Things have been rather busy here lately - I've got a ton of stuff that I need to blog, but that will have to wait till another day! 

For something a little different - yesterday Paul and I photographed our girls ballet "Shall We Dance", and OH what an undertaking that was!  I've just about finished going through and getting everything ready, and then we'll have them on a gallery online for all you friends and family. 

We're planning on getting them up by tomorrow (Monday 7th), and then y'all can go through them and choose any that you'd like. You can either pick them up from Top Shots in town, or get them posted to you. 

So check back here tomorrow!

Here are a couple of my girls, I love watching them perform - so cute :)

Today brought the opportunity to shoot another one of my sister's beautiful children.  Anneke has been really special to me since she was a little baby... boy I could tell you some stories about this cute little ragamuffin.  But here she is, all grown up into a stunning young woman. 

This was Jason's first experience with the 'crazy aunty' - but he seemed to cope quite well!

Naturally, we had to do the blue wall again!  This wall is right in town, and I had to giggle as I was across the street with my camera shouting orders at them, as people walked passed - looking a little bewildered.

Hanging out by the murals.  There are so many cute pictures in this series!

The fish does NOT look impressed.

Tessa - Aunty's coming for you next!

Well it seems that winter finally got to me, and I've become a little bit of a 'blogging hermit' - if there even is such a thing.  It's really not ok!  So to try and catch up I've rummaged through some of the recent work, and pulled a couple of bits and pieces out.

Here's a twist on the ordinary isolated wine bottle.  I love the way the light falls, and the barrels through the glass. 

Here's another beautiful place out at Rarangi.

Gosh, I love this shot.  You know all that it really needs?  A bride with a big white dress running along, veil flying.  Wedding season is just around the corner, bringing me more brides and veils to have fun with!  Bring it on!

In other news:

My tadpoles are getting oh-so-fat.  No back legs yet, but it can't be long now?  There's still about 50 of them, so I think we're going to have to take some back to the river - lest we end up with a plague of Egypt in our living room!

It's still raining.  Usually Blenheim has lovely, clear and sunny winters.  This winter is making me want to move to Queensland.

The children did a 'Kids for Kids' concert with Suzanne Prentice, and my Georgia got picked to sing a solo!

She did amazingly well, for a little girl singing in front of 400+ people!

We've made a new border for the photos, giving it a whirl.  Feel free to drop us an email to let us know what you think, is it a keeper?

Our photos have appeared in the latest issues of Unlimited and Homestyle magazines.  Very cool.

I think that's it for today!

I don't know how they managed to do it so many times, but my siblings produce some magnificent looking children.  Anneliese is the sister of Daniel whose wedding I'm thrilled to be shooting later in the year.

Anyway, I was able to grab a few quick shots of her before she headed off to her school formal.

Her good friend Chloe was patient enough to play along with the crazy aunty.

In other news:

Great excitement in our home!  My tadpoles have emerged from their slimy sacs, and are swimming free - tomorrow they move into a bigger bowl and more room to explore away from their 60 brothers and sisters. 

I'm enjoying watching the Olympics, particularly the gymnasts.  It's a fantastic demonstration of what the human body can achieve.  I sit there thinking quietly "I bet I could do that..."  as they flip about from bar to bar, tumbling and twirling.  Then it takes me 17.25 minutes to pull myself off the couch.  Oh well.

I've got to get myself into gear and get the blog updated with our latest photographic adventures, so stay tuned for that.

So - we've been given 60 or so pet tadpoles!  They started as little black dots, inside some nasty slimy stuff, and now they're starting to wriggle about in it a bit.  They don't seem to mind being locked inside this giant mass of jelly, but I expect one day it will get old for them and they'll swim right out.  I find myself staring at them for ages, watching them grow is absolutely amazing.  They have been designed so perfectly - I'm pretty sure I'm enjoying them more than the kids! 

So they're going to hang out at our place for a month or so, then when they're actually frogs they'll be sent back to the river.  Because, honestly, who needs 60 frogs hopping around the place? 

We've been back home for 24 hours now, and the sweet relief of my own bed again - ahhhh.  There's always this peaceful feeling of being back in my own home again, and a sad feeling that it's all over, until next time :)

As usual, there are lots of photos to record our time away, but showing them to the world one by one would bring us back to the old days of forcing visitors to sit and suffer through an evening of holiday slides.

Anywho - this was the snow.  It was very cold, and filled me with much terror, but we never did die and the children had a marvellous time.

The bushwalks in Hanmer Springs are fairly pretty too!

After four soggy days in Hanmer, we travelled over to Christchurch and took the kids to Orana Park Zoo.  Ever patted a giraffe? 

I don't actually know what this display was for, but we took advantage of it - and made poor little Sammy model for us, again.

The next day we went to the Museum, in search for some ancient family heritage.  Nope I don't think we're related.

Paul didn't have any luck either.

An old street inside the museum - so cool!

So that was it in a nutshell.  A fun time had by all!

We've had our family holiday planned for some time now.  We've taken the family down to Hanmer Springs this week, and then on to Christchurch for the weekend.  The first day was great fun, becoming prunes in the hotpools and seeing what was around the place.  Then the weather packed in - really packed in.  So the next 3 days we spent inside, willing the rain to go away (turns out willing doesn't help).  On the last day, we decided to go find some snow up a hill somewhere.  I thought we were about to fall off and die at any moment, but turns out we didn't die at all - which is great because we've got a ton of stuff to do when we get home!

We're in Christchurch now, heading home tomorrow.  Thanks to everyone for your patience if it took a day or two to return your emails and calls while we were in the middle of nowhere.  I've got a bunch of pictures to blog - but the connection where we are is a little on the pathetic side, so for now I'll just show you our snowman :)