51/52 & 52/52

What with the busyness that comes with moving/ being on holiday and the festive season, my last 2 instalments (for this year, at least*) of the portrait project come as a package deal.

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

51/52

Noah: Loving his littlest sister. (At home)

Pipi: Thumbing sucking on the swing. (At Otaki)

Isabelle: Feeding ducks. (In Christchurch)

Normally I either order my pics in order of the kids’ age (unless I have an outright favourite and then I’ll place that first). However for my photos for last week I did something a little different. I’ve placed them in the order they were taken. You can see from this that we’ve done a bit of travelling.

Last Monday we travelled to Otaki and stayed with my in-laws  for a couple of days before flying down to Christchurch on Wednesday. We then spent a week with family down there including part of Christmas day. We then flew out mid afternoon that day (cheap flights) and spent the evening with my in-laws again. We are home again now and I’m finding myself unpacking from being away as well as continuing to set up in our new place! Busy times!

52/52

Noah & Isabelle: Scenes from our Christmas in Christchurch. The super ornate gingerbread house Noah is holding was a lovely gift from Auntie Holly.

Pipi: Slooowly starting to get more interested in food (of the solid variety.) Seen here with paw paw and a rusk.

…

And that ends my portrait project for this year (although I’m sure I’ll be back for a round up/ the best of post.)

* I haven’t completely decided yet if I’m going to participate again next year. If you asked me a couple of months ago, I would’ve said no – but that was before I got my new camera – now I’m keen to join in again and stretch myself a bit more photographically. It’s such a great record of the kids growing up too!

Anyone else keen to join in for 2014?

x

Joining in over here

To see more of my weekly portraits go here.

Christmas Time…

… Mistletoe and wine… Children singing Christian Rhymes…”  (Anyone else grow up on Cliff Richard Christmas music like me?)

We spent our Christmas day this year partly in Christchurch and partly in Otaki (and partly in airports and on a plane) … Here are some photos of our Christmas this year…

Highlights of the day include… Noah sharing treats from his Christmas stocking with Isabelle because she thought Santa hadn’t come for her! (Her stocking was hiding under her pillow!); Noah falling off his seat while pulling his Christmas cracker: Noah’s reply when Auntie Holly asked him if he was a gentleman: “No, I’m a soft man (said rubbing his cheek – no stuble); Isabelle being so tuckered out that she slept with her eyes open on the couch at the airport – it was a bit freaky!; An impromtu nativity play courtesy of Otaki Nana, Noah, Isabelle and their cousins (I did take some photos of this but they’re a bit too blurry); and lots of fun and delicious food shared with family and friends.

Also, I was rather tickled by Noah and Isy’s decorations … I think they thought anything red and green was a goer. I particularly like the inclusion of Po and the tomato!

It was Pipi’s first Christmas but I didn’t get many photos of her – mainly because she slept through most of the festivities!

I hope your Christmas was wonderful and that your New Year brings much joy!

x

Joy!

I just love Christmas time, especially now that I have kids. It’s so nice to see them enjoying the season – family, food and festivities …. and of course both the giving and receiving of presents.

Our kids were extremely lucky to receive this awesome trampoline – a gift from all their grand parents who all pitched in. So generous! We gave it to the kids early because we are away from home for Christmas. In fact we are already on our holiday, visiting family in Christchurch.

I can see this trampoline is going to get a lot of use! (From us adults too – it’s strong enough to our weight! Yuss!)

Seeing the joy on these kids’ faces when playing on their new tramp or when opening presents reminds me of the true meaning and joy of Christmas – to which these simple joys don’t even hold a candle to.

Luke 2:10-11 …But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Jenny

50/52

Whaaat? There are only 2 weeks left in the year! That means there are only 2 weeks left and I will have captured a photo of my kids every week for a year!

We are loving our new place. A lot of our living has moved out doors – with a lovely established garden, natural shade, a playhouse that came with the place and … a new trampoline (an early Christmas present from all the grandparents – we are away Christmas day) … we are all finding ourselves being drawn outside a whole lot more! It’s also got a bit to do with the weather as well – which has been super hot! I guess it’s only fitting then that 2/3 of this weeks pictures were taken in our new backyard.

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Pipi: My little nature baby. Enjoying a bit more vitamin D and the texture of grass (I wish she’d stop trying to eat it though!)

Isabelle: An outdoor tea party of sorts

Noah: Playing with some of his birthday LEGO –helping to develop his already creative and inquiring mind. Thanks Poppa for this set.

Joining in over here

To see more of my weekly portraits go here.

Jenny x

Noah turns 5!

Yesterday Noah turned 5 and it was his last day of Kindy (he doesn’t start school until the new year.)

We didn’t throw a big party due to moving and everything – but on Monday we had a very casual little afternoon tea at a local park that has a very cool playground and ‘splash pad’.

Noah spent most of the time playing with his new presents (rather than playing on the playground and with his friends), Isabelle got as wet as possible and enjoyed blowing out her brother’s candles and Pipi just rolled round teething, getting cuddles from my friends and generally just being cute!

It was so funny at Noah’s kindy farewell his teacher’s presented him with a birthday card they had made. He got to request the picture/ clip art on the front – his request? Cooking pots (of course)! So funny! This boy does love to help Mum bake/ bake.

Happy Birthday my big boy, we sure do love you!

x

Pipi and the bubbles

Noah and I were playing with bubbles just after dinner tonight, with Isabelle already in bed (exhausted wee mite) and Pipi in the high chair. I didn’t even think about the fact that Pipi might also be interested in them until I heard her giggling away and trying to catch them.

It was hard to blow bubbles, photograph and calm down the extremely competitive older brother bubble popper … but I think I got a few shots that captured some of the joy/ magic that happens when babies meet bubbles…

‘Here bubble, bubble, bubble’

The little photo-bombing head cracks me up!

‘Praise the Lord!’

OK that’s probably enough baby spam from me!

Until next time …

Jen x

49/52

You would be forgiven for thinking that my blog is just portrait project photos lately.

We moved house on Saturday (more on that later), I’m just starting to emerge from a mountain of boxes and we’ve only just reconnected out internet (after a bit of drama, including Isabelle running out yelling “I’ve had a Papa Oscar Oscar accident” (her words) while I was on the phone with the provider)!  Buuuut I hope to now resume normal broadcasting and can’t wait to show some pics of our new house (and garden , ohhh the garden) … I may even squeeze in a spot of sewing before Christmas (once I’ve finished setting up my new sewing space, something I’ve desperately missed in the last year!)

Anyway, in amongst all of this I’ve been enjoying playing with my new camera…

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Isabelle: The princess and the pea. This girl sleeps for hours! Noah had dropped his day sleeps before age 2, so the fact that she still sleeps around 3 hours a day at age 3 amazes me! (And I’m not complaining!)

Noah: A boy and his kite. Noah and I spent some time one on one at the park the other day. It was so nice being ‘just us.’ I sometimes tell Noah about how he was my first baby and it was just us (and Daddy of course), he loves these stories!

Pipi: Eyes on the prize. We took the kids (and a small load of things) round to the new house on Friday night and had a picnic of takeaways on the floor. I grabbed the bags containing our Christmas tree and decorations as an after thought and the kid’s had great fun setting it up – Pipi really wanted this dove decoration!

… Here’s some evidence of Noah and Isabelle’s decorating efforts … I can assure you that it was all them!

Can you tell how proud Isabelle is of her handiwork?

Joining in over here

To see more of my weekly portraits go here.

Jenny x