Summer Bucket List!

In the past we have written a little bucket list of all the things we want to get up to so it was only right we did the same this year too. We like to make things realistic, affordable and fun. I usually keep mine to myself but I thought I would share mine too.

So without further a do

Kids Summer Bucket List

• Have a BBQ at Nanny’s
• Swim at Nanny’s
• Have a fry up
• Go to a new playpark
• Spend the day at the beach
• Have a teddy bears picnic
• Fly a kite
• Go to London
• Camping with our friends
• Play mini golf
• Have a water fight
• Toast marshmallows on a bonfire
• Make home made pizzas

My Summer Bucket List

• Try freelensing
• Photograph a sunrise
• Go on a road trip to nowhere in particular
• Get fish and chips on the beach in the evening
• Make lemonade
• Get a tattoo
• Go for a spa day
• Finish a book
• Go to a Jazz bar
• Practice more street photography
• Practice more on film
• Go on a hike
• Camp with friends
• Stay up and watch the stars
• Go to a veg market and buy ALL THE VEG
• Unplug for a day or two

We cannot bloomin’ wait for Summer this year. After a really busy few months with work I am just so looking forward to some downtime with the children, having a few lay ins and spending afternoons on the beach.

I’d love to see yours if you have one! Our holidays usually look like this…

Me and Mine | June ’17

Oh dear. It seems the last time I blogged was May’s Me and Mine photos. I am a truly lazy and rubbish blogger this month, but that’s okay, isn’t it?!

June has been filled with a lot of work, a lot of sun and a lot of mild stress. It’s been busy, I feel like i’ve hardly seen the children at all and July is set to be even busier. Peek wedding season for me means I haven’t got a single full day with all 3 kids together until they break up from school. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am for them to break up!! Camping trips, pool days and evenings by the sea will be filling our August – Bring it ooonnn.

So not only did I fail on a sunny gorgeous photo this month, I literally took these TODAY. On the day they are meant to go live. WHOOOOPS.

I hope everyone has had a ruddy lovely July!

Do go check out the other wonderful co hosts and have a nosey at their photos too. Lucy, Alex, Katie, Fritha, Jenny and Lucy.

https://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=279904

Birthday treats

What’s a birthday without pizza and a trip to the beach?! Nothing, thats what.

We had the best evening on Saturday, after someone congratulating me on coming out with my 3 children on my own (weird.) I felt incredibly lucky to be able to do these things with them.

After scoffing our faces with so much cheese we indulged in a toffee sundae that quite frankly nearly tipped me over the edge. Note to self, when you’re absolutely stuffed from pizza its probably not wise to then eat an entire ice cream extravaganza.

Camber doesn’t get featured on my blog enough. This year I have vowed to make more of an effort to visit this beautiful space. Its big skies and vast views make for the most perfect backdrop and climbing up into the dunes is obviously just the most fun any child (and adult) could have. We didn’t watch the sunset like we said we would do but instead spent the evening rolling in the sand, jumping from dune to dune and screaming at the top of our lungs.

www.charlotterawlesphotography.co.uk

Me and Mine | April ’17

April has been busy, exhausting, fun and exciting. I have laughed more than I thought imaginable, cried more than I thought possible. I have been on 2 weekends away, both equally awesome in their own ways. I have celebrated turning 27 with a whole heap of new friends, I have missed the kids so much, I have wanted to shout at them a lot.

I went to see my wonderful friend Charlie from Farlie Photography at the beginning of the month and so of course, I had to rope in a favour and she took our pictures for the month. I love them so much, some of my favourites to date – so THANK YOU Charlie!

I can’t bloody wait to head into May. More travels, birthday celebrations and COME ON SUN!! WE NEED YOU SO BAD NOW!!

Do go check out the other wonderful co hosts and have a nosey at their photos too. Lucy, Alex, Katie, Fritha, Jenny and Lucy.

http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=278553

 

The big smoke

A weekend spent in London, wandering the streets of Shoreditch and marvelling through Brick Lane.

Great company, delicious food, good weather, lots of (some terrible) cocktails, a gig and barrels of laughs. Not so great ending hugging the loo but we don’t have to talk about that, do we?! Overall a bloody wonderful weekend and I wanted to share my snaps here.

Char x

Dosed up with the coast.

If you’ve read my blog before then you’ll know that a day well spent for us is a day ending with salty lips and sandy toes. We are just so in love with the coast that any opportunity to get down there then we’ll go with bells on. So this afternoon we had plans to meet my sister in law and two nieces so we headed down early to make the most of a beautifully sunny April Friday.

This post is photo heavy, you have been warned.

I feel like this Summer is going to be just joyous now the terrible trio are that bit older. Life just seems so much more simple now they can amuse themselves, they all play relatively well together and are forever making up games and things to keep them occupied. Queue me soaking up a lot of rays not really doing a lot. Bloody bliss I tell you. I am so excited to spend the 6 weeks of Summer with them and spend most of it by the sea.

Here come the snaps… We also did a video which you can watch at the bottom too 🙂

Char x

Dear Elsie.

Dear Elsie,

5 years ago you entered this world with speed and determination, nothing was going to keep you from making a fast entrance into our lives and I guess I should have realised at that point how much you were going to change my life.

I am the first to admit I longed for a girl after having your two brothers. Of course, I absolutely adore them with everything I have but I was desperate to complete our unit with a small pink one. And here you are, gracing us with all your wonderfulness and I feel so incredibly lucky that the boys and me get to be in your presence on a daily basis.

You are creative, kind and so very caring. You love to laugh and to make others laugh too, you love to be the star of the show and by golly gosh do we know it. You enter each day with a positive outlook, you take care of others (mainly the boys… and me) whilst taking pride within yourself and you do it all with a fist pump and a “go get ’em” attitude.

Your approach to school is delightful and something to be proud of. You take on everything that is thrown at you and handle it with such dexterity. I couldn’t have asked for an easier transition into your first year as school child, thank you.

You have fight in your belly and determination in your bones, and I couldn’t be more proud of you. You are so incredibly beautiful, to the point I do wonder if they swapped you at birth because wow girl, you are going to break some hearts. You are captivating and motivating and inspiring.

I love you with every ounce of my heart that is meant for you, I can’t wait to watch you grow and flourish. You are just the most perfect little 5 year old we could ever know, don’t ever stop being you.

Happy Birthday Darling,

Mummy xxxx

Me & Mine | February 2017

February… Errr. WHAT? Where did that go? Even sans the few days we miss out on in Feb – Those 28 days whizzed by in a weird windy doris induced blur!

#isurviveddoris #butmyhairdidnot

We had a lot of downtime this month, with a sickness bug taking over our half term we were sofa bound for the most part but we did manage to get out to the beach a couple of times. I’ve said it before but ‘big days out’ are totally overrated in our house. Beach trips, walks in the woods and park dates is what its all about for us.

So here we are at our favourite place on the planet, salt in the air and wind through our hair. (unintentional poetry for you.)

Funny fact – It was so windy and we were freezing when we took these photos. The kids were hungry and we just wanted to cuddle up on the sofa after a weekend apart. I didn’t check my camera settings properly and didn’t check back of camera mid session. Got home, uploaded them. All out of focus. So we’re winging it. I actually really love them! Not all bad!

I am still feeling incredibly chuffed that I am co-hosting this link up. If you don’t already join in – it’s not too late! You can join in whatever month you like, it is such a lovely project to look back on no matter how long you have been doing it. Do go check out the other wonderful co hosts and have a nosey at their photos too. Lucy, Alex, Katie, Fritha, Jenny and Lucy.

Char x

http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=277047

Day 1 of no puke.

Half term – Let’s do this. Let’s love it, enjoy it, bask in it. Let’s ignore the sickness, the cold and the snuffles. Can we kick ass, can we do a little jig and sing a little song, please?

Day 1 of no sickness.

We went to Hastings pier and then the beach. It was chilled, lovely, breezy. We loved it.

Some snaps.

Char x

I miss them.

When sorting childcare between me and Joe I didn’t think I would miss them as much as I do. I know that sounds ridiculous, of course I miss them when they aren’t here but I hadn’t accounted for the impact it would actually have on me. We have it all set out, the kids get the best of both worlds and it really is a good routine for them. But it means I don’t get a single full day with them without a club going on. It is breaking my heart and quite frankly i’m not sure how much longer I can do it for!

Half term could not have come soon enough for us this week, I am so craving some full days with the kids without a club to go to or an errand to run. This week is all about making time for just us, and I can’t tell you how excited I am. We have 3 full days out of the week just for fun things, we have nothing planned and we will just go with the flow. Stay in our PJs all day or spend the day in the rain – whatever takes our fancy. The world is our oyster and we’re ready for it!

Sunday nights are usually a bit of a rush after I get them all home. Dinner, bath and bed and it all goes in a flash and before I know it it’s Monday again and they are all back to school. So this Sunday we didn’t need to rush, we had dinner and we watched a film and spoke about our weekends. We talked about what we wanted to do this week and decided we would film a couple of our days too. It was as if an entire boulder had been lifted, it was such an elated feeling to just spend time with them and not worry about all the boring things we usually have to do. More of that feeling, please!

Project People | Self Portrait

One of my resolutions for 2017 is to challenge myself more creatively. Be it photography, sewing or writing. So of course, I have to start with photography as although it isn’t the ‘easiest’ it is where I most feel at ease. I always have a dozen ideas in my head, as any creative mind does, but one I wanted to put into practice was to achieve a self portrait I was mildly happy with. I preach to so many others about existing in photographs but the only photos I exist in are silly selfies on my phone, and nothing really for me. 

So I took myself to my studio and took a few snaps, 98% of which were outrageous and got laughed at then deleted upon uploading onto my laptop. But I was quite pleased with a couple, and so here begins my ‘Project People’. Starting, selfishly, with myself. Many more ideas to come and I have decided I will be using this blog as an outlet of photography and creative ideas more often than not.

Movement will play a big part in my photography this year too, so it only seemed fitting I get my L’oreal hair flick on.

*disclaimer. I can’t promise I won’t post the odd 50 woodland photo too.

Char x