Summer in Boise

Here are lots of pictures to show some fun things the kids did with family in Boise.


My ckickidees at the zoo.





Playing with cousin Jennifer.



They got along famously as long as this car wasn't involved.







The kids practically lived off of popsicles. I don't know how many boxes my mom bought, but I know it was a lot.



This girl puts her mouth on everything. She got blasted in the face a couple times with the hose doing this very thing. She is such a sweetheart and very entertaining.



Camille and Jennifer were quite the pair. The pool was always full and if we didn't get their clothes off fast enough they'd have wet shoes. So when we were in the backyard they stayed in swim diapers.



We went camping and Grandma brought the slip n' slide. :)





Cute Camille making messes and trying to be big.



Paul with Aunt Anna. She likes to fly and I hate it. Anna is always good enough to go up in the airplanes with my boys so I don't have to go.



Caleb is ready to take Bear flying. That Bear goes everywhere with him.







Playing at the park with cousins. I loved how green this grass was so I took lots of pictures of the kids that day.



Nature hike. I love this kid!





Doing art crafts at the Art Museum. The kids were in heaven.



Cousin Josh. My kids worship him. He is a lot of fun.



Cuteness

Blogger's Spacing

I cannot figure out what is wrong with the spacing in Blogger. I cannot get the paragraphs to break up or the pictures to move apart. You can see what I mean in the post below. Does anyone have the same problem and do you know how to fix it?

I figured it out, and in case anyone is wondering there is an options drop-down menu in post settings. You actually have an option to make line breaks by typing "< br>" instead of pressing the enter button and that is what mine was set as. Why is that even an option?!!! Stupid computer programmer lingo. grumble grumble

Memory Blocking June and July

The short story is that June sucked and July wasn't much better. I wish I could block the whole 60 day mess from my memory.

The longer story is that Pat had been interviewing for jobs and nothing was coming of it. He was up for an in-house promotion or a location transfer. We were trying to decide whether we wanted to buy a house in Denver and raise our family there or continue interviewing for the transfer. While trying to decide our next several years, our landlord gave us notice that he wanted us out of the townhouse we were renting from him because he was moving back to Denver. We knew it was coming eventually because he let us know he was interviewing for jobs in Denver, (we were in a month-to-month contract) but it didn't make it any easier. It was just all coming to a head at the same time. It made for a stressful situation.

Since the transfer wasn't panning out, we decided to buy a house in Denver. There was a drop-dead date to get under contract to avoid temporary housing. That date came and went as we lost out on bids. There was one house we really wanted and were so disappointed to lose out on. The same afternoon we lost out on it Pat was asked if he was interested in interviewing in Dallas. He sent them his resume. Pat accepted an interview with Dallas several days later, but 2 hours before our realtor called and said we were the second highest bidder and the house is ours if we want it. We had a few hours to decide because we had to overnight the earnest money. So we sent them 2 checks (thousands of dollars) because the HUD was on the wrong memo line with the first. Two over-nighted checks later, Pat interviews and accepts Dallas's offer! WHAT? It was such a prestigious position and the pay was too fantastic to pass up...

Soooo, change of plans. Our realtor was amazing and was able to get us out of the contract, only both checks got lost in the mail on their way back to us. We received them 60 days later. The day before we closed on our house in Dallas. Really? Anyway, we put our stuff in storage because there was a 6 week time gap between needing to be out of our place in Denver and being able to move into a place in Dallas. I packed me and the kids up and stayed with my parents in Boise for the rest of the summer. Pat stayed with friends in Denver and then a hotel in Dallas.

As I reread this passage it sounds very much like a history lesson out of a textbook. All dates and events that can easily make me lose focus and start daydreaming, yadda yadda. In any case, the whole thing was awful to live through. I wanted to do what was best for our family only nothing seemed to flow into place. It was a daily struggle of worry where we would be in the coming weeks. I felt like my prayers were going unanswered time and again. I still think back to that time and wonder if it will ever make sense. If the pieces will ever feel like they were necessary stepping stones or if it will be as baffling in the future as it is now. All I truly remember is how desperately I didn't want to say goodbye to all the people I grew to love. And how desperately I still miss them.








Our last Hurrah! I regret not taking a picture of all the women. Love you guys!

May

We went to Dinosaur Ridge just north of Red Rocks in May. We hiked around for something to do one Saturday. The kids liked the dinosaur foot prints they are sitting next to in this picture.

I met up with Becca, a friend from high school, that lived in the Denver area for a short time. Our kids played and we chatted. It was good to see her.

Camille, where did your sucker go?

Oh, there it is!

Paul graduated from preschool!

We sure do miss Ms. Angie. We loved Paul's teacher and was really hoping she would get to teach Caleb also, but we moved. Paul has a kindergarten teacher that is not as easy to love. Paul and I wish he still had Ms. Angie. We miss you Angie!

Camille's 1st Birthday

Back in April was Camille's 1st birthday and I really wanted to get Camille a baby doll for her birthday. I knew that she probably wouldn't be into it right away, but I knew she would developmentally want to start playing with dolls before Christmas. So she got a Bitty Baby that was almost as big as her. Looking back, I probably should have gotten her something else, but she loves it now!

Also, something I probably should have thought through more clearly was the choice of cake. I thought a ladybug would be fun. I was going to give her the head to play in and cut the body section for everyone else. What I didn't think about was what color of frosting the head would be...

Despite my lapse in judgement, the cake tasted great and we had a good time!

Because I Promised

In August we moved to Dallas. It has been a tough move for our family. I think frequently about updating the blog, calling old friends, or looking at facebook, but instead I turn my back on the computer and open a book because just the thought of Denver makes me cry. I miss it terribly. There have been some who have requested updated pictures of the kids though and I promised I would post some. Hopefully I can pull myself together soon and update my blog starting with April, but for now this is all I can do.

Cute flower

Lots of rain here.

At the circus.

First day of school!

I found Camille licking a plastic strip of watercolors.

I found that I have a backyard and can hose Camille off now. :)

We are building an entertainment center in our family room. This is a picture of it about half done.

Happy birthday Caleb! You can see the painted entertainment center in the background. I will post another picture when it is completely finished. It still needs the bookshelves and the cabinet doors. I can't seem to get the spacing right on Blogger. The captions are confusing and squished, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

Professional Cruiser

Here is a little update on Camille at 11 months:

Camille loves to push things around. She is not walking on her own yet.


She is a snuggler. I love it! Camille's first word was "Hi," said in varying pitches. She starts low and goes really high so that her voice squeaks and then the pitch lowers at the end again.


She is a good eater and not picky. Hallelujah!


She is a professional cruiser.


Here are the kids helping with laundry. Camille is really good at emptying the baskets and pulling clothes out of the dryer. And boys will be boys.

St Patrick's Day

We set a trap for those sneaky leprechauns. The kids had such a good time! Here is a link to how we made the trap.
http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2011/03/16/leprechaun-trap-cake/


But that clever leprechaun got out of our trap by eating his way out of the cake and taking the coins with him. He tracked frosting all over the dining room, the little beastie.


That afternoon we went hiking as a family. What better way to spend St Patrick's Day than be surrounded by green.


Camille's a good hiker. In fact, all of our kids are good hikers. It is one of our favorite things to do as a family.


The boys found water. Big surprise! They thought it was cool to throw chunks of snow in and watch it melt as it floated away.


It was a pretty area. Sad thing is the weekend after we were there a wildfire swept through the place we were hiking.

Littleton Museum

We went to a local museum that lets kids do many things hands-on. There is an old homestead with a farm. They milk cows and everything. There is a section that is designed for imagination play and the kids could have played there all day.


The kids are playing in the barn waiting to milk the cow.


Camille had a good time playing with the pretend food.


Caleb has a fabulous imagination and he loves pretending to cook. This kitchen was heavenly for him. I wanted to get Camille a play kitchen for her birthday, but I couldn't justify it because Camille is still a little young for it, but Caleb would get a lot of use out of it. Maybe for Christmas, or maybe for Caleb's birthday. Is that weird to get your little boy a kitchen?


Having a pretend picnic complete with a butter churn.