Photo A Day - July - Week 4

Let's wrap it up for July...

July 22 - Good Morning Sweetness
First thing in the morning... crazy bed hair... glistening eyes from tears and her beloved dummy...

July 23 - Peeking At The World
Elizabeth actually asked me to take this photo of her looking through the hole in this playground climbing structure... Love how her perspective can make something ordinary look really cool.

(Taken with the 50mm f1.4.... processed without actions, using my own set of processing)





July 24 - Winter Afternoon Glow
Another beautiful winter's day here in Brisbane... I will miss this when we leave Brisbane...




July 25 - Checking Out A Forest
Had one of those busy days running a bunch of errands and found myself with a sleeping Catherine in the car so I drove around aimlessly looking for locations so she could have a decent nap ... and then she awoke... so we went for a little wander... This taken with the 16-35mm 2.8.




July 26 - Small Window Of Opportunity
There is only a small window of opportunity when one can look good in knitted yellow bootie socks... Thanks you Ba... they are so cute!




July 27 - Hidden Gem
I came across one amazing hidden gem of a location today... seriously stunning... and the bonus part... it's REALLY close to where we live. Apparently it's a bit of a kept secret around these parts, but I can't believe we basically live on the doorstep to this!

We only did a short visit today, because I'd forgotten my iphone and I hadn't told anyone where we was going and the path there was pretty rough and not very stroller friendly. I kept conjuring images of me or one of the girls falling into the river and then Phan having no idea where we were. But we made it home okay... :D... Can't wait to head out there again!!! Two photos to share from today, because it was so gorgeous... First photo taken with the 50mm 1.4, second photo taken with the 16-35mm 2.8







July 28 - Reptile TV Show
We made a cubby in the backyard today... and Elizabeth decided to pretend she was doing a TV show about reptiles...




If you want an insight into what an afternoon is like with my girls at the moment, here's a little video clip of what was going on... *WARNING - it's a little bit long and goes for 4 minutes, but there's lots of random cameo appearances from Catherine, which kind of makes it worth watching...*







July 29 - Afternoon Tea Parties
This little teaset is on loan from Elizabeth's best friend Claire... her Mum thought it'd make a good prop on a photoshoot... which it did... :)





July 30 - Cool Babe
Phan discovered this afternoon that Catherine quite liked the novelty of wearing her sister's sunglasses...




July 31 - I'm A Little Teapot
We acquired this little teapot strainer a couple weeks ago... I think it's uber cute.

Scrapbooking Sunday

Wild Blueberry Ink has some lovely new goodies out in her store this week.

First up a new mini kit - Incredible... loving the pastel tones of this -






And a cute alpha - In The Pink

Fridays are for Inspiration

1. This quote strikes a chord with me at the moment -

Source: bitsotruth.blogspot.com via Rasmiyyah on Pinterest

2. I can't wait to move back to Adelaide and hang up a whole bunch of stuff on our walls... I really want to get more of my photos off the computer and displayed where I can enjoy it! I love this canvas idea with the different shaped canvases

Source: laurabrettphotography.com via Clara on Pinterest

3. I love the use of the vintage TV as the frame in this shot

Source: hsmithphoto.blogspot.com via Clara on Pinterest

Scrapbooking Sunday

Washi Stamps is out now from Fei Fei's Stuff... just a little bit cute, these are a perfect little touch to your pages -





Thanks for looking!

Photo A Day - July - Week 3

July 15 - Dad Did This To Me
Catherine dislikes trying to walk around in her one piece pajama jumpsuits... it's a hinderance, esp when she's trying to go fast (sometimes I think she's trying to run!). So Phan decided to fashion this funny little tail with the legs of her jumpsuit so she had her legs free to walk around as she wished... what a fashion statement...

July 16 - My Husband Is A Car Mod-ing Maniac
Phan has turned into somewhat of a car-mod-ing hoon lately... he's pulled apart doors, done stuff under the bonnet... and his latest project involved changes to the audio, and required pulling out the passenger seat so he could install the amp... he's crazy... Even Elizabeth surveyed the miscellany of bits and pieces laid out on the garage floor and said to him - "Did you put down this plastic so you could put your toys on it?"... LOL... even she knows they are his toys.




July 17 - Best Friends Forever
Elizabeth and her best friend Claire...





July 18 - This is Phi Phi
We've had Phi come and stay with us this week and he spent a day at her kindy with her... when they asked her to introduce him to the class she simply said "This is my uncle. His name is Phi Phi."...





July 19 - Oops, Almost Forgot!
First time I've almost forgotten my photo for the day... this is what time it was when I realised!





July 20 - Stepping Out
We spent some time at New Farm Park today and Elizabeth spent a lot of time walking over this suspension bridge to get to the slide.





July 21 - Our Toddler...
Our baby is growing up, as per yesterday's post... 14 months old... *sigh*...

Friday Inspiration

It's busy around here and I have gazillion and one things to do, so just a couple of inspirations this week...

1. This I love -

Source: myconcretesky.com via Dianne on Pinterest

2. I absolutely adore this Audrey inspired photoshoot by AMR Photography... so, so gorgeous!

3. I am Sam.. I love this movie and the soundtrack...

Missy 14 Months...

She dislikes shoes and socks and will take them off at every opportunity.

She is fluent in gibberish - the sounds she makes when trying to talk to us are sooo adorable.

I've mentioned before that she makes a lot of noise... if it's possible, she's actually gotten noiser in the last month.

She is a heavy breather and sounds like Darth Vader when she sleeps.

She likes throwing things... in the mornings she will often wake me up by chucking dummies at me... when she's in her high chair she throws her food when she's lost interest in it.

She still hates most fruit... and I have discovered recently that she really likes the rafferty's garden baby food packets... I had previously tried them out on her and she disliked them, but now she will easily devour and entire packet and still sponge food from the rest of us.

She wishes she could jump and does a rather enthusiastic bopping on the spot movement.

She has been crying/yelling at Phi everytime he goes outside for a smoke... Doesn't do it when anybody else goes outside... just him... She must be trying to tell him something...

Elizabeth calls her little sister a "tobbler"... and she almost is... she toddles everywhere and can turn around in a circle on the spot... Sometimes it looks like she's trying to run which I'm soooo not ready for...

She is getting taller... she used to be able to stand up under the dining table, but now she bangs her head if she tries.

The overnight feed is on the way out... it had consistently been happening at 4am for a while now, but it's started getting later and later and she is starting to last until 5:30am-6am now. I'm thinking about weaning her soon... which will be a bit sad... I'm kind of ready to have my body back, but at the same time, it's sad to think I probably won't breastfeed another baby again... :(

The sleeping thing still isn't great with her... She still wakes multiple times a night... but we have discovered she tends to settle faster if you let her hold your hand as she drifts back to sleep... Which is good, except for the dead arm I end up with when I've fallen asleep on the floor with my arm through the cot bars ... cute, but tiring!

She does loves being on mattresses... when she's on the bed, she is sooo happy and does this cute happy shrieking thing when she enveloped in blankets and pillow.

Our beautiful baby Catherine... now turning into a little toddler... You give us more and more reason to love you everyday... xo

Scrapbooking Sunday

Montage is the *AWESOME* brand new collaboration between Fei Fei's Stuff and Paislee Press... When these two brilliant women get together, the kits they create are sheer genius and this is no different...

This kit is an absolute must have... I adore it and the colours are just so classic and easy to scrap with... go grab it today!

Photo A Day - July - Week 2

July 8 - Peekaboo Fun
Another beautiful afternoon of sun... another afternoon spent playing in the sun...

July 9 - Dancing Boots
We went over to Vicky's place and our girls raided Vics closet and found her boots to dress up in... That's Claire in those awesome black boots, and Elizabeth to the side in the lovely tan boots... I'd also forgotten to bring my flash, and there was very little light, so I shot this on my 85mm @ f/1.8, 1/200, ISO 12800, manual focusing (it was so dark, it wouldn't auto focus)...





July 10 - Random Find, Random Gift
We went to Trang's for lunch and on the way back to the car, Elizabeth found this heart on the footpath and said "I found this heart Mum... it's a present for you..."... How very thoughtful... :)





July 11 - Fascination
We were playing around in the front yard when Elizabeth spotted a plane in the sky... She loves planes...





July 12 - Pretty Pretty Weeds
These weeds were clumped on a footpath near Elizabeth's kindy... shot with the 85mm... have I mentioned how much I've fallen in love with that lens? :)





July 13 - By The Fence
It's not actually our fence, but we walk past it all the time when we go on our afternoon outings... I'm always fascinated by the shadows the fence casts on the grass... It makes such a cool pattern...





July 14 - The Homies
Phi Phi is up visiting us this week... Elizabeth is soooo excited to have him here... She wanted to go on a photoshoot with him this afternoon, so we obliged... we had fun... she's much easier to take photos of when he's with her to help her strike some poses... :)

Friday's Inspiration...

My top 3 inspirations this week -

1. bobbi+mike - they are a husband and wife photography team... I love the way Bobbi writes and their behind the scenes shots of each other. And honestly, you absolutely have to go check out this blog post - http://www.bobbiandmike.com/blog/index.php/emilymatt-2/... It's absolutely incredible for countless reasons... just trust me... go and check it out.. it's an amazing story!

2. I adore this... and it reminds me that I must go and try making different shaped bokeh... :)

Source: etsy.com via Clara on Pinterest

3. "Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you will look back and realise they were the big things." - Robert Brault

Scrapbooking Sunday

Fei Fei's Stuff has just released Fresh Cut ... *swoon*... it's absolutely gorgeous and the colours suit the photos I've taken lately to an absolute tee ...



Thanks for having a peak... see you next week! :)

Photo A Day - July - Week 1

I've gone past the half way mark now in my photo-a-day project... And after last month's colossal effort of photographing things unrelated to the girls for photo-a-day, but then also finding time to photograph them as well as part of my everyday, because I love taking photos of them, it almost felt like I was doing 2-photos-a-day! I'm looking forward to featuring the girls again in my photo-a-day project this month... :)

July 1 - Miss Polly Had A Dolly
I caught this candid moment of Elizabeth standing the doorway talking to her dolly while she was waiting for me to do something for her...

July 2 - I Quite Like Swings
Catherine is a fan of swings! Which is completely new and foreign to me to have a child that likes being pushed on a swing as Elizabeth still doesn't love swings all that much...




July 3 - Dancing Cinderella
These photos are for the benefit of our Auntie Emmi, who bought Elizabeth this dress for Christmas last year... she has worn it a few times, but I've never been able to get good photos of her in it... Well, this is as good as it's going to get!





July 4 - Stripey Spotty Sisters
Cute little matching dresses... Generally I don't really like doing the matchy-matchy look, but I fell in love with these dresses when I saw them... they are only from Target and at $16 each, a bargain too... :)





July 5 - Sliding
A morning spent at the park with kindy friends today.






July 6 - The Cutest Little Birdie Dress
A whole package of goodness from Lillipops Designs arrived today and this dress was amongst the goodies. I absolutely adore it... it came with those uber cute stripey leggings too... Totally gorgeous stuff!





July 7 - She Wields A Whisk
Don't ask why we have a plastic whisk in our bathtub... but we do and Catherine loooves playing with it in the bath... She likes splashing it about... and she likes stabbing her sister with it too... Elizabeth got sick of being hit with the whisk and said sternly to her at one point. "Catherine... don't stab me... it's not nice..."... LOL... it just made me laugh the way she said it to Catherine... Catherine just looked at her... grinned and proceeded to whack her again! And then I confiscated the whisk... *insert annoyed yell from Catherine here*...