At least she's not actually spitting...

I love this girl...she's alot of fun...

Nothing interesting to say...

To get the umbrella shots I shoved her out in the rain...with her umbrella...

while I sat in the car and took photos....

...ok so I'm kidding...it hadn't actually started to rain yet!

Me...DANCING??? What the....?

So a friend of ours...every time I see him, he looks at me he can't stop laughing and shaking his head....he seriously thought this was me!!!

His wife and I were watching it today having a bit of a laugh...the ONLY people that I ever dance is in front of is my kids...because they love me regardless of how retarded I might look doing it...and A. if you're reading this...the only way you will ever witness this is if SINGSTAR becomes DANCESTAR AND THERE IS ALOT OF MONEY INVOLVED!!!

The Human Body part 2...

I was doing something with this ball of wool the other day and my son came in and looked at it...got very excited and then said...MUM it looks like a.....



....BRAIN!!!! mmm nice!

The Human Body...

I have a 5yr old boy here that is VERY curious about the human body...he's constantly asking how everything works and where everything is placed in the body...the lungs, heart, bones etc...he's constantly asking how the blood got inside his body...tonight he brought a piece of paper to me and asked me to draw him and all the bones inside his body...so I did and he left and I didn't think anything of it...until I heard some strange grunting noises with taps running in the bathroom.

These photo's really don't do it justice but I found pen/ink ALL over his body...he'd copied my pictures as best he could and physically drawn his bones onto his body...so he could see them...these photo's are after I found him trying to 'scrub' it all off, suddenly concerned about how the heck he was going to get all of it off before the facing the wrath of his mother - needless to say...J. had two baths tonight!

Cowgirl...kinda

I love these photo's of my little cowgirl...but I have a problem..I take soooooooo many photo's of my kids, some of which I want to print out and frame...but I can never decide how I like my photo's best...between all the options I have on my camera and photoshop I can't help but play with them and try different effects...I'm forever trying to decide...which one do I like best???? For eg...the following has more of a washed out vintage look to it...

...but then again do I love the really saturated colour?


washed out vintage look?...


or more colour???...




and yet again...


then I changed the white balance setting on my camera and came up with the following difference...


I guess it's a matter of personal opinion really, just when I think I've made a decision...my husband will walk in and just LOVE the one that I had decided NOT to print! He tends to like nice warm colours...I find I tend to lean toward cooler colours...


The result????....I hardly EVER print the photo's I take and display them...they stay right here on my pc and blogpage...I did a photo wall months ago in the kids area and hung all the frames up....printed out a few of them and decided there was something not quite right about the colours for my liking...so I never put the rest up...so I have empty photo frames on my wall...sad really....but until I get over my indecision...they're going to have to stay empty!

How mean am I?

I love the drive up to my dad's place in the Hunter Valley. The F3 is just so boring that we always go over Mangrove Mountain...the drive is soo much nicer. We've been having a lot of storms of late and the kids have been getting increasingly scared of them...especially my little girl...so what do I do??? There is a huge thunderstorm literally about to break upon us on our drive up and I see a great photo opportunity...I drag the kids out of the car and start snapping away...check out the expression her face!!!...that was just after a nice big clap of thunder!




J. is slightly concerned about it as well and keeps checking behind him!



She's now begging to get back in the car!


He thinks its funny.

and is enjoying it.

Grass can be lots of fun...

see, you can stick it in people's ears...

and it tickles...

There are sooo many places along the way that I have been wanting to stop and take photo's for so long...so since it was my birthday I pretty much made us stop every 5mins!...this is an old car that I ADORE..and drive past every time wishing I could take pictures of my kids with it...since it was literally about to start pouring with rain, thunder and lightening...and I had already tortured them once...I settled for a quick roadside shot...maybe next time!

Then after we got to grandpa's house and the storm was gone we went out to feed grandpa's cow...whom we affectionately call....'cow'.

They love 'cow'...little do they know that Grandpa loves the kids feeding 'cow' so that he gets nice and FAT...once he gets nice and FAT...I'll then have Grandpa explain why & how 'cow' came to be in his freezer!

I am....

Ok so one of my friends has this posted and since I love Jane Austen (Sayruh...I can just see you shaking your head...:) haa) ... I thought I'd give it a go...I came out being more like Elinor Dashwood than any of the other heriones...I always thought I was more like Lydia Bennett....

NOT!!!! ok so I thought I probably had more in common with Elizabeth Bennett (even though I really wanted to be a Jane) but the more I think about it - Elinor is a close one too...just had never considered her....and since I LOVE Emma Thompson I'll let it be!...Try it take the quiz...oh and Sayruh...I'd really, no I mean really like to see what Jane Austen heroine you're most like!...

I'm in love.....

...my husband wasn't expecting such tough competition for my love when he gave me my birthday present early...(simply because he was just as excited as I was!)...he was finding it a little difficult to get used to the adjustment of knowing that I could be so completely and utterly gone over.....A CAMERA????? until I explained that it was the same way he felt about his electronic toys...like his WII or his media centre....he totally appreciates how I feel now...and would never dream of coming between me & my new camera!


Was playing around with my new toy...and took this one of Jake...


But this was all I could get of Layne!

My Baby Brother....

My baby brother is allllll grown up! Apart from the fact that he is above 20 now and I'm still calling him my baby brother...could be slightly embarrassing to him...but like I ever cared about embarrassing him since he did a pretty good job of that himself...like walking around with his jeans halfway down his butt and boxer shorts hanging out and a myriad of what looked like dog chains strung from belt loop to belt loop...or the long hair that always had some funky colours in it and never seemed like it was washed...or attempting to streak through the house naked, thinking somehow no one would notice...oh and there was the time that I caught him totally making out with his girlfriend...it was embarrassing enough for us all that she is now an ex! (or maybe it was the car that was so 'cool' that it was bound to wake her parents up at at 2am when he would drop her home???)....well he's all grown up now (or at least looks it!) and instead of the funky colours in his hair...he now prefers no hair and the funky colours painted all over his face! He has joined the Army...(personally I think he could have just gone paintballing or something) I wasn't able to go to his graduation this past week with J. starting school and all - hoping to see him before he leaves for his new posting for the next 18mths...cross my fingers!

School Time...!

It's school time....for my boy! He's been so excited...we were counting down the days - just like we do for Christmas - little does he know that when the excitement is over it certainly ain't gonna be Christmas!...and he has at LEAST the next 13yrs to go!


For those who are NOT aware...we wear uniforms to school down here...so please go easy on the fella...don't knock the uniform...really...I figure it will keep him humble and he'll now cherish those Target clothes soooo much more!
So he was up and dressed (it's sad I know but he actually LIKES the uniform) and ready for at least 2 hours before he had to go...as for me I thought I would be sadder...now that's not to say I wasn't sad...I was sad that this era has passed for J. and I but I was also very excited for him too....so to answer everybody's question...NO THERE WERE NO TEARS ..from anyone...before, during or after dropping him off at school.


Although after looking back through the photos...I decided that maybe J. was holding it all inside and handling his emotions in a different way...like constantly feeling the need to poke his tongue out at everybody...oh and just look at the way L. is handling the whole situation...she's soooo cool and laid back about the whole thing...nothing can phase her....YEAH RIGHT!



She'll miss annoying her big brother during the day...I will (for obvious reasons) be missing her having her big brother around during the day too...although I'm sure they will make up for lost time all in the 3 hours after school and before dinner...I plan to hole myself up in my sound proof cell during this time.

As I was looking through these photos I couldn't help but laugh...his expression made me think of how I feel when I have to do any kind of public speaking....SICK!!! like I want to run from the room and never have to talk to anyone again...I'm very well aware I have the ABILITY to do it...I just don't LIKE to do it!...I'm the kinda girl who likes the backrow in a conference...so I can escape quickly and no one notice me...!
...And this one.....

PRICELESS!!!!
He was trying to be sooo brave...we were about to get in the car...and when I said it was time to go he got this look on his face and didnt' talk much after that...sooo like his mother! Feel physically sick before the 'dreaded event' but once you're there....absolutely fine! He walked into his classroom and ran off to play with some other boys...and forgot to say goodbye...and I didn't push for one either....because I was more afraid that this look.....would have resulted in TEARS for both of us if I had!

(note: and whats with a white shirt for a SPORTS uniform...what the?)