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Extravaganza - twilight on the shore of my favourite beach. It means so much to see my girls playing here at the place I love so much. We can only come south for a few weeks a year but it's such a precious time. Here my Extravaganza, six going on sixteen, is loving the feel of a vintage silk petticoat and a soft as soft jumper in a very gentle twilight. We let them stay up late for their last night by the sea, to see the sun set.

Giggle-Bear  She loves this hooded top. The hood kept falling off and each time she would stop and wait for us to put it up again. She is very precise about such things. I love seeing how she reveals herself - her precision, her bravery (she has no fear of the water at all - terrifying but exilerating!) and her constant joy and wonder. 

Wonder-Girl - our wonderful, she spends her time in wonder as she studies the world around. Here she's sleeping in the front room of the coast house, the late afternoon light spilling through while the sound of the sea surrounds her.



Last year was hectic, and hard, but amazing - growing and birthing and getting to know our latest and last (this time we really mean it) while running to keep up with the other three. I'm watching our Wonder-Girl now, lying n her bassinet as she plays with her fingers and looks in complete awe at the ceiling.

I discovered it is a lot harder to take photos when keeping an eye on two wilful school kids, a mischievous toddler and growing or carrying a little one. There just aren't the hands free and the bulk of the camera is just one more thing. Carrying the camera around became something strictly for those times when there was someone else (preferably two someone elses if all four are around) to help carry random stuff, scoop up runaway toddlers and keep an eye out for Life Limb and Sanity Threatening Events.

I started using my phone camera a lot more - which is so handy and the photos you can get with a phone now are incredible- but I did miss playing with the light, the settings. I missed experimenting, really playing with it, to get what I see in my heart.

This year, I really want to take it up again. My little ones are growing so fast, and I forget so much, so quickly. So I'm really going to try to capture one moment a week of at least the three youngest - our eldest boy is so quick-silver he's a little hard to capture every week.

So - here's the first week of fifty two - a little late, which I'm sure will become the tradition. Start off how you intend to carry through so there's no false expectations!