cross-eyed mary rocks the nation, and my mental family

miss 16's band went on a mini tour the last 5 days of the school holidays (last week). they belong to the school of rock, whose founder works tirelessly for young musicians in the area. because they have permanent premises, kids lucky enough to belong to the school quickly move beyond the 'garage' phase with their band, hosting gigs and even recording CDs.

their band is very popular - being all girl rockers probably helps with their cool factor!

she handed over her camera and these are some of the shots she came back with. these two were taken in the auckland domain soundshell. it was apparently very cold!

what a cool structure! they don't build 'em like that anymore!
this was taken at their first gig in wanganui. photoshopped the original. clearly you have to have shoulder length hair to be a TRUE rock chick!
i would pass out if i did that...
i used pioneer woman's hard light on this one

(and some other stuff i can't remember)

here's the original
these next photos are funny, although DH was 'not amused' at all! it's mothers' day on sunday (as i've already mentioned) and because his mum's in a dementia unit he thought that he would include a family photo in the card to help jog her memory. DH announced this at the dinner table, and with everyone going off in different directions, we didn't really have much time to pull it all together (clearly).

my awful teenagers both planned planed to ruin the shot, by (1) doing the bunny ears behind me (what is she 8?!?) AND (2) by pulling my hood up at the EXACT moment the timer went off. as you can see, i had no idea it was going to happen...

hmmmmmmmmmmm...

shortly after this DH got the shits and left to play squash, but thankfully, we had already got this one below. the canon's battery was dead, so we had to use my new compact, which is working out well, but doesn't produce the best shots inside at night (or maybe i should just keep practising!)getting everyone in the same place at the same time for more than a couple of hours is becoming a real mission. i realise this is a fact of life with teenagers and a large busy family, but i'm not ready to let all that family time go yet!

so, when DH and i decided to take the younger two to the rugby this friday and the older two wanted to come too, i was VERY excited! i can't remember the last time the 6 of us went out like that. can't wait.