Kathryn Mandel Photography

Changes for the Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal!

2011-09-29T05:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, so yesterday, I posted a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal after I made it that morning. I liked it, but I felt it could be better. So this morning I made some changes. I want to pass the changes along, so you can benefit too.

It's pretty much the same with a just a few changes. I'll underline the changes.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 C Vanilla Soy
1 C old fashioned oats
1/3 C pumpkin puree
1 Tbs butter
2 Tbs Brown Sugar (or to taste, I added a tiny pinch more)
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 cup chopped pumpkin spice almonds (or plain if you like)

Bring the vanilla soy milk to a boil and then add the oats. Cook for 5 minutes and allow to sit (if needed) to reach desired consistency. Then add the butter. Add the brown sugar and spices next. Last add the pumpkin puree. Then top with Almonds and mix if you want.

I thought the pumpkin puree was just too much last time. So you can see I reduced it by just a little. I like to taste the spices. So I added a little more nutmeg. I really felt it needed to be a little creamier and have a hit of vanilla, so I added the soy milk. See what you think!

Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal

2011-09-28T06:35:00.000-07:00

Today I tried out a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal. It is delicious, I think I'm going to experiment with the recipe and see if I can't make it more delicious. I think it needs a little less pumpkin and more spices. It's very good though. Someone else suggested dried cranberries. I didn't have any, but that could be good too!

Even though this is my photography blog, I thought I'd share this here anyway. I did take the photos.

Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup water
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup chopped almonds (I used Planters Pumpkin Spice Almonds)

Bring the water to a boil and add the oats. Cook for 5 minutes. Turn off the burner and allow to thicken if needed. Stir in the pumpkin puree, butter, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. Fold in the almonds, or any other toppings you think are delicious! Enjoy!

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T15:11:00.000-08:00

My littlest one in his Santa hat. We are celebrating his first Christmas!

A few favorites From Recent Sessions...

2010-05-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

The ones of the baby and her parents I just love! I had a great session with them when she was expecting the little one, and then had the pleasure of photographing her at 9 days old. She's so beautiful and I know that her mom and dad are going to have a great time being her parents. The other two shots are of my baby all dressed up for her first communion. The time just flies by so quickly, it seems like yesterday I was cradling her in my arms for the first time.

Catching Up After The Holidays!

2010-02-03T17:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been really busy over the holidays! Everyone wanted photos for Christmas cards. I stayed happily busy, but had no time to blog. So in an effort to show a few photos, I have selected some from the past couple months. I wish I could show them all to you, but there are so many! I hope you enjoy the few I picked to share!

Costume Photos

2009-10-22T18:06:00.000-07:00

A Halloween costume session with my sweethearts. They aren't as tolerant of me as my clients. These two kept asking me to, "hurry up". But I got a few cute ones. If you are interested in some costume photos contact me. A quick costume session will only cost you 25 dollars.

My Niece and Sister Visit

2009-10-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

My sister and her daughter came to visit and we had a great time hanging out and touring around a little. I of course had to get some photos of the baby. These are my favorites. My niece has the best "full body" smiles. She smiles so big and usually the whole body just moves with joy. We really enjoyed their visit and we'll miss them.

Three is Not a Crowd, it's Cute.

2009-10-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

These sweet little girls were a challenge at first. They weren't in the mood for smiling. The baby never quite came around. I think she just wanted to be held. I finally found something that worked...dress up clothes. The girls just loved dressing up in the tutu, fairy wings, necklaces and feather boa. I finally got some happy smiles! What cuties!

Double Your Fun! Twins!

2009-10-07T19:46:00.000-07:00

It's twins! How cute are these two? I really loved photographing this twosome. Here are a few of my favorites.
Enjoy!

Blue Eyed Family

2009-10-07T18:52:00.000-07:00

Still, catching up, I am really behind! This family had the prettiest blue eyes! We had some wonderful shots as well as some great ones with the two little best friends. I picked my favorites to share with you.

Great Couple, bad lighting

2009-10-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

I'm catching up on blog posts. This was a sweet couple I was able to photograph, along with their dog. Unfortunately the weather wasn't too cooperative. I'd have gotten a lot more shots if it had. The sun was beautiful as it started to set, just minutes before they arrived, clouds blew in blocking it, and it was just a lot darker than I wanted. So these are the favorites of what I managed to squeak out, with an uncooperative sky.

More of the "Angel Baby"

2009-10-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

I am finally getting around to posting more photos from my "Angel" baby. I posted her angel photo. Here are a few more from the session. I am not kidding when I say we had a ton of good ones. Here are just a few of the favorites. I am so behind in blog posts. I've been pretty busy, which is great of course!

Grandma and baby

A Beach Session in Foggy Pacific Grove

2009-09-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

I had a great time with this family! They are an adorable family. I had a lot of great pictures. I wish I could share them all, but my internet connection is so slow, that it takes way too long to get them all uploaded. I picked my favorites to share.
After I gave them their pictures, I received the nicest thank-you note from them. It really made my day! I'm so glad they loved their photos!

Angel Baby

2009-09-13T23:06:00.001-07:00

I just love this photo. I couldn't resist sharing it with you. I am swamped with editing. I have a lot of great sessions to share with you. I will hopefully be able to post soon! In the mean time I just wanted to put this one out for you all to see. She's a sweet little 6 week old girl.

Mom, Dad, Baby and Dog

2009-08-29T00:33:00.000-07:00

Again, I'm playing catch up. This was from a session a few weeks ago. I didn't want to leave out these pictures. I had a great time photographing them and we got some great shots. I even got to photograph their dog! We had a lot of good photos, but I just can't post them all, so here are my favorites. So enjoy!

3 Cute Kids

2009-08-28T23:23:00.000-07:00

So I am am a little behind in some of these posts. These were taken a couple weeks ago, but I forgot to post on the blog. These were some cute kids and I really want to share these photos with you. Enjoy!

Better Late than Never

2009-08-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

I just realized I never posted photos from at least 3 of my sessions. Oops! Well, better late than never, right? So here are some photos from a sweet session with two brothers. I like how these were personalized by adding in some of the kids' favorite toys.

2009-08-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

This little girl is adorably cute! Of course so is her little brother.
Seriously though, she is just beautiful, gorgeous skin, hair and pretty blue eyes. She just couldn't take a bad picture! Little brother was a rocket! He was full of energy and at first I thought I would be lucky to get even one picture of him. Luckily my son was able to come in and save the day. It's amazing how little ones are mezmerized by the older kids. I have been saved more than once by my little assistant!

Well, here you go...here's the end result. These are some of my favorites.

Dad and Mom Plus 4

2009-08-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

I loved meeting this very cute family and I really enjoyed photographing them! Of course I really enjoy photographing all my clients. I have the best customers!
I was only asked to get a family shot, and individuals of their 3 year old and 3 month old. So if you're wondering why the other two aren't individually photographed that's why.
Enjoy!

Foggy Day at the Beach

2009-08-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

I photographed this family at Lover's Point on a particularly foggy morning. It's very typical to see a lot of fog here in Monterey. I think it still makes for really nice photos. I really enjoyed following this family around and capturing their special moments together.

High School Senior

2009-08-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

This was my first time taking high school senior photos. I really enjoyed the session. It's a change from photographing little kids, which are usually moving targets! I think we got a ton of good ones! I gave her over 300 to choose from. Look at her though, she's beautiful! It's hard not to get a good one!

My New Nephew

2009-08-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

I finally was able to take photos of a newborn immediately after birth! This little man is my newest nephew! I not only photographed him immediately following his birth, but I photographed his arrival! It was an amazing miracle to watch him enter this world and I will forever treasure the memory of his birth! I'm so glad I was able to fly out and witness it!
My sister did a wonderful job!
Congratulations to the new parents and big sister!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from his early days of life.

Little Snuggle Bug

2009-08-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

I got to meet Baby "C" on Friday and she's a cute little thing. She has a lot of dark hair! She really was pretty easy to work with, she wasn't fussy, but she also wasn't sleepy. I had to "trick" her into shutting those eyes, so she'd look asleep. I love the second picture with her in the pea pod sack. I wish I could share the baby's name with you, the name is so sweet. Again, these are a few of my favorites. I had almost 90 some photos to give her.

Lil' Miss "H"

2009-07-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

I really had lot of good photos from this session. I loved this little girl's sweet little expressions. Of course I love all babies and children. They are all so cute. This little one was off and on happy and sad. I think she was tired. Despite that, I was patient and waited for her to calm down and we got a bunch of photos I was happy with. I had 180 some photos to edit!! I couldn't believe how many there were! I have real trouble deleting photos, I sort of get attached to them. This mom loves photos and takes a lot of the kids, so I figured she wouldn't mind me giving her all these photos.

I really am tempted to add more photos to this blog post, but I am a bit behind in my postings, and I just don't have time. I may add a few more. I had so many favorites from this session.

I took this during one of the breaks. Baby girl needed to calm down and have her momma hold her. She was so sweet, she definitely loves her mom!

Look at her beautiful blue eyes!

With this age group they need to have things to hold and look at, or they aren't happy. She was playing with her flower hair clip. I love how it rested perfectly on her fingers.

I love this expression, with her bottom lip sucked in.

The "Y" family

2009-07-31T16:42:00.000-07:00

I meet this Marine Corps family on Saturday, July 25th. It was a fun session, because I got to take family photos, toddler photos and maternity photos. This little guy will be a big brother to a little sister very soon. I think he'll make a good one. He's a real cutie, and I enjoyed talking with him about dinosaurs and the opera. He has such pretty brown eyes! I am sharing a few of my favorites from the session. Enjoy!

Two Families on the Beach

2009-07-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

I met these two families at the beach at Lover's Point. They are related the mother in one family is brother to the father in the other. The couple with the new 1 year old were visiting from Tennessee. So I was glad I could capture a little bit of their time together. What great families! I took about 500 photos, and had 18o something left after editing! These are some of my favorites.

Sweet Kindergesicht (baby face)

2009-07-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

I spent some time Wednesday photographing this little 7 month old cutie. His parents are from Germany and his daddy is in the German Navy. He is here studying at the Naval Post Graduate School. Sadly, they will be returning soon. They go home with a great souvenir of their time spent in America...this little guy!!

The really interesting thing is their last name is Mandel, too! I couldn't believe it! I had a great time talking with them. I found out that Mandel means Almond!! Who'd have guessed? We're a nutty family!

So below are my favorites from the session. She had him dressed so cute! I love the red bean bag she brought for him to sit in! Notice his black shirt reads, "Come to the dark side...We have cookies"! How funny!

Sweet Baby Girl

2009-07-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

I photographed this brand new to the world little girl on Friday. I'm a little behind in posting, I was enjoying my weekend. This little girl is my neighbor's 4th child and she is, as you can see, adorable. Unfortunately when I met up with her for photos, she wasn't in her quiet sleepy state, she was a little irritated with us for removing her clothes and her nice warm blanket. We did capture a few great shots though. This session has convinced me I must buy a space heater to keep these newborns toasty and sleepy! I think I may use the heating pad too.

So here are my favorites for you to enjoy.

There's No Place Like Home!

2009-07-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

I love an excuse to take pictures! Lucy is just so darn cute, I had to take some photos of her Toto style! I think these turned out really cute! It's hard to photograph a constantly moving target, but these were caught at just the right moment! Enjoy!
~Kate~

Baby "M"

2009-07-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Today I took these photos of 6 day old baby "M". He was adorably cute and I was so pleased to have had the opportunity to take his photos. I love newborns, but honestly, I find them to be the most challenging group to photograph. So far though, I haven't had any really sleepy newborns, maybe that would make it a lot easier. The ones I've photographed have been fairly alert, and not floppy & bendy like the new ones tend to be. I have learned that when it comes to newborns, you can plan all you like, but mostly you are completely at their mercy. Sometimes they fuss, sometimes they flail about, sometimes they are awake, sometimes they sleep, and sometimes they need little breaks. I love them, they don't come any sweeter, but oh, boy, they are some work! This baby was so sweet, I was definitely happy with the outcome. Here are some of my favorites.

Our New Puppy

2009-07-14T22:01:00.001-07:00

I posted this on my family blog, but I couldn't resist posting on my photography blog as well. We have a new puppy! Her name is Lucy and she is a Cairn Terrier, like Toto on the Wizard of Oz. We got her as a companion for my middle child, Grace. She was feeling a bit left out of the whole dog experience, since my youngest has pretty much got the claim on Sulley, our 3 year old labradoodle. Grace wanted some pictures with her puppy. I didn't take many, because the puppy was tired and really fell asleep pretty quick into the picture taking. She had a long flight from Kansas City, MO. As I type this, my daughter is snuggled up in bed with Lucy and they are both asleep! It's so cute! Anyway, enjoy the photos! ~Kate~

The "J" Family Kids

2009-07-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

I photographed these three kids today. I was really happy with the way the photos turned out. These kids are so cute, and have some beautiful eyes! I did learn a good lesson during this session. My radio transmitter for my studio lights ran low on batteries, but I had never had this happen before, so it took me a little while to figure out that it was the batteries in the transmitter. I would get some good shots and then several black ones (because the strobes didn't fire). I finally figured out that it was the batteries but couldn't find the replacements I had left in the studio just for such an occasion. So I stole some from a remote inside. Those were no good, so I finally found my replacement batteries and from then on things worked well.

The youngest here just turned 3 recently, she was so cute. She was not interested in taking any more photos once she changed into the white dress. I convinced her that Princess Belle had taken photos here and she should take some like Belle did. She liked that idea and came around to the idea. We got some cute ones.

Isn't she so beautiful?

What a little Princess!

I love her curls!

Aren't his eyes just so striking?

She's adorable!

Little Miss Sassy!

Love the eyes!

I love this, because little gal, grabbed them to hug them and they laughed.

"T & R" at Lover's Point

2009-07-09T00:06:00.000-07:00

I photographed this lovely couple, from North Carolina today (July 8th) at Lover's Point. I had the easiest time editing these photos, as these two just looked great together. We had a lot of good photos. I had to pick a few of my favorites to show here. They loved the photos, and I'm so glad! Thank you for allowing me to photograph you two. I really enjoyed it, I hope you have a safe trip home!

I just have to point out her beautiful blue eyes!

Cutie Patootie

2009-06-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I was able to photograph this little cutie. She was so sweet and tiny. She wasn't always super thrilled with being photographed, but I think she was just out of sorts, because she had napped at a different time that day. Don't they always do something different with their routine when you are counting on them to stick to it? Well, despite her few fussy moments, we did get some great shots. I want to share some with you. She was a tiny little 7 month old, with some deep dark eyes.

Out Back

2009-06-26T23:05:00.000-07:00

These are my two girls. I had a quick session with them out in the woods back behind the house. They had received these skirts from their Aunt, who, by the way, made them herself! We of course couldn't resist taking photos of them in these cute skirts. Here's a few of my favorites.

Sleeping Beauty

2009-06-25T20:48:00.001-07:00

I finally got to use my pea pod set that I ordered from etsy.com. I love it!

Okay, this was a 3 week old beautiful girl that I had the pleasure of photographing. I have been wanting another baby for a couple years now. This just reinforced it for me, she was so sweet! I just loved holding her! She had a wonderful disposition, she wasn't really too easily bothered by things. We kept moving her around and usually just when she had dozed off to sleep. She had to be feed once to induce the sleepy milk coma, but all in all she was a great newborn.
What made this session all the more special was that only a month ago, I had photographed this family while this little beauty was still in the womb! It was so neat to see her out in the world.

Big brother looks so serious here, but I love it because he wanted to hold her, and just grabbed her from mom and took this picture. I'm sure he'll be a great big brother to his little sister.

I love this sleepy baby face! She has the prettiest lips, aren't they "picture perfect"?

Here's two of the token feet shots. With the parents wedding bands for size perspective.

How sweet!

I love the sleepy baby in the pea pod!

Thanks to this family for allowing me to photograph you once again! I look forward to seeing both kids grow!

The Little Prince

2009-06-25T20:29:00.001-07:00

This is a very sweet boy, I have nick named him the little Prince, because his name reminds me of a famous Disney Prince. He was a true sweet heart, and I loved photographing him. He made me laugh with his infectious giggle. In the above picture he is wearing his great grandfather's baby outfit.

Here he is modeling a beautiful blue sweater that his mom made him! It is so cute! It's even got silver whale buttons.

A sweet moment between mom and son.

He's not quite ready to stand on his own yet, so at this stage he still needs a little help from mom.

What a sweet face!

I love this one, because his mom was slowly scratching his back to soothe him, he was getting worn out at this point. His mom knew just what to do. He loved this!

I love this photo of mom and baby.

Rubber ducky, which he loved to chew on!

Everything goes in the mouth at this age!

I loved this guy, I hope to see him many more times!

The "L" Family

2009-06-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

I photographed this family yesterday. I just loved this family! The kids were really good. The nine month old, as expected had to be worked with in spurts, as they don't really go for sitting in one place for too long. The five year old was super good, she loved taking photos, and had some suggestions a few times. She eventually had enough, but never complained!

She brought her American Girl doll along, which I thought was so cute. It's nice to bring along something they are really into right now. She really loves her doll, and told me all about her trip to the American Girl Doll Store.
What an amazing thing! We actually got everyone looking at the camera and smiling at the camera! That's an accomplishment!

I love this, cause it was totally spontaneous! Baby wasn't really happy, and mom suggested that dad should swing baby upside down, because he liked that! Well, I kept snapping, and we got this! I just think it's too funny! Oh, and they take a photo of him with the monkey every month to show his growth. That's why monkey is there.
Love this, cause it was spontaneous as well. Big sister just decided to pull brother in and kiss him! He didn't really love it, but I thought it was awfully sweet of her.

He loved to put things in his mouth, and this train would keep him happy.
I know, it's a sad face, but look how cute he is! I love that pouty lip!
Nine month olds like to grab things, so this wasn't the easiest pose to get. Putting his letters in front of him, was far too tempting. I did get some other good shots, but I love this one, because it really shows his stage in development. Grabby, grabby guy!

The "F" family

2009-06-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of photographing these kids and their mother a few days ago. Their father is in Iraq right now. I'm sure he'll enjoy these photos. I love a lot of these. I will have a hard time choosing a few to put on my website. When I played these in a slide show for their mom (my friend) I played it with the song, "let them be little", by Billy Dean. She was crying in no time, I didn't mean to make her cry, but it made me happy to see that she liked them so much. Of course the sappy lyrics had nothing do with it!

Oh, and the little guy, was a tough nut to crack. He made us work for a smile. Luckily his mom seemed to be able to get him to give a few cute smiles up for me to capture.

Well, here are some of the photos I love...

Post to come tomorrow

2009-06-07T23:03:00.001-07:00

I have some great photos from a studio session with my neighbors 3 kids. I will get those posted soon!