At the park

We went down to Ashton Gardens the other night to feed the ducks and play.













This one totally cracks me up:

Grown-up visit

Grant and I went away to stay with Tim and Laura overnight, the first time that we've been away sans kids since having Daniel. Our trip was made possible by the fact that Grant's parents are visiting, they've been over since 11 August and are leaving on 19th next month.

Laura always feels the need to do a posey face when I take her picture. She only does it for me, but it makes me laugh.



Modeling the apron I made her.



Aaaw! BFF.



Discussing boobs. Naturally.



Unfortunately Tim had meetings so we didn't get to see a lot of him, but he and Grant had loads of laughs playing Wii once he got home. Why yes, Grant does wear purple pyjamas, why do you ask?



Feeling rough the next morning due to the fact that Laura and I only got to bed at 3:30am.



Half asleep, sans makeup, and what are those expressions on our faces?!

Harvesting

I harvested some more green beans today and thinned the carrot patch by plucking up some young, tender carrots that I cannot wait to eat. Here are the boys with the spoils.



Beans and a few pea pods.



A whole bowl full of satisfaction!



Daniel insists wants this one on his plate.



As you can see, I only harvested less than a fifth of what is there - the carrot patch is still thick with carrots!



Look how beautiful they are.

Noah's development checkup

Noah had his 3-year development checkup today (he is 3 years 5 months old) and did really well.

For Interactive Social he scored as average for a 3 year old.

For Manipulative; Visual; Hearing & Language; Speech & Language, and Self-Care he scored as a four-year-old.

For Locomotor he scored as a five-year-old! I have always been amazed at the control he has of both fine and gross motor skills, so it was nice to see that he is actually very skilled in this area and it wasn't just "mommy goggles" making me think he was particularly good!

We are very proud, and very grateful to have not one but two happy, healthy and well little boys who are so precious to us. They wouldn't be any less precious if they had challenges with their health or development, but I am so grateful that we don't have those challenges to deal with.

Danielism

I was making lunch for the boys and Daniel came to the table to eat. I had called Noah, who was still busy playing in the living room, so I asked Daniel to get him. Daniel called him repeatedly to no avail.

He turns to me, shakes his head and says, "I'm going to put that child in time-out."

Just a reminder that Daniel is my 6 year old son, not my husband. 6 going on 36, more like it.

Four cool links and one that's funny

A towel rail for a pedestal basin. What a good idea! So classy.

A reusable sandwich wrapper to buy.

And a tutorial to make your own.

A magic bowl that never spills, no matter how your toddler holds or knocks it.

And a link to the worst tans ever!

Quote

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'"

- Mary Anne Radmacher

From our garden

Can't wait to eat these beans!



And this is the second of two pods full of sweet, fresh, tender peas that we have had so far, even though the pea plants are dying.

Muffin tin meal 02

Crackers, cucumber, hot dog sausages, toast and strawberry jam, toast and apricot jam, cheese, grapes, cereal bar, apricot, buttered toast, raisins, fromage frais.

Ewan

Ewan's parents were my first maternity clients. I had fun doing their bump pics and later photographing Ewan as a newborn. Today I got to shoot them all again for his 1-year pictures!

(Click the storyboards to enlarge)

Sally take II

Remember my last maternity session? Well she decided to come back for another session with her partner. I quickly squeezed her in two days before her due date!

Bad hair tag

I've been tagged again by my cousin Di over at Deez Dayz - I have to post five pictures in which I have bad hair, and one hair disaster. So here are my bad hair days (I had the hardest time narrowing it down to five!):

1) Check out the bald patch where I cut my own hair.



2) Is my hair long? Is it short? It's both! What it's not is any decent kind of style. Check out the straggling rat's tails at the bottom.



3) Is it a carrot? No, it's a child.



4) The nineties called, they want my hair back.



5) I ... I'm sorry. There are no words for this. I mean, it's not like my mother and sister didn't have their own hair.



And hair disaster: I'd have to say this short haircut when I was a child. I looked like a boy. With really large teeth. But I was really excited to get my First Real Proper Brand Name Barbie Doll.



And now I tag Joanne (Creating Something Out Of Chaos), Angelic (No One Listens to Wise Old Me), Rebecca (Sugar and Spice and a Little Something Nice), and Leith (All the World...).