4/52 - dancing with you in the summer rain

Lily

Little girl in a white cotton dress. 

A classic combination that always captures my heart!

Eli

The heatwave of last week broke when dark clouds rolled in, and fat drops of rain began plopping down, quenching the earth and relieving the muggy heat.

We had to celebrate the moment with a giddy rain dance - and no one does a rain dance with more abandon and joy than this kid.

Miles

My darling baby boy turned one. 

This little ray of sunshine clicked over into his second year and suddenly my baby was no more. Sniff.

Such a grown up and well mannered boy, he remembered to read the card before opening his first birthday gift ;)

Mark

Horsey Wrestles

One of those phrases that develops in a family in its own time and way. It came from when  Lily was tiny and she combined Horsey Rides and Wrestles - her two favourite activities with Daddy.

Now 'Can we have a little Horsey Wrestle??!' is a frequent plea from the kids in the five minutes before bed time. Well, sometimes they even say 'Can we have a punch in the guts?' !! Which has garnered a few raised eyebrows from guests, let me tell you ;) Well, all the research says Daddy-wrestling time is so very important, so I just turn a blind eye to the Wrestlemania going on (eg can hardly bear to watch!). As I prepare Miles for bed, all I can hear is gleeful shrieks of laughter and squeals of joy. Thudding pillows, the occasional mishap (tears, but a quick recovery 'cos they want to keep playing), and lots and lots of good memories. Apparently, Daddy is a shark in the water, or something??! Anyway, a lot of jumping and pillow-thumping seems to happen. 

As I snuck into the room to take these impromptu pics, I was cringing but also smiling at the mayhem. 

He is such an involved dad, utterly adored and adoring.

Project 52: A portrait of my family, once a week, every week, in 2013.

More highlights from the week that was...

Ice excavations

And the rain came tumbling down...

A quick peek into the bedroom to see my three little loves at play. Together. It's beautiful - the dawning of yet another sweet stage. This play session was because Miles was scared of the clippers' sound when I was cutting Mark's hair, so L&E insisted 'we can look after him, Mum' and took him to their room to play blocks. Bless.

Crinkled white cotton and those little gold sandals.

Tousled hair, flying in the wind.

 

 

Pretty white dress, and playing in the dirt. That's my girl!

...and there she goes.

Baby's first boundary. Each of my kids has learnt their first limit in this big ol' world of ours with this stereo. Though the
house is mostly kid friendly and kid safe, I intentionally have a few accessible but 'don't touch' items around so the kids
can safely and slowly learn respect for property, and healthy boundaries. This stereo is always the first one, with its intoxicating flashing blue lights and mirrored front. As soon as they can move, they go straight for it. This boy... oh, he knows! He crawls right there, looks at me with a cheeky knowing glance and shakes his head, saying 'no-no'. He now usually keeps crawling, but every now and then he touches it again, just to test that limit and see if it still stands ;) 

His first sweet birthday gift - from his lovely Papa. Of course, the twirly ribbon was the biggest hit!

 

While I was hanging up the washing, Eli jumps from the trampoline and bolts for the house. Inquiring what he was doing, he informs me the trampoline has too many leaves on it and he is just getting the Dustbuster!! Well, I could hardly stop the boy from cleaning, now could I?

 Love the contrast of the tough construction tee with Dustbuster!
This is the kind of young men I want to raise. Strong boys who take initiative
with the cleaning ;)  Yes, that is an 'ultimate strength' in my eyes :)

Love the anticipation in their eyes...

Clearly I popped in during a 'the shark fights back' phase, cos trust me, these kids attack poor Daddy a lot too!

A tangle of happy kids!