I ♡ these guys

This is my very best friend with her two beautiful children. There was a time in my life that I treated this lovely lady very poorly. I had a crisis in my life and I pushed her away when I needed her the most. I will forever regret that. It makes me very sad that I wasn't there for her when she needed me. That I wasn't there when her gorgeous daughter was born. I missed four years of their lives because I was stubborn. It took me a long time to feel comfortable around her again. I struggled to overcome the guilt I felt. I couldn't look her in the eye. I needed to apologise. It is only recently that we have spent more time together, that I have been able to talk about some of this with her.  She has the most generous spirit. Her children are a credit to her, they are both sweet natured and kind. I feel very fortunate that she has let me back into her life.

Thank you for letting me capture your beautiful family. I hope to have many more opportunities to capture your family in the years ahead.

Cindy xx



Winter Fun

 In a concerted effort to avoid cabin fever during the winter school holidays, we braved the frigid wind on Tuesday and ventured out to the playground. We had one thing in our favour, the sun was shining. We played for an hour. I chased Mr Darcy around the soccer oval, taking photos as we went. We had fun.

I'm still yet to achieve the photo shoot I want, the girls continue to insist on choosing clothes that aren't particularly photo worthy. Charlotte has worn a Rapunzel costume for the better part of two days now. She even wore it to the supermarket...with her red coat on over the top. She looked liked a confused character. Little Red Meets Rapunzel. Adorable.

The weather has turned even more bitterly cold, the kids were nearly frozen solid after we walked the 3 blocks to the supermarket today. We came home and snuggled and did some fun indoor activities.

I certainly am hoping for a return to winter sunshine before school goes back, they all need a bit of outdoor adventuring every day, Darcy especially. (Partly for my sanity, but mostly for them to burn off some energy and not spend the whole day bickering)...that's no fun.

 

Cindy..

 

 

 

seven

Two cakes, one batch of cupcakes, one shopping adventure with Nana, one family dinner, one party with school friends, mixed up invitations, one trip to the playground with cousins and lots of presents.

What more could a girl ask for really. It felt like the birthday celebrations would never end.

I heard from her multiple times a day for the past four days that she should get this thing or that because it was her birthday...or her party. "Birthday Girl".

I have intentions of taking some scheduled photos of all the children during school holidays...Surely I can find one day out of fourteen that I can achieve this goal!! The stars will align...an they will appear here in the not too distant future.

Cindy..

 

 

Just Because...

 

As I was searching through my photo folders for 2013, I realised that I haven't been getting the camera out nearly as much as I should be.

I have been unwell with a terrible case of pharyngitis and forced myself to take a day off work...I wouldn't be very popular if I shared my germs!!

My sick day provided me with a wonderful opportunity to spend some one on one time with Mr Darcy, not something that I normally get a chance at. Unfortunately I wasn't well enough to get out and about with him, so I managed to set up a little backdrop in the lounge and get a few cute photos in the 15 minute window in which he co-operated.

I have been having some real issues editing photos on my laptop, so I would appreciate any feedback on the tone of these. I think my screen is far to cool, and as a result I tend to warm my photos up a little too much. I think I will definitely need to go back to editing on the larger screen.

Anyway, I am almost feeling well again, and my voice is back after 4 days AWOL. The kids (and some others!!) thought mummy without a voice was freakin' hilarious.

 

That trunk Darcy is sitting on here belonged to my Pa once upon a time...remember this photo of my tiny little man...they grow up way too fast.

 

Cindy xx

 

 

Nearly Seven

 

Full of Sass

Loves her little sister and brother

Excellent reader

Good helper

Good friend

Social Butterfly

Loud

Busy

Enjoys School

Loves Drawing and Creating

Assertive

 

So We Did It...Finally

With much planning and preparation and keeping of secrets.

We had a lovely intimate ceremony on my Nans property, under a tree. We had immediate family and two of our very best friends there to witness our marriage. We had a small afternoon tea at a local café. We had 3 days away, without the pixies. It was just how we wanted it. Minimum of stress, minimum of fuss.

It was so very difficult at times to not be able to share the secret. To talk about it with someone other than the few who knew would have been a relief. I told lots of strangers, and no doubt bored my boss and co workers half to death with the details.

 

We invited family and friends to lunch three weeks later. I think that was possibly more work than the wedding itself. I prepared and cooked and cooked and cooked. The sun shone for us both days. Our families were gracious and no one appeared too upset that we didn't include them in the ceremony. Our families where also very generous, I wasn't expecting gifts, but we received many, with great thanks. 

I think everyone was just happy that we had finally gotten married...it's been a long time coming.

 

A big thank you to Celeste for taking our photos on the day. You can see more photos here, if you haven't already seen them.

 

A big thank you also to our parents...this would not have been possible without you all.

 

And thank you to my husband and my wonderful children. Things have been crazy, I know I am a control freak, things can go back to normal now...love you guys.

 

Cindy..

 

Three Little Monkeys

Love these little devils :)

Us

I officially declared last long weekend "a family weekend"..

To spend some time together, the five of us, doing fun stuff and enjoying each others company.

We went to a flea market and bought apples

We went to the playground and had a lunch of fish and chips on the grass

We played on the playground some more

We went home and beat the heat by playing under the sprinkler in the backyard

We headed off for a drive the next day and found ourselves in Maryborough

We did a spot of shopping

We bought ourselves some food for a picnic lunch

We slathered ourselves in sunscreen

We hung out by the lake and ate

We played on another playground

We fed the ducks and geese our leftovers

We didn't argue

We didn't yell

We enjoyed each others company

We had an icecream in the gardens

We drove home

It was crazy hot

We had a great time

 

 



Celebrate

I am a little, well a lot, late in getting these photos up on the blog, but here he is...my not so little man celebrating his second birthday.

 

We started with a little dinner get together the night before his birthday...just us and the grandparents...nice and quiet and relaxed.

Then he just had time to open his present...tonka truck...before I had to race off to work.

We managed to squeeze in a quick lunch together.

Then I hurriedly iced his cake when I got home from work at 5.30...as you can probably see, I wasn't too successful on this count. Bit of a mess, but it still tasted good and he was happy to blow out his candles and lick the chocolate icing off the toy front end loader.

He is a little ball of mischief...and a smart cookie.

Love him to bits.

 

Check Out Those Eyelashes!

In just five more days this little guy will be two years old.
He is in the process of giving up some of  his daytime sleeps, so when he asked to go to bed I took the opportunity to sneak in and take some quick photos while he dreamed. This will probably be my last opportunity.
He is growing up way too fast.
 

 

His vocabulary is expanding every single day...

"I don't know" is one of his fave phrases, along with "me a bit"...especially when it pertains to anything food related.

 Booby, Dwink, Eat, Bed, Barbie, Don't Do That, Apple, Bath, iPhone, Out, Up, Me Too, Top Bunk,

Daddy at Work...the list goes on, including all the obvious words like Mum, Dad, Phia, and he can even say Charlotte.

He is still a co sleeping, breastfeeding mummy's boy.

An absolute bed hog, I often wake in the night to find myself with my legs in the bed and my upper body in the cot, very uncomfortable to say the least.

He wants to eat constantly...that is no exaggeration. He grabs me by the hand or beckons me towards the kitchen and says eat, eat, eat. He is also known to go and help himself to anything in the pantry or the fridge or the freezer. We finally resorted to child locks, which he still sometimes manages to circumvent.

He loves loves loves to snuggle. I adores it when he climbs up on my lap and leans right into me, when he wraps his chubby little arms around my neck and lays his head on my chest. He supplies masses of unprompted kisses, and says "I Love You"...gorgeous boy.

His curls are coming  back, especially in the hot weather when he sweats...but he also has the cutest little waves at the front. His hair is also starting to darken slightly...it's not the pure white that it used to be.

He injures himself so much more than the girls ever did...he chipped a front tooth. Unfortunately we have to live with that. Thank goodness its a baby tooth.

He loves to have a bath, or a shower.

He loves to torment his sisters.

He loves when Daddy gets home from work, and is excited every time.

Oh! and he loves nail polish and lipstick and makeup...guess that is unavoidable when you have big sisters :)

 

He's my blonde haired, blue eyed, Velcro boy...love him, love these photos.