last-minute roadtrip

7/21 - Luke's work today included some golf in Cedar Rapids.  I decided last minute (at 7am!) that I should pack up the boys and ride along with him.  I threw together our bags, gave Cainan a bottle, took a shower, woke up Boaz, packed breakfast and snacks, borrowed a dvd player from a neighbor, and packed up the car- and we were out the door a bit before 8!  I was pretty impressed with myself. We dropped Luke off at the golf course and went to spend some time at my sister's house!

It was a nice hot day, and the kids enjoyed some time outside. Hannah had Bible School today, so we only got to see her for a few minutes.  The rest of the cousins had fun on the swings, eating strawberries from the garden, and digging in the sand.  

Boaz attempting to push Zach on the bike...

Having a deep conversation??

It was a great day and I was thankful my sister didn't mind me coming on such short notice!    The boys had so much fun outside getting dirty baths were definitely required tonight!  This was the first time that Cainan and Boaz took a bath together.  Cainan LOVED sitting up on his own and splashing with his brother. 

Can you tell he adores his older brother??

7/19- Cainan spent this past weekend sick.  :(   He ran a fever for several days and didn't sleep much at all.  And if baby isn't sleeping, neither is mommy!  Here's a photo of what Cainan looked like for most of the weekend... crazy snot nose!

7/20- While Boaz never officially got sick, I did notice one day that he didn't quite have as much energy as normal.  He gave himself a time-out and spent some time laying in the corner with the birthday card he colored for Grandma Bartlett. 

cainan 9 months, new instruments

7/17 - The heat index today was 110.  Boaz thought it would be a good day to wear this stocking cap that a lady from Grandpa Bartlett's church made for him.  He wore it all day- even outside in the heat. 

He decided this morning that he'd really like to make a microphone and a piano.  So we got busy creating.  Here's our attempt at a microphone.

Our attempt at a piano...

And here's daddy's attempt at following Boaz's directions and doing a concert! 

A video of the nice microphone.  Boaz sang me the ABC's... lately the end of the song goes "next time sing you, love you too!"   I like that ending much better!

Cainan turned 9 months today!  He's scooting all over the place, beginning to talk, attempting to pull himself up, feeding himself, and super close to crawling.  He's not a baby anymore!

He's also drooling like crazy!  Do we have some teeth in the works??

I really enjoy watching our boys interact with each other.  Here's a glimpse of Cainan learning to stand on his own... and Boaz doing what he does best- talking a lot about something!  :)

I just thought this was funny... Cainan was fine after the tumble!

a visitor from africa

7/16 - Today was a really special day for us.  Our friend, Joni, came to visit!  She is currently working for Samaritan's Purse in Liberia and has been in Africa for about 5 years now.  We've seen her once since her big move to Africa- when Boaz was a baby.  It was so fun to have her back to spend time with both boys!  She flew in at 4:30pm Thursday and hopped in a car at 8am Friday morning to drive 4 hours to get to our home!  It was a nice sunny day, so we enjoyed an afternoon at the pool.

We enjoyed some dinner out at a mexican resturant...

And she enjoyed some snuggle time with the boys.

It was so wonderful to see Joni again.  She and her roommate, "T", were really involved in college ministry stuff back in the day when that was my role at the church.  There are just certain students that you form special bonds with... they are two of them.  It's so amazing to watch where God is leading Joni and I'm inspired by her faith and her adventures. 

Today we also said goodbye to a neighbor.  Dave has been so great to live across from.  He has 3 boys himself and often comes over with boxes of hand-me-down clothes and toys.  He keeps us well stocked.  Today as he moved out, he brought us two more boxes to dig through... the boys enjoyed playing in them.  We'll really miss Dave and his boys, but are excited about the new family moving in.  They have kids the exact ages of ours!

7/14 - Boaz is enjoying entertaining Cainan more and more... here he is making Cainan laugh with 'pop goes the weasel.'

*Update since Joni was here... we were watching a show called "Dinosaur Train" the other day.  The paleontologist came on and was explaining that a certain dinosaur lived primarily in the US, and another dinosaur lived in Africa.  Boaz immediately said, "Wow, Africa!!  Just like Joni!!"   :)

food & beverage

7/15 - Cainan is now officially taking all bottles.  It's a bit bittersweet for me... doesn't he look so grown up drinking it all on his own?!  My baby is growing up too fast. 

Yep- this is what Boaz wore to Aldi today.  The old ladies got a real kick out of him. 

I love the way he waddles around with his hands in his pockets-  pretty hot stuff. 

Excited about the stickers on his shorts.

After we got back from the store, I gave Boaz the task of washing up all our fruit.  We made some babyfood, froze some, and ate some! 

Boaz took his job very very seriously.  It was nice to have the help!

Boaz gets excited over the littlest things.  Today I told him he was going to have a really special lunch.  Does this look special to you?? 

As I was putting it together, I realized that everything was shaped like a stick... thus the 'special stick lunch' was born!  And boy was he excited about his special lunch!  Check out this face... and the video!

Boaz has recently begun singing his own prayer before meals... see if you can recognize it!

band concert

7/13 - My boys were goofy today.  Cainan, once again, kept getting himself under and between new things.

And Boaz entertained me with awesome outfit combinations. 

This evening, we got to enjoy the gorgeous weather and head out the the park to watch grandpa's band concert!  Boaz really really loves music and loves to watch his grandpa play the trombone!

We packed some picnics for the boys.  (Luke walked down to get Pablos for us!!) 

They enjoyed eating, dancing, and clapping the evening away.

Boaz is very intrugued by Luke's Mountain Dew.  He's not yet tried a sip, but would really like to.  We ask him when he gets to try pop and he'll somberly reply, "When I'm older."

By the last song of the band concert the boys were getting a bit tired and restless.  They started a little wrestling match on our blanket.  It was pretty funny.  (and hopefully not too distracting for the others around us!)  It was a great night for all of us.

Cainan had a rough time getting to sleep.  He was up late with us.  Luke was holding him while I was in the back of the house for a bit.  Luke came running back with Cainan really excited... 'I just got his first word!'  Cainan said 'dada!'   He's said it several times since then.  Here's the best video we could get of it!  Our baby is starting to talk!

the battle of the murphs

7/12- Luke's two area stores decided to duke it out on the softball diamond this morning.  Both stores got tshirts and assembled teams of current and past employees.  It was such a fun morning... and the softball was actually respectable!  Luke and I both got to play on the CF team.  Here's Luke figuring out the batting order.

 

And almost hitting one out of the park - hit the top of the fence... best hit of the day by far!

Our CF team

The Kimball team

And the new traveling trophy... this was so much fun that I'm sure it will keep happening yearly.  We even had about 15 fans in the stands!!  Parents, spouses, friends... it was a blast. 

Our friend Jane, and her girls, watched the boys for the morning so that Luke and I could play.  On the way to Jane's to drop them off, Boaz told me that I was going to have to leave so he could play with Jane all by himself.  :)   They had a great morning... Boaz couldn't stop talking about all the fun he had.  

Cainan's new communication involves lots of spitting currently.  He often looks like he has a beard. 

a fun saturday

7/10-  Luke went golfing this morning, so the boys and I hit the town for some fun.  We walked down to Scratch Bakery for a smoothie and then to the downtown farmers' market!  Boaz found this flag while we were walking- that ended up being the highlight of the morning for him!  (and the snoovie, of course!)

 

It was such a nice hot day that we ended up at Grandma & Grandpa Bartlett's house for lunch and swimming.  And some trombone playing!!  (I forgot to fix the red-eye on this one... bummer!)

Boaz is turning into quite the little swimmer!  (with floaties)   He can play all on his own in their pool and has fun swimming after toys.  I'm so glad that both boys are comfortable in the water!

7/7- more of Cainan crawling under things and getting himself into tight spaces...