Everyone who knows us knows that we hibernate 4 - 6 months of the year. After 4 years we still haven’t gotten used to the cold again. We dream of the hot, sweaty days in Queensland. So, it’s finally time to pull out the summer clothes and walk, blinking, into the light again. We spent the afternoon yesterday cleaning and fixing up their bikes. Charlie (the dog) had lunched on the seats and handlebars.

Today we walked up to the park so the kids could ride with lots of space to spare. We cooked burgers on the bbq, drank from plastic cups and just soaked up the sun. It was great.

I decided to play with panning since I had such great moving targets. I’m definitely no pro but I think this one is a keeper at least.

I had the best time hanging out with this family. The two youngest boys, Mr A and Mr T showed me around and proved that they aren’t afraid of anything heavy or slimy (I avoided having to hold the snail though so everything is ok).

I can’t wait to share more from this session but I don’t want to ruin the surprise for mum and dad. I’ll leave you with this one of the youngest boys hamming it up…

I think all my children are gorgeous of course. When it comes to Piper the word that always comes to mind is ‘pretty’.

Yesterday she was just chillin’ on the couch sitting next to Danny and listening to his iPod. She looked so pretty sitting there I had to pull out the camera and take a few snaps.

I hope everyone is staying warm. We’re in deep hibernation mode… staying as close to the heater as possible. I’ll leave you with a colour shot of the Princess…

I have been lucky enough to meet some amazing people online… some of them I’m happy to call my ‘real life’ friends now. I met Laureen 2 years ago and admired her from afar. When she commented on my photos on a forum I’d get a little giddy and feel very special. After a while we started chatting more and I was surprised to find out that while I was thinking she was ‘all that’ she thought the same about me. Yes, I had an inflated ego after that.

Anyways, I’ve known for about a year now that her and her gorgeous family would be travelling to Australia. I was so excited to FINALLY meet her! It was also great to meet their friends, Brendan and Nicky, and their cute boys too. I just wish there had been more time. We did manage to fit in a family shoot though. It’s been far too long wince we had one of these!

Pacey is pulling a face in all the ones I’ve seen so far. I’ll have more to share soon…

I love this one. Bailey asked if she could spin him and Laureen said sure.  Bailey wanted to know if she could do it fast - I think you can tell by the dirt flying at her feet that she can do it fast

Oh… and I have to mention that Laureen’s fashion in these photos is due to the COLD weather!

These 3 boys are so nice! Perfectly behaved gentleman too…

This was my favourite of the day:

You can see Laureen’s photography here. You can see where they’ve been and get to know her better by reading her blog.

These were taken back in March. It’s so cold at the moment that I wanted to go back and find some warmer photos!

There was an easter fair downtown. The kids had fun facepainting and playing these cool wooden games. Watching Bailey try to walk on stilts was pretty funny but watching the other kids on the ropes scared the crap outta me.

Piper went up first. I love that I caught Pacey peering out from behind her in the first photo (he’s the ninja turtle face)

Pacey was wobbly but he took his time and made it across without stumbling…

Jadzia waited in line for over half an hour to be strapped and sent up a tree. The local scout guys were there and they were letting kids go up (quite high) in a harness.

and just a quick shot of their faces. (Note to self: make headshots look the same!)

This is one serious little fellow. He thought it was great fun to have his photo taken. Everytime I would put the camera up he would get all serious, even though he was all smiles when it was down. As you can see, I did manage to get one of his gorgeous smile….

…completely taking the weekend off every now and then. This weekend I promised the kiddos I wouldn’t work at all and I actually didn’t. We built the new lego set, sifted through picking photos out to scrapbook, spent the entire afternoon scrapbooking and cooked ice cream cone cupcakes.

I completed 2 12×12 pages and 2 8×8 (simple) pages. I totally got my inspiration from these three amazing girls: Lee, Claire and Madame Tam.

I didn’t think I was a deprived child. I didn’t have the coolest name brand stuff but I had toys, books, clothes, etc. I’ve come to realise though that I truly was a deprived child. Why? I grew up without lego. I know, I know… such a sad state of affairs. Danny’s favourite toy from his childhood is his lego and we’ve recently started collecting our own. This weekend we bought a new set - the fireman set from the Lego City collection. It’s SO freakin’ cool! The back of the fire truck goes up and down, there are sirens on the station and they have a coffee machine installed - a coffee machine! We {heart} lego big!

I didn’t get a shot of the icecream cone cupcakes but I will next time we make them. The kids think they’re so cool…

’til later…

How gorgeous is this gal?

I have to admit, with my lovely ‘moon tanned’ skin, I’m terribly jealous of people with olive skin. I have the whitest of all white skin… just call me Mrs Whitey McWhiterson. Add to that a set of big brown eyes and I’m totally wrapped around your finger.

The last few weeks have seen Danny hard at work studying. He has one exam left before holidays and one day left to study. Instead of trying to concentrate with the kiddos around he headed for the bedroom. I went in to see how he was going, hoping to distract him for a moment to give him a break. How could I resist grabbing the camera?

Life is so hard for a uni student. 4pm on a Sunday afternoon…

Last night was definitely one of those I-hate-winter-so-much-cold-and-wet nights for sure. Danny must love me because he stood out in that rain and cold while I fumbled with holding a Dora the Explorer umbrella over the camera. Yes, the camera, not myself.

This is my favourite of the bunch…

also love this….

and a few other notibles…