Its a bit off topic but I’m so excited that I just had to post about winning the Mothers Day raffle at school. I feel so happy and lucky

The hamper is packed full of goodies donated by members of the school community, lots of wine, chocolates, magazines, piles of pampering potions and lotions and vouchers for local businesses and services.

I am really looking forward to taking the family to Penguin Island and to the Environment Centre, choosing something lovely from Azure Mystique, going out to coffee at the Coffee Club, having some Craniosacral therapy and trying out some Qigong clases.

The girls were also very excited and eager to look inside:

Thanks Marsha for organising the raffle and the donations and thank you to everyone who donated items. I will be sure to enjoy them!

I spent this morning at the local uni campus coffee shop with my friend Emily and her son Luke, catching up for a chat. Its so good to talk to adults sometimes!

Last time we caught up I took some photos of Emily, attempting to capture what I see. She is a vibrant and creative yet thoughtful person, I know her as a writer, teacher and mother.

And here is one shot of Luke, who will be starting school in the same class as my girls next term. He was so sweet and friendly to me today

Miss Aylish wanted to do some modelling for me while I had the backdrop set up.

This shot was taken at the beginning, I could already tell we weren’t going to get any easy smiles.

Right now I love this one on the chair so much, might be my new favourite of her:

Looking at the photo below, you would be forgiven for thinking she didn’t want to be there. Do not be fooled, this is a carefully crafted pose designed by Aylish herself.

Over all I am loving these, they are just so Aylish!

And just one of gorgeous little Emmy Apple, I really have to take her out by herself and do a session soon.

My sister and I spent about 2 months trying to get organised to get some family photos done and finally managed to do it on Easter Monday.  Despite seeing each other at least every week!

It was also lots of work to get the kids in front of the camera and I have a sneaking suspicion that Davey is going to one of those people that hates having his photo taken.  Which is a pity, as he is absolutely beautiful.

Thanks guys for all your help, here are a couple of sneak previews and I’ll send you the rest soon.

Just had to add a couple more. We used this suitcase (which is one of two that I take with me to sessions) when Davey was only about 6 months old, so wanted to use it again.

And one reading a story toward the end of the session:

Three precious little kittens! Okay, they might be a little early, but well into the Christmas “spirit” time of year so the girls are convinced they are presents.

They are just under 2 weeks old here. Aylish and Emmy love them and cuddle them at every opportunity, at least until Molly the mother cat decides its enough and takes them back!

And I couldn’t miss out taking a couple of shots of our growing puppies:

Liam the big sook.

And Boa the little princess.

Thanks to Tash from Finishing Touch, for rescuing the hair situation for us!

Aylish enjoyed herself and was lucky enough to get a lollypop at the end!

We’re getting used to her new look and even quite like it. Although, I can’t get over how much older she looks, I can almost see her as the adult she might be one day.

I’ve never let the kids have scissors. Just something disturbing about a pair of intersecting knives in the hands of a child. That is, until we found these super safe scissors at the Reject Shop for $1 (or maybe $2) a pair. Won’t cut hair or skin – perfect I thought.

And they were great, made of some kind of plastic and would not cut hair or little fingers. The girls were both rapt, at first. Then we discovered they didn’t cut paper for very long either. How frustrating!

Being given a taste of scissors at home was the last straw for Miss Four and a half. She presented a case about being allowed to use scissors at school and about knowing how to be very careful. She even showed me how you carry scissors. And, she goes to a Montessori school, which is all about empowering the child.

I felt guilty I wasn’t giving her enough independence, she’s four and a half, not a baby any more. So I caved and these holidays she’s been allowed to use scissors. At first she was under strict supervision, but as time has gone on I came to think that she was very careful and knew what she was doing.

I got slack.

Then today, I was at my computer around the corner from where Aylish was cutting at the dining room table. I could hear *Snip* *Snip* *Snip* and smiled to myself, thinking about how quickly she was growing up and how great it was that I could trust her.

Then the snipping stopped and a cheeky little sprite popped around the corner. Looking very pleased with herself. “Look at me, mum”, she said and waited. I looked, knowing something was different, and then my jaw dropped. Her hair!!!!

“Its short, exactly how I wanted it”, she told me.

The funny thing is, we took her to the hairdresser earlier this year to get a haircut. I was hoping to get about a third cut off and maybe a bit of style cut into it but Daddy wouldn’t let them cut more than a couple of cms off.

I guess she has a style now!

Welcome to the most recent member of our extended family, my cousin’s baby Jack. Such a gorgeous temperment and beautiful skin!

Just a sneak peak of our session:

And one of the girls, who got along like a house on fire!

Hope to catch up with you guys again soon

An entry dedicated to my youngest baby, Emerald Star. She’s really growing up into such a little character, off in her own world most of the time.

I love this photo as it captures that faraway aspect to her, although her daddy doesn’t like it because he thinks she looks too sad:

And here’s one to prove she does smile!

Poor little darling fell out of the trolley today, you can just see the fat lip she got and the bruise on her chin. I was just thankful that it wasn’t worse!

Love her to bits!

Just my girls, enjoying the Australian summer sun.

Don’t they look like perfect models in this one!