the holidays are coming to an end

one more day, and school will start again. here are a few photos of what we were up to recently. mainly i have learnt to slow things down, meaning not aiming to go anywhere near a shop with 3 children (!), and just going for walks, going to playgrounds and parks, staying home and baking, working in the veggie garden, a few friends around but not too many, and just being. this new technique was more successful than planning too many activities.

i have learnt that less is more, and keeping things simple makes everyone happier.

playing with friends



picnic in the woods



and lulu going shopping...

our trip to wellington

this weekend we went to wellington, the capital city of new zealand. it's a 4 hour drive from our home. 3 kids in the back, slow traffic, so we had a few interesting moments... we stayed with our friends rob and lou, we spent time with karen and toby (nick's brother and his girlfriend), we visited te papa, the zoo, toby's house, a great cafe by the sea, we went to the movies, ate at a mexican restaurant.
it was a great weekend, i love wellington, it's such a cool city.

on the road









wellington



toby's garden




wedding dresses exhibition (from V&A museum in london) at Te Papa - a chance to win a $2000 new wardrobe - maybe next time!


cool retro cafe by the sea

morning fun

this morning i took my kids to the park. we met our friends hannah, alexander, evabella, ethan, noah, soul, and bruno. and we had fun! we played on the playground, we fed the ducks, the kids played under the water sprinklers and all around the park. and then we had a picnic. i really enjoyed spending the morning watching the kids have fun, spend time with my friend hannah, and just be. it was relaxing and enjoyable. that's one of the things we want to do more often, instead of running to the (op)shops and then feeling guilty of spending money and crowding our houses (even if we loooove doing that!!), dragging our kids to places that are not really for children after all. you read it everywhere and it's true, it's the simple things that give you the most pleasure often. don't you think? have a look at the pictures, this park is a wonderful place and we are so lucky to have it only 10minutes away from our homes. ps: there aren't photos of all the boys because they just disappeared as soon as we arrived and only reappeared when we left!

best face photo from 2011 - i heart faces photo challenge

i love this photo of our little friend stella. she really is a star! she was so happy to be photographed in this most beautiful orchard that she's made this photoshoot my favourite and most fun one so far. Thanks stella! xx

thanks to i heart faces for your photo challenges. great portraits this week here:

and a new year

wow, how fast time goes. it's already a new year. i wish you all a great 2012, a new start, a fresh continuation of what goes on already.
i've been wondering: there are so many things i'd like to do better, so many little things to fine tune. but, will i manage to stick to the new plan, or like every year, will i let the old habits dictate my life? there are not too many things i am planning to improve or change (small goals, not too many of them at any one time is the way to do it, isn't it?), i've written them down in my journal, and i just hope i won't get too swamped with other things that will eventually take me away from my little goals.

i've upgraded to an iphone, which i really adore, so i'm just about to see if the photos from it are good enough to feature on my blog. let's see.

aston

a little stroll in the park

aston and lulu in the veggie garden, eating peas

lulu and ethan