What kind of music do you and your kids listen to in the car? Do you have the Frozen CD on repeat? Or is it 'drivers choice'? I have always been determined that our kids would grow up listening to a very diverse range of music. So in the car, we listen to what I want to listen to. Sometimes that is the radio and top 40 stuff. Miss 6 likes Taylor Swift, and Mr 4 likes anything as long as a man is singing (haha). But sometimes we have a week of old CD's, and it's everything from Silverchair, U2, Hilltop Hoods, Beatles, ABBA, Kings of Leon, White Stripes & Queen . Mr 4 has taken a liking to System of a Down's "Pizza Pie" and requests it frequently. I turn the volume off quickly for any bad language, nonetheless after a particularly aggressive System of a Down song the other day, Mr 4 said "Boy, he was a bit annoyed, wasn't he mummy?" I chuckled all the way home. They giggle along to The Beatles "When I'm 64", and when we're home, Miss 6 loves to watch Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights video, over and over, followed by Katy Perry's "Roar". I want them to know and appreciate the classics, to know many different types of music, before they start to choose their preference. I know that in a few years they will start to roll their eyes at me, but for now I'm enjoying watching them sing along to whatever is going, without judgement. I recently ran a couple of mini shoot days here at our property at Tamborine, and I was lucky enough to meet so many gorgeous families on those days! Today I'm featuring the families from the Saturday session. Sonya and her family - how sweet and innocent are these two?? Such little cuties, although miss Jemma was super shy for most of the session, we still managed to coax a few little giggles and smiles out of her. I love how much fun Lana and her family were having during their shoot! Love and laughter make up a huge part of our lives, and I love capturing that with families! Bec's gorgeous family, loving those big smiles! Rebecca's family - and just look at little Patrick - he was just so adorable and LOVED the camera! Such a cutie... Thank you to all my wonderful families who made the day so much fun!
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Back in the "olden days" when I was a kid, I'm pretty sure we never had anything as fancy as Book Week. I don't seem to remember any 'themed' dress up days at school where everyone went above and beyond to create something amazing. There is no photographic evidence of this in any of my mums photo albums, but maybe I've just not had enough coffee and my memory is now failing me. But Book Week... oh Book Week! I'm really not sure if I love you or hate you at this point. Its been a mad scramble in the last few days to organise something that vaguely resembles a character from one of our books. Miss 6 starts by asking if she can dress as someone in particular (this year she wanted Elmer the Elephant), which then results in mummy scouring the internet for ideas on said character. Then mummy realises just how complicated this outfit will be (have you SEEN Elmer the Elephant?!!) and then spends the next week talking miss 6 into doing something much more achievable with my non-existent sewing ability and non-crafty tendencies, coupled with a lack of time due to leaving it so late to get organised. Hence this year we patched together the witch from "Room on the Broom". Except that all our brooms are the wrong type, and I could not find a witches hat on the one day that I went to the shops to buy one (its obviously not close enough to Halloween yet). So we improvised with a big stick with pine needles lashed to the end (thank you, back-paddock), and I turned a box of Rice Bubbles into a witches hat. The wand is a stick with a cut out star stuck on the end. The very sad looking cat is a cardboard cutout, coloured in by miss 6, and attached with duct tape (and yes I've attached the cat facing the wrong way, d'oh!) Very very home-made, but hey, we had fun and that's what its all about, right? So many kids looked AMAZING at the school parade this morning though! So next year I vow to be prepared for this LONG before the day arrives! Chloe and Craig came to our property at Tamborine for a shoot on a cool winter's morning with their little boy Thomas, who was an absolute superstar during the shoot! He smiled and laughed like a pro, giggling at us and wanting to go exploring! There is nothing like a happy, cheeky little person to get you smiling, and to be honest, I edited this whole shoot with a massive grin on my face, because, well how can you not smile when faced with so much cuteness? Thanks so much, Chloe, Craig and Thomas for allowing me to capture this special moment in your lives! I'm not sure we realised just how mammoth the task of setting up my studio would be. Work has been quietly plodding along in the background on most weekends: gyprock, plastering, sanding, lighting, getting a big sliding door delivered and installed... but right now it feels SOOO close! Its at a stage now where I can actually do something to help instead of the whole project hinging on my husbands availability (and energy!). Final sanding and painting happened over the weekend, including painting of the whole outside of the shed. Goodbye nasty faded green, hello Colorbond Dune! Everything feels so much fresher, and the internal white walls have brightened up the room considerably. If you missed the post on my Facebook page, you can see some progress photos here. Realistically there is still a fair bit more to be done, with the big ticket item being the flooring, along with cupboards, air conditioner, desk and furniture etc - but hopefully it wont be too much longer! I met with Kari and her lovely family recently at the beautiful Botanic Gardens on Tamborine Mountain. We were blessed with gorgeous light and had some fun running around exploring the gardens, which is just a fantastic location for photo shoots! Such a wonderful friendly family, and such cute kids too! Miss Mia showing her brothers how its done! Thank you guys for such a fun afternoon! If you enjoyed this, you might also like:
Blog: Why its great to be a kid... Blog: Sleep like a baby... Being a bit of a tomboy myself, I was surprised (and secretly thrilled) to have a daughter who is one of the girliest girls that I have ever met. Everything has to be pink and sparkly. She went through a stage where she refused to wear shorts, because they are 'boys clothes'. She is obsessed about make-up, and wants to watch me put on eyeliner and blow-dry my hair whenever she has the chance. I bought her some kiddie-makeup, and at any opportunity she lines up visitors to give them a "make-over"... even daddy hasn't escaped that one! This is all a stark contrast to me, since I don't particularly enjoy wearing anything pink, live in pants and have a particular fondness for dressing in black and having black fingernails. Six years in, and I still find her girliness a bit of a novelty :) How long will it last? She is not only girly, she is fearless and self-confident, and started making her own choices. At her last school she came home one day and out of the blue, announced that she'd joined the choir! Then, after a week at the new school, she came home and told us that she'd signed herself up at the school's tap dance group, and she needs tap shoes! I'm loving watching her little personality grow every day, pink sparkles and all :) I spent a glorious afternoon on the beach recently for Jo and Shane's family shoot! It was a beautiful day, just perfect for running around on the warm soft sand! This gorgeous family just love spending time on the beach and its a really big part of their lives, so it was lovely to be able to capture that for them. And an added bonus for me, I got a fantastic workout, running up and down in the sand! Gorgeous kids! Thank you Jo and Shane for joining me for a wonderful afternoon of memories! I read something years ago that has always resonated with me. Imagine that it is 20 years from now and your kids are all grown up – they don’t need you any more, they are living their own lives, living their own dreams, and just don’t need you like they used to. How much would you give to be able to jump into a time-travel machine, and go back in time, to right NOW – and get to experience just 10 minutes more of your small child? 10 more minutes of having them small enough to sit on your lap and cuddle, butterfly kisses, tickle fights, games of Hide and Seek? Just 10 minutes more of them needing you, warm little bodies that just want to be picked up and held, and tucked into bed with a story at night… just 10 minutes more of the magic of believing in Santa and tooth fairies, wanting to hold your hand as you cross the road, needing you to kiss their scraped knees until they feel better… just 10 minutes more with your little one? When our kids are grown, and don’t need us any more – how much will we miss it? Everyone tells you it goes so fast, and yes I’m experiencing that first hand - no doubt we all are. This is a beautiful, magical period in my life, and I know that in time I will miss everything that is going on now, while they still need me so much. I'm trying to constantly remind myself of this. Amidst the stress and chaos, the bickering and noise, endless requests for snacks and the constant "watch this mummy!" - I'm trying to take a deep breath and enjoy the moment. Its time to be less frustrated and distracted… and just take a moment to stop and REMEMBER, that no matter how busy or tired or frazzled I might sometimes get, this time is so precious and I must not waste it! Continuing on from last weeks post, here is part 2 of our Fundraising Mini Shoots for a local kindy! These are from the afternoon session - again some families requested to not have their images shared online so you will not see those - but here are a few of my favourites from some of the other lovely families on that sunny afternoon! Kerri and her family enjoying the beautiful afternoon light! Lisa's gorgeous girls! Emma and her handsome boys! Thank you to all the wonderful families who made the day so special! The second week of the school holidays was a bit of a write-off here. I came down with some sort of viral flu thing, so for 2 days we were house-bound while mummy shivered under a blanket with the chills and bodyaches. The kids coped as best as they could, but inevitably, cabin fever set in. The fighting and bickering hit an all time high, and everyone was just sick of the sight of each other, and sick of shouting at each other. So when my husband suggested we have a quick 2 night getaway somewhere, well I wasn't sure how it would go! But it turns out, it was just what we needed. Change of scenery, some fresh beach air, new sights, sand between our toes, and no work or other distractions for a few nights. We did a couple of touristy things, but mostly just relaxed and enjoyed being away from it all. And two nights of no cooking certainly counts as a holiday to me! Nice to be home now and ready to tackle the new term, and whatever it may bring! We had a lovely afternoon for Sasha, Chris and Mark's family shoot recently - Sasha and Chris are keen ice hockey players and wanted to incorporate some of their gear into the shoot. It made for some really fun and colourful images! Mark loved being able to bring his bike along for the photos too. Thanks for a fun afternoon, guys! I had one of those days yesterday. It all started quite peacefully, until my school holiday dawdling had us running late for an appointment. I am definitely getting crankier in my old age! The kids had been playing quite happily until crazy mummy started running around shouting: We're going to be late! Get your shoes on! Have you brushed your teeth? Turn that TV off! I thought I told you to get your shoes on!!? etc etc until we were in the car where I gripped the steering wheel in sheer frustration... And then we got stuck behind every slow truck possible, along with roadworks and red lights - I think my blood pressure started to boil... made worse that I knew it was all my fault for slothing around the house without realising the time. In the end we were only 5 minutes late and I felt like I could breathe again. I should have turned around and gone home then, but then I decided to brave Kmart, which given my frazzled state, was probably not a good idea. I felt somewhat comforted though by the large number of other frazzled mums who were also in Kmart tearing their hair out, all screaming at their kids to leave stuff alone, and stop running off. School holiday fun, right there folks. I felt like making eye contact and offering them a Hunger Games style 3 finger-solidarity-salute. Deep breaths, mamas, deep breaths. The beautiful botanic gardens on Tamborine Mountain was the location for Cassandra and Brendans family shoot recently, and we had a fun afternoon exploring this lovely spot! This was a sentimental location for them as they'd had their wedding photos taken here also. Sunlight filtered through the trees creating a gorgeous backdrop, and the kids had a great time running around too! Thank you for a lovely afternoon guys! Do you have an ordinary super-power? Mine is this: I can tell myself to wake up at a certain time, and I will. I was asleep yesterday morning when I woke suddenly about 5am as my husband was leaving for work... I thought "Its too early, go back to sleep and wake up at 6.30am" And then I opened my eyes again and it was bang on 6.30am. Seriously, who needs an alarm clock? I have always had this ability for some reason. I can also usually make a pretty good guess at what the time is, without having a look at my watch - ie - "Hmm it feels like its about quarter past 10"... look at my watch, its 10.18. I also know when the oven timer is just about to go off, a second before it does. ie - "Surely that thing has been cooking for 15 minutes already" - walk over to the oven just as the timer starts beeping. Every. Single. Time. How do I do this? Am I the only one? Do YOU have a super-power? For those who like to win FREE Stuff... I have a giveaway running on my Facebook page at the moment - win a FREE mini family shoot. Drawn Thursday 16th June at 8.30pm - check it out! Todays blog feature is from Danielle's family shoot, at one of my favourite parks! The weather had us running for cover a couple of times and the cloudy skies kept things a little more muted than normal (the sun did peek out a little bit at times), but we still had a fun shoot. I love it when the generations get together and I just love all the wonderful families I get to meet! Thank you for a wonderful afternoon! We had a bit of a run of bad luck when we moved here to Tamborine. Just about everything that COULD go wrong, DID go wrong. Hot water system was dead on arrival (no hot water for 5 days, yay!), then the house water pump died (flushing toilets with a bucket ain't fun), a pool pipe got damaged and pool water started gushing out everywhere (duct tape to the rescue!), Telstra couldn't connect our home phone or internet (still waiting on that!), settlement stuff ups galore etc etc - boy that was a fun few months! But you know what? Now that everything is fixed, we are SO much more relaxed here, and couldn't be happier. Its so peaceful. Our neighbours on both sides have horses, we have local kangaroos living down on the back field. We have a family of 5 peacocks who strut around the place (until our dog chases them away), cows are mooing in the distance... and its amazing just how clear the night sky is here, and just how many stars you can see in the sky! We are pretty lucky, and I'm so thankful that we found this peaceful little haven to call home... The Rafter family came to have their family shoot here at my place at Tamborine recently, and not only were we blessed with beautiful golden morning light, our local kangaroos decided to hang out for the shoot too! You can see them in some of the images below. Little Nash had a bit of a sore tummy on this day, and just would not smile no matter how hard we all tried, but we still managed some lovely images nonetheless. Mr Kangaroo wanted to be in this one too! Thank you for sharing your morning with me, guys! If you enjoyed this, you might also like:
Blog: Sleep like a baby... Blog: Fairer Chucker and other misheard lyrics... 4 year olds are such a crack up arent they? Our Mr 4 has a bit of an ear for music, he can hear a song once only, and then a few days later be heard singing it or humming the tune. I'm not surprised really, since just about everyone else in my family is musical and can play at least one instrument, except for me. I especially love hearing the garbled version of lyrics that kids come up with. I remember once last year, one of the Veronica's songs came on the radio (You Ruin Me)... and she sings something about "You're my greatest masterpiece..." - Mr 4, listening intently, pipes up: "Mummy? Did she just say... 'greatest MASH... and PEAS?' " The offical term for this is 'Mondegreens' - misheard lyrics. So it was with great amusement last week that I heard he'd learned that traditional lullaby "Frere Jacques" at kindy. I asked him to sing it to me, and he confidently launched into this: "Fairer Chucker, Fairer Chucker Dornay Vu! Dornay Vu! Never suck a doona, Never suck a doona, Ding dang dong... ding dang dong!" I cant wait to hear what he comes out with next! Recently, Belinda and her lovely family held their family shoot on their own block of land, featuring a gorgeous bushland setting. Just look at all that delicious morning light filtering through! Add 3 cute kids and a dog, I'm in heaven! I love it when families include their beloved pets in their photos, they are such a big part of our lives! Thank you for a lovely morning guys! If you enjoyed this, you might also like:
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AuthorHilary Hudson Photography. Natural Light Newborn and Families Photographer based in Tamborine, QLD. Australia. Archives
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Hilary Hudson Photography is located in Tamborine, Queensland, photographing newborn portraits and family sessions in the Gold Coast, Logan and Scenic Rim areas of Queensland, Australia.
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