He scowled up at me when I handed him the drink, stamped his foot and said, “No more sippy cups mamma! Kirby’s a big boy now!”. We had just started potty training him, and he had decided to take his new big boy status all the way. No more nappies. No more Eeyore and muslin […]

When Kirby was younger, this rocking musical elephant saved our sanity on more than one occasion. No matter how fidgety or upset Kirby was, the elephant managed to calm him down within seconds. These days, he sits mostly untouched on the toy shelf in Kirby’s room, but unlike some of the other toys the kids […]

“Tea for two” pencil drawing in Aoife’s sketching childhood book When I sit down to draw, I almost always grab Kirby’s sketchbook. Since he’s at home with me all day, his toys are usually right in front of me, inspiring me to draw them, or, if I’m having a bad day, making me curse as […]

The other day, I noticed Kirby was settling down for a snooze on the sofa, so I  took out my sketchbook and pencils and set up at the dining table. I outlined his Percy train and began working on making him come to life. Then I made the mistake of leaving the room to make a […]

I began the sketching childhood series of drawings for two reasons. 1) To document my children’s childhood. As much as I love photography, I find that nothing engages all my senses like drawing. It makes me see all the layers of a thing or a situation. To draw their lives then, makes me feel like […]

The house is quiet. Aoife is away on a sleep over, and Kirby has a tummy bug that makes him a bit quieter and clingier than normal. These hide n squeak eggs by Tomy have provided most of the fun for both of us yesterday and today. He plays by my feet and I draw. […]

We asked her what she wanted to do with her Christmas and birthday money. She quickly asked for a new camera to replace the point-and-shoot I accidentally smashed on the kitchen floor a few months back. She had used it since she was three and was pretty confident with it (you can see some of […]

I have a bit of a thing for wooden toys, and always choose them over plastic. So I love when the kids choose them as their favourites too. Unlike their plastic cousins, wooden toys just grow more beautiful with play. I even have a little dream of having a collection of well worn wooden toys […]

We bought the wooden push along cat for Aoife when she was little, but she never really took to it. She was probably a little too old for it when she got it, but I couldn’t resist it when I saw it in the shop. Sometimes parents get toys that are more for them than […]

During the summer, my insatiable appetite to record small, but meaningful moments in my family’s life had me pulling out my sketchbook and pencil again after years of neglect. As much as I love photography and take one my cameras everywhere, I find nothing gets to the core of those moments like drawing them. Drawing […]