21/52

Inspired by Jodi over at cheandfidel.blogspot.com.

A portrait of my children once a week every week in 2013.

Wrapping up the spring semester and getting ready for fun summer adventures- one week in Florida and and 6 weeks in Europe and two weddings. Big decisions recently- decided to homeschool Siena next year.

End of semester/I've been bad/ 16/52, 17/52, 18/52 and 19/52

A portrait of my children once a week every week in 2013 - inspired by Jodi at cheandfidel.blogspot.com 

The last few weeks were a haze of end of semester, trying to decide where Siena will go to school next year while trying to enjoy spring.

Siena: Lake McBride picnic before daddy's first Lake Mcbride sail.
Reed; picnic on Lake McBride with baka and deda
Siena: another picnic:)
Reed: enjoying a warm afternoon in our yard (finally we get to plant some stuff- strawberries and flowers and our very first apple tree).

in BIG NEWS: Reed has started walking!!!!! Yesterday!!!! And now he is already running.

15/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013.
Inspired by Jodi at cheandfidel.blogspot.com 

Siena and Reed: enjoying a sunny day/yard work punctuated with silliness

This week Reed turned one....and I spent the whole week melancholy about the passing of the time. I will post more about his birthday. 

14/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013. 

Inspired by the lovely Che and Fidel blog and her 52 week project.
This week I couldn't decide, I liked different images for different reasons.
This week was the true beginning of spring. First 50s and 60s, first lunch outside, first attempt at cleaning up our yard and pruning the flowers (by my dad really), first walking back into the house to get a hat for Reed, first blush on Siena's cheeks from the day in the sun. I couldn't be more excited about the spring- this was a very very long winter...after not having any winters for 4 years (I know Sydneysiders might disagree, but temps never falling below 2C is not a winter) this felt like a very ling winter, full of colds and snow and sitting inside.

13/52

"A portait of my children once a week, every week in 2013."

Siena: the very first true spring day
Reed: loving the pizza crust

Inspired by Che and Fidel....

12/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, (almost:) every week in 2013."

Siena: throwing rocks into a frozen lake trying to break the ice...and hoping for spring
Reed: starting to walk if someone is holding his hands and mostly smiling at everything and everyone

We missed 11/52 - it has been a hectic few weeks, with lots of travel and a horrible flu that lasted for weeks. 

We were hoping for spring, but it seems nowhere in sight. Nonetheless the spring nature table went up, and our now traditional Spring Bunny (or Easter Bunny if you so chose) story has been told, we made some beeswax eggs and bunnies all in the hopes that maybe if we hope and pretend hard enough the spring might actually arrive. Today we went for a hike; the lake was still frozen pretty solid and it took some heavy rocks to break the ice. I love the drive to the lake, rolling hills, pastures and (what seems like) content cows and horses, every once in a while a deer and today several large, impressive birds of prey, a chipmunk and a black-nosed doe. 

Joining in the awesome Che and Fidel 52 project. 

10/52

Portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013

This week I couldn't resist adding a few pics of these two together. They really seem utterly smitten with each other. This last week we were all still mostly recovering from the most miserable cold ever. Looking forward to the spring break and hopefully actual spring.

As every week linking up to Che and Fidel

9/52

This week was all about making it through a nasty cold, and counting down the days until I came back from a 2 day conference. I missed my little ones so much. Being without Reed for days was sheer hell- he is still almost exclusively breastfed. The separation, it turns out, was both physically and emotionally more difficult on me than him. I am lucky that my partner is in many ways a primary care provider for the kids...especially in the last year or so, and that probably played a huge role in how easy the separation was for the kids.

Snowy Days

Even though we had not gotten much snow this winter- or maybe exactly because we did not get it many a time- the few snow storms we had were loads of fun. Hiding in the house with the kids, baking lovely warm treats, settling further into this new house all interspersed with snuggles. One recent snowy morning we got up rather early- lately sleeping until 7am feels like a treat (although I shouldn't complain given that my best husband in the world gets up with Reed every morning between 4 and 5am).
Anyway after working for a few hours- just long enough to make the rest of the day be enjoyable rather than have that overtone of guilt for not having worked- Siena and I made two loafs of vegan chia, pumpkin, chocolate-chip bread in my brand spanking new bakeware! It was total experimentation, and with only 3 table spoons of raw sugar for both breads and no oil, they were nothing to write home about, although they nonetheless disappeared rather quickly.
I think my favorite thing about snowy day, the kind that makes you want to stay inside and cuddle up, is that the snow piling up on the doorstep, and the car, and the windows and the yard hushes everything down to a murmur, both outside and inside.

8/52

A portrait of my children once a week every week in 2013. 

A short hike in the middle of February (but we'll take what we can get). Our local state park has a small raptor center with a dozen or so usually injured birds. Visiting them required a short hike, reminding us all of how much we miss being in Australia where going for bush walks was an option any day of the year!

7/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

This week was all about getting more comfortable in our new space. Painting (with my trusty assistant doing the chalkboard paint), reupholstering and rearranging. Also Reed turned 10 months. Siena said it all when she said "he is the brother I wished for when he was in your tummy mum." Smiles, smiles and more smiles. In about 10 days I am heading out of town for a few days and I am very anxious about leaving the little ones, especially Reed, given that he still barely eats any solids and is still mostly subsisting on mommy juice.

6/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

This week was marked by rainy winter days, kids taking their first together-bath, and an overwhelming number of smiles. Reed seems to be in the everything-is-funny mode. He doesn't skimp on smiles for his mama, dad, sister or any random stranger. His happiness is contagious.