There is nothing that makes my heart swell as much, nothing sweeter, then watching you all being together.  It’s such an amazing feeling to look at you and know that I helped create such special people.  All so very different, not just in age, but in personality.  Watching you grow, the years flying much faster then I’d like, making me wish I could reach out, grab moments and still them for a while.  My beautiful Gabsie and Daisy – it only seems like yesterday that you were the same age as your little sisters, only yesterday when I was watching you both and wondering what you’d be like as teenagers.  So here we are, in the now, and I’m wondering the same thing about Lucy and Poppy – it’s so comforting to know that they have you as their role models, that they have such wonderful sisters to look to and help them through the years to come.

And as I was watched you running together I remembered something I’d written a little while ago.   I keep going over and over the words in my head.

Moments in Time

What is it about those tiny little things that make us go all gooey. The tiny little elbows, tiny hands with dimples, those chubby little feet and those tiny knobbly knees that make your breath catch, and your heart miss a beat. The sweaty bit at the back of their neck when they wake up, the fluff between their toes, the dribbly lips and the snotty noses. These little miracles that we make that go from curled up in a ball as they enter the world, to cheeky little monkeys, running away from our calls, as they look behind them and then fall over their feet. These moments are treasures that we will never forget, and as they grow into beautiful people, our sweet memories linger…

This last image was featured in google plus extract

Please continue through this blog circle to read more Letters to Our Daughters from some of the most amazing women I know.  Starting with the work of  Sara Tegman , she captures life in the most wonderfully real way.

This year, Summer has meant many things and it’s one that I won’t forget in a hurry.  It’s meant new beginnings, a new Country, a new address and best of all watching my children settle into a new way of life.  This summer has been very different to the last four years.  I’ve been able to let them play outside without worrying about poisonous snakes, spiders, or being bitten to death by bugs.  It’s been quite literally a breath of fresh air and they are in their element.  It’s not that I regret living abroad or that I didn’t embrace all that it had to offer, but knowing that they are happier in their own Country is a huge relief to me, since this is where we will be now, and for the forseeable future. 

This was the scene I saw as I looked out of the window today, I rushed outside to capture it and as I did, I realised that this is exactly how I will remember this Year, this Summer.

Warm breezy days with carefree children running around.  Vivid purple, pink and blue and yellow flowers throughout our garden and the smell of freshly cut grass lingering in the air.  Has it rained?  Yes!  Do I care?  Not one bit!  It’s no wetter here then it was in Queensland and now I have my family just literally down the road.

Summer has never before seemed so sweet, and in the words of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, there really is, ‘no place like home’.

The first image was featured in this weeks Photo Extract.