Me & Mine - A Family Portrait Project 2015 - July

If I sneak these ones in, very quietly, maybe no one will notice and just think that they have been here all along....? Well, it's worth a try!

July's family portrait was taken on Studland beach, Dorset. And despite Wiss's face, we all were enjoying a glorious week of camping, yes even my husband enjoyed himself under canvas! It was so good to spend time together as a family, and be able to just relax and let the kids play. Wiss found a new level of confidence and made friends with so many children on the campsite and beaches, while little Miss practiced her downhill crawling every morning and she can get some real speed going now! So much so, that she's had blisters on her hands from so much crawling.

Us grown-ups also hit a new milestone this holiday - we finally became members of The National Trust! I don't know why we took so long - there are so many amazing places run by the National Trust to visit, and they put on some fantastic special events throughout the year too. Studland Beach is stunning but it also offered den building for kids, and open air cinema screenings. We can't wait to explore some more!

The seaside is my happy place, and I'm glad to report that it seems to have been passed down in the genes to Wiss and little Miss too. Such fond memories in this photo already!

See you in a couple of weeks for August's Me & Mine, and I'll do my best to get it up on time :) You can check out all the other family shots taken by other bloggers by clicking here:

Me & Mine - A Family Portrait Project 2015 - June

Finally! I know that this is the latest my Me & Mine post has been (and they've been bordering on tardy each month!) but things were not going my way.

I wanted a more formal shot this month as we'd had lots of selfies, but trying to pin everyone down to sit for their photo proved very hard. That's what's so great about this project though because it's always tricky so you don't get the picture. Then the time slips by and you realise it's been a whole year since you last had a family photo - probably at Christmas time!

I wanted us to be outside as this month has been glorious, but on the day it was raining. My idea for the portrait was 'stripes' - we all have a lot of striped clothes in our family so I thought a black and white shot of us in our stripes would be striking. Except Wiss didn't want to wear stripes. He wore checks. Of course! But then he did make a concession and put on stripy socks, so how could I complain?! The formality of it didn't sit well with him either so he refused to smile nicely, so we ended up all being silly. You have to do what you have to do...

As always, don't forget to pop to Dear Beautiful over to see all the other great family photos from other bloggers, or facebookers. And why not join in? There's still 6 months left for you to get some great memories captured.

Me & Mine - A Family Portrait Project 2015 - April

Oh my god, it's May already! How are the months passing so quickly now?

Here is our portrait for April - even though it has been glorious weather most of this month there are no sunny shots of us this month as we seem to have spent most of it split into two teams. Wiss and Papa have been spending lots of time together and Ferne and I have been stuck together like glue. It seem that this often happens when you have two, and one is still so little?

What have we been up to this month? Apart from (still) eating all the Easter chocolate around the house, I started running again, I've been making lots of new friends with very inspiring local mums and have been arranging childcare for when I return to work in August (gulp!) We went along to the London Marathon to cheer on my best friend, and the other 38,000 runners. It is always such an amazing day and I am moved by all the hard work and effort everyone has put in to be there. I wanted to take our selfie there but it was just too hectic!

Wiss has been hanging out with his old nursery friends, he started cookery club after school and has been writing lists and list of things all over the house!

Little Ferne has turned 8 months and is starting to show her personality. She is very inquisitive and grabs literally everything that she can get her hands on, and even pulls the table closer to her if things are out of her reach! We have a feisty one on our hands I think.

This is part of a great big linky so don't forget to check out the other bloggers' photos this month. Click on the logo to be taken there, and see you soon!

Me & Mine - A Family Portrait Project 2015 - March

This post is late. Sorry! Life really has been so busy that there doesn't seem to be any time for anything else. No sewing, no blogging, not much reading (apart from twitter and facebook!) but a lot of washing, drying, folding and putting away. Yawn. And lots of cooking...and cleaning up. Now that Ferne has started eating solids there is a lot of mess, every meal time!

I've still been taking lots of photographs though, and I've been using Instagram more recently as it's so immediate. I'm still loving the Me & Mine project and even with just three photos so far it's already lovely to look back at them.

March for us was unfortunately marred with illness - first Wiss, then me, then F, then me, me again F again, and the husband has just recovered too. I can't stand being ill, it's such a waste of time. But fingers crossed we all stay well now; the days are getting sunnier and the evenings lighter, and that makes the world of difference to how I feel.

This month's photo was taken at a wonderful house we have rented often and where we always have such great times. This was Ferne's first visit to Holly Frindle and I'm sure it won't be her last. Wiss enjoyed showing her around, and she especially liked the mule at the end of the garden. There is a huge oak tree in the middle and I thought it would be the perfect location for our family portrait, nestled in amongst the emerging daffodils. Spring has sprung finally!

This is part of a big linky so don't forget to check out the other bloggers' photos this month. Click on the logo to be taken there, and see you soon!

Me & Mine - A Family Portrait Project 2015 - February

Has it really been a month already? February is a short month but it really has felt like it has flown by! I am still struggling to find some time for me, and blogging but hopefully that will happen soon.....I hope!

What have we been up to this month? We enjoyed Valentine's Day, Pancake Day, our 13 year anniversary of meeting, as well as half term and all the activities that involved. Wiss went to Pirate School at the South Bank 'Imagine' Festival, and got up on stage with Cowboy Max, learnt some circus skills at Clown School in Suffolk, and got brave at the waterpark going down the flumes by himself! I had a nasty bout of mastitis which knocked me for six and wiped me out for a week. The husband went to the NME awards show and tried not to feel too old! And February was a big month for little Ferne: she started on solid foods, learnt to roll from back to front, celebrated her 6 month 'birthday' and started babbling and saying 'mama'!

This month's photo was taken by a photographer at the water park - we were not expecting to have our picture taken but it's a great memento of a very fun, and noisy day on the last day of half term.

I am loving being part of this family portrait project - not only are there such great pictures being shared each month by all the other participants, but it is making me find the photo opportunities that I wouldn't have done before. It's wonderful to see all 4 of us together!

Do pop over and have a look at the rest of this month's Me & Mine portraits...

Me and Mine - A Family Portrait Project 2015 - January

I'm back! Tax return done for another year, and now finally I feel like I am able to begin this year properly. I know that it's already a month in but I still have eleven more to plan, fill, enjoy and record!

I have lots planned for the blog, for This is Wiss and for our family life but more of those in the next post. One thing I do want to do is take more pictures of the four of us together, and that's where this fantastic project comes in. Me & Mine is a family portrait project that has been running for a couple of years already, organised by Lucy from Dear Beautiful. The idea is simple: one family portrait each month. By the end of the year each participant will have a wonderful and very personal record of their family - you'll be able to see how you all change, how you grow, what was happening that month. There are loads of people signed up for 2015 and you don't even need to be a blogger as there's a facebook page now too. All the details can be found here.

So here is mine for January...

This month we have been celebrating Lewis's 5th birthday, hoping that it snows (and settles) in London (it didn't), watching Ferne learn to roll over, wrapping up warm to go to the park, listening to Lewis read, making Ferne laugh and eating lots of yummy family meals together.