Just before our friends moved to Cambodia, the kids (who will be referred to by the initials P and I – as in the first letter of her first name and not an awkward way to refer to myself) came over one morning for our last play date.  Their parents were in major “finish up packing and clearing out the house mode” so for the first time, P and I’s little brother, T came along too.  Nik and I were in “frantically work to get the yard cleaned up for the going away party” mode so for most of the morning, the kids played outside while we worked.  Most of that time, they spent painting the house. The kids (well just P and Ellie at the time) have been painting the house since our very first preschool together back in September of 2013 so I was a little teary thinking about it being their last time together.

Just how does one paint the house?  Hand over paintbrushes and a small bowl for water, provide a larger receptacle of water for “paint” refills, find a large flat surface on your house (gate, fence, sidewalk, etc.) and paint away!  The best part is that when it’s hot, the house dries almost as fast as you can paint it and then you have to paint it again!  It is absolutely my favorite “keep kids busy for a long time outside” tip for parents!

Here’s poor little brother around the corner from all the fun, slowly scooting his way towards the action!

These two are so tall and grown-up!

Once the kids get bigger, they’ll start practicing writing on the house too (a great, non-threatening, non-permanent way to practice writing!)

Once the kids had completely had it with me ignoring them and trying to “just get a little more done”, we went inside for a little painting.  This had me a little teary too because of all the fun times we’d had creating art during preschool.

Little T got super-duper dirty when we were outside (way worse than it looks in the picture) and he appears to be pretty happy about it!

Here’s a short video to give you an idea for how silly the kids get when they’re together.

They were all laughing like Marko just before I started filming! 🙂

Yesterday, Ellie told me, “I love them very much still.” And it’s true, we do still love them so much even though they’re so far way in Cambodia.  We miss you!  Come back anytime you want and we’ll paint the house again together!