the me and mine project {january}

Rich is loving

* stocking up on mini eggs.

* eating fancy soups.

* visiting Poland.

* Quinny grabbing his head for cuddles.

* getting prepped for moving house.

Lucy is loving

* going for walks with Quinn in the buggy.

* having new make up.

* making plans for the new house.

* taking weekly portraits of the kiddos.

* the evenings drawing back out.

Dylan is loving

* planning his new bedroom.

* naming capital cities.

* making his solar system model.

* going to Jump Street for his best friend's birthday.

* counting down to being six.

Everly is loving

* playing with her Belle and Moana legos.

* her snugly new duvet cover and pillow.

* eating mini eggs.

* the day she stays for lunch at preschool. 

* looking after her baby Rapunzel doll. 

Ashlyn is loving

* Kit, her cat.

* climbing on the sofa.

* giving cuddles.

* eating raisins.

* emptying the book shelf.

I normally start my post each month saying how quickly the time seems to have flown by... but not this month. It feels like January has gone on forever. And it feels like our December family photos were shared ages ago. Christmas and New Year feel like a distant memory. And I'm definitely ready for a new month to start now. Not least because February will be quite a big one.

Its the start of a new year of The Me + Mine Project, and I could not be more excited. This is the beginning of our fifth year of this project. And woah, doesn't that sound like a long time? So much has changed in that time from our very first monthly round up to now, and it still makes me so warm and fuzzy to look back at how our family has grown and changed month by month. I feel so proud of our collection of photos, and of all the many photos I take, these are the ones that I look back at most frequently. There is just something so powerful about family photos I think... that sense of belonging.

As much as this month is a new year and a new start, it is also a bit of an end to an era. Because this month is our final one in our home. This home. Our first home as a family. The home where we became a family. So yes, the setting might not look like anything particularly special, but I know that as we look back over our monthly family photos in years to come, this one will tell a story. We'll tell the children about why those yellow brick walls were so special to us, how we moved into those walls as newlyweds, and moved out as a family, about the many firsts that those walls were witness to.

Moving house is a strange thing. While we are all so excited about a fresh start, about putting our stamp on our new place, about having so much more space; it's bittersweet, because it means we leave behind somewhere that is crammed full of our memories, and is the only home these three little people have ever known. This little chapter of our family's story is coming to an end, and we are really looking forward to writing our story somewhere new... but that doesn't mean it won't tug at our hearts a little to say goodbye to the place that was the backdrop to the opening scenes in our life as parents, and in the children's lives full stop. 

So, definitely not the most exciting of settings for a photoshoot, but very special to us.

I can't wait to start looking through all the linked up family photos for another year. So many of the people who link up have done so for some time now, some from right back at the beginning, and it's so lovely to feel like I get to watch families change and children grow through this project. I am very pleased to say that I'm being joined again this year by last year's cohosts Alex, Fritha, Jenny, Katie and Lucy, and we also have the lovely Charlotte joining our team too, so do be sure to pop by all their blogs to see their photos and posts this month.

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