*saying goodbye to simon*

Dear Kaden,

We said goodbye to an amazing friend this week. Simon was an incredible furry friend, with a personality that could rival any human. He loved to snuggle and sleep on mommy's head at night. He wanted to be friends with everybody and everything. I remember a certain doggie friend visiting, and he wanted so badly to be his best friend. When Banana (TT's kitty) came to spend some time with us, Simon desperately tried to make her feel at home and cozy up with her, even though Banana resisted and most likely would have preferred clawing his eyes out. Simon drove cross country with mommy, on her lap, and moved several times, always making sure to put on his brave face and take care of those he loved. He adored Michael Meowgi and they were instant brothers when Mike joined our family. Simon made all kinds of crazy noises, not like anything I've ever heard from a cat...he sometimes talked like a pigeon and sometimes sand a bird calling song for the birdies to come closer.

He filled our world with so much joy and showed us the true beauty of unconditional love. We all loved him very much and we will never forget our sweet simon.

love,
mommy



















Were all so touched by all of the sweet messages and thoughtful words regarding Simon. They truly mean more than you know!


~how cute is my boss? she gave me these gorgeous flowers with a little garfield for kaden. And they are all a beautiful orange, just like a little orange furbaby I know.

*furbabies, potty, love and linkies*

~pensive potty face.

Now that we are starting to feel settled in our new home, and all the changes seem to have died down a bit, we have focused more on potty training. Not sure exactly why, but kaden is deathly afraid of sitting on the potty at all, so this is going to be a slow process! I've started implementing a hang out on the potty chat time post bath each night, and it has taken some serious bribery to get him tp participate! The top picture is after I fed him 5 goldfish crackers as reward. He still only wanted to have 1/4 of his tushie on the seat!

Some new favorite Kaden-isms:

I wanna go to Old MaCdonalds!
You go work, I go Colorado.
It's quiet time Kaden (naptime)....when is it Loudtime?

Kaden has been an amazing "big brother" and has been so loving and sweet to our little simon. We took Simon to the vet last week and they did a lot of tests to find out what has been happening with him. They came up with a few ideas, possibly heart disease. We have him on antibiotics right now to see if that will knock out anything else that could possibly be going on, but it is not looking very good for our little furry friend.




~chad has such a way of capturing his precious little run! This is at our favorite "purple mountain park" in Stapleton on a gorgeous spring day.



Congratulations to my Dad and Jennifer for getting hitched in Vegas this weekend! We are so excited for them, and can't wait to get home to celebrate with them! We love you both very much!



and here is a little weekend linky love. grab a cup of joe and enjoy!

This is my new favorite website for serious window shopping. Check out their latest lookbook. I'm drooling over everything!

I am completely obsessed with nutella! These nutella cheesecakes look absolutely scrumptious.

Chad has taught me that there is no such thing as trash...one person's trash is another's treasure. So many amazing ideas for this on Creatively Living Outside the Box.

and while you are over there...check out this amazing kitchen cabinet redo with chalkboard walls behind them. Brilliant!

I so want to make this amazing sign. This is my word for 2011. I think Chad would tell me I am failing at my word of the year by making the sign though :)

and I really think I need to have a mini getaway here:





Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!!

little joey tribbiani.

*wordless wednesday*

*songbird*

~just a taste of kaden's amazing songwriting.


~at the end, you can hear his concern over a poor little itsy spider that fell victim to Michael's crazy strong paws.


~singing a lil diddy for the deceased itsy bitsy. And you can see that even I can't always decipher his words...I think he may be yelling out "pasta", but I'm convinced he is saying "spider". bad mommy.

*sweet slumber and linky love*

~my big boy.


~This pinwheel from The Dollar Tree may be the best dollar I ever spent.


~super best friends.

I sometimes think back to that stage where Kaden struggled to fall asleep at night, and I feel a pain in my heart at what a challenge it all was. The sleep training, over and over again. He has come a looooong way, and for that I am so grateful! I am chuckling a little to myself as I write this, because anyone who knows me, will laugh at the fact that I purposely drive a little longer than I should just before naptime. I do this on our days off together hoping that we can bypass the struggle of naptime and just let him fall asleep in the car and transition him into his bed while he is deep in REM sleep.

Kaden has decided it's time to have another Go at the whole sleep struggle phase, and he is getting up and out of his crib 27 times after we say good night each night. This has been happening for the past 5 nights, and I was starting to lose it a little bit. I did a bit of "googling" (what on earth did Moms do before google!) and read the super nanny take on it, which is simple enough...don't give him any attention at all, and don't even make eye contact, just keep putting him back in his bed. I tried this last night and he finally went to sleep after about 7 times. It was so cute and so hard not to crack a smile. Each time I reached down to pick him up, his arms would already be outstretched up toward me and he would say "I sorry" in the cutest voice ever. Here's hoping tonite he only does it 5 times!

The weather has been gorgeous and we have been enjoying every minute of being outdoors! Could it be that Spring is here? Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Here is a little weekend linky love...

Celebrate all things BOYS! Girls get all the attention, it's time to celebrate the wonder of the boy.

I am so excited to make this hummus this weekend, it reminds me of a yummy one they had at my beloved Trader Joes.

This house tour makes me miss California a wee bit.

I totally want to make this for nugget's room, so cute!

I'm not a huge fan of Corned beef and cabbage, so instead we opted for Beef Stew on St Paddy's day, and this recipe with a little extra love was so yummy, and made my house smell incredible after a long day at work!

I am so wanting whale tissue holder, how ridiculously cute is this?

Completely mouthwatering.

This post is a much needed for all my mommy readers. It was written a few years ago, but I just happened to stumble upon it.

and because who doesn't need some new ideas for how to play with marshmallows?

for japan with love.

Today is bloggers day of silence, and I thought I would join in. Please give what you can.

*wordless wednesday*

~I wanna play with the big boys!

now I know my ABCs....

polar bear love.

Kaden is so in love with his Polar Bear Polar Bear, what do you hear book....he recites it by heart on random occasions. I tried so hard to capture it on the camcorder, but my arms are a bit too short and I think he was feeling a little camera shy. This is what I got....

*st paddy's day celebration*

~I wanna hold your haaaaaaand....


~gotcha.

I usually LOVE working my Saturday mornings, I work for a few hours, it goes by super quick, and it takes the place of a full 10 hour day of work (not to mention a day in daycare!). Today the St Paddy's day parade was taking place, and I felt just awful being at work. Thanks to my amazing mother in law, Kaden got to experience his first St Paddy's Day parade with his new favorite friend, Seamus. He absolutely loved it and couldn't stop talking about it all day. The weather was gorgeous and it was such a beautiful day to be outside! Yippee for longer days and more gorgeous sunlight!

I miss writing my little guy his monthly letters! I said that at two I would stop, but I feel like i just might do them sporadically when I feel I need to. I will do a full letter soon, but for now, here are some favorite of yours at *the moment* little man....

*superpower...you definitely scare the beejezuz out of your mama with your *sixth sense*.

*the last thing you said before you closed your eyes tonight...tomorrow, no work.no daycare. no scary guys(?).

*favorite munchies..goldfishies.

*favorite person on the planet...Un.Brah.

*favorite book/chant...polar bear polar bear, what do you hear? (must.get.this.on.video.cutest thing ever.)

*favorite cup...a shot glass. So far I have won the battles with you wanting me to send it to daycare with you, seeing as you don't quite comprehend yet what it means to have social services called on you!


~favorite shot glass.


~chopped my hair off. I seriously did not care what he did to it, I completely left it in his hands...I think I have come a LONG way from the days of curling every little piece of my hair at 4am! And why did I live in LA for ten years and never find someone who knew how to cut my hair?! I am so happy to have found The Parlour, and my hairguy is "Chad", which of course was a good sign! And hello 30 bucks for a cut and a glass of wine!


~chuggin his green milk to get in the spirit for the st paddys day parade.






~critics.

~ridiculous sweetness.


~this insane playground is just around the bend from our new place in back of an elementary school.


~the owwie he got from falling off the front step and face planting into a planter. I will miss out on the mommy of the year award for sure for that one.


~our new favorite reading spot.


~bubbles in the backyard.


~golfishies like to do bubbles too.


~daddy reading his favorite page of Oh the places you will go.