Snapshots: Summer

Wind + Cottonwood Tree = Summer Snowstorm!!

view of our neighborhood during a morning run

preparing for BSU football season

showing Gramps why we chose and love Boise

Storm Chasers

finally showing an interest in books

cousins watching the garbage truck

these two boys crack me up.....!!

My three favorite kids in the entire world!

trying their hardest to be naughty 

 

Cameron and Grady--the cutest blond boys in Boise. 

Adding dirt to the water table was a good idea in theory...

Mud bath for all!

Love for Daddy

wrangling two kiddos for a photo shoot

Today, we give extra thanks to D whose hard work and perseverance has enabled us to have this wonderful life in Boise!

(Although he somewhat resembles my son, the baby boy in this photo is not Cameron...Cam had wondered off at this point in hot pursuit of something that wasn't his.)

Sophie spent Saturday night dancing with her friends at the neighborhood concert on the Village Green.

Sophie and her good friend, Mason

Cam is seriously a cool kid with his collar popped and his hair spiked.

Happy Father's Day, D-- heart overload for YOU and our life!

A Million Directions

That's our neighborhood in the background!

Cam-man loves the water! 

Soph at the zoo with a few of her favorite new friends 

 Summer 2013 in Boise has begun fast and furiously!  Our days have been filled to the brim with sunshine and a plethora of outdoor activities.  We have celebrated my birthday, trekked to swimming lessons and soccer practices, enjoyed more play dates than humanly possible, continued to develop wonderful friendships with new faces, appreciated our regular time with our special friends/family, Chris, Ali, and Grady, and have adopted the lifestyle here in Boise that we've always wanted.  I jetted away for a weekend away with special college girlfriends, and we enjoyed having Grandma in town for a few days.  Doug has been travelling consistently and working hard with his job, but he enjoyed having one of his close friends come visit for a weekend.  There have been evening bike rides, early morning runs, family walks, impromptu bbqs with friends, mom's nights out, hikes....seriously, we've been going in a million amazing directions lately.  Our days are full and we are loving life.

Yes, one needs water wings to achieve maximum height on the trampoline. 

Sophie said it perfectly last week, "I love living in Boise cuz I get to make like 65 new friends but I also get my old friends from Bellevue, too."

"We're playing marching band, but I'm the boss and Cameron doesn't really get it."

I had to pull the car over last week to snap this photo--they were doing this without any prompting! 

swarming Grandma with love

Sophie playing with her friend-- we love the foothills and our new town!

A quick kid update: Cameron has been our challenge lately.  He is a quick mover and can even do a semi-jog when he sees something he wants (a ball, a rock, the street, a random choking hazard).  He dislikes sitting still--his activity is both entertaining and exhausting! Unfortunately, the gap between his level of understanding and his level of communication continues to widen.  He is sly and sneaky, and he knows exactly what he is doing! The downside of this occurs when he becomes frustrated and screams.  He is quick to anger, so we have too many tantrums each day that result in lots of tears.  He has become really attached to me, and we wrongly assumed that this would lessen when I spent the weekend away with girlfriends.  Unfortunately, that's not the case.  But, the amazing thing is that our 1 year old boy can really PLAY---he drives cars and trucks around, throws balls into the hoop, loves blowing into a harmonica and hammering wooden nails in his tool bench.  He is actually pretty good at T-ball and runs around the backyard with a plastic golf club in one hand and a bat and ball in the other. He is EXACTLY the way that Doug's mom describes Doug as a young boy.  Tonight, there were two tractors working on the farm behind our house.  Of course this made Cam yell "Oh wow! Oh wow! Oh!" Cam had no shirt on and he was sweaty and covered in sunscreen, food, and pool water.  Doug scooped him up on his shoulders and the boys walked down the trail to watch the tractor.  I loved the moment too much to interrupt it by running to grab my camera, but it was a precious moment.  Lucky Cam.

Sophie's doing great. Summer in Boise with Sophie can't be described by anything else other than FUN.  She's my sweet, little girl who is growing up to be a good friend, an imaginative story-teller, a thoughtful daughter, and a brave learner.  I love my days with her.  She is her own little person, and I love being her mum.  Top quote of late: (in tears) "But, when am I going to be a woman? It's taking so long for me to be a woman."

We have got so much to look forward to this summer--- our calendar is full! Happy. Busy. Summer.

Firsts: Haircuts, Germs, and Visitors

The Whitfields have had some busy, exciting, and exhausting moments recently.

Dressing like twins

Laugh all you want (I'm talking to you, Papa!)....but my 3.5 year old and my 1 year old both got their FIRST haircuts at the same time.  Sophie's hair is out of control.  It varies from beautiful curls to a bird's nest.  Her hair in the back has really grown quickly, but we are still eagerly waiting for her front sides to catch up.  Because we had waited so long for any hair to grow (who can forget our bald girl?!!), I've been hesitant to give her any form of a haircut.  Cam, on the other hand, needed a trim, so it provided the final push for me to take them both into a salon.  I don't have many photos of the actual process for two reasons: 1.  Cam hated it, and he sat in my lap the whole time.  Sophie sat perfectly still and silent for her little (barely noticeable) trim, but I was so preoccupied in making sure that the stylist didn't cut off too much. The stylist and I had creative differences...

His haircut makes him look so much older!

The past 2 weeks have been plagued with the flu.  Projectile-type conditions....for me, for Cam, and for Sophie. All at the same time...all at the same time when Doug was out of town.  It was horrible.  Cam didn't appreciate his first major flu, and he looked so sad with his bottom lip out.  Sophie threw up all over herself and her carseat (my first time dealing with vomit in every crack and crevass of a carseat).  She actually got sick just as we had pulled into the hair salon parking lot for our first attempt at family haircuts.  It was a horrible 24 hours of me texting Doug that I was dying a slow death and could barely take care of myself, let alone take care of a baby and a preschooler.  When Doug arrived home from his work travel, he was shocked at the state of the house.  He admitted that he has never seen our home so chaotic and messy.  That's when he knew I wasn't exaggerating my slow death.

sick baby boy fell asleep during lunch at The Merc...love the snuggles but hate the sickness

But the best (and then worst) news is that we had our first (non-family) visitors! Our good friends, the Volks, came for Memorial Weekend.  The first 2 days were awesome. Quinn and Sophie had a fabulous time playing inside and outside, jumping on the trampoline, sharing toys and then not sharing toys, loving each other and then tattling on each other.  Jules and Cameron continued to develop their love connection, but that will take time.  The adults played games, enjoyed late dinners after all the children were asleep, sat outside laughing until it was pitch black, and took turns managing the varying demands of 4 children under 4!  Then the germs struck again...initially, it appeared that just Cameron was coming down with a fever and another sickness, but then the germs knocked out Jenni and then Quinn...and then once the Volks survived their flight home, Ben and Jules were taken down by the germs.  It was a sad and disappointing end to the visit, but we are so thankful that they made the trek to see our new city and our new life here in Boise.  We loved being able to show it off to them and have them support our decision to move our family here.  Hopefully, the absolute chaos created by the flu won't deter their future visits!  I don't have any photos that truly capture the good parts of the weekend! But we did take some photos of the cute preschoolers, and next time the Volks come to Boise, we will be better at remembering to take photos of the dads playing catch (and then D accidentally nailing me in the head), or the 4 adults playing an obstacle course in the backyard, or Q and S hugging in the bicycle trailer while I took them on a hunt for the neighborhood goats (not, ghosts, like Q thought!).

She calls him "Quinnie" and he calls her "Soph".... they're adorable. 

Catching rain on their tongues

Waiting for their gourmet corn dogs to cook... this did result in pushing and tears! I love Cam trying to join in. 

In other news, Sophie has completed her first year of preschool.  When I told her that we were so proud of her finishing such a great year, she replied, "Yep, I didn't think we'd ever make it" and then shook her head back and forth slowly as if recalling some long days molding playdough or passing the snacks or singing songs.  Hysterical.  Now it's summer!!