Gastro

I'm at home today - I have gastro - the pains started Sunday night but it wasn't until last night that it really hit me! I've been to the drs and he's given me Imodium and also Maxalon for my migrains (and 2 days off work).

Ben is flying down to Newcastle for the night for a photography party and won't be back until about 6pm tomorrow night.

I slept for 4 hours and managed to pick up the kids after school and they're just watching a bit of tv, as I'm starting to feel sick again.

Something easy like Quiche for dinner tonight!!

Mon - Wed

Just the usual start to the week, work, school, child care etc.

I've been invited to the coast on Thursday with a group of female photographers to do a "Boudoir" photo shoot - so I think that will be a lot of fun and something very different - I'll let you know how it goes...

Bribie Island

This morning we raced up to Bribie Island to catch up with Mum and Dad to see the new house they're building, which is excellent and then we went for a coffee at the Coffee Club...then we came home and I spent most of the day downloading the photos from yesterday's wedding..

A Big Wedding Day

Today I went out as second shooter with Ian Wilkinson (one of Ben's photography mates) and I shot 1600 images with Ian (he shot 3000!) and we were at the wedding for 10 hours! Got home at 11pm. Got some great shots...here's a couple...

insert photos......

There is just so much happening at the moment

I can't keep up with all my blogs!!

This week

Monday - Kenzie was on tv on a show called Puzzle Play (the filmed it a year ago!).

25th Feb - We've been living in our house for 4 years - that's our record!

Thursday I went and helped out with Kenzie's class at swimming - that was hard work. I did the grocery shopping, and when I got home Louise the dog groomer was here to bath Oscar. I took some photos too - when I get a chance I'll upload them.

Friday Dom and I went to the shops to buy Kenz some new shoes, Dominic went swimming and then we did the dog photos for Louise - well Ben ended up taking the photos as it was a bit of a nightmare (long story - won't go into it)...

Maternity Photos

Here's some of Selina and Shameem's maternity shots - I LOVE this one the most....

Another week has flown by

I can't believe we're three quarters of the way through February already!

McKenzie had a free dress day at school to raise money for the bushfires and she started early on Tuesday morning with netball - and she actually enjoyed throwing the ball around etc.

I worked Monday to Wednesday and Dom went to child care.

Thursday I went to a Photography Business course which was great - for further details check out my business blog

http://lisaclarkstudios.blogspot.com/

Kenz actually came home from school early on Thursday too as she had a headache - I think she was probably just tired from starting early with choir and having music and swimming on - but there may be a bug going around as she said her tummy was hurting a bit too.

Friday I took Dom to swimming and did the housework.

Saturday I took the kids to an indoor play centre, what a nightmare! It was packed, we couldn't get a table and we only stayed there for about 2 hours (max).

Rod and Mary popped over in the afternoon on their way to a party and then came back and stayed the night which was nice.

And today we went out to Samford Hotel for a buffet breakfast and took the kids for a quick play in the new park - it was too hot to stay too long....







And Tresona is just about to pop around to pick up some of my maternity clothes and then I'm off to Selina's place to do some pregnancy shots - I have a few ideas in mind, so hopefully I can pull them off!! :O)

Sunday

This morning I caught up with Selina and her friend Renee (who I've met a couple of times before) as Renee wanted to meet me to talk about my wedding photography - so we caught up for nearly 4 hours, chatted, and they checked out my new slideshow etc - so cross fingers that she books me for her wedding in July!

Came home, just relaxed a bit and then we took Oscar for a big walk - 50 minutes is a big walk with the kids but I did piggy back Dom about 1 or 2 kilometres..

Valentine's Day

Well if you know me and Ben, you'll know that not much was celebrated on Valentine's Day. Ben doesn't really believe it in, thinks it's all hype - but I was pretty annoyed that he didn't even remember until 12.30pm after he came back from a portrait shoot!! S/o needless to say, i wasn't very happy - especially when he comes home and says "It's Valentine's day today, so what did you get me?" - you can imagine my reply! I even had a card for him, but didn't bother to write in it because I knew he wouldn't have a card for me. Each years gets worse Ben! He did try make up to by buying Thai for dinner, but that was about it.

And of course we didnt' go camping due to the rain (4th trip cancelled now), so we pretty much spent the day at home and all 4 of us had a snooze in the afternoon.

Friday the 13th

Besides the wet and windy weather, thankfully nothing bad happened on the 13th ;o)

Dom and I went grocery shopping at Coles today as they were putting all their profits to the Bush Fire Relief, so it was our little way of helping, as well as donating all our extra sheets, blankets etc that they will need in a couple of months...

I pretty much fiddled around with the Magic Blog Board, took some photos and uploaded them - as it was too wet to do anything else...




I like the bottom left photo....

And I have also finished my DVD Wedding/Portrait slideshow - I think it looks pretty good...it's a start anyway...:O)

I can't upload it because it uses too much of Ben's "Ping"

Tell my why I don't like Thursdays....

I'll tell you why, because I rush around like a crazy woman!!

Kenz has to be at school at 8am for choir, so I drop her off, and then drop Dom off.

Come home, tidied up the house, before the house cleaners came, Ben got home from his breakfast meet, then I went down to McKenzie's swimming and then Ben and I went out to Closeburn (out past Samford) to catch up with a group of photographers for lunch..

The lunch was good as I met a photographer Steven and his wife Debbie (I've met him before) but Debbie was really interested in me because I said I was starting up - said I was looking for Budget weddings for now - and they've just moved out of the budget price range, so she said they have lots of enquiries, so they would send them my way. She had a wedding for me already but it's the 26th April when I already have my first wedding booked!!

I took some of these photos out at Closeburn -Stephen's property was sooooo relaxing and I got this new program called Magic Blog It Board, so I've fiddled around with it this morning.....



Then we rushed home for lunch to pick Kenz up at 3pm, raced home, took Kenz to Numberworks at Ashgrove (she got 100% on her test - yay), drove back to child care to pick up Dom and then drove us both back to Ashgrove to pick up Kenz. Then Ben mowed and went to his photog meeting. And the kidds and I had dinner and did all the night time stuff....no wonder i'm tired!

11th Feb

Work started off quiet today but then poor Stella got sick, so I was busy from 11am until 4.30pm preparing a big brief - so that was good to be busy!

There are meant to be train strikes next week, possibly over 2 days, so my boss said I could take the 2 days as annual leave if I wanted - I'm not sure what to do - would love to, but I dont have any leave up at the moment...

A lady at work, her friends moved to the Yarra Valley 5 weeks ago and they have lost EVERYTHING! Helen was telling me about the stuff that has happened to them, and they were evacuated 50klms away and still can't go back to what is left of their new house.

Helen saw that I still had my Peugeot up for sale on the website at work and asked if I would still be interested in selling it (which I had decided I didn't want to) - only because her friend had a Peugeot 307 as well as she's lost that too. I said if she wanted to buy it, that I would sell it to her - I'd be happy to do that for someone who has lost everything!!!

Victoria's Hells Fires

We can't believe what has happened with the fires in Victoria - the ferocity of those fires ....I don't even want to think about it...

Thankfully we don't know anyone who lives around there, but our hearts go out to them.

Ben went to HOTD again today, but I had to go to work.

And to top it off, the Ferny Grove train line wasn't running this afternoon, but I was fortunate enough to get a cab with 3 others from work, so it only cost me $10 and only took half an hour to get to my train station where my car was. I picked up the kids, got them home and bathed and dinner ready, just as Ben got home at 6.30pm.

Babysitter

Today we had a lovely babysitter (Robyn) come and mind the kids whilst Ben and I were at the Hair of the Dog photography Seminar. Robyn arrived at 7.30am and I got home at 6.30pm and the kids had a great day with her!

It was such a hot day and Robyn walked the kids THREE Times to the park (and even took Oscar).

Ben got home around 11.30pm after the cocktail party - which is better than 3am the previous year!

Photo Shoot with the Kids

Today the kids and I went to Big W and then to Brookside to grab a few things - Kenzie desperately needed some new thongy shoes, and I needed some as well!! The kids also wanted goggles for swimming and I also bought Kenz a set of white chest of drawers with 3 cane drawers which looks graet - she has her little tv on top, her dvd player in a drawer, the V Smile in another drawer and dvd's and cd's in the bottom drawer...

Later in the afternoon we walked to the park down the road and I took some photos of the kids and Oscar....it was so hot, even at 6pm!!

Friday

We had a quieter day today (thank goodness), after we took Kenz to school, Dom and I just hung around the house and played games and chilled out, until we had to go swimming at 2pm.

Dom had the class to himself as the naughty boys aren't there any more (yay!)...

Then Kenz came home from school, and Robyn our new babysitter came over, to meet the kids as Robyn is going to be looking after the kids on Sunday as we've got a photography seminar to go to and we have to be there at 8am!!

Just ironed for about an hour in the evening whilst watching Lost..

Thursdays are always busy

I dropped Kenz at school at 8am for Choir practice (and she actually had a busy day with choir, swimming lessons, music lessons and then Numberworks).

Then I dropped Dom off at child care where he hates it when I leave him and he screams and carries on (for about 1 minute the teachers said).

I raced off to do the grocery shopping, came home, unpacked and then spent 2 hours cleaning the house / studio since we sacked the cleaner and the cleaning agency that were useless yesterday.

I was hoping to go to Helen's interior decorating showrooms to do a photo shoot, but Helen was in Sydney.

Spent some time looking for cleaners and may have found a husband and wife team, so we'll see when we hear from them.

I'm not a fussy person when it comes to cleaning but I was someone reliable and this last mob weren't!

Then it was time to pick up Kenz, I put a roast on the oven and then took Kenz to Numberworks. By the time we got home (nearly 6pm) the roast was all cooked and Ben had it out on the table for us.

Ben had 2 appointments and I had the kids in bed by 7pm. Just did the usual night stuff of packing lunches, some ironing and whatever else I seem to waste my time on. :o)

The start of another week

Monday and Tuesday - just the usual child care, school, and work.

Here's some photos I took tonight - Dom's funny, as he always wants to jump in a photo (that I'm concentrating on) and yet when I want a photo of him, he shy's away!!

Lunch with the Worth Family

This morning we raced down to Runcorn to pick up Ben's car - I think he was happy to have his baby back!

Then we went to an amazing roast lunch at Glenn and Liz's place at Albany Creek - we thought it might have been a bbq or pizzas, but no, Liz went out with a gorgeous Lamb Roast, roasted veges, salads and an amazing cheesecake! Thanks for having us over guys, it was great to catch up - it's been a while between drinks...

Liz also gave me the number of her babysitter who actually lives at Mitchelton, so she may be able to help us out when we have long photography sessions on or when we need to go somewhere overnight..

I took these photos of the car this arvo and Ben thought the car needed a wash - and it ended up raining on it - no surprise there!!





And Dom and Kenz helped out...

Crazy Dom

I don't know what Dom's problem was today, but boy he was just crazy!!! Even Ben was surprised he carried on the way he did - very cheeky, back chatting and not his usual self. I'm starting to think it's some food that he has eaten - so I'll have to look into that!! He even woke up at 5.30am (which when you go to bed after a few drinks at 11.30pm the night before - is way to early!) and Kenz even woke up after she went to bed at 11pm!!! I couldn't believe it...

So anyway we just had a quiet day at home, I bought some display boxes 30cm and 30cm for McKenzie's room (tried to get drawers to fit them but couldn't get any) but anyway Kenz was happy, and I might get a few more for her room....

I tried getting a photo of the purple plastic bucket that I bought for Kenzie's room and this is what Dom did (Kenz was having an afternoon snooze - no wonder!)..


I'm also doing my "Photo a day" so I took these of Missy and the Frangipani's in the backyard - it's sort of hard getting photos when you don't go anywhere...will be interesting to see what I can do the 3 days I go to work!!

Friday

Dropped Kenz off at school today, spent some time with Dommy, had Lou from Tails and Whiskers come around and Hydrobath Oscar, then took Dommy swimming before picking up Kenzie. I took these photos of Dom, cleaning his teeth with McKenzie's toothbrush and his!! Then he got all camera shy...

McKenzie won an award at Assembly today - for Outstanding Effort at Story Writing which is fantastic for McKenzie, because she's not really that "big" on writing or story writing....so a brilliaint start to her first week at school!!

Then we drove down to Runcorn (of all places) to drop Ben's car off to get a couple of things done to it. We decided to take the kids to McDonalds for dinner and whilst there, we got a call from Trudy and Dean (who we saw last night) and they said they had heaps of food and wine left over and wanted to know if they could drop around and share it with us. Todd and Alyda also came over and we all had another great night of eating and drinking on the back deck. Kenz even stayed up to 11pm!!

Modelling Oscar

Back to my usual busy Thursdays!

We dropped Dom off at child care, dropped Kenz off at school, then I went to the gym to do the Body Pump class (and felt it big time), then went shopping at the new Aldi's at Albany Creek and a quick stop at Coles. Came home, unpacked, had lunch and then took some photos of Oscar. He's a good model because he just likes lounging around - haha...

Then I picked up Kenz from school and got her ready for her Numbereworks tutoring at Ashgrove. Ben picked up Dom from child care. We got home at 6pm, where I quickly got ready before going to Studio Con Brio (Trudy and Dean's studio) for the AIPP On the Lounge session. It was great, and we got home about 10.15pm and the babysitter went home. Actually Sammy the babysitter was pretty good, so we'll be booking her again.

Grade 3

This morning I took Dom to child care and then came back home and Ben and I walked McKenzie up to school for the start of grade 3. We went up to her classroom and met Miss Taylor (who was lovely). I think Kenz is going to enjoy grade 3 this year.

When I got home in the afternoon I asked Kenz how school was, and she said her teacher was nice, she didn't even yell at her once - which is a good start!

Dommy starts his new child care today

I took Dominic to his new child care centre today, and he was pretty good (I must admit I did bribe him a little bit with some Mentos) but at least he was happy.

I found out he slept for 3 hours - so he must have been so tired from the long weekend.

Kenz had her last day of her holidays at home with Ben, well Ben was still working but Kenz was happy to entertain herself upstairs and race around with Ben.

Spider Boy and Blue Eyes

Mum's Birthday & Australia Day

Today was Mum's birthday, so we gave her a call to wish her a Happy Birthday.

We spent most of the morning at home (besides me grocery shopping for food for school) and then we went over to Tania and Paul's place to finally meet their new baby boy, Rowan.

Of course I took some photos...

Photos from Tresona & Aaron's wedding

Even though I managed to stuff this photo, I really like it!!