Natalie's wedding

It was my cousin Natalie's wedding last weekend. Once Meg had finished feeding I enjoyed taking some photos as the bride, bridesmaids etc looked beautiful. I was quite pleased with some of the photos and planned to spend some time in photoshop improving them until I saw what James had taken - his photos are just FANTASTIC and make mine snapshots in comparison http://www.jameslp.com/Blog/ - BUT - I also know why James is able to take such great photos and I cant and also I got a shot he didnt :). He didn't have 4 children to take care of at the wedding, he didnt have a baby to feed, he has a fantastic new lens, he has time to spend editing his photos, he knows what he is doing in Photoshop because he has had time to
learn ........................................................................and he also has TALENT by the bucketload. He is hoping to use photography as a new career and if the photos from this wedding are anything to go by I think he'll make a great success of it. Wonder if he does Christenings???
A few of my snaps anyway - first the bride.
The pageboys in conference.

Josie looking gorgeous.
Cute pageboy - Ben thought he was hilarious and hasn't stopped talking about him yet.
Building with Jenga bricks on the lawn.

Bride and groom walking towards the photographer.
The Herricks.

And finally the shot James cant get no matter how good he is!!!!

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I have loads of other holiday photos to share but they will have to wait as Meg has woken - again (or rather Ben has woken her :()

WHY???????

Seemed like a really good idea at the time - splatter painting outside then wsh it off in the paddling pool. Tom and Sophie didnt want to join in so I just got things ready for Ben - then they changed their minds - all joined in - got very carried away and got covered in paint!! had fun though and all the clothes are already washed and luckily all the paint came off - phew!!!

Grandparents visit

Had a brilliant weekend with the three grandparents. john bought the most enormous pool - too big to be called a paddling pool - it took all day to fill but it was soooo worth it the children and a fantastic time and Sophie could even swim it was so deep. Once the children were out and it was a bit safer the adults had a paddle too as it was so hot.




Meg had several outfits on today - this was one of my favourites.

Tom and John camped in the garden - before they went to bed they toasted marshmallows - Tom got burnt twice but was very brave. They lasted most of the night in the tent but came in around 530am as the ground was too hard!!
Meg modelling one of her many hats!

Tescos sent us a '5-a-day' chart which Sophie took very seriously for the first few days. She and Tom eat a lot of fruit anyway (Ben doesnt ) but she made a point of having her 5 different colours within about half an hour of getting up each day so she could put her stickers on the chart - the novelty has already worn off!
Meg in my favourite outfit again - made a bit of a mess of uploading the photos so they are not in the right order - ooops

Meg having a cuddle in the shade with Granny Pat.

Ben paddling in the sandpit/paddling pool - we didnt realise until we took the cover off quite how much water can get in.
Meg in her first outfit of the day - a cute little number from GAP. have just been through some more of Sophie's clothes as Meg is growing so fast (despite not gaining weight) - so many of the clothes are looking old and worn - many were secondhand for Sophie - so unfortunately I will need to shop for new stuff - what a hardship :)

The children soaked John several times over the weekend - it wasnt always safe to try to catch it on camera as I got soaked too.

Grandma and Megan.

Photos of me!!!!!

Haven't been able to get blogger to work properly recently so huge back log of photos I want to get on!! Tom finally got his good school report present after losing his remote control airplane within 20 minutes. he was much happier with a megablocks dinosaur and gargoyle that he swaps the pieces around with others in his collection - much better present.

While he was at Toysrus John bought 4 new enormous water pistols 9dont ask!!!) Sophie managed but when full of water it was just too heavy for poor Ben!

Sophie and Ben had fun painting in the garden.


We finally planted out the sunflowers the children grew from kits Grandma sent at Easter - bit late so they are pretty tiny - no prizes for tall sunflowers here this year but looks like they may get flowers and the children are happy.

Let ben and Sophie lose with my camera again - quite pleased with Sophie's results - nice to be in the pics for a change :)

Had to post this shot of Thomas - he is just so fantastic with Megan - really brings out his gentle side.