girls just wanna have fun...

we have a new tradition here in the thompson house - the half birthday. as we are always looking for a new reason to celebrate, we love adding this one on. lila turned 5 1/2 today and boy did we party! not even a rained out day at the pool could dampen this parade...

they formed a band called the" purple rosies" and sang "hungry like the wolf"..........(gotta love the lead singer)

twister

lila is the type of child who is rarely bored. she just always manages to amuse herself. this morning sean was laying upside down on the couch complaining at just how extremely bored he was and she decided to take matters into her own hands. out came twister... sean said he was to bored to play. she didn't care. as long as i spun the dial she would be happy to play by herself she claimed. so i agreed. her playing alone lasted about one minute before the WHOLE family joined in...sparky included :)


we never laughed so hard!!!!!!!

lazy summer days

it seemed as if as soon as spring turned to summer - everything changed around here. i no longer have 3 children. sometimes i have the whole neighborhood and other times its just me and ben. it starts before i wake up. they are already out playing...my own children inlcuded! there are some new rules around here now...like : mommy needs to be awake before your friends come over! lila is big enough this year to run with the "gang" as sean calls it. she even looked bigger today with her shorts and cute ponytail. they are having a blast and we all go to bed fulfilled. them having had super busy days and me finally getting some much needed free time. today was a little different though. it was quiet. we woke up and had breakfast and were together. no one seemed to mind that it was just us. we found our rhythm just fine. we had fun. it was a lazy summer day. my favorite. around 2:00 the "gang" started to get together and they resumed their games. it was calmer today for some reason. it seemed as if everyone was on the same page. everyone seemed to be taking in the moment. this is summer...

i managed to capture some pictures of our lazy morning...


ben amused himself by playing "night-nights" on the kitchen rug while we ate breakfast.

lila settled in and drew all of the characters in spongebob...they were fantastic and from memory!
sean taught ben how to have a pillow fight. just as i was about to demand he stop as ben was too little for such a game, up pops ben with a pillow and he is laughing so hard he can barely breathe.
sean said that he has a feeling that he and ben are going to be really great brothers.


they made beautiful flower arrangements...sparky's dog bowl becomes something new
every day :)


it was actually quiet enough for ben to hear the airplanes!

sean found a renewed love for strawberries...fresh from our garden.

and they swang...for hours...they NEVER seem to tire of this great activity.

i hope i always remember this day...

one of my favorite days

i wait all year for summer solstice. a day we celebrate the sun, summer, and togetherness. we usually celebrate WITH the sun and have a day full of outside playing, laughing, and chinese food of course. it is quite a feat alone just to find a day that all of us have off together! the sun was not shining outside this year but we didn't let the rain stop us! the sun was present in so many other ways...


homemade seashell mobiles



lots of time for snuggling


laughter


and seeing how much the kids have grown since last year... (i can't believe ben just sat with the big kids and ate dinner!)

we were all together ...the hoppels, the macs, and the thompson's... and the sun was shining bright.

ahhhhh.....

after almost exactly TEN years, we have returned to camping. two days of togetherness, adventure, and happiness. no screens, no boredom (even during a rainstorm), and LOTS of fun. what kept us away for so long we don't know - but we are sure glad to be back.




we went for lots of great walks...some of the boys got a little out of control. why do boys just push the limit every chance they get??? they made nana so nervous!!!

i guess we should have helped angie instead of just photographing her, but it was too funny! leif certainly does not not take a back seat to life...here is is after being caught...a little wet but safe and happy!

there were many reminders on the necessity of being safe - none of which actually made it into their heads. how could they even think of staying with the group OR staying out of the water. there was a whole new world to discover!




we love being together -


there was plenty of time for thought, and wonder -
and i even got my first flower picked from ben :)
why does he look so big all of the sudden?????

our secret place

we have a "secret place." it's secret to the kids because we take a hidden trail and we NEVER see anyone else there. it is a place of magic and mystery and always the best time. when it seems that things aren't quite going our way, we go to the secret place. it's life's best medicine.

we usually find some pretty cool things...like this giant piece of gold!

...or "rescuing" this caterpillar from the water. lila took really good care of it and may have loved it a little too much. we are trying to teach the "if you love it set it free" theory on captured wildlife. we'll keep trying.

it was all too much for ben i guess :)

it is a place full of wishes come true.

here's a video of lila's big catch...