Family Matters

God Bless America...

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, dental care in New Zealand sucks a big fat lemon! After an 8am dental appointment this morning I have a mouth full of stitches, a root and a whole tooth missing, and all without pain. The complete opposite end of the spectrum from my New Zealand experience earlier this year. My husband tells me it's because American's are whimps and I am so glad they are, because today not a tear was shed, not a scream was uttered, not a pain killer swallowed.

Thank heavens!

A little biased?

I accept the fact that I am a little biased, maybe, but this kid is C.U.T.E!

catching up because, it's been a week...

I am falling apart! My eyebrows have become their own small plantation, my lips are dry and cracking, I have a sore throat, sore ears, a coldsore and an ulcer... and is that an ingrown hair I see on my leg? argh! And tomorrow all these things will pale in comparison to the fact that I will then have 3 missing front teeth. I am mourning. And falling apart clearly.

Alas.

We have been in our house for a week now and I have to say it's got some quirks, but I am still in love with it. I love the kitchen. I LOVE the kitchen. You may never hear words like that uttered from my mouth again, but I really love this kitchen. There is so much storage in fact, there are even some empty cupboards. Mike, Mac and I can all be doing our own thing at the same time in there because there is ample bench/counter space for us 3. That has never been the case before. I also like the natural elements in there. the stone, the tile etc. and when I add a little splash of flowery colour, it just lights up my life.

 

I have been able to find spots that work well as backdrops for photographs but the thing I am most pleased about is the sharing of a sunrise or sunset with my husband. We get a fabulous view of both. This from the other morning. 

and from this morning. God is good to me!

 

My creative workshop is finishing tomorrow. I will miss it, but I am determined to keep investing in my career of choice.

Our last assignment was to take a page from a Dr Suess book and put it into a storyboard of photos to tell the story. This was mine.

I wasn't totally ecstatic with it, but it's done. I don't like the words on it, I preferred the version without the words, but it would be hard to know what the story was otherwise lol. 

I like being given creative challenges like this. I need more of that in my life.

At the moment for us, it's all about organizing the house for easy living. There is a big garden clean up to do, and more than enough wood to gather, a broom to buy, a wireless router to install, and boxes and boxes and more boxes to unpack and organize. Macallum needs a bed, and I need shelves in the linen closet. It's all fun, right?!

reason number .001

reason number .001 why I should hate my house...

tarantulas.

from out of the wilderness...

We live, but we are not living in the 21st century as yet. Our phone and internet will be hooked up on Thursday. Right now we have to drive 2.5 miles down the road to get enough cell reception to make a call. It's amusing.

It is so very quiet at our place, apart from the constant thumping of various animals parading through our house throughout the day. Who knew a three year old could know so many different ones?

Things I never expected... ants - everywhere, rattlesnake awareness, scorpions, double glazed windows, a leaking dishwasher.. and the most stunning sunrises and sunsets ever. I feel so so blessed. We love the house.

Mike and I sat out on the deck yesterday eating breakfast together, I don't think we have ever done that in the 5 years we have been married.

Mac and I sat out on the back steps the other afternoon and within 5 minutes we had seen a flock of quails, a hummingbird and a rabbit. It was so cool.

We still have a pile of boxes to sort, but it is kind of fun when there are so many places to put stuff. 

Im looking forward to visitors!

the house.

A few from the inside... I LOVE all the light and shadows, I am planning big things with those shadows in photographs to come.

 

 
 

So there are 3 bedrooms upstairs and 2 down, although the 2 down are made from a converted garage. It's a big house, and feels soooooooooo comfortable for us. We are continuing to move our things over the next couple of days.

:)

come visit.

waiting...

 

These poor pumpkins are waiting to be decorated and carved. They have been waiting since Saturday. Today I am going to move them, up to our new place. I can hardly wait!

Tonight I will be posting photos of the inside of our little haven in the mountains. We officially move in on Saturday but get the keys today and will start with emptying our storage unit in San Jose and the 16 boxes I have packed here. Again, I can hardly wait.

After Saturday we wont have a phone or internet until the following Thursday. How inconvenient. But still, I can hardly wait.

The computer will no longer be in Mac's room, I can't wait to create a little kid zone for my boy, it will definately be something with animals, as he is animal crazy. But how will I narrow it down? He, himself is a new animal every day. For example.

The other morning Mike walked passed Mac and said "good morning Mac". Mac turned to look at me with disgust written all over his face and said in a very upset voice..."he called me Mac?" I asked "Well what's your name?" to which the child formerly known as Mac replied, "I'm a porcupine". This is a regular thing I swear.

The dishes will no longer be hand washed by me. I H.A.T.E doing dishes, so I can't wait to follow a simple rinse and stack in the dishwasher routine.

Our electricity supply will no longer be reliable, but snuggling by the fire will. Yipee, I can hardly wait.

so since I can hardly wait, I better go shower and prepare myself for moving box after box after box...with three pre-schoolers in tow!

only 3 (now only 2) more sleeps...

I just folded my seventh load of laundry for the day, and hopefully (fingers crossed) it is my last on this sunny Monday. I have 2 sick boys, one started vomiting at 2am, the second started around 9. The first is better, the second, not so much. I lost control of the housework around 10.30. Sad.

I had just told Ruth on Sunday afternoon that I was coping well this time with them out of town because I had help and because no one was sick. Me and my big mouth. But I am coping well thanks to the goodness of Robyn and Aunt Sue. Robyn has been my saving grace this week, for sure. She came over 3 nights to help with getting kids into bed, and to give me some time to catch up on the rest of my life. Aunt Sue managed the weekend, so I could do a photoshoot and spend time with my own family. Plus thanks goes to a lovely Daddy parenting a little boy I know, while his mama was putting twins to bed.

.....12 hours later....I will be very happy to see Ruth later today though, to hand back the reigns of parenthood to her. I have so much work to do at the moment my head is in a little spin. But it's happy work, exciting work, because in only 2 more sleeps we move into our new place on the hill, in the forest, in the mountains. So if the wildfires would please stop, I would sure appreciate it. Thank you.

What you are seeing is the formal living room on the left (the yellow part), the master bedroom is the upstairs you can see the deck, which has views to the ocean. Below the master bedroom is the living room/family room/dining room. It has an acre of land around it, and lots of trees as you can see.

 
I am sooooooooooooooooo looking forward to spreading out and having a dishwasher besides me!

pumpkin patch.

Pumpkin patch means something different in New Zealand. It's a brand of very cool, very trendy, yet moderately priced children's clothing (and maternity wear).  It's one of my favourite places to shop for Mac when I'm home. So at this time of the year, when I hear people saying they are going to the pumpkin patch I'm getting a little confused. But not really.

There are pumpkin patches/farms all over the place at the moment because it's fall. They don't actually grow the pumpkins there, they import them, place them on the ground, add some corn husks, a maze, some hay bales and voila, you have yourself a pumpkin patch. Yes, cliche... but I really really wanted to go to one, just for the experience. I'm so embarrassed.

And I admit I love this time of year, especially here in the US because 2 of my favourite things happen. Pumpkin carving and Thanksgiving.

Mike and I have carved pumpkins each year since arriving in the US and even managed to carry on the tradition whilst in Italia. We haven't carved ours for this year yet, but today....we did a little pumpkin shopping, at the patch/farm down the road...

shooting in strong afternoon sun is a big poophead. btw

Look! {cara, jonny, ella, emily, and jackson} | santa cruz family photographer.

A sneak peak from a session tonight with a super fun family at a beach I do not know the name of, but it's my new bff.

It has everything, rail tracks at the top, interesting rock formations, and gorgeous sunset light. mmmMMM and hardly any people... love it... and take a look at these little vintage sweethearts. Yum!

   
 

sunset silhouettes are fast becoming my all time favourites. Love love love them.

I have so many I love from this session, but so far, this is my favourite.