Me and Mine, April 2017

I didn’t manage to post a me and mine last month as I didn’t really have any family photos to share. In contrast, I have a few this month!

First up, a bit of fun on our family bike ride. It’s a frame from a video so it’s not the best quality ever, but I love it as I was so surprised that LM actually stayed put long enough to capture it!

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But my faves are the two shots from our recent trip bluebell huntingcof

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I adore this picture, it is the kind of family photo I have hoped for for a long time. All happy, all smiling with a beautiful background 🙂

Me and Mine February 2017

We managed to do quite well this month getting family photos. First up was on our day out looking at snowdrops at Easton Walled Gardens, I love this shot!IMG_20170212_195952_416

Then hubs for this lovely selfie of us in front of the lions at Whipsnade Zoo.IMG-20170220-WA0002

We also got some other fab photos of our extended families which I thought I’d include as they we don’t all get together very often, let alone get good family group shots, yet we managed one with both sides of the family this month! First up, hubs side of the family, with Granny & Granddaddy, his brothers, Uncle Simon, Uncle Andy, and Auntie Julie, and us of course 🙂IMG_20170219_124444_754

Then on a trip to the farm at the weekend hubs got a shot of my side of the family, Nanny & Pops, my big Bro Paul and his wife Ericha, and my little Bro Mark with his fiance Fran. 20170225_135346

So it really is a lovely round up of nearly all our me and mine!

Me & Mine January 2017

Well if January is anything to go by 2017 is going to absolutely whizz by! Can’t quite believe it yet here we are and the first Me and Mine post of 2017.

The first family shot this year was actually taken on the 2nd January! We had a lovely morning out at our local country park with family and were playing and having a generally great time. With us all so happy I decided to grab an impromptu snap, and, well it was a miraculous snap as I managed to get us all smiling in the first frame! It is much irretrievably favourite family photo and I just adore it. IMG_20170102_200014_837

We’ve got a couple of other snaps this month too. LM is growing up so much and she has really started to like smiling for photos (hooray!) so there have been a couple of other family selfies that are just lovely and capture how we are as a family at the moment.First up, a little snap of us all on the sofa one evening after school, reading LM’s current favourite Usborne ‘find the duck’ book.

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In the next one we are in our bed, LM loves to play a game where we all snuggle up and pretend to be asleep then push the covers back and its time to get up. Monkey always loves a good snuggle and well, I’m sure you can all understand why mummy & daddy never say no to a game that primarily involves lying down :).20170107_083235

Rounding off with one final sofa snap, the kids are in their pj’s but I just love LM’s excitement at the prospect of a photo.

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So there we have it, our little family in January 2017 🙂

Me and Mine December 2016

So here we are, the last days in December and the last Me and Mine Project of the year. I find myself to be a bit of a rubbish blogger these days, but I try and at least keep going with this and the Siblings Project linky, both run by Lucy at Dear Beautiful, as I do find them to be a lovely record of our family over the year.

This month I had high hopes of some family shots over Christmas. We did snap a few but they weren’t quite the polished and posed pictures I hoped for, largely down to an uncooperative LM…. And partly because I couldn’t find my tripod haha. So despite my efforts we once again have selfies with the 4 of us in instead, taken at various times over Christmas.

The best, I think, are these that Hubs snapped on his new phone while we were all sat snuggling and watching TV on Christmas Eve in what we call ‘the new room’ as it used to be the garage. It’s not really new anymore but I have a feeling it will be ‘the new room’ for many years to come. Anyway I love the soft light of these pics, even if we struggled to get us all smiling at the same time! I particularly love LM trying to copy her brother’s thumbs up by putting her finger up instead…then she looked at it so confused bless her, such a toddler thing to do isn’t it?photogrid_1483099944667

We also have the obligatory shots on our bed on Christmas morning, blurry in the terrible light, sleepy and with a semi-naked hubs but full of excitement on Christmas morning. photogrid_1483100122004

Finally, my attempt at some nice posed ones when we were all dressed and smart on boxing day morning… Which LM was really not in the mood for, as I’m sure you can tell. photogrid_1483100226473

So there you have it, that was us in December. And because another year has passed (in the blink of an eye it seems), here is the last year’s worth of family shots, to show how much we (or at least the kids) have grown and changed over the past 12 months.me-and-mine-2016

I did a similar collage last year too, if you fancy a look.

Happy New Year all!

The Me and Mine Project

Me and Mine November 2016

How is it the last day of November? This year is flying and I nearly missed posting this in time. Just crazy. Monkey starting school this year really does seem to have changed the pace of our lives and every week seems to whizz by faster than ever before.

With Monkey being at school all week, weekends are now such important family and relaxing time. We have some really slow paced weekends now, which do us all good and Monkey especially needs after a tiring week at school. Last weekend was one such weekend. I had a horrible bug and Monkey was coming down from a cold too and we basically just pottered about on the Saturday. At one point Monkey hid in our bed then demanded we all got in with him for a family photo. That’s my boy! LM is less keen on sitting still but we did manage to get one good shot 🙂 though I was ill so do look pretty rough!photogrid_148048912965220161126_102258

Sunday we headed to a local farm we are members of for a potter about and a play. Don’t ask me why but when we stopped at the top of the soft play for a cuddle it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a family shot.20161127_112127

So this is us at the end of November. Vaguely healthy but a happy little bunch.

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Me and Mine October 2016

It’s Me and Mine time again, where I join in with the lovely Lucy at Dear Beautiful with her family photography project. Whereas last month I barely managed to capture a photo of us as a family, this month there are a few shots.

The first shots come from LM’s 2nd Birthday last week. Always a good opportunity to have photos taken of us as a 4. The first is low quality and we are all sleepy as it was taken while opening presents on our bed. Just capturing a happy moment together.  Continue reading

Me and Mine Sept/Oct 2016 – an autumn walk

I’m a bit late joining in with the fab Me and Mine linky this month. In fact I wasn’t planning on joining up at all as the only shot I have of us as a family this month is one on our bikes, which isn’t the best.img-20160924-wa0000

But then today, after a slightly odd morning with ratty kiddies who are coming down with colds (and therefore slightly ratty parents too) we decided to get out and get some fresh air on a little autumnal walk. We found the most conkers I’ve ever seen in my life and had a good old nature hunt in general.photogrid_1475411475375

Then during a little game of family hide and seek we managed to grab a few very happy family selfies.
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We had a lovely walk and as always a bit of fresh air did us all the world of good. So this is us, at the beginning of October, enjoying autumn.20161002_123809_000-268

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Monkey and Mouse

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

Me and Mine August 2016

I love my little family. We have had such a lovely summer and I just feel so lucky sometimes to be the mummy of my two gorgeous kiddies and partner of my wonderful hubby. Of course,  life isn’t perfect (as perfect doesn’t exist) but it is pretty close.  The kids drive me bonkers pretty frequently and hubs and I bicker about the usual day to day stuff and wind each other up, but in general life is good.

The kids are growing up so much and I know people say it doesn’t get easier, that the challenges are just different as they grow, and I get that, I do. But personally, I find the challenges of a toddler and a preschooler (almost at school, eek) easier to manage than the challenges of a baby and a toddler. I just do.

I feel incredibly lucky when our kids are just playing happily together and we are all having a lovely time together. It’s everything I’ve ever hoped for really.

Ok, going to stop the soppiness now and get to our Me and Mine shot for this month. Taken by our friend Chris, the lovely hubby of the equally lovely Sarah at Run, Jump, Scrap. We had a lovely day at their gorgeous Gremlin’s birthday party and Chris snapped this gorgeous shot of our little family. LM isn’t smiling which is a shame but that’s toddlers for you and it doesn’t detract from how lovely the piccy is. Thanks Chris! IMG-20160828-WA0018

The Me and Mine Project

Me and Mine July 2016

It’s that time of the month again where I share a few photos of us as a family, as a bit of a record of how we all grow and change. Most of this months shots were taken at the beautiful Abbotsbury Swannery on ur holiday to Dorset. Such a gorgeous place though t be honest as ever the shots didn’t quite turn out as I hoped in my head they would. Largely because of 2 children, as it is incredibly difficult to get them both to cooperate at the same time in the position you want them to be,

The first shot is probably the best of the day, a bit of an impromptu happy family selfie, not aiming for a particular backdrop and we are all actually smiling.20160729114147

The next time I actually attempted to use my tripod with the hope of getting some swans in the background. Bless Monkey and his little pose though it looks rather like he needed a wee, and well LM was not in the mood to participate at all at this point. Still, you can see swans behind us haha.20160729114320

Finally in front of a heck of a lot of swans, LM was smily, albeit with her sunnies on, looking very glam haha… but well as you can see, Monkey was having none of it! Grumpy Monkey eh! They did both enjoy the day though and I will share more about the swannery in a seperate post.20160729_163851

My final Me and Mine shot for the month is a lovely happy on th beach selfie. I had no selfie stick or tripod so just had Hubs’ long arms to utilise for this one, and it is by far my favourite of the bunch.20160730_141325

Though actuallly just one more, a little outtake of the shot prior to this one, where Monkey wouldn’t cooperate because “the water is too dirty for me” say what little man???20160730_122618

So that is our little family this month. The smiles hide the tantrums and troubles our little lady is giving us at the moment, but we have enjoyed our holiday so far regardless.

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Best of Worst

Me and Mine June 2016

Me and Mine time! It’s been a funny old month here for us with Hubs recovering from his knee op and then jetting off to Canada for a business trip. I have been doing more solo parenting than ever and our weekends have been quite a lot quieter than normal,  just pottering about and resting rather than getting out and about.

So to be honest at one point I thought this shot of us all snuggled in bed at the beginning of the month would be the only shot of us all to share for me and Mine. IMG_20160604_065236

Not that I don’t love it. We were having Sunday morning snuggles and it was just a lovely happy moment.

But one of the things I love about this link is that it really does prompt me to make an effort to get a nice family shot of us all. So at my Mum’s this weekend celebrating her birthday I made  a point of getting the 4 of us together on the bench my step dad made (isn’t it awesome? He is a talented man!) for a sunny snap. And I love it. PhotoGrid_1467092400456

So here we are in June. Back together again and hopefully getting back to some normality for a bit… Though having said that there are big changes going on in our lives. LM is growing up so much all the time (which I love as life is that bit easier now) and so is our Monkey. He has his first taster days at school next week and then come September our lives and routines will be very different.

Part of me is excited, as I know he is ready for this adventure into education… But part of me really wants to hit the pause button. To freeze frame our happy little ones as they are as they are pretty perfect to me.

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The Me and Mine Project