12/52 - train + fish

Lily

The money from Lily's art sales was burning a hole in her pocket, and she asked if she could use it to buy a fish. After her previous short lived birthday gift (oh goodness, I had a chuckle reading back on that!), I thought that was a great idea as we already had all the gear for it, just needed a new fishie! One that will hopefully live a long happy fishie life!

Goodness, if you could have seen her face when we counted her money and discovered she had enough. The beaming pride was a beautiful sight to behold, as we went into the pet store to request a Betta fish and she counted her money carefully onto the counter. She was just absolutely thrilled and it was lovely to see the satisfaction on her face, from buying a pet from her very own hard-earned money. 

She named him/her Rose because of her lovely rose red colour and spends an inordinate amount of time staring just like this scene pictured. Several times she has announced 'I just love having my own fish!!'

Well done, sweet girl. I know the love and satisfaction is even deeper because you bought it all by yourself, independently. Such a lesson will take you far in life! Please remember this when you are begging us to buy you a car in a decade or so.... you're on your own, honey ;)

Eli

We took a family outing to the Marymead Family Charity Train Day and had a wonderful time once more. It really is the most charming little place, with leafy grounds and fascinating miniature steam engines puffing around the tracks. Eli was completely fascinated with the trains and was keen to ride them again and again and again. Every time he took the same glee in soaking up the scenery... it was super cute.

When fairy floss was included in the entry price, well, I could hardly deny the kids their first taste of spun sugar now, could I?? (I couldn't deny myself either, haha).

It was a big hit. And thankfully we had a couple dozen laps around the train track to help burn it all off!

Miles

When the weather turned chilly at the Train day, we decided to buy a gorgeous little handknit beanie from the fundraising craft stall to keep Miles warm and cosy.

He thought this was the best way to show off his new look!

Mark

My sweetheart painted me a picture and what could be sweeter than that??

Well, I will tell you... even sweeter is the fact that he painted this with the kids during an early morning water colour painting session... whilst I enjoyed a Saturday morning sleep in.

Now that is love, people. And I love this wonderful man o' mine! :)

Project 52: A portrait of my family, once a week, every week, in 2014.

More highlights from the week that was...

Love watching this boy, in his own world and enjoying a trio of happy things - live music, sausage sizzle and watching
a miniature train go chugging by. What could be better?

another 'ooooh' face. i love every single one.

She was in the zone. Dancing to the live music, swept up completely in the beat. Jumping, twirling, swaying and grooving with an intensity I hadn't seen before - and not even caring no one else was dancing. Guess you gotta go where the music takes you!

Sparkle tattoos were a big hit!

I just love how Eli always tenderly includes his brother. He couldn't wait to show him his cool pink shark tattoo!

This steam train was a mini-mini one!! So tiny and so cute! 

Finally tuckered out from all the excitement.

I didn't get many shots of the actual train as I was having too much fun going around with the kids myself! But here is
one of the little steam engine.

As I aim to capture the little everyday moments of our life, I can't believe I haven't photographed a packed lunch yet! Especially as it's a daily occurance now for Lily. This was something I was realllly intimidated by before she started school... every day!? Arghh! But surprisingly, so far I have found myself quite enjoying putting them together. Yeah, I'm sure the shine will wear off before too long haha. This isn't the most 'typical' lunch as we don't usually do sandwiches but it's close enough. Here 'tis - cheese and tuna wholemeal sandwich, roasted seasoned pepitas and chickpeas (home made), super nourishing Anzac biscuit (homemade), 2 dates, celery, cherry tomatoes and rockmelon. 

After some extra scrimping and saving, I was so blessed to be able to get a new lens this week! The 'nifty/thrifty fifty'!! Also known as the 50mm 1.8. Loooove it, though I haven't had much of a play yet. But it sure does make a difference. I'm excited and so grateful especially to my hubby for encouraging this little hobby of mine! This nifty lens even makes an old pinecone look pretty cool, huh?! ;) 

A play with my new lens and the most delicious little model you could hope for. I could just eat him up!!

He loves watching the chickens peck and rustle around the back yard

'Can I help, Mummy?' is a common refrain... which is how Eli happened to spend the morning wiping the kitchen cabinets. Such a sweet-hearted and helpful little man!

Oh dear. We have a climber. Sprung trying to shimmy over the playpen walls,
can you believe it?!! Neither L or E were really climbers so this is new and
rather shocking. He isn't even walking yet but we have already found him in
all kinds of crazy positions. I wish I could say this was the most precarious
position of the week but... no! Eek.
(Sister was standing right near him while I snapped this scene!)

Who is checking out who?

Fun with rainbow and glitter chalk! (Thanks Auntie Meg for the cool gift, the kids love it and I do too, haha)

He told me he was drawing a picture of Mummy and Daddy - with both hands, no less!

Ready to ride

Lily working on a driveway message for Dad - 'We love Daddy!'

A girl's bicycle basket holds all manner of treasures!

I popped in during 'rest/room time' to find Lily had decided to deep clean her whole room, including wiping down
the tops of her bookcases and arranging all her handbags in size order (yes, she has a 'collection'). A girl after my own
heart, I do like a good deep clean and organising session too!! The cherry on top was noticing she had hung
this little bird cage (that she had bought with her own money) over Eli's bed as a surprise for him. Bless her heart!