Flashback Friday...Ella and Freddy

This week's Flashback Friday post is dedicated to the relationship between Ella and Freddy.  Freddy adores all his siblings but I found this particular photo yesterday that I wanted to use as my Flashback Friday picture.  It is of Ella with her newborn brother back in July 2009.  She was 13 at the time and I wasn't sure how the relationship between a teenager and a newborn would work out.  I needn't have been worried though.  Straight away I could tell that she was going to be an amazing big sister. She adored him and has continued to do so.

July 2009

Now he is a boisterous toddler and she still can't get enough of her brother, even though he gets into her stuff in her bedroom!  She constantly takes photos of him and posts them to Facebook.  They play together and laugh so much.  She looks after him and is a massive help to me.  I'm so glad they have each other...and the rest of their siblings, to have these relationships with, enriching their lives and bringing such love and fun to our family.  

August 2011

*I could have made this post about any brother/sister combo in our family...but I just loved these photos and the story they tell!!

The Gallery....Black and White

I love Black and White photography.  It has a simplicity.  A defined contrast.  Real impact.  I love the element of nostalgia that black and white photos possess, the look of a bygone era.  But I also love how the effect can be used to create a real contemporary photograph.

I've posted lots of black and white photographs from my family archives on this blog before.  Photographs of my parents in their youth, portraits of me as a baby and photos of my dear old grandparents.  However I've decided to use this week's prompt from Tara to show a modern interpretation of black and white photography. 

For this week's entry to The Gallery I have chosen to use an image that my daughter Ella created.  She is really keen on photography and enjoys playing around with photos using editing software.  I love her creativity and think she really works the b & w look!!  It goes to show that even with all the capabilities of modern technology, sometimes the old fashioned simplicity of black and white can create something really impressive.

Don't Judge Our Teens!

My Ella has just finished her first week of work experience at the local solicitor's office.  She is doing an amazing job.  I am so proud to see her walk into the reception every morning with such confidence and poise.  The staff that have worked with her have written such positive things about my "lovely, willing, friendly and enthusiastic girl".

In a society where teenagers are vilified, treated with suspicion and considered to be wannabe criminals with ASBO's, it's nice to be reminded that that stereotype is nothing more than a media hyped image, pertinent to only a minority of young people.  Most teenagers are hard working, ambitious and thoughtful.  They are the future of this country and fully deserve our respect and support.

I love parenting teens.  It is such an exciting adventure. There are challenges but if you keep the channels of communication open, it is an amazing time where you see glimpses of the adults they are fast becoming.  I love watching my older children's friendships, talents and personalities develop.  As they become more independent it is so rewarding.  Seeing them find their own way in life evokes such feelings of pride.

This post is dedicated to my teenage daughter. 

My beautiful, smiling baby who was never a day's trouble.  She was so easy and such a delight despite suffering ill health and worrying us so, so much!  She kept smiling throughout everything. 

My funny toddler was a ray of sunshine. 

My big school girl was finding her feet and proving to be a real little star!

My beautiful daughter!  My Ella x

Don't judge teenagers.  

*Flashback Friday*

Don't Ever Feel Less Than Perfect

 My 15 year old daughter Ella has just blown me away with this music video she made yesterday.  Her cover of the Pink song Perfect is really just right for her.  Being a teenager can be difficult, so for her to see the joy and beauty in her life and her family makes me so proud.  (I only wish I'd known she was filming me...it was the day after Cybermummy and I was trying to write up my post while totally asleep on my feet!!)

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!    

         

Revamping My Living Space With Harveys

It's a couple of weeks since we took delivery of our Harvey's Clarissa Sofa which I wrote about here!  Finding out that I was going to be trialling Harvey's furniture as a reviewer, meant I had to think about how the sofa was going to fit into our home.  Our dining room had become a bit under used recently.  We had a huge six seater table and chairs that was a bit too big for the room.  We were thinking of turning the room into a snug and finding out that we were getting a Harvey's Sofa was just the push we needed.

We have created a room to relax in, for me to work in and for the kids to use when they have friends over.  I love having the extra room to use away from the TV where Kizzy is usually watching re-runs of Hannah Montana!  Teenager Ella has had a lot of use out of this room already. She uses it as a music room where she plays her guitar.

The sofa still looks as good as the day it arrived. It is exquisitely comfy with oversized soft seating which is great to snuggle into. Plumping up the cushions keeps it all in good shape and rolling a lint roller over it keeps the pile looking neat and stops any loose fluff that can occur on new furniture.

Freddy enjoys chilling out on it.  It is much comfier and cosier than our living room sofa.  Sometimes, having a change around gives a whole new lease of life to your living space.  Take a look at Harveys online to get some inspiration for re-vamping your home!

Here is Ella and her friend Jake using our new snug/music room...singing on the sofa!!

Happy Birthday Ella

I can hardly believe that it was a whole 15 years ago that I first met my beautiful daughter Ella.  She was born in the early hours of a Monday morning back in 1996 following a roast dinner at my mum's house on a Sunday afternoon.

Ella's birth was quick and easy, although the midwife did not believe that I was in labour and left us in a room without a bed and did not check on us at all. It was only when I started to push that the midwife actually decided to believe that her birth was imminent!  My 9lb bundle of beautifulness entered the world. (A bit of a shock given that baby 1 weighed 7lb 1oz and baby 2 weighed 7lb 6oz!)

Ella came at a difficult time in my life.  My sister died when I was 2 months pregnant and the two events were difficult to separate in my mind.  I felt a mixture of joy, hope, guilt and fear carrying my baby.  It was only when Ella was safely home that I was able to relax.  She helped me to heal.  I gave her my sister's names as her middle names in honour of the auntie she never met.

She was such a contented little soul who smiled within her first week.  The Health Visitor who witnessed her gorgeous gummy grins, was amazed that such a little baby was so responsive to being cooed at.  Her lovely nature and easy going temperament continued, making her an infant who could stop shoppers in Asda at a hundred paces by making eye contact and flashing her smile.  She really was a joyous little soul, and a blessing to us all.

Over the years Ella has delighted me, amazed me, made me proud and brought me such joy.  Her incredible musical talent has enriched our lives.  Our house is always filled with her singing, guitar and piano playing.  She has an amazing empathy and warmth for others that is a delightful gift.  She is incredibly bright, has a wicked sense of humour and shares my passion for horror films!  She is a wonderful daughter.  I simply adore her.

Ella's birthday party was a great afternoon.  Teenagers descended for a garden party and they had a great time consuming vast quantities of pizza, doughnuts and ice lollies!  Thank goodness the sun was shining, I can't imagine having them all in my house.  They are a great bunch of kids...in this day and age when teenagers are branded as all being anti-social hooligans with ASBO's, it made me proud that Ella has picked such a lovely bunch of kids as her friends.

*So happy birthday to my gorgeous daughter.  I love you so very much and I burst with pride when I think that I had a hand in creating someone as wonderful as you!*

This is my entry into Cafe Bebe's Flashback Friday!

The Best Mother's Day Present Ever

             My daughter Ella gave me the best Mother's Day present that she could give me.  She wrote me a song and performed it for me as well as putting it onto YouTube for me to watch over and over again.  I am so proud of her and so delighted that I got my own song for Mother's Day.  I wept buckets when we sang it to me earlier!!  So here it is...a celebration of mothers everywhere!

             

My Little Recording Star

For Christmas we bought Ella a 3 hour recording session at Sweetharmonies Recording Studio in Birmingham.  Yesterday was the day she had been waiting for for over 3 months.  Sod's Law that she had a really horrible cold and sore throat, but not to be perturbed, she went with her dad for a 9am start and managed to record three original tracks and an Adele cover in her time slot.  She also had her session videoed which was fabulous for me as I wasn't there to watch it live.  The sound engineer was very impressed with her and her songwriting ability.

Here are two live recordings of Ella in action at the Recording Studio.  These are both original songs she has written herself.  I'm such a proud mummy :)