PAD # 7

PAD # 7
Originally uploaded by kirstenpenney

STACKS ON DADDY!!!!!!!!

Duane and the kids were having their regular wrestle on the lounge room floor, and I just HAD to get a photo.

The photos all technically wrong. Duane's face is blown out, there is something strange on the left hand side floor that I couldn't crop out, Xav is mostly hidden and the photo looks a little "cramped" as my 50mm 1.8 doesn't give me much room. I took another one in colour, but I think I like this one in B&W best.

However, there are lots of things I love about this photo. I love Grace's eye contact to the camera and I love the crazy angle and I also love how true a moment it is. This is something that they do every day, and I'm sure that rough and tumble time is a highlight for both the kids and Daddy.

My beautiful husband. My beautiful daughter. My beautiful son.

How lucky am I.

PAD #6

PAD #6
Originally uploaded by kirstenpenney

One my bedside table is a pile of children's books.

I keep them there for impromptu reading and cuddles during the day, quiet stories before Xav has a nap but most importantly so that I can shove them at the kids when they decide that 5.30am is a brilliant time to be awake. I get to roll over and finish of my beauty sleep and the kids get to do something educational. Win-win hey?

Anyway, the other morning I was heading in for a shower, and was hoping that the kids hadn't either killed each other or broken the house by the time I came out. It's always a surprise what you will find after having 5 minutes of unsupervised time. Granted, they are getting better now and it seems the days of coming out to find stuff smeared everywhere may just be over. Thank goodness.

Instead, I am greeted by this sweet, sweet sight. MY babies curled up on the bed, reading a story together.

Now, this book is one that we have read over and over and over again, so although Grace can't read it, she knows it off by heart. It's out of the I'm feeling...... series, which are great for kids to understand their emotions. We have had a lot of angry moments, hence the reason Grace knows it word by word. It was used A LOT in her 3rd year.

So this is my pic for the day! Over and done with by 9am.

PAD #5

Today's photo is of my little girly-girl Grace painting her nails with the special polish Nanny sent her up for Christmas.

She loves, loves, loves having painted nails, and it's just one her many little traits that I'm sure she came hard-wired with at birth. I NEVER paint my nails, but she sees Trudy's and thinks they are just so awesome and she wants hers done too.

She asked me the other day if she could paint mine. I said I didn't really want to, and told her to go paint hers again! She looked at me like I was from another planet, sighed and said, "But Mum, you have to...It'll make you beautiful. Trudy does it and hers look beautiful" Sure enough, now I am the proud owner of pink toe-nails, that due to the shaky hand of the applicator, looks a little like blood dripping from my toes.

Of course Xavier doesn't get to miss out on the pampering, and he was lucky enough to have all his toes and fingers prettied up too. Daddy was not impressed. Until his darling little girl asked in her sweet girly voice if she could paint his too. She now has him and his shiny nails wrapped tightly around her manicured fingers!

~~Xav getting pampered~~

My beautiful little Grace is just a dream child at the moment (knocking frantically on nearest wood!) She is just being delightful, and we are lucky to have less than a handful of bad moments a week. I was telling her yesterday how lovely, kind, caring and sweet she is, then she said back to me, "I know, but I'm really shy at school. But not anymore, because Cassie is going to be in my class and I'm not going to cry and Cassie's not going to cry" Gorgeous little girl. I still can't believe that next year my first born baby will be trekking off to prep 5 days a week. This year is just going to go so quick, and before I know it I'll be dropping my baby off to school. I just know I'm going to be jealous that she will be spending so much time with her friends and teachers and I'll miss her desperately. She is so fun to hang out with, and I wont get to be with her every day. And that makes me sad..... :(

So that is just one of the reason why I put it to Duane the other day, that maybe we should think about me homeschooling the kids. His mumbled response sounded something like Blah, blah, blah, what about socialising, blah, blah. But little does he know it is something that I have looked into, and socialising a home schooled kid is relatively easy and probably the least of your worries. Anyway, it's just another of my back-up plans for if I don't get into Uni. Imagine being able to tailor your child education to fit them perfectly, whilst still allowing them to learn everything (and more!) that they would learn in a classroom. Think of all the opportunities you could introduce to your children, it would be an exhausting task but one that I am sure would pay off in the long run. Anyway, that's just my latest little research project

So back to my gorgeous daughter. I've mentioned it before, but Grace has an obsession with clothes and accessories. As soon as she wakes of a morning she wants to get dressed for the day, meanwhile Xav & I are happy to slob around in our Pj's unless clothing is required. She begs me from waking time, but I bribe her with eating her breakfast all up and then she can go pick her clothes out and get dressed.

The other morning, she was playing in her bedroom, then called me up. I went up and she had layed out on the bed her clothes for the day. She was umming and aahing about certain pieces, and was swapping them with others to get the perfect ensemble. She even had it layed out perfectly with undies, shoes and accessories in there right places. It's just another funny little habit that she definitely does not get from me. I whip out of the shower and grab the closest thing to wear that isn't dirty or smelly. I never, ever think in advance about what I'm going to wear.

~~All her clothes layed out~~

She also has a photographic memory when it comes to clothes. She can remember exactly who gave her what, even remembering what event she wore them too. I was cleaning out her wardrobe today, we were both sitting on her bed going through the clothes. As I folded each piece to put it back in, she recalled who gave each item to her. Some of these clothes she hasn't seen for ages, so I was quite amazed that she remembered. I pulled from the back of her cupboard a cute little hot pink top that she wore last year. She immediately said, "I wore that to Xav's birthday and I had it on with my jeans that Nanny gave me" I couldn't remember, so we went and had a look at the photos from his party, and sure enough there is Grace wearing the top and the jeans.

She loves picking out my clothes to wear. She gets quite upset on the days I just want to wear a comfy plain top and shorts, however she loves it when I wear a dress and shoes other than my thongs. She hyperventilates if I am going out at night and I wear heels AND make-up. Gosh, I can't even begin to imagine the line up that will be happening at the bathroom door once Grace hits the teenage years. She'll lock herself in our ONLY bathroom, preening herself, whilst we are all bathing in the laundry sink!!

All these little antics are rather amusing for her boringly dressed Mummy!

PAD # 4

Little Lachlan came over with his big sister Cass and his Mum yesterday, for a playdate.

I HAD to get a pic of him, with his stunning blue eyes and gorgeous copper hair - he sure is a cutie. He's not into modelling for me though, so I only had 2 shots to get it right. Lucky that this one was the first I snapped and the lighting worked out perfectly.

He is a very serious little boy, and absolutely will not smile unless HE wants to. I love this photo of him though, it shows his twinkling blue eyes and also his serious face.

Happy 18 months little Lachie!

PAD # 3

Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping child? Well, actually a sleeping baby is 100 times better, but that's cause you've just spent the previous hour getting them to nod off!

Sweet little Grace has pretty much given up on her day sleeps, but some days, she curls up onthe floor and has a nap. Today was one of those days.

I layed down beside her and just watched her as she silently slumbered. I love this photo as it captures many of my favourite parts of Grace. Her crooked little ear lobe, her plump lips, turned up button nose and her creamy complexion.

I also love how now, every morning, she tells me what she dreamt of the night before. It's a lovely start to our morning as she excitedly tells me that she dreamt of Nanny and what they did or she dreamt that Lucie started walking for the very first time. Her dreams are often of fairies and how they visit her and the garden, her little eyes light up as she recaps the nights happenings.

Sweet dreams little girl........

PAD #2

This is my photo for day 2. Isn't he just adorable?

We'd just had a lovely after dinner play out in the front yard. I'm on a mission to deplete my mid region of its softness, so I had layed out a mat and spent the first 15 mins crunching away. Then we all played some favourite games on the freshly mowed lawn. First up was Please Mr crocodile, can we cross the river, then What's the time Mr Wolf followed by Duck, Duck Goose.

This pic was taken after Xav picked me as the goose and I had to chase him, then we both collapsed on the ground in a giggling heap. I had to grab my camera, because he looked just so delicious. This little boy is very camera shy, so I am over the moon to get this shot.

See the little mark under his left eye? Poor little fella fell onto an upturned kids chair the other day and gave himself one hell of a black eye.

I adore little boys and I'm positively jealous of all those that have a little baby boy at the moment. Girls are gorgeous too, but from about 18 months they turn into complete Daddies girls.

Little boys like to make you think they don't need you, but its Mum that they come to when they are hurt or need comfort in the middle of the night.

I love my little boy.

PAD #1

I've decided to do the photo a day challenge with Flikr again this year. I had just gotten my camera this time last year, so was full of ambition and motivation - however that started to wane towards the end of the month and I think I missed the last few days.

Basically, you just take a photo everyday in January and upload it to flikr for comments/critic. I'm going to try very hard this year to get away from just normal pics of the kids, it's very hard though when they are so darn cute and Grace is always such a willing model. I'm also booking into a photography lesson here on the 13th January, so hopefully after that I'll be shooting like a pro. Or not.

Anyway, I'll give it a go and hopefully be able to keep up.

So this is some of the empties from our big NYE party at the Truets. Duane, the kids and I all stayed over, which was probably a good idea considering we didn't end up going to bed until after 2.30am. Poor Duane had to work at 4am, so only got 1 hour sleep. Lucky it was only for 4 hours, so he came back for breakfast, another sleep and then a swim in the pool.

It was a great night. Lots of yummy food (tomorrow, I promise I will start back on WW!), lots of yummy alcohol (first NY in 4 years that I could drink!) and lots of laughter. I tried really, really hard to get drunk, or even just a little buzzed, but after 4 of Loic's special white rum concoctions and 3 glasses of the above champagne - Nothing.

It was still a fantastic night, that ended at midnight with Astra, Loic, Duane and I jumping into the (freezing) pool and enjoying some tipsy talk, whilst being watched by the sober members of the party.