Our Family

Day 10: My Family.

Only because it's much much easier I'm going to go with my immediate family - the ones I see day-to-day and make my life worth living <3

Mr Man: The best dadda and husband ever. Love.Him.To.Bits.

Miss Leah: This girl lights up my world. I can be having the shittiest day and being with her makes it all better. The older she gets the more amazing she gets, and more affectionate and loving. She's just the sweetest girl.

The Jake and the Shake: Fur babies. Shakespeare has been with me for over 10 years... I can't get rid of the little bugger <3. And Jake, well, as naughty and a stinky as he can be... we love the big softie, almost as much as he loves us.

Pepe 2.0: Vomiting on a shoulder near you in early September 2014. Things we know about baby so far: The heartbeat is outstanding, pepe likes to do the worm, Leah has decided the baby should be called 'Happy' which leads me to believe she also wants a Dopey, sleepy, grumpy.....

So that's my tribe. We're a motley bunch but we work well together. You can also see some backlinks of posts I've written about us on the 'Our Family' tab. Enjoy xox

Things I'm loving - The Return!

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is. 

First of all... I'm happy for the return of 'Things I'm Loving!' It had been a staple here at Following Moonshadows almost from the start and I was sad to give it up for a bit. Welcome back TIL!

I'm loving being an Aunty again to this gorgeous little girl. My sister gave birth to her 4th child on the 31st to this cute as little bundle...and look how alert she is! Cutest little gremlin I've seen in a long time! Welcome to the world Kaley. 

I loved taking some time to dedicate to a favourite past time last night, travelling up the Awhitu Peninsula to get some sunset shots. Here's my fave and a cute little church we saw on the way. My lord New Zealand is a beautiful place.

I'm loving my iPhone. I don't know how I did without a smartphone for so long. There are so many things I was missing out on that really, for me being the tech nerd that I am, I should have! Especially loving the panoramic function in the camera yesterday. Beautiful shots this phone takes. In love!

And on the note of buying stupidly expensive toys... I also love my new camera. It was time for a new one (as the rubber grip has plain fallen off the other one... and I lost it). It also goes beautifully with my new cambag (see Friday photo dump for pic of bag).

I luuuuurve my new hello kitty hispter glasses with no lenses. I feel like a badass when I wear them around the house. Everyone's had a go!

I'm loving our local library... and so is my little friend by the looks of things....

And here's a dump of some of my favourite pics from throughout the week, some made it to instagram, some did not.

5 Facts about my family

This post is inspired by a Mama Kat Prompt which was taken from Nice girl notes.

Here are 5 facts about our quirky little family.

1. We are a perfect triangle of earth signs - Me, capricorn; Damien, Taurus and Leah, Virgo. How cool is that? I often wonder if our imperfect balance will be thrown off when we throw another bubba or two into the mix.

2. Mr. Man and I bought our first house fairly young. I was 21 and he was 23. I have a habit of doing things at a young age - university at 17 and began my career as a teacher at 20, I don't like to wait around. We've lived in our house for 6 years in July, about time for a change I reckon!

3. We.are.coke.zero.fiends. We drink way too much of it. It's a bad habit but with very little calories I can never talk myself out of having it. Leah even loves coke zero, not that she ever gets much of it, she loves water a whole heap more. She is although allowed to drink little, teeny tiny bits when our cup is pretty much out, except for the last little Leah drops.

4. Mr. Man and I met at primary school. He does not remember me as I was two years younger than him but we were in the same class - a Standard 2/3/4 composite class. We even did a Flintstones drama sequence although I was Betty Rubble and he was Fred Flintstone.

5. We love to make up songs about what we're doing. Leah has taken to this with awesome gutso and sings along now and again. Mr. Man and I would sing little songs to each other when we were dating, we sing songs about housework, we make up songs when we're doing things with Leah - changing nappies, bedtime, bathtime....we sing about it all.

Things I'm Loving - It's back!

Not every day is good but there is something good in every day...or every week in this case!

It's been so long since I've done a 'Things I'm loving' and I'm glad to be back. I've missed it.

Firstly, I'm loving my 52 goals in 52 weeks! I especially like that a lot of my things focus on pinterest, I spend a bit of time on there at night so it's only fair that something actually gets done about it.It has meant that I'm able to stop being a bit of a digital hoarder and actually doing some of the things that I've pinned - fancy that! 

One of those things is something I'm in love with this week - Leah's 1 year manifesto.

I loved this that I saw last night. Thanks Fat Mum Slim.

I've been really trying to figure out what the purpose of my blog is over the last week. I put lots of stuff on here but I don't really hone in on anything and be an expert in it. Should I be? Should I try to be an 'expert' blog. Then I thought, nah, I'm not an expert on anything and some of my favourite posts I've written definitely aren't instructional. So this little quote summed things up nicely and has put that inner debate to rest.

Speaking of Fat Mum Slim, I'm loving doing a photo 365 again. It fell off last year. I'd decided to take the images with my iPad and half way through I chucked it in, I like my real camera. I'm not sharing the photos on here but my facebook family can see them. Here are a few of the goodies from this last week.

Thanks to my bestest friend Rachael. By doing this herself she gave me the push I need to start up again. Yay!

Still loving punkbaby.co.nz Leah's new Thing 1 and Thing 2 dress is gorgeous...

..even if she isn't always a lady.

And it scores us cute dudes. Totally loving goodbye kisses.

And lastly, while we were on holiday I loved seeing Leah interacting with her two big cousins - Renee and Nikki as well as my other family members. They were awesome and Leah absolutely adores them.

My youngest niece Nikki is moving away with her Dad to Australia on Monday. I'm going to miss her smile and her wacky sense of humour. I'll miss her laugh and her constant talking and even miss some of her chocolate fish moments. You're totes pro as amazeballs Nikki and we love you! Can't wait to see you when you come over for a visit.

What are you loving this week?

Things I'm loving...

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is. 

1.  Loving my family, and I do all the time, but I've been feeling a bit down over the past month or so and they really have made me feel better. <3 Love you Mr. Man, Love you Leah, Love you Jake.

2.  Loving my mumma! Not only did she teach me to knit last weekend but she's also making monthly date night possible for Mr. Man and I.  Starting next month for Mr's birthday.  She also let me take photos of her and nana for my monochrome assignment this week.

3.  Love friends that take me out for sushi...on a plate!  I've never had it on a plate before, lol. Thanks Lynn.  Even though it was a slight 'business lunch' it was lovely to see you and was nice to talk <3

4.  Love these two faces...

5.  ...and love the photos we get from what has become a monthly photo shoot.  I'm starting to like the outcome so much I may have to do it more often!

Even when the model is 'over it mum!'

6. Love this message <3

"There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE"

This year was Leah's first Easter. Now she isn't really ready for chocolate and managed to get through most of the long weekend without any....but she has some naughty Aunties and Uncles that made this not so. Hard to say no when everyone is saying 'it won't hurt her'.

To be honest, she didn't really like the chocolate very much, in comes mummy! She did although have a blast with all her cousins.  And the older kiddies had a blast hunting for chocolate <3

Going over the guidelines of the hunt

 

Mummy was coaxed into letting bubba eat a chockie coin she found on her hunt.

Verddict - Meh.

Playing with cuzzies.

The calm before the storm.  Poor Ashton got attacked by the 'flopping fish' Leah.  She loves hair and Ashton's is the most gorgeous. She was a true ravenous beast!

Not so silent Monday?

To be fair - it's kinda like a Sunday for us today.  It's Auckland anniversary day in my little part of the woods which means a long weekend! Woo hoo. So my team and I traveled down to the beautiful Hamilton Gardens for a mini get away... and ooop, look at that:

So without further ado;

Day 28: Flowers...and lots more of our day :D

The cool thing about Hamilton Gardens is that they have themed gardens.  I took a lot of photos there but unfortunately wasn't terribly happy with many of them when I got home - boo.  I did however like the roof photos I took and I really like the one I took of Bubba's stroller while she was sleeping contemplating in the contemplation garden.

There were some other choice spots too...

 

Jake had a blast!

And so did my other favourite person...

I also loved these two photos.  The first I took covertly as Leah and I returned to the car where Mr. Man and Jake were waiting (dogs weren't allowed in the themed gardens).  The look on Jake's face in the two pics is priceless. <3

Who is this person sneaking up on me and my daddy....

Oh, mummy it's just you!  I missed you!

And this is the result I got from my two favourite people.  This one below, who slept all the way home and is now asleep in her cot...again.  And my furry son who is snoring blissfully snoozing at my feet as I write this post.

Happy Anniversary Day Aucklanders <3