a boy and his best friend

I have come to realize that I not only LOVE taking photos, but I feel all warm and fuzzy when I find myself capturing moments that i know are one in a million with my little man. I probably have shot at least a thousand photos of him in the 18 months he has been on this planet, and during this time i have been a temp SAHM, that number has easily doubled. We went over to see mamaw and papaw the other day, and of course kaden refused to leave the house without bringing along Elmo, one of his BFFs. His other BFF is a kitty named Mike, which is comical because no matter how we explain it to him, kaden does not understand the word "CAT". All of these furry creatures are named MIKE, which is our shy little kitty's name. Never mind that we have a cat named Simon that gets all the love and attention from everyone....I suppose Mike is a little easier to say. Anyway....I digress.

So while at Mamaw's house, kaden got a little crazy with Elmo, dancing and singing to him. It was quite possibly the cutest thing i ever did see.



I never did get around to posting pics from our father's day! We spent the day over at mamaw and papaw's house, and were happy to visit with Uncle Larry and Aunt Marie who were here on a stop on their cross country adventure.


~somehow this is the only pic I have of the two of them that is halfway decent, shame on me.





~explaining to uncle larry the importance of the hula hoop








~multitaskin







It has been SO hot here! We have been trying to find new way to stay cool, and one of our favorite places knows just how to do the trick! I wrote about this park (Central Park) in Stapleton when we first moved here, and we have been several times, and each time we fall in love a little bit more! They have these fountains that just shoot up, some are obviously for the "big guys" and these shown here were more for kaden's size. He was so sweet and excited about the whole thing...this was one of those times i was cursing my FLIP camcorder for dying.


~about to venture out of our cozy air conditioned home



~contemplating, do I jump right in?




~pretending he is "mike" and drinking the water.





~I had to keep sneaking over to the only dry spot in the place to snag my camera, and he would yell at me "maMAAAA" as soon as he noticed.




~I was a horrible mommy and left our towels just by the door, so I had nothing for us to dry off of, and we were both COMPLETEY soaked. thank goodness for the dry Colorado air which dries everything in a second! Just after i took off his wet clothes, he wanted to run off to this random area of the park, far far away from where civilization in his lil swimmers, and water shoes. He just kept pointing and running while cracking up like it was the time of his life. Completely heartwarming.


~here he is saying "down down down"


~ and of course "up up up"

Mamaw and I decided to check out another children's museum this week! kaden has been to the Denver Children's Museum, but this was the WOW children's museum! We taught him to say WOW the whole way there, and it is now his new favorite word, besides Elmo of course.


~I think he would have been completely satisfied if this little tikes slide was the only attraction at WOW.


~back off mommy, these are OUR trains.


~kaden's first ride in a vibrating car....doesn't look like it's one of his favorite milestones





and sort of an oldie but goodie...I found this video that was shot just before our move, hence the discombobliated mama AND house....I may get into HUGE trouble one day with letting his naked lil body run all over youtube, but for right now...enjoy.


~please not me in my crazy jammie pants guarding the corner of the dresser...just seconds before this, kaden got himself twisted up in the curtain and smacked his head in the corner of the dresser.

kaden will have goldfish crackers please.

No has become a huge word in this house....he says *no* about 4 different ways, and it gets me everytime. It's too cute. Sadly, this is the last video I will probably have of it because our FLIP camcorder just went passed away. Who knew that the batteries on those things have a shelp life of a year? Would have been nice to get the memo before we bought it! I digress. Please excuse our couch sans slipcover, it was in the laundry.

happy father's day

happy father's day to you chad. you make us smile every day!

to chad, the man who makes the most perfect fried chicken, makes every person feel comfortable just with his mere presence, who musically can invigorate your soul, who can hold his own in any type of situation, and who loves with his whole heart. happy father's day to the man whom our little boy idolizes. we love you.





and it wouldn't be a happy father's day post without saying happy father's day to my daddy...the man who taught me about following my dreams, and going after what is in your heart. thanks for always believing in me daddy. I love you and miss you so much.

chillin with nuggie

play.play.play.

I could definitely get used to hanging with my little man instead of working full time! soaking up these moments with him, and our lazy days at the park together. he is talking so much lately, and some of the words he says I feel horrible when I'm not altogether sure what he is truly saying. he loves for you to point at things and explain them to him...and then he likes to go back and review everything he has learned, saying the words back to me. he is just so thirsty to learn!

Right now his favorite things are all things choochoos, headbutting (BUMP! that's what he says) things/people, and all things Elmo. Poppy gave him an Elmo doll right before we left cali, and he now takes it everyone and anywhere, causing me to panic that he will drop it somewhere and it will cause a complete and utter meltdown.

There is this incredible park in Littleton called Bellview park. They have a great ChooChoo train that goes around the park, a little petting zoo/farm, a huge airplane that sits off the ground, two playgrounds and an amazing little creek that all of the kids wade in (some new little friends were kind enough to show us the little fort they were building for their crawdad friends.)


~a little skeptical about the ride on the choochoo





This is the coolest park right near Mamaw's house. Mamaw and i took him over there one afternoon, and he was absolutely smitten with the splashing fountains!





~straight up drinking out of the wading water.yum.



~for our rainy day adventures, we love the choochoo at the barnes and noble next door!


~the fun indoor kiddie pool at the rec center...we spent HOURS in there! This is the only pic i could get because my lens got all fogged up with the steam from the pools.







~lovely 4 hour nap on the floor with the little man.








~thanks to mamaw and papaw for watching the man so that chad and I could play and explore denver the proper way...happy hour!

much to be smitten with...

~trying to give big hugs to all of his friends

We spent this past weekend at mamaw and papaw's house and had such a good time! Chad's cousin David came down from Ft Collins with his wonderful wife Natalie and their sons Jack and Caleb. Jack and Kaden became BFFs and bonded quite a bit. We are looking forward to hanging out with them more now that we are so close!


~mamaw showing him how to fill up his bucket to help her water her flowers


~might need to work on your aim a little buddy


showing off his tushie after a diaper change outside






~papaw indulging him with his newest obsession, Trains. He would spend every moment he could with papaw's collectible trains if he could. He woke up in the morning and immediately looked at me and whispered "choo cho".


~jack having a heart to heart with kaden in the bath


~the amazing view from mamaw and papaw's porch


~happy birthday to Caleb!


~jack and kaden swinging around, not good quality pic, but I love the way the mountains look in the back


~saying byebye to his buddy/cousin Jack


~mamaw goin for a ride on bri's new toy


~yogurt finger painting on a hot day


~rockin cousins jake, nick and ryan's shirt!

We spent the day Saturday in the pool at Mamaw's place. Of course, I forgot all forms of camera, but luckily realized I had stashed the Flip away in the diaper bag to shoot this little diddy. In addition to this big boy pool, there is a baby pool that is one and a half foot deep. Kaden absolutely loved it and bounced around like a little fishie, until of course, mommy took his eye off him for one second, and was more than an arms length away, and some little boy cut him off and he fell forward, for what seemed like two minutes face forward. So scary! He was absolutely unphased but of course I was like, all done with the pool! As you can see from this video, he was right back in moments later having a good time with his cousin jack and daddy.




Kaden is just so in love with his Uncle BRAH. He gets so happy whenever you even so much as mention his name.


~sharing snacks



~checking out uncle bri's new toy









The sunset was completely unbelievable that evening, and sadly my little point and shoot camera could not capture it. Here's the best it could do...use your imagination.