Monday and Yesterday was sportsdays at school so off I went sans camera to capture a little of the action.




Abigail absolutely loves sports day.



she really loves the football!



as you can see in this action shot!



and imagine my delight when she won first place in the year 1 girls race!!

Yesterday was stonkingly hot and humid for Loobys sports day




I loved watching her jumping!



and having a well earned drink at the end of the day!




Today, there was a strike by members of UNISON so it meant school being closed, it's a little odd because they go back on Friday for one day and then it's summer holidays!!

anyway I decided that we wouldn't waste a good day so we went to see the Yashitomo Nara exhibition at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and Wow, I loved it, the kids loved it, it's fab!!

Goodness only knows what we'll get up to tommorrow....

Fresh Air At Last

We finally got to the beach last night for the very first time this year, sadly it was freezing so we didn't stay for long on account of the fact that Paul thought it was summer and had gone out in short sleeves and cropped pants!!

I did get some new cool photographs of him though!




Someone tell me why my hubby is just too cool for school!!



and with lovely Looby



I also loved this last one




OOh more exciting news, my new Broadband Anywhere phone arrived today from the lovely folk at BT, I had been on Fusion for a while but it really wasn't suiting my business needs so they sent me a wonderful new phone which is basically a Blackberry by any other name, it's so cool and it means I'll be able to check emails on the move and surf etc!

Random Thursday Looby

Oh my is it really the 29th of February tommorrow? Don't forget if you propose the first person who gets engaged tommorrow and contacts me will get themselves a wonderful gift from me, i.e an engagement session, why not show the world your love?!

Looby hasn't been doing so well with her teeth lately, we have an appointment for the hospital because of a problem with her teeth and them decaying from the inside out, it's been causing her pain and today she couldn't face nursery, she did say though that she's still trying to be happy and hopeful, can't ask for much more than that really can you?!

So anyway we went to the local garden centre for lunch and I did manage to get a couple of shots of her.


With her daddy, quite possibly her favourite person in the whole world!


That cheesy grin!!

On the swings!

Aweeee she's edible isn't she?!


This one I took for a photo scavenger hunt on UKS can you see me?

OOh I must mention that my diary is filling fast with portrait sessions, specifically over Easter, I only have one session left on the weekend of the 12/13th of April unless I can squeeze in more sessions so if you're wanting to book your family photoshoots please click through to my website or give me a call, I'm have bookings from now through to the middle of June to be quick even if you want to book weeks or months in advance!

Just some Random goings on.....

Yes it's Friday and being that it's the first week in January my life isn't exactly over full right now so it's just a post of small random things which otherwise might not get mentioned.

1. I booked my 20th wedding for this year yesterday, only 15 more to go and I'll have reached my target of 35 and be full!!
2. We bought a Russell Hobbs Filter Coffee machine yesterday, we've not had one since Paul smashed that last ones jug 5 years ago! Happiness, I love coffee.
3. Had a Yo Sushi tea last night which I have to say is my favourite place to eat.
4. Hubbykins just got himself a new mobile phone with a 5mp camera, I have phone envy!
5. I bought some canvases to paint and make wall art with, I think I'll leave that one for next week.
6. Looby had such awful nightmares last night, she kept me awake for most of the night so she's staying home today.
7. Manicure today and boy do my nails need it!
8. Got my new line of albums for this years brides, Wowee Kazowee, they're edible and by Spicer Hallfield, they're a great alternative for those who don't like the Graphistudio albums.
9. Paul has gone gardening this morning, his first job of the year, lets hope it's a mild winter and he keeps working!
10. anyone getting married at Edinburgh Zoo, of all the places I listed where I would like to shoot weddings that is number 1, any brides and grooms planning their wedding at Edinburgh Zoo please click through to Mandy Charlton Designs and give me a call!
    

Growing his hair

My husband, the last great eccentric, well apart from me anyway, is growing his hair again, I think this was the last time he had long hair, now I know you're busy thinking that his hair isn't long but it's at the messy inbetweeny stage at the moment, usually it's ok because he mostly wears hats! Thats his thing you see, I have a unique style of dress and Paul has a penchant for hats! Some would say that we're a very odd couple whilst others think we're peas in a pod and I guess we are, I certainly couldn't think of waking up next to anyone else every morning and I'm still thoroughly delighted to see his smiling face on the pillow as we drift off to sleep the next day. Today I want to take a moment and say thanks to Paul, my darling husband for being just who he is, some days he's a big old cranky pants and some days he's a 5 year old child, most days he's a combination of the two, think Jeremy Clarkson throwing a tantrum and you're almost there! I have to say though that he's pretty amazing, his style, his sense of humour and most of all the unending love and support he gives to our marraige make me one very happy and greatful lady.

It's actually 8 years this December since he proposed and it took me until February to actually accept and then we were married by the 14th of April the following year :D

Happy Weekend Everyone, today tell someone how much you love them and watch them give you the biggest smile in the world.

A Random List

I have nothing major to report today so I thought I would share the little things in a list!!

1. I love my Christmas Tree!
2. My huge wall art bird on a tree sticker kept falling off the wall so I stayed up till 1am on Tuesday taking it off and then painting it on instead, I'm very chuffed with myself for actually being able to paint something so creative on my wall.
3. People are still booking portrait sessions and getting their prints in time for Christmas, I have 2 weekend slots left and these will be the very last sessions on which I can promise prints in time for Christmas so if you want a festive family portrait photograph click through to my website Mandy Charlton Designs.
4. Finally put some of my photographs back on my livingroom walls but I still have huge expanses of wall to fill, I guess I'm going to be buying myself some canvases in January!
5. It's always better to struggle financially than it is to struggle emotionally, after all it's only money!
6. Still 4 brown boxes downstairs which need emptying, I regained my hall last night though it's in desperate need of decoration with bare plaster and 10 year old woodchip
7. I need to get a steam stripper fast!
8. Carol of the bells is one of my favourite pieces of Christmas music.
9. my kittens are getting so big, I really need to take some photographs today, did I tell you their names? We have Ella, Yogi, Angel, Pumpkin and Casserole.
10. I need to make some cupcakes!
    

It's the Mid-Week Round Up

Yes it's Wednesday and time for my mid-week round up, bullet-points of all that is going on in the Charlton household this week.

• Made Sushi again last night - really loving that all the family enjoy our sushi evenings.
• Took the children to a chinese supermarket yesterday, blimey we came back with some weird stuff!!
• Abigail has the class bear home with her for half term, Barnaby also came along to the Chinese Supermarket.
• Nearly wrapped up last weekends wedding, Just the slide-show to go
• Elizabeth and Davids wedding on Saturday, very excited as ever, spoke to Elizabeth yesterday and she's still chilled out (funny thing, all my brides tend to be fun, laid back and chilled out) although getting a little nervous and excited.
• The Middle point of Half Term, the cleaner only came yesterday and the house is a tip again!
• A difficult decision was taken this morning after the dog bit Iain yesterday evening, nuff said, don't want to talk about it too much as it's hurting right now.
• My awesome 120x80cm canvas of Looby is due to arrive any day soon and I can't wait to see how it's turned out.
• Loving my job and all the family autumnal photoshoots at the moment, to book yours see Mandy Charlton Designs.
• My Laptop with Windows Vista finally ground to a halt last night, have now turned off all the flashy settings and although it's like having windows 98 back it's a whole lot faster, I wouldn't mind but I have a 500gb external hardrive for the photos.
• Decorating Halloween cookies this afternoon and bought a couple of Halloween candles yesterday, looking forward to this holiday.
• Bought the children most of their autumn winter clothes today, the girls now both look splendid in Orange, red and browns, photos later if I can persuade them!!
• Someone please tell me why my hair is always so unmanagable no matter what I do to it at the moment!