Hallowe'en

And what a fun one it was! The little monster in the middle is my nephew, and Zac's on his left, almost out of shot. This is after they'd been wrapped up as mummies in loo roll.

Sleepy

Today was a fun day for Tabby and me. Yas and Zac were at my sister's (my sister has been a lifesaver this half term!) and Tabitha and I visited a friend with her new baby. Afterwards, since the heating in our house has packed up and it's hideously cold until the new boiler's fitted, AND my husband was away overnight, Tab and I had chips with mushy peas and then snuggled up together for the night. Here she is, all cosy on my pillow.

Olde worlde

I was walking into town (incidentally, the coldest I've been in a long time - winter's well and truly kicked in here!) and was struck by the quaintness of the greengrocer's, all shut up for the day. So it became today's photo.

3 in a row

Another desperate "need to take a photo" one! They were snuggled up to watch a film. It was peaceful for about ten minutes.

Poser

An unfortunate by-product of Project 365 is the fact that the children see me using the camera a lot. Zac always feels the need to pose these days - as seen here.

Sensible

A self-portrait, taken by Yasmine.

Serious news, important headline

I just had to take a photo of this local newspaper hoarding. I love living in a town where someone's slightly absurd worries are front-page news.

Dancing queens

Blurry photo of my friend and me, taken drunkenly in the mirror at Flares, using my phone. Classy.

SUCH a fun night though!

Haircut

Yasmine had her very first proper salon haircut. It was actually done a couple of weeks ago, but this is the first chance I've had to take a photo of it! She's absolutely delighted with it and kept breathing "I love it" reverently after it was blow-dried.

Desperation

Got to bedtime, realised I hadn't taken a photo yet, took one of the front room light...

Self portrait again

Are we still supposed to do these regularly?! This isn't strictly a self-portrait - I asked Yasmine to take the photo (husband's in it too!) but it's a record of me, as of this month. I am seriously worried about how tired I always look.

Styling

Another lovely day - gym and swimming followed by a family dinner later, and snuggling up in bed early to watch Gray's Anatomy. I like quiet weekends.

During the afternoon Tabitha decided to brush her daddy's hair. She was very painstaking about it.

Oops!

Forgot again. Which is terrible, as we had a lovely day - we went to the fair with my in-laws and the children had a wonderful time. It was a lazy, happy family day. I should have had my camera!

This is a photo Zac took of himself last week. Ignore the sore patches around his mouth (by-product of thumb sucking).

Men. Unarguably

My husband and his best friend. I don't know why, but even though they're both firmly ensconced in their 30s now (well, they're 31), I always think of them as, well, boys. Like lads, who wouldn't look out of place back at uni. I look at this photo and realise I am kidding myself. Which means I'm kidding myself about my own appearance, too. Help!

This photo was taken very late at night; we were all quite exceedingly drunk. I like the way that the reflection of the chandelier neatly conveys the kaleidoscopic effect my drunkenness had on my vision at that stage.

The dust came

This picture of my newly-dust-whitened floor comes nowhere near to conveying the sheer EVERYWHERE-ness of the dust. Our extension's reached a knock-through stage and nothing is safe. My mum came round to help me clean the kitchen to the point where I could cook without a light seasoning of plaster dust, and found the 3 children clutching dusters and making neat trails through the grime.

Zac

My boy balancing on a wall as we walked home from school.

Web savvy

This photo is a cheat, taken yesterday - I always look after a friend's daughter on Mondays and she and Yasmine took over my laptop to Google for vital items such as clips of the Jonas Brothers' new song, and to use their "Club Penguin" social networking site.

Back to the scene of the crime

I was on a course today and discovered on Friday that the venue was the very hotel where my husband and I got married, over 5 years ago. Shamefully, we haven't been back since - and it is a very lovely hotel.

I took this photo as I rushed through the door - worried I was late - so it's not great, but it's a record of the fact I was there!

Welcome home

They weren't on the step when I got there - I posed them later after we'd been for a walk into town - but I was so happy to come home to my two littlest children today, who had enjoyed a fun night staying over with Daddy at their uncle's house. That's whose step they're perched on.

Cluck!

A friend's hen night. A friend's "surprise" restaurant special hen drink. I think it was 100% proof, and it seemed mysteriously to replenish itself even as she sipped from it. Got the evening off to a flying start, though! And I didn't even feel my blisters until about 3am - an improvement on last time. I might be getting better at heels.

Pampered chef

This evening, I went to one of these parties. I think I can safely say that I will never knowingly spend £38 on a tray of muffin cases, even if they are made of stoneware that will never need washing once it's seasoned, but the nibbles were quite yummy and it was fun to see friends. Seriously, though. £38 for a muffin tray.

Kids

Taken on the way home from school again (I often remember my photo-taking duties when I'm doing something mundane).

We went swimming after this. Zac's much better at swimming than he was a few weeks ago - I am feeling very proud. Tabitha is still frightened of the water and clings to me like a leech (screeching if I try to prise her off), but bizarrely she relaxes and lets go of me in the (hot, deep, bubbly) jacuzzi. Not the gently sloping steps where the water's four inches deep, oh no...

A smile!

Tabitha hardly ever smiles for photos, but she seemed to get the idea when I said "Smile" before this one!

Today's photo was taken yesterday. I have to admit that I was abysmal at photo-taking this week, but thankfully got a few nice ones yesterday which will pad out a day or two.

School run

I took this on the way home from school. Really liked the contrast between dark shadow (where we stood) and the bright sunlight further up the street.

It was a really beautiful day - I love autumn sun.

Menace

I don't think Simba wanted his photo taken!

This was snapped late at night - another panic photo when I realised I hadn't taken one all day. Really need to get more organised.

The play pot

We had friends round and we were all downstairs drinking tea with the children happily playing elsewhere in the house, when shrieks and screams brought us running to Tabitha's bedroom.

Turned out they just wanted us to see this. Apparently Tab's cot is now "the play pot". Last laugh was on us though - they might have got in quite merrily but without our help to get out, they were going nowhere.

Glittery girl

It's me! Yasmine took the photo at my request - I was all dolled up for a "Wigs and Glitter" fancy dress birthday party.

I'll never get a perm, but it was fun for a night (even when my wig flew off during a particularly strenuous "Watch me now!" Dirty Dancing move). It was a great night - one of those parties that goes perfectly. Even when my husband fell asleep on his feet in a pub later on, I was able to see the funny side.

Another one

Tabitha, showing me various baby photos. She is obsessed with babies - always has one of her dolls under her arm.

I wish she'd look at the camera and/or smile sometimes - she's really not a fan of having her photo taken...

My boy

He asked me to take a photo, so I did. Isn't he lovely?

We had a nice day today. I made cake, and we met a baby!

Yasmine

Looking back over my photoblog, pictures of my eldest daughter are thin on the ground. This is because a) she's always doing Activities or seeing friends and b) she hides from the camera a lot. So tonight (while trying to think up sums to challenge her numeracy) I asked her if I could take a photo of her snuggled up on the sofa in her dressing gown...and she even smiled. I think she's very pretty.