To Find A Silver Lining

Does anyone else have 1,000,001 projects on the go and none of them completed?!?
I am NOT an arty / crafty person (I am sure that is a disappointment to my Mum, but maybe one of the kiddo's will be more this way inclined and she can mentor them!?!); but I LOVE my photos! So most of my projects revolve around either photos or books (or writing)...


I am VERY good at dating and filing my photos as I download them - so everything is in order by month (and then by date), so it's not hard to find anything. Just nothing gets beyond that - I have done a baby album for Button, but nothing has been printed since she was 6 months old!
I am got a whole lot of stuff swimming around in my head of things I want to get done - so I thought I would write a post and list them all, partly to share with you and get inspiration and partly to clear my head, and partly just to have them all in one place - rather than scattered around in the fog of my baby-brain. Some days it all clear and obvious and I …

What are the herbs and spices you literally can't live without?
I need some help; I have a lovely spice rack that my Mother-In-Law bought for me YEARS ago, it can hold 16 different herbs and spices.


Well - I am not much of a cook, in case you haven't been following my blog long... it is one of many of my short-falls (this one probably being one of the worst seeing I am now a wife and Mum, and the cooking should be falling on my shoulders). 
Over the weekend I did some cleaning and tidying, including throwing away all the herbs and spices in the rack - seriously, some of them are probably more than eight years old (*cringe*), and I have been too scared to use them for years!
So - I want to know what your top three herbs and top three spices are (in the comment section)... ones you literally can't live without, and would run down to the supermarket in your slippers for, if you ran out of it!
THEN - I need you to e-mail me at: mrs.e.collins@gmail.com with your all-time favourite (…

Yep - it was a busy day for the baby yesterday...
There were Mummy cuddles and Daddy cuddles, sitting up (for the first time only assisted by pillows), standing on Mummy's lap with no assistance, comparisons with my big sisters panda, sister cuddles, sister kisses, playing with a rattle for the first time (seriously Mum - what IS that thing?), tummy time and then the inevitable nose dive, tickling my sister for no good reason... and of course more smiling for that camera!!!
Sure was a BUSY day!
On top of that, Mummy started insisting on teaching me to self-settle... which turned out to be a good thing as I was EXHAUSTED, and needed all the extra sleep I managed to get yesterday!

Sometimes I get so disgruntled with 'my lot' in life - this afternoon has been a blah time... however I know the cause of it, and know I can get out of it should I chose to shake it off. 
But I look around - we were older when we got married and older again when we started our family and it feels, for us, like this was a disadvantage... Often times it isn't, as both spouses have saved and got some money or assets behind them - yet neither of us had this due to various differing reasons. So we're still renting and still dreaming, managing to pay bills but with no significant savings behind us; and many things still on our wish-list.
So just to be a 'little bit real' here today - this is where I am at currently (thankfully it is no longer an everyday thing). Everyone else seems to have done their time and have been rewarded; we are still doing time. 
- All our siblings either own or have owned their own property; all through hard work, but a couple of them have also…

Just like HER!

You know, the friend who seems to have it altogether:
The one who always seems to be in-control, even when their kids aren't! 
The one who ALWAYS looks hot, could even pull off just wearing a plastic bag if necessary (seriously, I know a couple of ladies like this *sigh*, I'm a trackies girl... can't do sexy in trackpants)!
The one whose children are lovely - inside and outside! Little cuties who are also well behaved... yep, I think there are people who have kids like this!
The one whose house is always clean and tidy - mine isn't, doesn't matter how hard I try... it just isn't! So please don't come visiting today especially - sick kids for ten days means that there has been NOTHING done. Seriously; a hurricane has hit us and stayed!
The one who always has fresh baking in the cupboards, and healthy meals cooking away on the stove... yep, not in my house!
The one who is always first to visit a sick family, or the family with the new baby - and bring…

This is not a 'Things I'm Loving' post, it is a reminder of the things I AM loving at the moment (plus I'm way to late for last week, and way to early for this week *grin*)!
It has been a week of sick kids here, and now a sick Mummy (who has hubby home to look after her today - loving him)! So I thought a little thankfulness might just go a LONG way right now!
1) Loving this little guy (who is growing up super quick):

2) Loving sunsets (love how much the Sky Tower stands out in this one):



3) Loving Sunrises on foggy days over Auckland City (although not the fact I am up that early... again, look closely though - Sky Tower is still there *grin*):

4) Loving gorgeous winter days full of sunshine (albeit no warmth), so we can get out and enjoy it to it's fullness:

5) Loving Big Girls moving into their BIG GIRL BED, and the enthusiasm... no falling out yet! We do have legs for the bed, but currently it is sitting about the same height her cot was, so have decided to leave it …

Loads of blog posts lately - but the main thing in common? Loads of photos, and not much writing... trying to keep the momentum going, despite the tired worn-out brain! So this is the quickest and easiest way of doing it - small, photo-heavy posts; which are quick to write and easy to share! I do have a couple of longer, wordier and more 'real' posts swirling around in my head; but that's about where they have stayed so far... one day I'll start them, and then one day I'll get them finished and posted for you; but until then you'll just have to enjoy the photo expose of my life ;-)!
This post is about friendship - a family friendship, we met a lovely couple at our church a year or so after we started there; Alex & Victoria (names used with permission), we weren't exceptionally close, but we all got on well. Victoria found out she was pregnant just a few weeks before I found out, so we went through the first few months of pregnancy together:

Then at the be…

So we ditched church (again) on Sunday, and decided to make the most of the gorgeous weather... LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! 
Admittedly, we haven't exactly been regular church attenders lately, but there has always been a genuine reason until this past week (sick kids, guests etc); this is the first Sunday we chose to ditch it on purpose (can you tell I am feeling a little guilty *ooops*)! 
So here is a pictorial post of what we did... every family has to do this at least once on a gorgeous sunny winters day:

Daddy and his little girl!

Button enjoying the outdoors... we don't get out as much as I'd like us too, small baby and all; but now the stroller is sorted, and I know he sleeps in it - maybe it'll happen more often!

I love the majesty of winter tree's... no leaves, no covering and yet they still look so majestic!

Just a hint of what's to come... it's only half way through winter, and yet spring is already trying to poke it's head through! Whew - I really don't…

My children are very blessed to have a whole heap of cousins of a similar age to them on hubby's side - and currently they are all growing up quite close together...
We have S, she is the eldest and is 3 years old now, then it's Button at 2, then S's little sister I - who is 9 months, followed by our 'lil M at 3 months and Baby A at just 3 weeks :-)!
So our 'lil M will grow up with the only other boy cousin on that side (so far) being only 10 weeks apart in age - that is so cool, here they are when Baby A was only 1 day old:

Makes such a difference at this age, and yet will be nothing in less than two years...!

Here is the eldest S, meeting lil' M... isn't she beautiful! She loves her two little baby boy cousins!
Button is younger than S by 13 months, which again is still making a difference - but won't for long, and little I is only 17 months younger as well! Here is a photo of the four eldest cousins taken at Button's birthday in May (Baby A hadn't…

The Master Artist is at work...

So just in case you think I only ever take photos of my children; this post is to prove otherwise! 
I take an enormous amount of sunset photos, as many sunrises as possible (we are unfortunately, early birds - hubby has to be at work by 7:30am), and as many rainbow photos as I can capture!
Here is a collection of a few of the best from May through to July... hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I did taking them! 
PS - I take so many sunset photos, that the other day when I went to shut the curtains - Button reminded me I hadn't taken any 'phopho's' (her term for photo)! Hehe, ooops!
24 May 2012 - Sunrise:

24 May 2012 - Sunset:

The above photos are probably my favourites...  This collage does not do it justice :-(.
4 June 2012 - Rainbow:

My photos do not do this rainbow justice, it was the MOST amazing rainbow I have ever seen in terms of brightness and colour... incredible!
28 June 2012 - Sunset:

Moments after I took these it RAINED, literally pe…