2/52 - I made it

*Crochet top made by me

So...The "I Made It!" 52 Venture

I've settled on my own personal photo series for the next year, I know I'm traditionally starting a little late because we're already nearing the end of January, but a year is a year so this will carry me through until this time next year if I stick it out.

I've decided to post something we've made each week, whether it's an art, craft, meal, cake etc
So the challenge is to make something, photograph it and blog it once a week for a year.
The "I Made It" 52 Venture
If anyone wants to join in I'd be delighted and would love to see what you get up to so please let me know if you do!

This week I'm kicking it off with something the kids and I did together

Beeswax dinosaur sculptures

So...Photo Challenges and Monkeys.

It's that time of the year where I see all sorts of lovely photo challenge and series ideas pop up.
It's something I've always liked the idea of, in fact my very first venture into blog land was with a photo a day challenge...but with three children and just living our lives I find that a little too much of a challenge...I just don't have the time.
But I like the idea of having a focus and a reason to pull out the camera , so I was thinking perhaps a weekly one is more sustainable?
Then the next challenge was deciding on a theme...and I was playing with the idea of trying to snap a decent portrait of each child every week, so I spent quite some time trying to capture the perfect shot of each of them and finally realised it was more difficult than I thought.
The result is I will NOT be doing a portrait challenge.
I've got another idea in the works...
But in the meantime here is the result of our photo session

#Bang pulled out his latest party trick - the answer to "where's your tongue?"

 A monkey made an appearance

 Some of us tried out new eye/head wear and went for the mysterious look

 The monkeys multiplied

 And things generally got a bit hair raising

But I did find a snap or two I liked

 And while the monkeying was going on someone was watching every move with the biggest eyes :)

So...We have a 5 year old in the house

A 5 year old!
Can you believe it?

While we were on our internet hiatus and the day after New Year our biggest little turned 5.
 I am so proud of him, he is such a beautiful soul...and when I hold him close now it's hard to believe our relationship had some rocky beginnings.  I can't wait to spend the years ahead of us getting to know more and more about him!

Opening presents first thing in the morning

With a willing helper at hand

 Whether you need one or not :)

 And we baked and iced and decorated

 And got more presents from the extended family

And we blew out candles

And celebrated with family

So...A Little Internetlessness

The same day as my last blog post a stroke of luck lightening hit our modem and that, as they say, was that...
Being the weekend before Christmas, not a lot was happening, so we had to wait for all the Christmas festivities to pass, and then the New Years ones, and then when we finally had ordered and paid for the modem the supplier delayed shipping to us several times for various reasons.
Which means we were virtually internetless for nearly a month!
And I have a new appreciation for our ADSL and a new loathing for 3g, seriously, how does anyone manage with 3g?

Well it was really nice to have a break, but it's also nice to have it back! And now playing catch up, here are some of our Christmas snaps!