the mandel 5

Came downstairs this morning to find Logan sitting on the end table reading a Dora book. He's an early riser so the whole room was still dark except for the light from the lamp.

WHY is it so hard to get anything decent of my three together? I just did 30 Easter sessions and I got great pictures of all those OTHER people's kids. This was my third attempt with these outfits (which I spent MONTHS gathering on eBay and at outlet stores). Here are some outtakes. What finally worked? Rob put Diego on my head. Who could look at that without cracking a smile??

Seriously, what is wrong with kids today? I had to SHOW them how to play with cars in the dirt. Sheesh!

Again, set up for a shoot and used Megan to test the lights. This shirt is from my very favorite store - Target.

Rob has had season tickets to the LA Avengers (arena football) for several years now. He has friends with season tickets right by ours and today they couldn't go so they let us use them. Even though Logan LOVES to watch and play football, this was his first live game. He was very interested in the ball going "up high" and the clapping and cheering. But he *is* only 2 so it was challenging to keep him anywhere near his seat. Megan had a great time - this was her first game this season. Nathan is our professional fan, complete with autographed jersey. a giant Sully on a building outside Staples...today was also the LA marathon - hence the cops....

So this is to show you all this shirt I got Meg on ellabeebaby . This is the biggest size they offer. Cute, cute stuff. I've always called her Lovee so I had to get it. Um, and yes, we are getting her hair cut as soon as I find the time to make an appt and get her there (I'm picky about where we go - there are two kid's cut places in town - one I like for her and the other for the boys - lol). Rob thinks they should all go to Rob's Barber Shop. One day I came home and the boys were practically bald!

We love where we live (except for the crowded stores and traffic) - an hour from the beach, an hour from the snow, and hour from the city. We tried the snow again this afternoon (same day as the balloons in the sun!). This time, there was a lot more and it was even SNOWING! The kids had more fun this time. They sledded and made snow balls. Logan kept saying, "Throw snow baseball." We were prepared this time with snow pants so there was less complaining and the boys just s lid down the hill without sleds and had a blast! I've been brushing Nathan's hair to the side so no one could see where he cut it in the font. Oh well, the secret's out! :) I have 25 Easter photo sessions coming up so I might not have updates as often for a couple weeks.

We are pretty good about spending one-on-one time with the kids but for some reason, it seems like it's been forever since I got a good chunk of time with just Lo. This morning Megan had AM kindergarten for a fieldtrip and Nathan had speech so I had three hours to play with Logan at the lake. I've been meaning to do ballooon pictures with him but I ended up liking the slide pictures better! He is always so happy. It was hard to find an expression other than a smile!

This is Brandon. At least that's his name today. Megan hasn't given her final decision. Nathan got to pick the bunny's middle name so big surprise, he's Brandon Nathan Mandel. We had a heck of a time finding a rabbit old enough to tell if it was male or female. We finally found this little guy in Simi Valley. We need a boy because Max is a boy. I had my heart set on a lop but this one is so gentle. Megan and Brandon played together in her room this morning for almost an hour. He's had a very busy 12 hours in his new house. And Cindy - the beautiful blanket you made Megan is safe and poop-free I swear. It just happened to be the thing that Megan thought was soft enough for her new little friend to sit on. :)

So, there aren't any pictures of Rob here but we celebrated his birthday at his mom's tonight. The kids were really hamming it up outside so I snapped away. I figured out why this is so much fun. When I was teaching, I put up a new photo on my monitor each day for my students to see. They looked forward to it (not as much as I did probably) and seeing my kiddos all day long on the screen was fun. Now I can do that here. There aren't 150 people looking here each day but that's okay. :) the boysies For everyone who thinks it is soooooo funny to tease me about Logan's blue eyes - here is proof that they run on the Mandel side, too! Logan and Papa Bob.

We saw Rob's sister and her boyfriend Lee today.....

Rob's mom is growing these beautiful flowers in her garden. She had some in vases on the table inside and they didn't even look real. It had just poured down rain on these. And look at that rainbow from today. It is FREEZING here - like 40-50 degrees in the middle of the day with snow on all the mountains around us.

I don't know why I let the kids paint. When I buy the supplies I think about how much they love to do crafts and paint pictures. I imagine hanging their pictures on the refrigerator. I forget that they paint everything else in the house, including each other! I ONLY buy the washable paints and markers now. Logan made each of his masterpieces with the star sponge. He loves stars because Dora catches stars. He particularly likes *blue* stars so he used blue paint. Nathan never needs help when he paints. He will produce a couple works of art with little fuss and then start playing with something different. Megan will sit and do this until the paint runs out. Tonight she made 8 pictures, all very different. Logan made 2. Nathan made 3. And the whole familiy made 1. I think their favorite part is washing their hands when they are done. The only thing they love more than messy paint is water!