The Home Life Project // January

January... possibly the month where home days are the most regular. It's a long month with a lot of cold, a lot of wind and a lot of wet. The sort of days where me and mine are happy to potter around the house all day long.

And Saturdays are our "nothing" days... No set plans at all, giving us the freedom to head out on an adventure, or busy ourselves around the home, or catch up with friends, or have a little family time...

Our mornings start fairly early - no weekend lie-in around here! The little man tends to wake around 6.30am, at which point I bring him into our bed, where he's mastered the art of feeding and sleeping simultaneously and allowing Mama to kip too, which means when Dave's around, and I don't need to see to the girls, and there's no school run, the two of us sometimes fall back to sleep and don't wake up until 8.30am. I tell you - school holidays are sheer bliss (plus having a husband who is also off and is fab at sorting out the girls while I catch a bit of extra shut-eye!)

I'm trying to kick start my mornings back in the Bible these days. It's a habit that tends to get a bit lost in the arrival of a newborn, but now he's sleeping through, I'm able to function a bit better in the morning again, and I'm loving this devotional by Tim and Kathy Keller. It's short and sweet and exactly what I need to get some focus before the madness of the day begins!

I usually find the girls attired in some form of Disney Princess outfit when I get downstairs on a Saturday morning... We'll throw together some form of "special breakfast" - boiled eggs, or croissants or something along those lines. They are two peas in a pod... rarely found playing separately, and I love that. They really are at the stage now where they are equals. Heidi is able to hold her own in their games and the two of them are just lovely little friends most of the time... Whether it's Lego, or "Mamas and Papas" or rummaging through the finished advent calendar (as above!) they will no doubt be found together!

And yes, that's me... Finally changed out of my PJs, making beds and straightening things out upstairs once Jonas has headed down for his first nap of the day (usually with a camera within reach - you never know when inspiration might hit!) His nap times are my action times... Cleaning the bathroom, putting away clean laundry, clearing up the girls room, dressing the girls... I'll be upstairs like a little tidying whirlwind, while Dave will be downstairs doing the same. He's pretty awesome like that.

And then, once the whirlwind is done, it's downstairs for an attempt at finishing a hot cup of tea while Jonas sleeps on and the girls play... Puzzles, play dough, bead stringing, board games, colouring, tent building or some such activity will no doubt be going on. And once Jonas is up, the girls will make a beeline for their third little play buddy. They love him, he loves them... its a pretty mutual thing.

We sit down and have lunch together as a family... Saturday lunches tend to be a bit special... Soup or warm bread rolls or cheese toasties... And there will be chatter and giggles to accompany it (OK - some days there are warnings and stern words and instructions too!) but sitting together round the table is pretty important to us. I think that's a whole blog post of its own though!

Then the children will all head upstairs to their "Quiet time"... Jonas for his afternoon nap, and the girls for some independent play. They'll disappear into their room for an hour and come up with all sorts of imaginative games. We've always insisted they have an hour without any adult input - an opportunity to get bored and learn what to do with that. There are no rules, other than that they have to stay in their room until their Gro clock sun shines! I tell you... That hour us what keeps all of us sane! The children need it too. On days where they don't have it, they are grotty and grouchy and much more prone to bickering. Somehow, a little down time seems to give them the space they need to realign and gear up for the afternoon.

Meanwhile, we will enjoy a hot cup of tea, a catch up - perhaps a bit of football, or a bit of blogging, and I'll often wing in a quick trip to Lidl for the weekly shop.

It's a glamorous life round these parts!

Our afternoons are often a bit more active - we'll pop out for a little trip or something. This week, we loaded the brood into the car for one of Ava's little friends birthday parties. Obviously, a room full of strangers children was a no-go for photographic opportunities, but needless to say the children had a whale of a time!

Then it was home for bath and bed!

It was a very typical Saturday, in that not a lot happened, but it was made up of all these little moments. Little moments that at the moment can seem monotonous and dull... but the moments which I know, when I look back in years to come... I'll wish I savoured just that little bit more.

And that's why I was so excited to join in with Clare's "Home Life Project"... an opportunity to develop my photography while doing the very thing I love to do.

Being with my little family, and recording all these memories in the making!