Little Labyrinth: Images & Words

Today we took the kids on the zig-zag railway up in Lithgow in the Blue Mountains! We’ve been meaning to do this for well over a year now, but haven’t had the time up until now. Upon arrival, Isaiah and Lilly were super excited to see the train (it was puffing and blowing it’s whistle just as we pulled up!), Jakob was non-plussed (trying to be “cool” in front of his Uncle Mike I think) and Madison was SCARED. The noisy whistle was freaking her out and she was begging not to have to go. A quick lunch, and we all (nanna, pa, and uncle mike included) piled onto the steam train and off we went! It took about 3 seconds for Madison to declare that she LOVED being on the train ride, as I knew it would And even Jakob got a little enthused watching out the window. There was a daaaark long tunnel we went through right near the beginning. For a little over a minute we were in PITCH black. Lilly screamed.. but as soon as we broke out into the sun again she was all HUGE smiles and saying “Ooh, oooh!!! yay!” which was very cute. All in all, even though it was a loooong drive to get there ( 2 hrs there, 2 hrs back!) we had a GREAT day.

xox Amanda

We live in the city. In the city, it never snows. In fact, it doesn’t snow for hours past the city. And then, it’s a pretty rare thing… unless you go to “the snow” you probably won’t ever see it. My kids? They’ve never seen the snow. Me? I think I’ve seen it maybe three or four times in my whole life, and then not much of it. We went on holidays to stay with Matt’s sister and on our last day, decided to go for a loooong drive and try and check out the snowfall that was reported. The drive was frustrating (starving kids, no food - the only place that sold food was a dodgy cafe that charged us $2. per THIN flat vegemite sandwich… and feeding eight kids and four adults? OUCH!). Annnyway, we finally ended up finding the snow right as the sun disappeared behind the clouds. It was FREEZING. Our shoes got soaked, the kids were frozen, WE were frozen… but oh it was worth it! The kids had a BLAST for the short time we could stay (because of the cold + dark) and even managed to make themselves a couple of snowmen.

xox Amanda

Gosh, my little Lilly is 23 months old! You know what that means…. she’s almost two! Truly it doesn’t feel like nearly two years can have passed, but it has. She’s still my little baby tho At least for another couple of weeks hehe.

xox

WOOHOOO I just bought tix for Matt and I to go see Mark Driscoll in August. Can’t WAIT. MD is an amazing amazing AMAZING preacher. I was so bummed when we missed out on tickets to the katoomba convention, so I’m SUPER happy about this.

I was so excited I had to blog about it. Which I don’t normally do unless it’s about photo stuff So ok, here are some photos I’ve been shooting of my ABJDs

And also, if you’re interested in this kind of thing, I’ll be giving a brief photography talk and stuff in relation to ABJDs at Animania Sydney this year in August.

xox

Hey guys I am doing a one-week only sale on the ACTIONS. The deal is buy one GET ONE FREE

And now…. photos with pretty pretty light! I met up with Sam and her sweet family over the weekend for a little photo play-date! You can check out her blog to see some of the gorgeous photos she took.

I think the girls became friends super fast! And Isaiah had heaps of fun racing around with Sam’s two boys as well. Between us we had SEVEN kids there (cause Jakob stayed with his aunt at soccer). I LOVE how fast kids can become friends!

Ok that will do… lol. I have SOOOO many more I would love to edit + post but just don’t have the time.

xox Amanda

Hehe a self portrait with husband I took of Matt and I this afternoon. Aren’t we cute? Now I am going grocery shopping..

byyyyye!

Ok so I don’t always play nice when someone tags me (meaning I accidently on purpose ignore it lol) but I have to do this one ’cause Sam is a sweetie and if I don’t, she may just bash me when we meet up in a couple of weeks Oh, and she also has the most gorgeous baby girl ever. So.. yep.

Firstly, the rules:
Link the person who tagged you
Mention the rules on your blog
Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers blogs letting them know they have been tagged.

1. When I brush my teeth, I have to count in a rhythm and if I go “off-count” or something, even if I’ve been brushing my teeth for two minutes, I have to start all over again.

2. I’m a nightowl (yay fellow nightowls unite lol). I am rarely in bed before 1am - it would be later, but Matt tends to get cranky. So I go to bed and listen to audio books.

3. I drink far more coffee than I should. I’m talking 10+ cups a day. I’m trying to cut back by switching to various types of tea after 9pm..I bought one tea just because the packet had a cool painting of a woman and a dragon on it. Oh, and Chai is the greatest thing ever.

4. I am a wee bit obsessed with vampires and have been since umm…. who knows when. Is that a quirk?? I dunno.

5. Everyone already knows this, I’m sure, but cemeteries are my favourite places to be

6. I’m a pastor’s kid Tho I’m not sure if that counts as a quirk either. What is a quirk anyway? I mention it because it’s a huge part of who I am as a person

Now if I don’t tag you, it doesn’t mean I don’t love you. And if I do tag you, same goes
So:
Gemma (it’s about time you updated girly!)
Elizabeth
Brenda
Shannon
Kathy
Jensey

And ’cause a post shouldn’t be without photos, here’s one from my session yesterday. The rest of the previews will be up on my biz blog within the next few days

xox

Okay so it’s no secret that I am LOVING, yes LOVING Autumn. I always thought I was more of a winter person — I love the cold — but light-wise? Give me a golden autumn afternoon over anything else. We went off to my favourite place to spend a couple of hours this afternoon. Today was the last day of the holidays (for both Matt and the two older kids) which means I’ll have very little time for shooting again. Lilly and I pretty much just wandered around together, while I tried to get the occasional photo in of her. Just before we left the light was utterly *perfect* and as I was walking back to the car, I literally stopped still and SAW the most perfect spot to catch the last of the fading light and grabbed the middle two kids for a few photos. I am soooo glad I did.

Lils enjoying the crunch of leaves beneath her feet. They’re brown and kind of boring, but it was so fun to see her taking in the textures and sounds of the leaves for the first time!

As we were wandering I came upon this spot that I have passed and thought about many times but never used.. (oh and yes, I brought wings… you never know when you’re gonna need a pair of wings).

We also stopped past my favourite set of doors… but Lilly was more interested in running off…

And peek-a-boo with Daddy to keep her in one spot for a moment.

And here is that perfect light in the perfect spot I was talking about.

And these… I love these sooooooo very much. I asked Zai if he wanted some photos and he was all for it. Grabbed a stick on the way over to the spot. I asked him what the stick was for, “To save you from momstas.” (monsters hehehe). Isn’t that adorable? My heart just about burst

He spied a monster near my head! Unfortunetly I didn’t get a shot of him whacking at a low-hanging branch *just* above my head (!!) which was apparently the monster, hehe.

Ok that’s all for now!

xox Amanda

I love the softness that Autumn brings to the light. It just seems so much… cleaner, too. It’s not a hot sticky feeling sunlight as in summer, and it’s not chilly and cold like winter… I just LOVE Autumn. The sunlight in Australia is SO harsh. Even in the late afternoon, especially in spring/summer. But in autumn? Ohhhh bliss. Why can’t it stay autumn for always? (have I gotten the point across that I love the sunlight in autumn yet?? I could go on).

Matt has been on holidays from uni for the last two weeks, which is why I’ve had more time to take photos and update the blog. Hopefully you are not sick of me just yet ’cause here’s today’s offering

And we can’t have a post without Lilly making some form of “Stop photographing me!” face.

Lilla found this cool hollowed out tree to play in. She was peeking out at people as they walked past and ducking back inside if they dared look at her, hehe.

And making funny faces at Daddy who was over in the car.

THIS is why I just adore autumn’s sunlight…

Goodnight!!

xox

Ok I have to move on to a new spot I think. I mean, i’ve only done three mini things with Lilly here, but that’s more than enough… I think? Right? It’s just such a fab little “nook”. Maybe I’ll change things up a bit and shoot Maddy there soon… she’s about due for some photos.

I, stupidly, took my 50mm 1.4 instead of the 1.8. BIIIIIG mistake. The thing does NOT work. It’s been to canon and back twice, and I’ve had two previous 1.4’s that have died as well. All under 12 mos old but all without warranty (warranty lasts 6 mos). GRRRR. I am NOT impressed. Do you hear me Canon??? NOT IMPRESSED. These lenses are around $500 a pop. I’m back to the good old trusty 50mm 1.8 instead. Nice and cheap. And it FOCUSES, what a surprise. The images below were all shot (it focused about 1 time out of 20 - so many good photos lost siiiiiigh) @ 1.4. Nice bokeh. Stupid lens.

Lilly with a, “Hey mum, weren’t we here just a few days ago?” expression. (and wearing a hat from my book)

Look how big she’s getting! She’s even wearing a headband in her hair And also, her shoes are just the most ridiculously adorable little things ever.

I love how little she looks in this one compared to the last one. Reminds me that she’s still teeny weeny.

One benefit to it having rained all day yesterday (and rained out my session grr) and most of today; big puddles!

Thats all!

xox