Day 251 - Natural

Today's photo prompt was "natural" and that's certainly what this is... Henry is a natural clown in front of the camera some days!

Day 249 - Flat Out Reading

A little still life left for me in the classroom by one of my students :)

Day 248 - Bedroom Makeover

Today's Clean Up Challenge was the main bedroom. So far so good, although not completely finished yet. I am amazed what a difference it makes having everything so tidy. I truly think that this could lead to sleeping better!

Day 247 - Being an Organised Housewife

So I am not a housewife, but even so, I love the ideas on The Organised Housewife's blog. This month The Organised Housewife is running a 20 Day Challenge to Clean and Organise your home. I don't know if I will be able to keep up or complete everything, because I can't start any of the main tasks until after 8.30pm, but there are always up and coming school holidays available to finish it off. Tonight's task was to clean the kitchen... REALLY clean it. I got rid of every bit of clutter, cleaned the cupboard fronts, the stove and under the sink. I put the rangehood filter in the dishwasher (there's a handy hint for you) and generally got it all looking good! Now the challenge is to clean it up every evening straight after dinner, before collapsing on the couch!

Day 246 - Father and Son

Before I finally got this cute shot, I did get a rather amusing series of Dale and Henry while trying to get them closer together for a Father / Son shot. With Henry in the bath and Dale out of the bath, it wasn't easy!

Day 245 - Bed Time Lego Man

This is what I found this evening... Henry putting all of his Lego Men into our bed! He neatly tucked them in, with their faces poking out and turned out the lamp that he had on when he was done. It was all just so cute. Henry is very attached to his Lego Men... so much so, that they have to have baths with him some nights and also sleep with him sometimes (so cuddly?!). He has recently started with a lot more imaginary play which is so amusing to watch.

Day 244 - Hidden

Last photo for the month and its title is Hidden. It is the cute little lock on my jewellery box. Looks more sinister than it really is, right?

It's my aim to get back into the photos with stories behind them a bit more in September. Let's see how I go. It is so easy to fall back on Photo A Day, which has produced some photos that I am very happy with, however for this blog it is my aim to document our life a bit more. Let's just say that life right now is busy!

Day 243 - Card

No story behind today's photo (I seem to have fallen into that this month with being busy and trying to complete the photo a day challenge...) but my interpretation of card.  I did intentionally choose all the heart cards to be on top... just because.

Day 242 - Mystery Photos

A bunch of strange photos turned up on my laptop via icloud photo streaming. After a while I worked out that Henry was taking photos of the ceiling on my ipad while we waited in the pharmacy! Henry came home very sick today with a high temperature and it seems, a lung infection. We came home with antibiotics, a puffer and spacer. Now that will be a real trick to get him to happily use that!

Day 241 - Clock

This is another item that one of the kids in my class brought in for our little unit on artefacts. He told the class that it was given to him by his grandfather and then proceeded to attempt hypnotising them as part of his 'news'! I was photographing all of the artefacts this week to put up a display and particularly liked this one!

Day 240 - Dream

Today I had to do a photo that said Dream. Easy, right? Not really, although I do dream about the new house that we will build at Googong next year quite a bit, so this little collage says it all!

Day 239 - One Bit at a Time

This was a little gardening project of mine and Henry's late this afternoon. As I hung out the washing, I realised that the little corner in the garden was looking pretty sad and weedy. We had pulled out a dead bush, a few weeks prior and now only weeds were left. So we pulled it all out, transplanted some agapanthus and filled up the bed with pine chip.

Henry enjoyed watering it with the hose. Then he enjoyed watering his trackies. And then his shoes. Finally watering time was over.

Now we just have a few corner makeovers left!

Day 238 - Park Adventure

This morning Henry and I headed down to the park for a photo session and although I took so many pics today that I really like, this one has to be the standout favourite. I love the fun expression on his face! Henry had a great time, mostly playing on the slippery dip, avoiding aggressive swans and running around trying every bit of equipment he could find!

Remember in the movie, About a Boy, how the kid throws a loaf of bread at a duck and it hits the duck? The duck doesn't make it apparently, and I nearly found out how easy that could be to do, today. Let's just say, that those aggressive swans made me get rid of our bread a little bit too quickly. I didn't hit one, but I also didn't think it would be a near miss when I threw it in a hurry!

Day 237 - Henry's Cooking

This is some of Henry's 'cooking' that he brought home from daycare today - isn't it cute? He did enjoy eating it. I think it is funny that daycare sent home the stuff made with red colouring! Heh heh... wonder why that was?!

Day 236 - Pair

Today I was on the hunt for something that was a pair. To go for a pair of shoes seemed obvious for me, but having done a shoe photo not so long ago, I settled on this pair of earrings. I like them because although they are different to each other, they are a pair that clearly belong together.

Day 235 - Home

A little snapshot of our house today, seen through the trees and a reminder for me about how many things are on my to do list for the next few months!

Day 234 - Cold

I really don't have much to say about peas, but it is the only thing I took photos of today! The theme for the Fat Mum Slim Photo Challenge today was cold which these certainly are. So a serving tip instead perhaps? Lots of salt and butter!

Day 233 - Usual Habitat

This is Daisy spotted this morning in her usual habitat. She seems to stick to the front yard mostly when she is outside - even Henry knows to look for her there, often calling out for her when we arrive home or when he is looking out through the front windows.

Day 232 - More Bath Time Antics

Bath time just provides so many cute photo opportunities, particularly as Henry is restricted to a very small area! Tonight Henry discovered a water spray bottle and got a lot of joy by spraying himself in the eyes! I am glad that he doesn't seem to care about getting water in his eyes. When the time comes to learn swimming, maybe it will be a good start!

Day 231 - Time to Relax

Most nights Henry loves bath time and it is his time to relax with Dale while watching some Giggle and Hoot and waiting for his dinner! He is pretty happy just to sit wrapped up in his towel for quite some time, before being convinced to wear some clothes!

Day 230 - Food

We are a focused on food kinda family. We very rarely eat takeaway and cook fresh pretty much every single night. If only we could get our pantry sorted out! I have to say that there is plenty of room (we can even fit our freezer in there) but I did move everything in there in a hurry and there definitely needs to be more organisation in there. Most certainly a job for my holiday list here!

Day 229 - Blast From the Past

One of the kids in my class brought this in for his talk on artefacts today. The class was very interested in this $1 note and I also remember how rich I used to feel with a couple of these in my pocket! We've had an interesting assortment of artefacts from old teddybears to soccer trophies to national dress from international destinations! One thing that the class was very interested in was actually my stamp collection from when I was a kid. My favourite question: "But where do you get them?" said with a puzzled face of course!

Day 228 - Happy Birthday to Me!

So today is my birthday! This is the extremely impressive birthday cake that Dale made for me as the follow up to a delicious slow cooked dinner! Having never made a sponge cake myself before, I was pretty amazed by this one, particularly because Dale doesn't cook all that often. Henry was impressed too; his eyes lit up when he saw this, just saying, "Cake!"

Day 227 - Arrow

Today I was on the hunt for an arrow for the photo challenge. I never realised how hard one would be to find if you aren't driving! Luckily I spotted this one out the front of school.

Day 226 - How to Eat Spaghetti

Today I had to take a photo with the theme of 'simple'. Spaghetti bolognese is one of the simplest things I cook, but I pretty soon realised that it is not so simple to eat, judging from these pics of Henry giving it a go! Note the spare spaghetti in his pocket for later!

Day 225 - Green Tomatoes

Henry loves the garden and here he is searching out red tomatoes in Opa's garden. He did find a few little tasty red ones too! I love the intense look on his face as he searches!

Day 224 - Shopping Exhaustion!

Can I just say that putting toddler apps on my phone and ipad was a pretty big mistake? I can't get out my phone or ipad in front of this little man anymore, because he has claimed them as his own! Here's Henry asleep in his pram at the shops after a particularly tiring game of Tozzle!

Day 223 - Ring Ring

I think I might have used a photo of my red phone on this blog before, but it now seems it was the only thing I photographed all day! Still doing the Fat Mum Slim photo challenge, today's photo theme was ring. The only thing is, this phone doesn't because I am yet to plug it in and get it all set up! Mostly because the phone has a very short cable and it is rare to really need the landline anymore!

Day 222 - Playtime

Every Thursday when we go around to Sarah's house, Henry has a little catch up with his little friend Cooper... actually at this stage, he really has a little play with all of Cooper's toys! His favourite seems to be this little piano toy that plays a few different songs. Slowly he is starting to pay more attention to Cooper and Cooper is becoming more interactive as well! I am sure that in time, they will be enjoying Thursday afternoons together as well!

Day 221 - The Start of Something Big

Henry got a whole bunch of Lego for his birthday. Some from us, some from Nanna and Opa and also some from his Uncle Dion. Being from a family of big Lego builders, we are very pleased to see that he is getting into his new toy so quickly! It won't be long until he is building big cities like David and I used to!

Day 220 - Still On Time

After almost five weeks of term passing, we are still running on time... Winter got difficult and it seemed that every morning we were late getting out the door due to one thing or another. Sometimes just too hard to get out of bed, but most times it would be some little incidental thing (different every time) or it would be Henry being difficult when it came to getting dressed or having a nappy change! He must have turned over a new leaf this term, because things are definitely on the up! This is Henry's daycare bag packed and ready to go this morning!

Day 219 - Potful of Textas

A slow photo today and it seems that I have ended up with a photo of a potful of textas! I took this one as part of photo a day and today's theme was writing. I hardly ever get these textas out because Henry thinks they are his toys! Eventually it has to happen that he figures out that the lids do indeed come off and you can write with them! I worry about our walls!

Day 218 - Cake!

Dale finally made it home this afternoon after his extended weekend away. I was in the middle of making his birthday cake when he arrived. I made a lemon cake that was split and had a marscapone cheesecake filling and topping and I have to say that it was pretty good. Henry has turned into such a birthday cake fiend in last week it isn't funny! With my birthday coming up, there is no end in sight to the cake!

Read more about Dale's trip away here.

Day 217 - Backyard Fun

Henry and I had a fun afternoon in the garden this afternoon in our little weekend alone. We actually had a really great day together, despite Henry not wanting to have a sleep at all during the day. Expecting a cranky evening, I was happily surprised to have a great evening, with an easy dinner, fun bath time and even a 7.30pm bed time! Maybe skipping the day sleep is a good idea!

Day 216 - Happy Birthday and Bye, Dale!

Today is Dale's birthday and for a whole week and for a bit he will actually be 37 and I will only be 36! It was an early start for Dale today who left for a ride down to Melbourne with his friends Andy and Pete.  A football game and some debt collecting are apparently a fun way to spend your birthday, according to Dale's face this morning!? By the end of the day it seems that both missions were successful. Happy Birthday Dale!

Day 215 - Oma's Brooch

This is Oma's brooch which was made out of a Dutch coin from 1939. Actually judging by the shape, I think that this may have been made out of more than one coin. Apparently making jewellery from coins is not condoned, but Dad says that they aren't uncommon. Mum and Dad brought this back for me in late 2009, after Oma's funeral. I have not worn it myself because I don't trust the catch on it, but it is such an interesting little piece.

Day 214 - Outside

Looking for something interesting to photograph outside this afternoon, I found this little pile of chopped wood out the back of my classroom. I am so thankful that it is starting to stay light just a little bit longer in the late afternoon. I was getting sick of arriving home in the dark! The afternoon sun hit this little log pile just beautifully.

Day 213 - Toothbrush

Today I was after a photo of a toothbrush and I took a pretty nice one of mine loaded up with sparkly toothpaste for Photo A Day. However, I thought I should share Henry's here! This toothbrush is about 2 weeks old, would you believe? Henry does enjoy a bit of a chew and a good slurp to get all the water out from it!

Day 212 - Education Week

Today saw the beginning of Education Week. Our kids had the opportunity to visit a science fair held by the local high school in our hall. Despite a long queue, my class really enjoyed themselves and when  I spotted this chemistry experiment, I thought the colours would make a great picture! The kids saw all sorts of things like baby chicks, lizards and leaf insects, physics and paper gliders and other hands on type science that I wish we were able to do more of!

Day 211 - Happy Birthday Henry!

Today Henry is two years old! Although he found yesterday overwhelming, he has shown a lot of interest in 'birthdays' and of course 'cake' over this weekend! This is Henry sitting with Hoot, after his bath tonight after all of the visitors had gone and everything was back to normal. We are looking forward to our sleep going back to normal after a couple of unsettled nights!

Happy Birthday to our beautiful little man! We think you are pretty amazing :)

Day 210 - Henry's Birthday Lunch

We had a little family gathering today for lunch and in order to celebrate Henry's birthday which is tomorrow... yes the little man is turning 2!

Dale did a fabulous job seeing the cupcakes out to completion. He really can cut it in the kitchen under my guidance, ha ha. We made Henry Hoot cupcakes, which I have seen a couple of places online lately. Blue icing on a chocolate cupcake was topped with two halved Oreos, each one with a brown M&M in the middle and between those, an orange M&M for Hoot's beak. Yes, Henry finally relaxed enough to enjoy himself, despite being very overwhelmed and he made time to enjoy some cake!

Day 209 - On the Road

Today's Photo A Day July project was "On the Road" and so being time poor, I went literal. Here is the wheel of my Mazda, 'on the road'. Coincidentally my family was on the road this afternoon, driving to Canberra to celebrate Henry's second birthday with lunch tomorrow! Friday and hitting the road really do go together for my family with all of us doing the Canberra / Sydney run regularly!

Day 208 - Beauty in Unexpected Places

Sometimes beauty can show up in unexpected places. Adjusting this photo a bit revealed a beautiful blue sky as backdrop to some golden rays of sun. You wouldn't think that this was taken on a greyish kind of day, but I took it anyway because I was in need of a photo of sunshine and at 5pm it was fast disappearing after a brief appearance!

Day 207 - Dale the Hand Model

I have taken quite a few photos lately using lollies as the subject. They have great colours and then you get to eat them! After trying a few different ways to photograph jaffas as a heart shape, I think we nailed it. Apparently this pose was very taxing for Dale and I will just advise you that eating the majority of a packet of jaffas can give you a headache!

Day 206 - Sick Day

Henry is doing what most people like to do on a sick day... curling up on his couch by the window, reading a few picture books in the winter sunshine. A cold and conjunctivitis kept him (and me) home today for the second time in a few weeks. I have to say though, that although I had to run about finding him fresh tissues all day he was fairly much his usual self today. We watched a lot of Sesame Street (remember the "12" song? Saw the new version today... not as good!), had a very long lunch,  had a short sleep, read books, went outside for a bit and lastly went to see Dale at work, so that Henry could go home with his Daddy and I could get over to my 5.30 pilates. Exhausted by his day, Henry was in bed by 8.15.

Day 204 - Mirror, Mirror

A photo of a mirror was the challenge today and I wanted to try something a little different than just a mirror on the wall. So I set up a still life on top of the glass. Obviously if you look at the components of the still life, you will see that they are things you do in front of a mirror!

I love the frame of this mirror. Silver and aluminium are two of my favourites and when I saw this one (not sure what it is actually made of) at the bus depot markets I had to have it. It's probably one of the first things I bought after moving to Canberra.

Day 203 - Again?

Well you really wouldn't know that Henry didn't feel great today. By evening and after his bath, he had definitely perked up a little and had lots of fun hanging around (upside down) with Dale! After each time he laughed, looked at Dale and asked, "Again?". I notice that hanging upside down is also quite flattering to his little podgy belly!

Day 202 - New Shoes

As a great start to the weekend, I got two pairs of shoes in the mail when I got home yesterday! I decided to use them as objects to photograph this morning, but apparently Henry feels he is a better stylist than me. I did have a nice scarf out to sit them on, but through the lens I watched as Henry's little hands appeared and my shoes disappeared! This is how he wanted them! Oh, and he refers to the studded shoes as his "spiky shoes" heh heh heh...

Day 201 - Baby Doll Eyes

Doesn't Henry's eye look like one of those dolls that you can lay down and their eyes shut? I haven't seen one of those for ages, but I always remember the thick, black lashes that they had!

Day 200 - Our Beloved Rexy!

I don't think Rex has featured on my blog that much and today I got a great little snap of him, so I thought it was about time! Rex is Dale's dog and he is about 12 we think. He is Milly's constant buddy and his funny ears amuse us a lot! Last week he had a full health check up and he is doing very well for his age. He behaved well at the vet (well, no wees) although he did break out his tough side by barking very loudly at an Alaskan Malamute and then also a Chihuahua. Yep, he's a tough one!

Hey... day 200!