Little Things {Smile}

At the end of the day, their is nothing that makes me smile quite as much as their fresh faced, sweet smelling pre-bed smiles. They light up my heart and make sure my dreams are sweet...

Life is beautiful.

Little Things {Yaya}

She has four daughters, twelve grandchildren, and ten (almost twelve) great-grandchildren.

My Mum calls her 'Mum'.

Myself and about half of my cousins call her 'Grams'.

The other half call her 'Grandma'.

The 'townie' great-grandkids call her 'Gigi'.

And my kids? They call her Yaya :)
M came up with it when he first stared talking. And it stuck...
Funnily enough, it actually means 'Grandma' in Greek.
She might be a woman of many names... But there is no-one else in the world like her.
She is the most selfless, honest, kind, warm and loving person I have ever met.
She works tools, mows lawns, cooks up a storm, walks for miles and is the queen of DIY.
And she has the best. legs. ever.
Fifty years older than me and she still rocks the denim shorts better than I could ever even dream to do!
If I need clothes mended, costumes created, mowers fixed, an oil change done on my car, or want to teach my son how to put a drill bit in his new drill - she's the go-to-girl.
She's an inspiration, and she's my rock.
Not everyone gets to live so close to the people they love.
I'm lucky. I live under the same roof as three of them. And it's only a five minute walk to Grams'.
Ten minute's walk to my Mum, Dad and Brother's house.
Five minute's drive to my sister, BIL and their unborn babe's house.
I see them all at least once a week. But I see Gram's almost every day.
We sit on the verandah and drink coffee, go for walks with the kids, tidy the yard (well, she does while I talk mostly), and talk - a lot.
Today, we painted the kids faces.
Grams is actually quite good at painting and drawing. Had she not been brought up on a farm and married with four girls to look after - she possibly would have spent more time practising, but as it is - she is still worlds better than any of us.
However.
I paid $4 for the face paint set.
And I swear not even Da Vinci could have produced something half decent from these paints.
But the kids had fun...

And so did we ;)
  

Little Things {Tilt Shift}

Today for me was quite literally all about 'little things'...
I've been experimenting with 'faking' a tilt-shift effect in PS as part of Clickinmom's May Challenge and I *think* it's staring to click!!
My first attempt was a tram from earlier this year when I went to the city... Not bad but I think I needed a higher vantage point for it to have 'really' worked...

So then I went tried the same thing out on a horse image from an event I shot in March... 

I was sitting up on a hill when I took it... 

And presto - I think it work's ok!!

It's amazing how learning new techniques and approaches can help broaden the potential you see in your surroundings everyday. I can't wait to try this out again... 

Little Things {Details}

I've made it a goal for this year to figure out these macro extension tubes that I *had* to have...

Well... I've still not figured them out as such - but I had fun playing!!

I set the camera to remote and the kiddos and I fiddled with the focus and hoped for the best ;)

A couple of my favourites (favourites being closet to 'in focus')...

I love the lines and softness in these, and I have a feeling I will be 'deserving' flowers a lot more frequently from now on... all in the name of learning of course ;)

Little Things {Happy Heart}

It's been one of those days.
One of those 'could I be any luckier?' days...
Take two beautiful children, a perfect autumn day, and throw in one trip to the orthodontist...

Trying to hide his excitement as the chair goes up!!

Getting the 'all clear'...

Spiderman toothbrush AND toothpaste! Not a bad loot...

A picnic at the airport (with no plane sightings!)

patiently waiting...

If there's not going to be a plane - I'll be one!!

A trampoline full of balloons...

A long warm bath...

And a scrumptious dinner and 'chat'...

And my heart is singing.
We have had so. much. fun.
And I feel soooo lucky in love :)
Love you both to the moon and back x

Little Things {Mother's Day}

Home-made card.
PJ's.
Cooked breakfast.
Golf with the kiddos.
Backyard footy with the kiddos.
Dinner with the Sunday Night crew.
And a little crazy home time in between...

Bliss.

Little Things {Paint the Town}

"Can we have a toy today?"
I hear this every. single. time. we go to the newsagents.
Ugh.
And I hate saying no.
So I avoid going there!! Pretty strong of me hey ;)
Parent of the year award for handling those 'tough' confrontations right here!!
Anyway, awards aside - today I decided to suggest it instead!
"Let's go get something fun from the newsagents"...
The catch? I got to choose! So chalk it was!!
And you know what? They loved it. And they used up every little bit.
Best $1.99 I ever spent...

Even Stella got in on the action...

Sweetness.