Uh...what?

I was browsing through our pictures and noticed a few of these types of pictures flashing by. Will loved doing this. He's barely 3 in these and I'm still in awe that a.) it even occurred to him to make towers like this, b.) that a couple of them are pretty intricate for a 3 year old and c.) that he had the patience to do. I see flashes of this type of focus every once in awhile and it's kind of neat.

Summer is winding down and it's kind of sad. I'll be sending of both Will and Malia for a good chunk of the day and while I know I'll have PLENTY to do, I'm still going to miss them. Thankfully, they will only be a half a block away :).

Malia's 5!

Malia turned 5 on July 9th and we celebrated with some friends, water games, ice cream cake and body paint. Here are the 4 kitty princesses. I painted their faces and if you can't tell those are tiaras on their foreheads. I tried to dissuade them knowing my lack of artistic flair, but these 4 (especially) know what they want. I don't think I did that badly. They loved it anyway :)

I can't believe sweet 'lia is 5. She got her photo album out yesterday and we were looking at pictures from the day she was born. It feels like way less than 5 years ago. I'm so thankful for her each day and often find myself mesmerized by her stories and facial expressions, the many ways she seeks to show you her love and her crazy upper body strength. I can't wait to see what the next year holds. I love you sweet 'Lia!!

Pigtails and Paint

I love this picture because it was the ONE day she let me put her hair in pigtails and she was so happy to sit and paint all by herself. She's so yummy!

I know...

it's been way too long. One day your 3 year old breaks your camera to computer port and BAM a year and a half flies by! We're finally back up and running (it's hard to find good IT help these days). Now i just have to squeeze a few minutes in every couple of days to post. We'll see.

It's summer and things have gotten kinda crazy over here at the Mundell casa (really the Goode casa. thanks Goodes!). Our schedule is way more relaxed and we're trying to focus on FUN. There seem to be differing views on what FUN means though. I guess if you're 6, 5 and 3, FUN means endless sibling squabbles, taunting each other, whining about how unfair life is and demanding better toys and outings. With the help of our friends and an ice cream sandwich here and there, we've managed to alter their definition of fun most afternoons. We made a Summer Fun list and so far we've: Gone to a water park, gone to the movies, ate ice cream for dinner, gone to the beach, had a BBQ w/friends, had a water party and done some fun summer projects including the one above. This is Malia painting a flower on Will's back. We had the Speake boys over for some water play and I decided to let the siblings paint on each other with washable paint. It was a huge hit and we just ran through the sprinklers again to clean them off.

We love Mama!!

We had a great Mother's Day kicked off with a lovely breakfast at East Beach Grill, which just happens to be downstairs from the site of our wedding reception over 9 years ago. Who would have thought we'd be sitting at breakfast watching our three kids fight, I mean play in the sand?!
To say that my kids love their Mama (I'm mommy, she's mama) would be a HUGE understatement. Though it's a good problem to have, my kids routinely and consistently fight over my Mom's attention every second that she's around. I don't think it is a stretch to say that they wish they could make their siblings magically disappear so that they could have Mama's undivided attention. My mom does an amazing job giving each of them their time and sincerely engaging them where they are at for the moment. I can't imagine what life would be like without my parents in town. What a daily gift they are to us.

Summer already?

 

 

So it's been quite hot here the last few days. How hot, you ask? Outside it's been in the mid 80's and inside our casa its been in the upper 80's. Something about the afternoon sun hitting our living/dining room means that its cooler to be outside. Go figure. I've done my best to keep the kids cool despite risking skinned knees and such on our oh so plush concrete. I never thought I would long for a yard with green grass, but I do.

May Day!!

The kids and I made May baskets on Tuesday. We put treats and a flower in them and then the kids delivered them. Will chose to give his to our neightbor Fiona, which was sweet. Just after this picture all three of them snuck across the street and over to Fiona's front porch to drop off the basket. They loved the sneaking part the most I think. Malia chose to give hers to Syd at gymnastics so there wasn't much sneaking involved, but fun just the same. Ian chose to give his to his mom. It was such an easy craft and fun opportunity for them to practice serving. Will did say at some point, "I want someone to sneak up to our porch and give us a May basket." We didn't end up getting one, but I know the kids enjoyed giving their baskets away.
I'm hoping to keep this tradition up over the years. I remember doing it quite a bit when I was younger and want to take every opportunity I can to help them give to others. The May Basket tradition in our neighborhood was a bit more involved than most I've heard of since and involved some chasing and a kiss if you got caught dropping off the basket. I think we'll drop that part :)