20/52

We went for a walk in the woods first thing this morning.  It's rapidly becoming one of my favourite things to do, even though I am basically a walking buffet for every small biting fly in the area.

It's worth a few bites though for pictures like this and a gorgeous hour spent with my little family.  Lucas scampered up and down slopes and picked me a huge bag of wild garlic as we walked.  He's a good lad, that one.  We found loads of gorgeous, creative benches; I managed to catch this just as Lucas was having a sit-down on one and Dave said something hilarious to him.  If only I could remember what...

Joining in with Jodie's 52 Project.

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19/52 (#BEDM 11)

I came back from London to this gorgeous face.

Actually, I came back to a grey blur, moving at high speed which then leapt at me and clung on for dear life.  It's a miracle that I'm not blogging from A&E!  I think my little monster missed me...

As lovely as it was to go away by myself and do something 100% for me, I did miss his weird little observations, musings on why someone would be wearing fishing waders on the bus--I'm sure he'd have had plenty to say about that--and I would have loved to have seem his face light up at the sight of some of the cakes gracing the windows of posh cake shops in Mayfair!

On the other hand...he got to stay up late, cook his own dinner with Dave, go to the comic con, his first rugby match, stay up late again, order pizza, have a massive milkshake, new toys and probably more.  I think we both did okay out of the weekend.  Dave might need a nap, though...

Joining up with Jodie's 52 Project--a portrait of my child (ie Lucas), every week for a year.

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16/52 to 18/52 (#BEDM day 5)

16/52 Lucas loves Easter egg hunts.  This was him, practically vibrating with excitement, before we let him loose in Nanny and Granddad's garden with his cousins to hunt down delicious chocolate eggs!

17/52 My gorgeous, geeky, little boy.  Sometimes I look at him and wonder how I got so lucky...

18/52 Lucas can't resist an iPad. It turns out that this is the trick to catching a candid picture of him...get him utterly engrossed in a game!  Here he's playing a Hero Factory game at LEGOland before we dragged him out into the sunshine to have good old-fashioned fun!

Joining in with Jodie's 52 Portrait project.  I can't believe we're 18 weeks into the year already.  Is this the Year of the Greyhound?!

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Catching up (13, 14, 15/52)

15/52

Time sure does fly when you're having fun!  That's the only explanation I can come up with for being two weeks behind with my 52 Portraits of Lucas...

15/52: I finally got around to putting a fringe on the kid-sized version of the Fourth Doctor scarf that I knitted for Lucas.  Here he is, doing his very best Tom Baker, at the front door.  Would you like a jelly baby?

14/52

14/52: Since watching the Winter Soldier, Lucas has taken to carrying his Captain American shield everywhere.  He and Dave have turned trips to the supermarket into a series of clandestine missions.  My solo shopping trips will seem positively boring by comparison...

13/52

13/52: Lucas wearing the biscuit moustache that he piped while making my Mother's Day dinner.  I still have no idea why moustaches are suddenly in but Lucas looked pretty good with one!  It doubled up as an awesome dunker for the white chocolate mousse in the jar.

Joining in with Jodie's 52 Project!

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12/52

As much as Lucas hates to admit it, he's a bit poorly this weekend.  He was running a little bit of a temperature on Friday morning but still perfectly fine so I packed him off to school with some Calpol and over the weekend he's gradually worsened.  You could fry an egg on his forehead at the moment, poor lad.

He fell asleep in Dave's comfy chair while his bath was being run which is most unlike him.  Tomorrow's an inset day and I figure it will mostly involve curling up on the sofa with a blanket and watching his favourite cartoons.

The 52 Project: a portrait a week of my child with Jodie.

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11/52

Whoops!  This weekly portrait of Lucas is a little late, but it's a good 'un.

I have to confess that this shot was taken by Dave...I was further up the path chatting to a robin who was singing in a tree (as you do) and completely missed Lucas's escapades.  Still, I discovered that if you thank a robin for his (or her) song, they'll sing back to you.  I love Spring!

I'm trying very hard to not freak out when he does death-defying stuff...after all, I nearly gave my Granny a heart-attack by climbing up a sheer cliff face at the beach once upon a time!  Closing my eyes seems to be the best strategy so far!

Joining in with Jodie's 52 Project.

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10/52

I can't believe we're ten weeks into the year!  2014 is whizzing by.  Just like Lucas, who decided that the Yew Walk at Tyntesfield made a fantastic sprint track yesterday.  Both feet off the ground and full of the joys of Spring!

Joining in with Jodie's 52 Portraits project.

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9/52

We spent Saturday adventuring.  First we helped Lucas explore Castle Park in Bristol in a new way, through the lens of a camera.  There's a schools photography competition, so I let him borrow my camera and take a few pictures of nature, close-up.  I do love a good macro shot!  We also had fun watching some teenagers doing parkour (free running).  Lucas was fascinated by their flips and jumps which was when I snapped this shot.

Afterwards, we went to Severn Beach with the idea of Lucas taking more photographs.  Alas, he got distracted by the delight of clambering over loads of rocks and finding big sticks to overturn rocks and seaweed to find treasure!

Here's one of his pictures...I think he did a great job!  (The brief was "nature in close-up.)

"Leaves Reaching For Sunlight", by Lucas

Joining in with Jodi's 52 Project.

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8/52

His first Butterbeer...

Today we went to The Harry Potter Studio Tour which was pretty damn amazing.  I loved every minute of it, especially as I neatly sidestepped the area where they were showing off the spiders who worked on the films!

Lucas loved the Butterbeer; I was way keener on the thick, butterscotch head than the thinner, slightly fizzy drink below.  (Does it remind anyone else of Irn-Bru?)  He had an epic foam moustache by the time he was half-way through the cup (£3, worth it for the iconic/novelty value) which left us all giggling uncontrollably!

More on the tour later this week...

Joining in with Jodi's 52 Project.

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7/52

52: A portrait a week of Lucas

Today the sun shone.  (I almost need a lie-down to recover from the shock.)  And as we all know, sunny days are just made for messing around outdoors!

So...Lucas and Dave had a pitched battle on the driveway.  Soldier!Daddy armed with a Nerf gun, and Captain America!Lucas with his vibranium shield deftly deflecting the Nerf darts.  As you can see, Lucas emerged the victor after neatly disarming Dave!

Joining in with Jodi's 52 Project.

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6/52

For the last couple of weeks Lucas has been a little bit sad on and off because he hadn't had a letter home in his book bag to say that he'd won an award for the end of term achievement assembly.

What he didn't know was that the school now sends text messages rather than letters which are easily guessable, once you reach the grand old age of seven.  I've had to keep up a nonchalant pretence when he's peeked in his book bag and been sad all over again.  "We all know you're brilliant, you don't need a certificate to tell you that!"

Even with Dave and I sitting behind him, camera at the ready, he didn't twig until just before his head teacher read out his name.  I don't think he stopped looking shocked until we'd settled in at Costa for a celebratory babyccino.

Our lovely wee man won a Mountain Mover award, the school's current highest accolade (yeah, proud Mum here), for moving mountains with his enthusiasm in learning.  (No actual mountains were harmed in his educational endeavours.)  He'll be off to school on Monday with his shiny new enamel badge proudly pinned next to the Trust Badge he won last year.

Super-proud!!

Joining in with Jodi's 52 Project.

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5/52

Lucas strikes a heroic pose, while sporting an Indigo Lantern ring and wearing his favourite "Hal Jordan" jacket.  A thoroughly geeky ensemble for a trip to the comic shop with his best friend!  (They had a great time; Dave is worn out.)

Joining in with Jodi's 52 Project

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4/52

Lucas, totally engrossed in an iPhone game while at Starbucks this morning.  Give him a bit of tech and he turns from a small, sweet child into a monosyllabic teenager.  It's quite amazing really (and a slightly unwelcome glimpse into our future)!

In other news, today is my birthday!  I am mumble-mumble years old today and have been thoroughly spoiled by Dave, Lucas and all the family, culminating in an epic chocolate mirror cake presented to me while we were out for lunch!  Nom nom nom!

The 52 Project: Joining in with Jodie from Practising Simplicity.

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3/52

A faceless portrait this week.  On Saturday morning I took Lucas to his tennis lesson and snapped this while he was "making a pizza" AKA collecting in the tennis balls.  His serve is coming along nicely!

(On the plus side, I think I can safely call this a candid!  He had no idea I was taking it, so no zany poses for once!)
The 52 Project: Joining in with Jodie from Practising Simplicity.
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2/52

As soon as I brought the camera out, Lucas started striking poses.  I believe he was mid-Cyber salute at this point, but I defeated his tomfoolery by focusing in on his face.  Sadly my ninja skills don't extend to tidying the background first--messy equals fun, though.

I think he looks particularly lush in this shot...

The 52 Project: Joining in with Jodie from Practising Simplicity

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The 52 Project: 1/52

Last year I greatly admired Lottie and Lou's portraits of their children as part of The 52 Project.  It didn't feel right to jump in more than halfway through the year so I bided my time to see if it would return for another year.  I am thrilled to say that this wonderful project has returned!  If you haven't heard of it, then you can find out more here.

Lucas is a right little poser when it comes to the camera; most days he'll start striking all sorts of crazy poses as soon as he hears a lens cap coming off.  Other days, like above, he starts running around like crazy, trying to avoid the camera.  Sadly for him, both Dave and I can now take photos in burst mode, so there's no escape!

I'm looking forward to the challenge of both improving my photography and also that of trying to capture him in stolen, quiet moments before he realises that I, and the camera, am there.  Basically, I need to become a ninja...

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