It was time….

Before

After

Australia Day

Did you know January 26th is Australia Day? Now you do!

Wikipedia.org: Australia Day (previously known as Anniversary Day, Foundation Day, and ANA Day) is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, the date commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788 and the proclamation at that time of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of New Holland.

We celebrated by drinking loads of ginger beer and gobbling up a bag of chocolate caramel koalas.

Here are my little koalas.

Then I completely ruined Masie’s day by making up a story about the chewed up koalas in our tummies piecing themselves back together to crawl back out of our bellies. Miles loved my story. Masie was freaked and held her tummy for the rest of night whining about koalas dancing inside of her. Even when I told her it wasn’t real that the koalas were just sugar, she wouldn’t have it. I’d already done too much damage. Sorry baby.

Getting my groove back

So I sort of took a break from taking photos. Less photos than usual that is. I’m having a hard time catching up on my to do list after taking a month off in December. I was just maintaining my house and business duties before, so once I got behind, man it’s been hard to catch up!

Never fear! I’ve taken many photos today and a few on Sunday, and you’re lucky I want to share them with you!!

I shot using my camera’s manual setting. See I’m learning, slowly but surely.

We love 9 a.m. church. Kids come home smiling, eat lunch, and go down for naps!

Lars is not only crawling, he’s pulling himself to standing (we had to lower his crib already), and he loves the yoga downward dog position. Oh yes, and drool or spitting up on my carpet.

Lyla and I had a tea party date. On Tuesday morning I have one hour with just Lyla. Miles is at preschool, Masie is at her music class, and Lars is napping. I love this hour with  my sweet little girl.

Lars has been grumpy. His first teeth are trying so hard to cut through his little gums. He’s such a happy boy, so we know he’s miserable when he gets fussy.

I was trying to position Masie (ha! like anyone can actually “position” this girl) between me and the sun to get a great sunny shot. I like the look but it would have been nice if the pool fence in the background was clean.

I know, this orange is a choking hazard. I was watching him very carefully to get a quick shot. He sure did love the texture on his sore gums.

Miles came home from preschool and insisted I refer to him has Police Officer Miles. He also told me that if I was mean to him, the police would come and put me in jail. He refused to take his gear off for naptime, still had it one when Luke got home from work, wore it through his piano lessons with his grandma, and finally took it off so it “wouldn’t get dirty” at dinner (don’t know why lunch didn’t get it dirty). He is so excited about the field trip his preschool teacher has scheduled for Thursday. So excited he’s having a hard time sleeping tonight, and he still has another day before he gets to go!

A Kiss (or 2 or 3) Goodnight

I’m fairly certain that bath, pjs, and goodnight kisses are a favorite time for every parent.

By the way… We have 4 kids sitting at the table now for Friday night pizza.

Love it!

Photos SOC

I attended a photography workshop last Saturday. I gained some confidence shooting photos in manual mode.

Here a few of my first shots straight out of the camera.

I still have a ton to learn, but I’m excited to put my new knowledge to good use.