This week my eldest son turned 16!

I'm still not sure where 16 years went, but they did and now he's all but grown up :(

Grown up enough to have his very first dinner party...

which was also a Murder-Mystery party.

It was brilliant fun!

I love that Mr Cool here gets to have such a fabulous big brother :D

He might be another one who takes a shine to photographs ~

 He loves to peruse my photography magazines!

Bugs was fortunate to be born on a Bank Holiday weekend...

So we went out and enjoyed family time today

The Sun shone,

some of the children even posed for me...

and it was a beautiful day :D

When the sun shines of an evening,  

after so many months of cold, cold winter,

and the blossom finally begins to bloom,

I just need to get out ...

and capture it with my lens!

And ~ just in case you love one of these beautiful Spring pictures enough...

I have them all available for purchase HERE.

When you've finished ordering yourself a lovely piece of Spring-filled art for your wall,

don't forget to head on over to Communal Global

& show us girls a little of your world today ...

We took the kids for a walk in the park.

The birds were roosting ~ and keeping an eye on us!

We had fun

I took pictures.

You know, it's just what I do :D

Why not join in and show us a little of what you do ...

If you're reading my blog here, or browsing my site for the first time,

Please don't get the wrong impression!

I am NOT a glamour photographer!

I do family, lifestyle photography.

That's me.

That's who I am and where my passion is.

BUT...

I've been taking a class these last few months and we had a final assignment to do something different.

To step out of our ordinary, find an inspiration and shoot something from it.

I found Sue Bryce, watched a couple of tutorials of hers, studied her images...

and shot these of my girls!

I am pretty stoked,

and so are they!

And, much as this is not going to be where I head with my photography,

It has opened a door for me to be able to 'give back'.

 And I'll tell you more about that as things unfold :D

Things here were a little musical today.

Our home is often filled with music.

It's fairly central to who we are.

And it's most essential in keeping us sane!

Today has been an inspiration @ Focus On Imaging 2013

Tomorrow I'm going back to my roots.

Somehow I feel I lost my way.

Time to retrace my steps and get back to going where I want to go...

Check in for the start of something old,

And something new!

Today I wanted to try out a new backdrop idea...

Here's some of the shots I took ...

It's half-term here (yeah!),

so the girly cousins came to stay.

This makes my girls UBER happy,

and even better still..

The SUN came out!

Just for a day

it was WARM.

So warm...

We took our coats off!!

but we had been reminded...

it is possible to be warm outside

and...

Warmer days are just up ahead... 

Why don't YOU link up today and help us catch a glimpse of life in your corner of this planet  just now :D

At last the sun seems to have decided to shine;

that Winter kind of sun,

that means it's still bitterly cold outside!

All the same,

I decided to play with my new reversing ring...

and go on a Spring hunt!

It is there is you look close enough,

but it's still pretty hard to spot just now!

Do you see any sign of season change in your corner of the world?

Why not share them with us, over at Communal Global..

Just link up below :D

Often I like to document our everyday doings.

Last week I snapped of few moments of home-education chez FrogAcademy...

this is just the way we do it here!

The following evening I snapped some bathtime fun

and bedtime stories,

although these days my Little Nutbrown Hare sometimes insists he read to me,

We'd all love to meet you over at Communal Global today, so why not link up and show us a little of your slice of life :D ~ See you there!

It's been snowing ~ a lot ~ this week...

and we've been having a lot of fun :D

We've had blizzards

and flurries

and temperatures permanently below freezing.

We've been making the most of these rare conditions :D

You can see more of the Blizzard set here; http://flic.kr/s/aHsjDEvSVn

DAY 2

More here; http://flic.kr/s/aHsjDFwrDU

Day 3!

More Here; http://flic.kr/s/aHsjDGFfui

I hope you've enjoyed some snow this season too :D

Come and join in with us over at CommunalGlobal this week and show us what your weeks been like...

Ironbridge Gorge.

Said to be the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution... 

and at one time, probably the most industrialised area of the world.

All around is evidence that belies it's past

nestled here in this beautiful Shropshire Gorge

~ now, long since, reclaimed by nature.

Finally the day arrives...

The tree is all very lovely, and laden with gifts...

The family is gathered and fed.

The children are excited...

bewildered...

amused...

and thrilled by all their gifts.

  It's a wonderful time of laughter

and sharing.

But for us it's very important to get the focus right!

Life gets a bit crazy as December comes round.

Not only is it Christmas, but also a little man has his birthday ~ on the 21st!

The day started of early with a bunch of children in my room ~ nothing unusual there then...

Mid-morning I gave Chip his first 'big boy' haircut ~ he loved it :D

Then, after lunch, we made his cake ~ DD, him and me...

Unlike last year, this year he definitely knew what the day was all about! 

It's hard to think he's got so big already!

I did a couple of little minishoots at our church's Christmas Fayre ~ love this one.

Sadly I wasn't given permission to make the others public ~ there were some gorgeous ones of one little girl :D

Quite a few of my children attend gymnastics.

These two boys are in the pre-development and development groups (respectively).

At the club's open day I got to watch them train.

I was very impressed with how hard they work and what they are able to do.

It was cold around here. It's warmed up a bit since, but these are still worth sharing.

Lilo turned 9 last week 

These are some photos from her little tea-party & painting with some friends.

And then we all met up as a family to watch the Christmas lights go on in town :D

Sassy

Silly

Sweet

Stunning!

My Precious Daughter :D