41/52 - portrait play at the national portrait gallery... and a birthday!

Lily

All she wants for Christmas....

(Yes, she lost her second front tooth. My lispy little lady is very proud of herself! iPhone pic)

Eli

Running past me, he throws a cheery grin and a wave. 

Just spreading his sunshine all over town :)

Miles

His latest little trick is to grab a tissue from the box and then walk around the house, scrunching his nose and blowing it on the tissue (and yes, he really blows his nose). He then toddles over to the bin and throws the tissue in. 

Very cute - except he wants to perform this trick over and over and over (at which point we have remove the tissue box!).

He thinks he is a grown up boy, and he sure is becoming one! Love that scrunchy little nose.

Mark

I had a birthday this week and thanks to my kind in-laws still staying with us, Mark and I got to escape for that rare creature that is the daytime date!!! What a treat :) My favourite meal to eat out is brunch, so it was wonderful to enjoy that together at a fabulous local little cafe. Can I just take a moment to rave about my french toast with cinnamon marscapone? Drooool. And Mark's Canadian pancakes that were the size of a dinner plate???! Ok, it was all delish, the coffee was divine, but best of all was sitting back in the glorious sunshine with my best friend. Time to chat, eating together at a leisurely pace.... ah, just lovely :)

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

More highlights from the week that was...

A little bit enchanted by our wisteria... so fleeting but so pretty!

My Japanese Maple is another beloved little tree...

I have discovered what to do with old tshirts I don't want to get rid of yet... pass them on to the kids for night shirts!
They get such a kick out of wearing them and I get suck a kick out of seeing them swimming in my shirts :) Lily's was a funny gift back when such tshirts were a new thing ;) And Eli's was a shirt I designed back when I lived in the US. New lease on life! ;) (Yes, I have hoarding tendencies!!!)

Nan and Grandad wanted to take the older kids to the movies for a holiday viewing of Dumbo. Needless to say, everyone was pretty excited about this arrangement! Mark and I got to spend a productive morning in the garden while kids and grandparents had a wonderful time out together. It is just so lovely to see how much Marg and Dave truly enjoy spending time with the kids, it's beautiful. So thankful for the deepening relationships and rich memories being created.

We are loving Daylight Savings and warm afternoons outside. One day Lily came racing inside shrieking that they had found dinosaur bones which had to be excavated immediately with paint brushes. They spent a long afternoon sweeping and blowing dust from rocks (dinosaur bones), sorting, counting, washing, drying. assembling. Amazing to watch, I love to see them so deeply immersed in their imaginitive world!

The porch swing Lily worked so hard on last week - Raggedy Andy is testing it out.
At Lily's request, we worked together to come up with a workable swinging solution. 

Love seeing these three little heads together! Miles is getting old enough now to join in a little with their games and it's heart melting to see them include him so patiently. Here he is helping pull grass and put it into a bucket with them (they are making up a treat for the chooks!)

Miles' arm around Eli's shoulder. Just hold on while I tear up with sentimentality. I mean... seriously. So sweet. He held his arm there for a couple of minuites too, watching Eli doing something. Just so precious. Sniff.

My happy kitchen view these days... wisteria blooming, maple glowing green, chooks pecking around and the veggie gardens planted and flourishing (for now!!)... we finally got chicken wire wrapped around them too to keep the cheeky chooks out of our lettuce!

This little gang. Love seeing them together! All assembled for a delightful outing to the National Portrait Gallery for a school holiday program called Portrait Play. It was wonderful! Amber and I also met up with our dear friends Jess and Kate. The Portrait Play program was wonderful, guiding our kids through a short series of portraits and helping the kids draw out different elements of what helps a portrait capture an individual. The kids were so engaged, it was excellent. 

Hard at work, drawing portraits and postcards.

Love this town. No wonder it was recently counted by the OECD as the best city to live in, in the world!!! Well, maybe a bit of an overstatement, but I do think its a fab place to raise a family.

A lazy day for the last day of school holidays. Lily says to Eli 'You can choose a movie to watch
and I will do your hair'. 'Ok' says her agreeable brother!!! :)

Churros and chocolate and chats with a dear friend - a wonderful birthday treat!

Lily and Eli have been working on this creation made from a chunk of wood for weeks for my birthday gift.
Secretly as in they would shriek at me not to look when they worked on it, with giggles and whispers. And what's not to love??! :) A rather amazing little artwork.

A divine birthday pavlova whipped up by my talented stepdad. Yum!

PS Sorry for all the iPhone pics this week... I was without a camera for a few days as I sold my beloved old camera because..... I got a lovely NEW camera for my birthday from my dear hubby and inlaws!! Will be taking it for a spin with many more shots to come soon, no doubt :)