Beach – ALLYSON ELL PHOTOGRAPHY

June 30, 2016July 20, 2016

Letter to my Littles | June 2016

Welcome to another installment of my letters to my littles – a glimpse of our life with two busy boys!

Dear Caleb and Liam,

June has been one of the busiest months we have had yet! It’s hard to believe the year is already half over.

This month we celebrated your 11th birthday Caleb. You had your birthday party planned for months – dinner at Japanese Village followed by a sleepover with some friends. Dinner was fabulous! (Liam you spent the night at your buddy Owen’s house and had fun there). Caleb, I believe “sleep-over” is a loose term. I think you all went to sleep around 3am. I’m not totally sure, as I fell asleep long before you all did.

We have reached the end of another school year, and what a busy one it’s been. This last month especially has been filled with field trips, fun days and so much volunteer time at the school. (I’m tired – but you are both worth it). Caleb you finished grade five, and also finished your time in elementary school. It’s a bittersweet – you have been there for 6 years. I know you are ready to move on to middle school. I’m not sure my mama heart is ready for you to move on though. Liam you got kicked out of kindergarten. You finished your year with a pool party! It was quite a send off for you and your big kindergarten year.

You also had your year end wrap up with Beavers and Cubs. Caleb you have jumped up from Cubs to Scouts, and are excited for the new adventures that await you in the fall.

The last thing you got to do with Cubs was the year end trip to the Horne Lake caves. You loved it. Dad said you went rappelling down the advanced side!

While you and dad were at the caves, Liam and I went went to Navy Days. We got to see so many things on the navel base. You loved it Liam.

We celebrated father’s day with lots of homemade presents for daddy.

As a family we have been trying to take advantage of the nice weather. Summer is finally here! We went to Beach Food Friday at Esquimalt Lagoon. We had burgers and poutine, followed by a fire with our new fire bowl. It was so much fun. We will definitely be doing this again.

We wrapped up June with a camping trip with some of my work friends up at Living Forest Campground. You were both thrilled to find out some classmates were there at the same time. You both got along really well with Cohen and Noah too. Caleb you and Cohen had fun going off on your own to fish or explore. Liam, you and Noah created a new game “crazy birds” – which translates to: let go crazy and throw around everything we can see. Our tent broke while we were camping and there may have been a few falls from the hammock, but it was a really fun trip and great way to kick off our summer.

I’m looking forward to all the adventures that await us in the next couple of months.

I love you both – my 6th grader and my 1st grader…ugh!!

Love,
Mom
XOXO

April 30, 2016May 3, 2016

Letter to my Littles | April 2016

Welcome to another installment of my letters to my littles – a glimpse of our life with two busy boys!

Dear Caleb and Liam,

It’s been another fun and busy (and slightly stressful) month. We celebrated two birthdays – mine and and Liam’s! Mine was spent picking out a new kitchen at Ikea and chasing you both around Science World. The day trip to Vancouver was fun, but exhausting!

Caleb you learned a very hard lesson about being responsible for your things. You left behind a small backpack at Ikea with a book, your iPod charger, your Nintendo DS and a few games, and $25. We called the Ikea security desk several times but these seem to be gone forever. Sorry Caleb – a tough life lesson for sure.

But we did end up with a new family pet – a unicorn named Agnes!

Liam, your birthday celebrations were much more fun. In addition to all the cakes you had with family, you had all your friends help you celebrate with a big Lego party. Every person you invited came. This also meant that we now own every Lego set in existence! You are such a well loved little boy. It’s hard to believe you are 6 already. Thank you for filling our lives with so much joy. I love your zest for life. The other day I found you lying on the front lawn professing your love of Spring time! Then later you told me you often have trouble falling asleep at night and waking in the morning. You said that you thought you were nocturnal and that maybe you should become a bat. Seriously. You crack me up!

Your new cousin Ethan was born the day before your birthday Liam. He is the cutest little baby! You are both smitten with him. Me too!

Caleb you went with your best buddy Bryson to BrickCan in Vancouver for his birthday. It’s shocking how much you have grown up that you are now leaving the island on trips without us! You are both so well loved by your friends. In fact, everyday the doorbell rings with neighbourhood kids asking you to come outside and play. It warms my heart to see how much others enjoy your company.

Thanks for all you patience as we start our big renovation project. I can’t wait to cook and bake with you both in our new kitchen!

And here’s this month’s video – all about you Liam and all your birthday Lego!

I love you both,
Mama

XO XO

March 31, 2016March 31, 2016

Letters to my Littles | March 2016

Welcome to another installment of my letters to my littles – a glimpse of our life with two busy boys!

Dear Caleb and Liam,

March has completely flown by so quickly! This was the month I left you all to spend a few days with some fantastic photography friends. (But you two hardly missed me). Thanks to the inspiration and renewed energy I got from that trip I took a million pictures this month. So this letter has a lot of images (fair warning!) March was also the month of the world’s looooooooooongest spring break ever.

We did a lot of fun things! During my time off with you we went and explored some beaches. We hike the Pike Road trail of East Sooke Park and had some fun in the tide pools of Iron Mine Bay. Caleb you were like a mountain goat climbing up to the top of a rock. You were so good at helping your brother and I up too. The view was amazing!

We also had a Beacon Hill park day with the goats at the petting zoo. (Those photos will have to wait a little as I shot them on my film camera). We had peacocks circling our car that day too.

We then had another day at East Sooke Park with dad. It was fun to run through the shore line, try to build castles and have you both creating things in the sand. We ended that day with dinner at My Chosen Cafe.

Unfortunately when we got home we found out our washing machine had flooded the house. That’s a whole other big story. But it is also the reason Spring Break kind of went down hill from there. Dad didn’t get to do as much fun stuff with you both as he wanted to during his time off with you.

We did manage to get a few hours in Sidney to explore the aquarium and the park.

We also did a day trip to Salt Spring Island. Although you both weren’t sure at first, you did like looking around at the Salt Spring Market and Ruckle Park. You both loved the sheep farm, the taco truck and the toy store!

We also found some time to just relax at our local beach spot, dig in the sand, climb the logs and fly the kite.

So all in all, it was a pretty fun spring break despite the chaos in the house.

We also celebrated Easter! We glittered the eggs this year. Fun while we were doing it, but messy as we are trying to eat the eggs. On Easter morning you were both thrilled by items the Easter Bunny left. When you opened up some gummy bunnies Liam, you exclaimed “These are just like the ones we used to find at great grandma’s house”. I’m so glad you remembered her. Easter egg hunting at great-grandpa and great-grandma’s was definitely not the same without poh-poh. This is the last of the hard holidays. You two are both so sweet to me still whenever I get sad.

I’ve put together another little family film. This is all about our Spring Break adventures. I’m so glad to have these fun little snippets of our life together.

I love you always,
Mama

XO XO

September 10, 2014

Vacation with Gerome | Tofino BC Photographer

So in the main office of my daytime job lives a little gnome named Gerome. He sat on a long time on my manager’s desk – and then Gerome would vanish for little short spurts. We found out that this little gnome was travelling the globe. He recently stowed away in our luggage as we went on a family vacation to Tofino, BC. (I will have to post my photos from that amazing week later). But here is what happens when a gnome stows away with a photographer and her family.

photo (27)

photo (26)

Adventuresome little gnome, isn’t he!

February 2, 2014

Four people in January

Okay so I promised I would blog more…ummm… it will happen. But one of the things I realized in the fall was that I was missing my kids and my family. So I have really stepped away from technology this year. Last year I was on my laptop every day. This year, I am only on a few times a week. It means that I am often missing out on the photography forums that I was a part of, or the editing and crafty creating I used to do. But also means I am more present with my kids. I have a come to realize that I don’t need to be all things – a good wife, good mother, good photographer, good IDP consultant, good blogger – I just need to be… Just Be. So that is what I am trying to do. Just be happy with the way things are… just be a mom some days… just be present with my kids… just be a good listener to my husband… just be appreciative of the many blessings in my life. And sometimes just be still. So there are days when lots of things don’t get done – but I will be happy with what is accomplished and what I can be that day.

My other goal for this year is to be a part of the photographic memories Ii am creating for my children. In 2011 I tried to do a family photo of us every month. I got to August and then it fizzled out. But this year I want to commit to those 12 pictures. It’s just 12 pictures. I can do it. In fact I encourage everyone to do it. If you are looking for a photography goal try this one – take a photo of you and your family once a month. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to be with your fancy DSLR – it can be with your phone. The important thing is to get in the shot. At the end of the year you will have 12 photos that you will cherish.

Here is my family in January:

january

And because I adore this photo that my husband managed to get while I carried our tired and grumpy three year old – here’s one more from January that is very special to my heart.

Ally&Liam

February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine’s Day

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 2, 2013

Sneak peek: Alison’s Maternity Session

I had the honour of meeting Alison, Shannon and their adorable dog Chloe today. They are expecting their first baby in March. (On my husband’s birthday to be exact). Alison has a perfect little bump. I can’t wait to meet their little bundle of joy. Thanks for letting me capture this special time in your lives Alison and Shannon!