Posts in category: Photography

It was all going so well, and I knew it wouldn’t last forever.  

What am I talking about?  My organised streak of course!  For the last few months I’ve made a point of taking our family photo for the me and mine project in the middle of the month.  So there have been no last minute panics at the end of the month when I realise we all need to jump in a picture together.

Well June was the month it all came tumbling down again!

I’m not really sure what happened, I just know that all of a sudden it was the last week of the month and the drizzle had set in and I almost gave up hope of getting a nice family photo for the month.

So, I let it go.

I decided instead of making do with a last-minute-everyone-piled-on-the-bed-in-bad-lighting photo, I would bend the rules a little.  I decided to wait and take our photos for June at the start of July.

And I’m really happy with that decision, because this is the photo we got.

I will take being a few days late if it means getting a photo like this.  A photo that has so much more meaning to me than a random last minute snap shot.  A photo that holds memories of a wonderful weekend spent in the sunshine, watching the amazing displays of the Wales national air show  and getting well and truly covered in sand.

Now to just get back on track and be a little more organised with July’s photo!

I bought Rhys some new shoes the other week.

He needed some for school, and a new pair of trainers.  In the end he chose two pairs with laces, instead of the velcro straps that he’s had up till now.

I explained that this meant he would have to learn how to actually tie shoe laces himself, and he agreed that he was ok with that.

The thing is, shoe laces are quite tricky things to learn to tie!  He’s been trying, he really has, but has been ending up just really frustrated that he can’t do it.

So I’ve had to remind him to be patient, and to keep practising.

I reminded him that when he started swimming lessons a year and a half ago he couldn’t swim at all.  He had to use arm bands and didn’t really like putting his head under the water.  Like a lot of little ones, he hated having his hair washed at home because he didn’t like the water in his face.

Last week at his lesson though, he swam a whole length of the pool by himself.

It was a huge achievement for him.

And I reminded him that he managed it by practising every week.  By trying and trying until he got it.

These photos sort of act as a reminder of how far he’s come.  In the bath, laughing so hard, because his sister is pouring water over his head.

If he can learn to like having water poured over his head, and can learn to swim all that way, then I have no doubt in my mind that he can learn to tie his shoe laces.

We all just need to have a little patience, and practise practise practise!

A few weeks ago I shared a photo of Nerys on a swing, with her hair blowing out behind her, for my living arrows post.

I wrote at the time how her hair seems to be such a part of who she is.  It so often seems a little on the wild side, and probably could do with a trim to neaten it up, but I can’t bring myself to do anything other then trim her fringe at the moment.

Sometimes she will sit still in front of me long enough for me to put it in a ponytail for her, or pigtails now and then.  And she does like sitting and putting various clips and headbands on herself.  But it doesn’t tend to last that long before she’s got it all loose and free again.

For this week’s living arrows post I wanted to share two photos of her that demonstrate how different she looks with her hair free and with it tied back.  The photos were taken about an hour apart.

I think she looks so sweet with her ponytail and headband.

But that second picture, with the mussed up do and the sparkle in her eyes?  That’s my Nerys!

I’ve been sort of caught out this month!

Normally I have a post scheduled in for the siblings project, and a note in my diary to make sure I take some photos of the children together for it.

For some reason though, I didn’t do that this month.  So I was caught by surprise when someone mentioned it this morning, and quickly got to work putting this post together.

As luck would have it though, I did take some photos of Rhys and Nerys together yesterday!

For Steve’s first Father’s day 7 years ago, I had a photo card made with a picture of Rhys propped up on this black chair.  For two years after that I did the same thing, then for his 4th Father’s day it was a photo of Rhys and Nerys together.

For 5 years I managed to make almost identical cards, then last year moonpig stopped making the design I’d been using.  So the card for last year and this year will be a different design from the rest.  But the photo will be the same; his children smiling away on that black chair.

I wonder how long I can keep this going, if I can still squeeze them into that chair together when they’re teenagers!

I did have a quick look back at the photos I’d taken over the last few weeks, and found one more of the two of them together, which I actually really like.

This was from one of our many recent trips to Victoria Park.  There used to be a really fab piece of wooden play equipment when we first started going there, with a slide and wobbly bridge and fireman’s pole.

For some reason though they took that out a while ago and put some new bits in.  At first we were a bit disappointed as there’s no slide now, and the new things they put in weren’t really that suitable for little ones.

Recently though, both Rhys and Nerys have grown braver and more confident in their abilities and have started enjoying the new bits much more.  This was them at the top of a tower that is much taller than me!

I feel so proud every time I see them up there, as they just seem so fearless.  And they have complete faith that Daddy will get them back down again safely.  That’s how it should be when you’re little, isn’t it, you should have complete and utter faith that your parents will catch you!

I can’t quite believe that we’ve already reached the middle of June, and I’ve managed to keep up with this project every month so far.  Hopefully I’ll get back to being more organised next month and have my post planned out a bit better!