two moms for the mother's day portrait session. My mom and her mom (mawmaw). There are a couple of reasons as to why. First off, they had a portrait session done with the two of them a few years ago, but all the pictures were lost when my parent's apartment caught fire in January '08. To have another set of pictures done for them would be a big recovery for a lot of the sentimental treasures that were lost in the fire. Also, to give a little context of their relationship, my grandpa died of esophageal cancer back in 2004. His death rocked my mom and mawmaw's world. Over the last six years, the two of them have grown incredibly close, leaning on one another for strength and encouragement. When my grandma got sick a couple years back and was passing out from her medication, my mom was there to take care of her. When my mom went through three major surgeries, Mawmaw was there to take care of her. They have become one of the most important people in each others' lives, and because my mom is the only daughter, there is a bond there that is really rare to see. I can't imagine how incredible and "storytelling" it would be to have pictures of them together at this stage of their lives. They are both living legacies at this point.
Another reason for my nomination is because of where my mom is at right now. After struggling with her weight for all 25 years of my existence, my mom has lost over 80 pounds in the last 5 months, and she looks as good and as healthy as I can ever remember. Mom has always been a joyful person, but since the weight loss, there is a new joy that everyone sees in her. I would love for our family to have pictures that document this stage in her life. (especially Fidelis pictures!)
Thanks for hearing my story."
Here is a good one of the whole family, Grandmother, Parents, Children, and Grandchildren.
We split for a few pictures of just the women and just the guys, loved it! Here they are.
These are a few of the two ladies who Michael officially nominated for the contest, his mother and her mother, his Mawmaw.
Michael+Terri
Isabelle+Mama collage! She is about to turn one, so I figured she deserved a feature of her own:)
And one of just Daddy and Isabelle.
Grandparents loving their grandbabies.
One of Aunt Kristen with Jackson, the oldest. 
And another of the whole bunch, such a lovely loving family, we hope you enjoy them!
What fun we had with Kristen and Tim! The pictures look amazing and we cant wait to see the rest. This means so much to all of us and we thank you all for the best Mother's Day gift I could think of.
(07.13.11 @ 10:14 PM)So cute! I love Isabel's precious smile!
(07.17.11 @ 09:06 PM)All that aside, we've been slamming out tons of Christmas portraits and Christmas cards, which has kept us from taking the time to really post here on the blog.
We just wanted to share with you how blessed Kristen and I are to find ourselves living within a mile from one of my two brothers (the other teaching kids in Morocco), and Kristen's sister. Yep, for those of you who don't know already, my brother and I married sisters. And we live about a 1/4 mile from one another. And we're not as backwoods country as it sounds. I thought I would just share some of their recent picks that we took during one of our days of Winter Mini-Sessions.
The cutie girls, Olive and Blythe.
The rascally boys, Burke and Liam.
the whole bunch of them.
the Christmas card photo.
And a few great ones of the mom and dad. (my sister-in-law, Bethany and my brother, Mark) We always try to make time for these photos at the end of a session. We use sayings like, "pretend you don't have those 4 children for a moment and lets take a few pictures of just the two of you." This does require some sort of me distracting the children in the background though. It's kind of cool how most of these pictures we take of married couples come out more natural than a lot of our engagement photos. It's encouraging and exciting to see that you really can love each other better after 10 years of marriage than during your engagement for example. Moral of the the story, more love=more sexy photos. Good job at being in loving each other, guys.
Part of one of the projects was to create a portfolio of poems for this class and to boldly read them in front of no less than ten people and to get a picture of it. My brother upped the ante and read in front of twenty plus sarcastic unimpressed jaded high-schoolers and got me to take the pics. Props to him. He owned that audience though. Had them nodding pensively and clapping at the end. He graciously agreed to let me publish his poem on the blog along with the snap shot i took. Enjoy.By M.Douglass
Despite the noise of this house today,
I fear most the silence of tomorrow.
When you, son who does not shut his mouth
Or edit his thoughts - you Sport,
Who holds forth on the slimiest lizards, the best super powers, the most vicious
Carnivores and sings the high praise of ice-cream --
When you are not so little.
I fear then you will suddenly shovel into self consciousness and discover
That most wicked word
That phantom treasure tethered only to this mad world,
That devilish deception called cool.
This moment then will splinter my timbers
For cool will shut your mouth and make you pause.
On that day you must be prepared my boy,
For I will lay hold of every word you let escape your lips
And scale them like Everest until I again reach your soul.
You will stand with mouth agape,
Staggered by your strange father
As you would today marvel at a snake shedding its skin.