Friday, June 29, 2012

Looking back on some memories of James and Sienna

I've finally put my Instagram photo grid in the Ikea frame and have taken a photo of it hanging on the wall.  Have you seen the cool Blurb photo book that Lizzy did with her Instagram images.  I've seen the cute little 1.5 inch Instagram photo books but I like Lizzy's book as well.  I don't know the exact size and in her comments section everyone has asked what size she used (maybe 6x6 inch) so I'll check out what she has to say in the next post.

As I haven't uploaded the photo to the computer of my finished Instagram grid for now you can walk down memory lane with me and enjoy a few pictures of my beautiful children when they were younger.  Just looking at all these photos it seems like yesterday and in other way it seems like years and years since they were little.  I'm so glad I have captured these memories, technically photographic or not, they are precious.

Sienna's 2nd birthday and her new outfit from Nanny and Pop because she loved eating strawberries.


Photo Below - having just spent 2 weeks in Melbourne Dec 2007/Jan 2008 when it was 40 degrees Sienna was used to running around Nanny and Pop's back yard with no top on in the late afternoon shade and had a plastic crate filled with water to sit in.  When we returned to Brisbane she wouldn't put a top on and one morning this was her get up.  Gum boots, pink shorts, no top and a little empty camera bag strapped around her neck.  What a sight, it still makes me laugh seeing it now.  James is looking oh so pleased with himself in his "wiggles" t-shirt and gum boots as well.  I love their little chubby faces. 


Below - here they are Easter 2008 showing off their new sandshoes which they were thrilled about.


One of my all time favourite cuddles and having Bert & Earnie on TV in the background makes this for me....memories of my childhood.  But it's such a cute embrace.


Below - another favourite of mine when Sienna was about 6 months old or even less and she loved playing that piano and I loved that James is watching her bang the keys and his "sippy cup" of milk next to him as he was just two and a half.


Below - I adore this photo and my improved camera/photography skills.  I love that Sienna is intently watching James so she can copy him.  I love how you can tell he is a left hander in this photo and I love the natural lighting.  Oh yeh, I loved those beautiful curls of Sienna's when she was little.  I love how James is in his Spiderman pj's which he was so keen on......capturing these moments tell so much about their little lives....I love being their mum.


Below - James and Sienna laying on the floor watching "Bob the Builder" and his arm around her.  So very cute.


Below - another cute cuddle about to happen.  This photo is being taken to send to the Melbourne relatives to show them how the new clothes look that were Christmas presents.  I love that little dress of Sienna's and the army shorts of James.


Below - August 2008 James and Sienna reading maps of Boondall Wetlands when Nanny and Pop came to visit.  On closer inspection Sienna's map is upside down which I find adorable given she can't tell as she is only two and a half and James is three and a half.  They look so serious studying the map and in fact all we had to do was follow the pathway which looped back to where we started but it's so cute.  We did see a Frog Mouth Owl in a tree which I spotted (a dig at my father-in-law) who hasn't forgiven me for that one....it's an on-going joke as they had been caravaning around Australia and spotted a number of birds and then I spotted this one.  It really did look like a branch so I was shocked to spot it myself.  Will post a photo of the owl in the next day or so.


The next two photos were taken at "Out of the Box" Childrens Festival which runs for 5 days in Brisbane for kids up to 8 years old.  They have great free events as well as ones you have to pay for.  It's only on every 2 years and we were looking forward to it this year however it is on during the week and covers one weekend and we had a previous school function on and football and we just couldn't fit it in this year which I was very sad about as now we have to wait another 2 years for it to come around again.  James will be 10 by then and Sienna will be 8 so it would probably be the last year we go anyway in 2014. 



Below - you guessed it...cooking with kids.  They were making Anzac Biscuits and after shifting the flour Sienna put the sieve (is that how you spell it?) on her head.  She was already wearing a hat to start with and the sieve just topped off her glamour look.  Don't you love her "quirky" fashion style.


Below - Sienna upgrading to a "big girl" car seat and those beautiful eyes to match.


Below - after unpacking the surround sound speakers James and Sienna decided to go "row-row-row-your-boat" in the cardboard box.  I just which I could reach into that picture and pick up those cuddly little kids.....and give them a big hug.



Below - love this one...on the floor at Nanny and Pops house in August 2006.


Below - camping at Double Island Point in winter.


Below - they loved their toddler bikes


Below - we were away camping and James was making Sienna laugh over and over again...so adorable I couldn't help but laugh myself.



Below - enjoying our new pool


Below - another lovely cuddle from his sister.  She was loving it although he was not that keen and of course I had to photograph it all.




Sunday, June 17, 2012

Instagram Collage

The other day I was on Becky Higgins blog and was inspired by this post item number 2 and knew I just had to load the rest of my instagram pics and make a Instagram Collage.  Luckily for me Big W has a special on until the 20th June in store for 11" x 14" enlargements for $1.00 instead of the $13.00.  Too good of an opportunity not to spend 2 hrs and get it done.

I used a free template from here (paislee-pressplate No 25 - 12x12-psd) and then resized it to 11" x 11" (instead of the original 12"x12" so it would fit on the enlargement.  Word of caution....if you do this you need to go into the "edit" function on the Big W machines and select "no cropping" so it comes out the way you need it.  I printed a matt and a gloss print (since they are only $1.00) to see which one I would like.  I had to wait 30 minutes for the print so just pottered around the store and came back and it had printed the grid over the entire 11"x14" page but obviously a lot of the squares were missing.  TIP - so "no cropping" and the 11"x11" will be printed on the 11"x14" page and the rest of the enlargement will just be white space and then it can be cropped into the square grid.  I've got a large square IKEA frame with the inside measurement 11.5" x 11.5" so I'm just going to put a 12"x12" cardstock behind it.  I'm just working out if I want that border black or a different colour.

So happy to save $12 on this one item and to be able to put it in the frame straight away.  What are you doing with your Instagram pictures?  Here's how my grid looks.


Thursday, June 14, 2012

AFL for James

This year James signed up to play with a local AFL club in the Under 9's team.  From the moment we signed up James was so excited and couldn't wait to play.  The kids in his team have obviously played previously however they have welcomed James and he is getting more confident each week.  He is thrilled to go to training, he is thrilled to play on Saturdays and just loves it.  Playing in a team is great for kids because they have to learn to work together and every move they make is about the whole team not just an individual. They also get an opportunity to make new friends and have fun at the same time in the great outdoors.

I'm so proud of James as he is always keen to learn new things but he is so excited about AFL and after training he always says to me he is so glad that I'm taking him to football and he loves it because I watch his training and games.  The Team Manager and Coach are really encouraging towards the kids and I really enjoy hearing them and a few of the Dads call out encouraging remarks during the game.  It makes me warm and fuzzy inside that it's a nice Club and they have nothing but encouragement for the kids. 

Last weekend it was our turn to wash the jerseys and it was a lovely sight on the washing line.  Funny thing is our school colours are blue and yellow and the footy colours are blue and yellow as well.  So I have more "washing line" photos (just for you Sharon!!)

My taking James to play AFL is a big deal because anyone who knew me 10 years ago wouldn't believe it.  A bit of history.... we didn't have a lot of sport when we were kids, school tennis and netball (from memory) and we have 4 girls and 1 boy in our family.  Paul was the youngest and at 9 years younger than me, so when he was playing school high school sports I had left home.  Personally I didn't like football, any code and I at one time in my life my male flatmate used to watch the rugby every Sunday afternoon on TV and I found it soooo boring.  The whole thing did nothing for me and just the noise in the background in the house was annoying.  So I was not one of those girls into football.  10 years ago we moved to Melbourne for work and I was told that I had to pick an AFL team even if I didn't ever watch a game because Melbournites wouldn't understand if I said "I'm not into it".  I naturally chose The Brisbane Lions and luckily for me they won the Grand Final those 2 years I was in Melbourne.  AFL is like religion in Melbourne and everyone is very passionate about it.  I remember we would go out for Friday night drinks and everyone would be on their phones getting the scores for the footy and talking about the footy.  It was so foreign to me and again I thought to myself "boring".  As the old saying goes "if you can't beat them, join them" and living in Melbourne for two years I got into the AFL and went to a few games at the MCG when the Brisbane Lions played.

So you can see that me taking James to AFL is very ironic however, being the Mum I am, and wanting my kids to grow up with sports the time is right and James is happy as can be.  Most of his friends play Rugby and one day he asked me why we are playing AFL.  I said you were born in Melbourne and Melbourne is the home of AFL.  For me though I find it a much more interesting and exciting game than the tackle, pass, tackle, pass game of Rugby.  Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it. So James from your Mum, you are doing just awesome.  James is number 7 and is on the right hand side of the photo sitting down.  The coach is in the middle with the cap on giving them the strategy for the next quarter.  Under 9's are so cute.



Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Conversations of little kids

Whenever the kids say something really cute or funny I try and write it down because in about 3 hours time I would have seriously forgotten what they said.  Maybe it's something to do with old age; or within the next 3 hours with an 8 and a 6 year old around there would have been another 500 things happen and conversations had by then so I find it good to write it down immediately after it is said.

To set the scene - we were sitting at the dinner table on Monday night when I announced to the kids that we would be having our home made ice cream for desert.  It is actually very cold here in Brisbane but figured kids don't feel the cold and it was a nice treat.

James was very excited and said "I love our home made ice cream it can be famous".

Sienna sitting opposite James at the dinner table then said "yeah, we'll just type it on the Internet and we'll become famous"

I had just stepped out of the room when I heard this conversation and it made me smile from ear to ear.  Kids are just so spontaneous and cute when they come up with things like this.  So it's simple in order to become famous you just post something on the internet (well, I'm sure that's true of so many things) however since the recipe is not one I made up it's from the Thermomix recipe book then for now we'll be famous in our own lives for making it and eating it..... that's pretty good in my books.

Onto the next little cute story of the weekend.  My brother in law came around and put up some Ikea shelves in Sienna's room for me which look great.  After they were up we filled them with a few books, pictures and frames which need some photos in them now.  Sienna had a canvas colouring in picture sticking out over the end of the shelf and I popped it back and overlapped a frame with the book.  She didn't like it and moved it out to the side again so it wasn't touching.  I explained to her that that the overlapping of the items was called "styling".   The next morning I went into her room there the canvas colouring in picture had made it's way out over the edge of the shelf again.  As I was walking over to push it back again Sienna pipes up and says "no, Mummy I don't want it styled".  I just cracked up laughing.....as it was early in the morning and a 6 year old telling you she doesn't want you to "style" her shelf made me laugh.

Here is a picture of her new shelves and the "coloured canvas picture" being the culprit.



Friday, June 1, 2012

The simple things in life

After moving back from Melbourne to Brisbane 8 years ago I still never tire of putting the washing on the line in the sunshine.  Mind you, Queensland has had it's fair share of rain however I still get pleasure out of being in my backyard hanging the washing out in the sun.  Something that is so ordinary in our daily lives however I still appreciate a sunny day to get the washing dry.