24-27th April 2010

Saturday 24th April

YAY.....Nana arrived today! We took the boys to the airport to pick Nana up. MasterJ was very excited to be waiting for Nana to arrive and as soon as she did I was relegated to second spot in his eyes!!! The rest of the day was spent with the boys playing with Nana.

Todays PAD is of the boys waiting at the airport.

Sunday 25th April

Today was the day for my first newborn photos shoot with BabyW. I had all these wonderful ideas of what shots I wanted to get....however, BabyW had different ideas! Everytime I have seen him he is fast asleep, but not today. Everytime I got him off to sleep, then as soon as I put him down, whammo he was awake!! So after a while I gave up with the sleepy shots and snapped some of him awake. It was really difficult as I was shooting with natural light and he was a squirmy worm, so many shots ended up with motion blur. I did manage a couple of nice family shots at the end. I haven't given the shots to the family yet, so I might publish them on here after I have done that. But today's PAD is one of the shots I got of BabyW with his big brother MasterS!!

I got home from taking the photos in enough time to have some lunch and get ready to go and play hockey. This was our second game and it was tough!!! The other team were obviously a team that has played together for sometime (unlike us lol) and were fit too!!! Needless to say we lost (it was either 5 or 6 nil, I can't remember).

Monday 26th April


We started the day with a walk to the shop. MasterJ rode his scooter while MasterA kicked back and relaxed in the pram. Since there is a restaurant near the shop, we stopped for coffee then went to the park on the way home. The boys had a great time and plenty of fresh air.

Mum and I went to a Thermomix demonstration in the afternoon and WOW what a machine!!! I decided that I just had to have one, so I am and I should get it next week.....yippeeeeeeeee!

Todays PAD is of MasterJ. He likes to do everything as Nana does, so he had to put her reading glasses on to read a book.

Tuesday 27th April

Work day today and I had my 3 month probation review. That was an interesting hour and a bit. At least I got to give some feedback :-D

When I got home from work I walked with mum to pick up the boys from school. It was hard yakka pushing them both in the pram on the way back. I haven't done that for a long while!!

Todays PAD is of MasterA who has figured out that he has a finger and he has a nostril and one fits in the other lmao

20-23rd April

Tues 20th April

I was pretty happy with my PAD today. We have small spider webs on our gate and I thought I would put my macro lens on and see what I could get. I was trying to snap a small bug that was caught up, but the movement of the web in the wind was playing havoc with the focus (very sensitive when doing macro!). Then I noticed a small water droplet so snapped away hoping to get one in focus. When I finally got it, I zoomed in on the camera screen and noticed that the droplet had the reflection of our driveway on the other side of the gate, the road and the trees across the road. I also noticed a tiny white bug, that I hadn't seen by eye on the web!!!

Weds 21st April

Got to do a presentation at work today, to a group of people that I don't get the chance to work with on a day to day basis. It went well and it was great to give some more exposure to my department. However, we planned to stick around for the rest of our bosses presentation, but he promptly kicked us out when we were finished......

We had a phone call from school today to say that MasterJ had fallen and grazed the side of his face so we should not be alarmed when we came to pick him up! It looks like he was lucky to just miss his eye. His wound is todays PAD.

Went to hockey training tonight, and although a little sore from the weekend game, it was good to stretch it all out a bit :-D

Thurs 22nd April

School is back this week, so that means so is Kindy Gym!! So the boys had fun at kindygym and it was great to see MasterA be able to participate more now that he thinks he is "it and a bit" walking around everywhere!! We did our standard "cookie and milkshake" routine at the shops afterwards.

After MAsterJ had a sleep I took him with me to do the grocery shopping and after MasterA woke up we went up to the Steel Tree park. I wanted to get a PAD and took a few shots of the Steel Tree. But I decided to play around with some shots of MasterA and ended up with the composite picture above!

Fri 23rd April

It was a lazy day today. MrJ did the early morning thing with MasterJ. It seems to have become a routine for him to be up and about between 4 and 5am!! So I got online today and have ordered a "time to wake" clock. It may not make him go back to sleep, but hopefully it will teach him that he cannot come out of his room (unless for the toilet!!) until the clock says so!! Fingers crossed anyway.

I made some Anzac biscuits today and took them around to AuntyC's house to see how they're going and to get a bit more of my newborn fix :-D BabyW is just soooo soooo tiny and cute. He slept for most of the time we were there, but I had a good chat with him for the few minutes he was awake. He seemed oblivious to the bedlam that his big brother and my boys were making around him!! They are all well and I am looking forward to doing my first proper newborn photo shoot on Sunday. I hope I get some decent shots :-)

The pool company that we bought our pool from is having a pool photo competition, so today I thought I would try and get a shot to enter. Unfortunately there is not a lot I can do to make our pool look good as we haven't done anything spectacular with the surrounds. It is a functional pool, not an eyepiece!! Anyways, gotta be in it to win it, right? So today's PAD is a shot of the pool.

16-19th April

Friday 16th April

I took the boys around to Aunty C's house so MasterJ and MasterS could have a play. AuntyC was 40weeks pg today!! Yay...she was adament that bubs was going to come that day. Today's PAD is of the boys playing on the motorbike together.

MrJ went to the dr's and had a fill put in his band. When he got home I drove up to East Vic Park to get a skirt for hockey - the first game is tomorrow!!

I went scrapping in the evening and spent 3 hours cutting and organising the last 6 months of photos for Jack :-S. Oh well at least it is done and I can get on with scrapping them now!

I received an SMS at 10pm from AuntyC saying that it had started and that they may need to call on me to mind MasterS for a few hours until his grandparents arrive - whohooooo

Saturday 17th April

So I got an sms just before 4am and I took off to look after MasterS. AuntyC had been in full labour since about 1am and they took off to the hospital just after 5am. I had a snooze on the couch until MasterS woke, at a much more reasonable hour than my rugrats, at 7am!! His grandparents turned up a bit before 8am so I came home.

I was expecting to hear some news later in the morning and was at the ready to hit the shops.....but we kept waiting and waiting and waiting. It was all going well, just slowly!

So in the afternoon I went to my first hockey game! OMG...it was HARD. I don't think I have ever run so much in my entire life! MrJ came along with the boys and MasterJ was yelling from the sidelines - it was soooo cute. I think he is going to be adopted as the team mascot!! When I crawled off the field (we lost by the way) I had a voicemaile from UncleB - saying that Aunty C had an epidural in about 30 minutes before and was 5cm dilated.....still no baby!!

I went to bed still waiting to go shopping :-P

Oh and no PAD today - I was expecting some newborn shots and I didn't get around to doing anything else!!!

Sunday 18th April

I woke up in the middle of my night and checked my phone - "we had a boy, 6lb8" So I knew she did actually have him on the 17th, but no details of whether she ended up having him naturally or caesar or if everything was ok. I sent some texts back, planning to call and go and see them later in the day.

The boys had a birthday party this morning for their little 2 year old friend - another MasterJ! It was at the Fun Factory in Mandurah which is an excellent place! The boys had a ball! One of todays photos is from the party.

I spoke to UncleB after the party and found out that BabyW was born quite dramatically like his big brother. Her caesar scar ended up rupturing and so she was put under a general anaesthetic and he was born via caesar. He was resusitated for 7 minutes but he is a trooper and doing really well. The caesar saved both their lives!!!

After MasterJ had his sleep I took him to the shops with me to buy pressies for BabyW. We then all went up to the hospital in the afternoon. She had most of her family there visiting and she really wasn't feeling well, so we said a quick hello, had a look at the cute little man and went home!

Since I missed a day yesterday there are 2 PAD today. One from the party and one from our first visit to BabyW

Monday 19th April


Hi ho hi ho it's back to work I go! Had plenty to keep me occupied at work today and then I left a little early to go and visit AuntyC again. I stopped and got some flowers on the way.

She was looking a feeling a lot better today and had been out of bed. I got to have a hold of BabyW and snapped away as other visitors as well as AuntyC and UncleB had cuddles. It was hard to choose a PAD out of them, but I did :-D He is just a little cutie!!

13-15 Apr 10 - Yes, another composite entry

It didn't take long for me to fall behind and stop doing daily entries did it? These last 2 weeks have been a blur and today is the first day I find myself sitting down in the middle of the day for an hour.

Tuesday 13th April

Work day and I found out that I am be blatently lied to by my esteemed boss....now how do I deal with that? If I confront him he will just lie.....hmmmmmm We were unable to get a babysitter for tonight so I missed going to my photography club meeting and MrJ went to his club committee meeting. I would have liked to have seen all the entries for this months comp and to have continued on the buzz from the weekend, but these things happen

Wednesday 13th April

Whirlwind day at work, didn't stop all day, back to back meetings including another with the boss....
I went to hockey training which was a waste of time for the whole 5 minutes I actually got to play. It was obvious their intent was to allow the 1's and 2's to play a full match. It was a cursory run allowed to the 3's and 4's. Oh well. I got my shirt and socks for our first game on Saturday.

MasterA has decided that walking is actually a fun thing to do. He is really getting into it now and he is pleased as punch! Todays PAD is him showing off!

Thursday 14th April

I actually put MasterJ back to bed this morning. I am trying to figure out how to combat this 4/430/5 am wake ups! We took off to the shops in search for a hockey skirt for me - but the sports shops around here are useless. I have found a hockey shopt in Vic Park that has some, so I'll be off up there tomorrow.
I decided to get some shops for the weekly comp even though I am the judge :-P so todays PAD was one that I took while getting my abstract one below.

Ahhhh...my hour of peace is up! Off to do the grocery shopping soon :-S

9-12 Apr 10 OMG I am so far behind......

As it states - I have fallen behind and I am going to make one large entry for the last 4 days!!! It has been a bit hectic

Fri 9 Apr

Today we did our 5 weekly trip to Bunbury for our hair appointments, so a nice little car trip! When we got home and the boys were in bed I shot out to take some photos as I had been admiring the clouds that seem to have finally graced us with their presence! I got a few good shots for HDR, but this one is the one I chose for PAD.

Fri evening was the opening of the WAPF (West Australian Photographic Federation) Convention. It was just the official opening and nibbles.

Sat 10 Apr

I spent most of the day at the convention and saw some awesome images from CHristian Fletcher and Darran Leal. Their presentations were excellent and they also gave great tips! The other session that was great was the presentation from Nikon....I am still drooling over the D3S....I WILL get one someday!! I also had a bit of lens envy happening, there's some nice "glass" out there!!! There was a field trip out to Garden Island but I opted out to come home and spend some time with the kidlets. My PAD is of MasterJ and I was still trying to get a decent shot for this weeks SOOC theme. I put it in incase I didn't get a decent shot at the dawn shoot on the Sunday. The day was rounded off with the convention dinner which was great - but finished a tad late considering we had to be at Penguin Island by 5am the next morning!

Sun 11 Apr

Up at 4am, standing at the jetty for the ferry to Penguin Island by 5am.....YAWN.....I didn't see one penguin, but the sunrise shots I got definately made it worthwhile.

There were further presentations at the convention, the most useful being tips in Photoshop and a session on studio lighting....guess what is next on my list of purchases??? LOL

MrJ bought the kids down when it finished in the afternoon and we went to Dome to spend my $25 voucher I won in a raffle :-D then on to the park at the foreshore for the boys to play. More photos were taken (as if I hadn't taken enough!)

When I got home I managed to pick one of my photos from the morning to enter in the SOOC challenge - about 5 minutes before the cut off time !!! PHEW!
The evening was spent - even though I should have been in bed - reviewing and editing the photos from the morning. They can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41092729@N02/sets/72157623713564419/

This is the photo I entered in the SOOC challenge:


This is my PAD


Mon 12 Apr

OMG I could have slept for a day - instead I was up at 515 to go to work....UGH To add salt to the wound i couldn't get in when I got there and had to wait for someone to turn up with a PIN - 20 minutes later...grrrr

So while standing outside I was checking out the net to find that I had won the SOOC challenge - Whohoooo! That meant that I had to pick the topic for this weeks challenge and I have to pick a winner. So I have chosen ABSTRACT!

There was one photo edit I didn't get to do last night. So I have done it today, and am using it for my PAD. It is a panorama of 3 photos that have been stitched together. This has been done twice with 2 different exposures and then a HDR created. It looks a bit small here, but looks bigger here:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2723/4514485036_fa2e5185e4_b.jpg

8 Apr 2010

Being school holidays means no kindy gym or swimming for 2 weeks. So we went off to the shops this morning and I got the boys some winter clothes in the 25% off in Target. That took care of the morning and this afternoon I did the groceries - joy!

Todays PAD is the new bath toy I picked up at K-mart for $10 - I love the colours! MasterA just wanted to pull them off the wall, but MasterJ was more into playing with them properly!

7 Apr 2010

I picked up the boys dinosaur costumes that I ordered for MasterJ's birthday. So I just HAD to get them to try them out when they got home from school!! Todays PAD is MasterJ dresses in his T-rex outfit and already terrorising his brother!! I am going to try and get MasterA in a better mood to wear his and try a little photo shoot before the party :-D

Hockey training tonight. I ran pretty hard (for me anyway!!!) so was pooped by the end of it!

6 Apr 2010

Not much to report today - other than it was still dark when I arrived at work this morning :-(

I came home to a clean house again whoohoooooo!

The boys had a good day at school and MasterA has finally started to stand up without the help of something solid. Although he would only stand up when I was sitting on the floor and he was about a foot away from me. This way he could stand up and launch himself straight into me!! He is also starting to let go and walk between our chairs without us encouraging him. His Nana wants him to walk to her at the airport, so we have a couple more weeks for him to practise! :-D

I played outside with the boys after school and it was great to see them interacting more. MasterA thinks his big brother is hilarious, especially when he is doing something naughty! He also loved rolling the ball to him, attacking it everytime it was returned to him.

I decided that my SOOC entry was a bit ordinary for this weeks challenge, so I tried taking pics with this in mind this afternoon. Unfortunately, my subjects weren't all that willing and able and I was not able to get them in the right light or without snot in their noses! It was good practise, but I don't think I have anything I would like to enter yet. Todays PAD is just one I really liked of gorgeous MasterA. It is SOOC, but technically not that great because of the uneven light and shadows!

5 Apr 2010

Another busy photo taking day!!

It was MasterS's 3rd birthday party and the theme was Rockstar. So I dressed the boys up and I got a few pics before we left. The picture above is the one I have chosen for todays PAD, the rest are just a few extras!



The boys had a ball at the party. MasterJ was mostly good, probably one of his better days and MasterA just kept feeding his face :-P He got bitten by another little baby and has little red marks on his hand still :-( MasterJ ate lots and most of it bad stuff!!! It was a little disturbing to see how well MasterJ could hit the pinata - accurately and HARD :-O

I spent a few hours this afternoon going through the pics and I am using one of them for this weeks challenge of SOOC (straight out of camera - no editing whatsoever!)

MasterJ mucked about eating his dinner and when push came to shove he chucked it all back up in his bowl. Methinks too many lollies at the party today!! Hopefully that's all it was and we won't be getting up to spew in the night!

4 Apr 2010

HAPPY EASTER!!!

It rained quite heavily over night, so the easter bunny had to rethink the plans for the egg hunt. MasterJ's goodies were hidden outside and MasterA's inside due to the fact that MasterA can't walk LOL They both had fun finding their loot and many photos were taken (of course!).

We went off to the shops late this morning to try and get a couple of things for MasterS's Rockstar birthday party tomorrow. I think the boys are going to look very cute!!!

I found it hard to pick one photo for todays PAD, so I did a storyboard of 2 of my favourites of the boys. Below, are a few other faves!

3 Apr 2010

Last swimming for this term. MasterJ got in the pool on his own with the teacher. He was the only one there today and it was a different teacher. So of course, he did as he pleased >-< I have made sure he is in Suzannes class next term and told her she HAS to be firm with him. MasterA had a great time, although he didn't like going downt he big slide :-(

We went and did some extra grocery shopping after swimming for our BBQ dinner. MrJ's eldest daughter H and her hubby A came for dinner and to reunite with AuntyJ and UncleB. It was a nice evening, everyone got on well and A is nice, but a little quiet!

When we left for swimming this morning there was a large spider on the end of the gate. He was still there when I went in search of him to be my model for the day. I am told he is a wolf spider - I'm not sure, all I know is that he was big and hairy. So he is my PAD for today and I am also using him for my abstract macro entry (below)

2 Apr 2010

Today was a day spent at home just pottering around doing not much at all.....a most welcome change :-D

I went out in search of more inspiration for my abstract macro shot for the photo club comp. Still not happy with what I am getting, but I am using it for todays PAD!

1 Apr 2010

Tired tired tired and off to work for another frustrating day......

To add insult to injury I didn't get to leave work until just before 4pm and the freeway was choccas. We were doing 20kmph for about 20km.......I just don't understand why people cannot do the speed limit and there would be no need for traffic jams.....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I snapped a pic in the traffic - wishing I was on the train that came zooshing passed.

Got home, fed and bathed the boys and then took off to scrapbooking. I wasn't really in the mood and only ended up doing a couple of pages.

31 Mar 2010

I didn't work today as I have meetings on tomorrow, so swapped weds for thurs this week. So it was a child free day non work day :-D It was busy though!!

Went and did the grocery shopping after dropping the boys off at school. THen we went to Subiaco for my 1 month eye check-up. All well there, I still have better than 20/20 vision. Then we went into Fremantle so I could take some photos and we had lunch at Cicerellos (sp?)Then back home and off to the doctor before picking up the boys from school.

The day was rounded off with a work out at hockey training! PHEW!
Many photos were taken today and I have had a hard time picking a PAD. I also have a few to choose from for my weekly challenge, which is "black and white"

30 Mar 2010

MrJ put together MasterA's Cozy Coupe while I was at work today. We got this for him for christmas, but decided to hold off giving it to him as he was too young and also had heaps of other toys with his birthday only being before 2 days of christmas.

He loved sitting in it and turning the steering wheel, but he especially loved being pushed around by his big brother!!!

UncleB, AuntyC and MasterS stopped in for a little while this afternoon and MrJ and UncleB zooshed MasterJ and MasterS around the driveway in it - lots of fun!!