*home*

~enjoying some Abbotts.

We are back from our 12 day adventure back East, and I think we all feel full and refreshed from the visit. Spending time watching Kaden connecting with family and playing wildly with his cousins. Scrumptious moments with family and friends, smores in the firepit, chasing fireflies, listening to the bullfrogs playing in the pond at night, watching the kids have a jamfest in my brother's basement turned music studio. I am struggling to hold on to all of these wonderful memories, and hopefully piece by piece I can write about them over the next few weeks, so that Kaden has a chance to look back and relive all those moments too.

Perhaps it is a blessing that so many loved ones in my life do not live near me. Blessing in a sense that when I do have a chance to be together with them, my senses are heightened and I am able to soak up every droplet and don't take a single second for granted. Perhaps if i saw them everyday, I wouldn't notice all the teeny tiny beautiful details as I do when we have these gatherings (or perhaps I would). I suppose I am going there in my head because most of the time I feel sad living away from my family, but if I shift my perspective to the blessings of those small but amazingly precious moments, then I’ll feel more grateful than sad.

I have an overload of photos and videos to sift though, but for now, I thought I would post some of our favorites.


~the one ride Kaden ventured to go on at Sea Breeze. How happy is he!


~Kaden and Nick after about 5 minutes of "warming up" to each other.


~Nick reading one of Kaden's favorite books to Nora, Kaden and Ryan. Super cozy quiet time.


~on second thought....maybe not for kaden.






~Uncle Tobe and Aunt Kerry with their "kaden monkey sausage redwood miller".


~giving a *bump* to the amazing audrey.


~playing with Poppy.




~me and my amazing TT Nan.


~refueling.


~time with family is so good for the soul.






~the whole clan at Red Robin.

fun with the flip.

In an effort to make room on the FLIP for our adventure to NY, I thought i would post some of my new faves! enjoy!


~kaden going for a bike ride in his new pool.


~my new favorite. Chad just stuck the Flip camera on a table, so it's kind of hard to see, but it's still amazing. This a huge box of balls that came with the bouncy castle my bro got him. Chad made this fun game where you tip the box down the stairs. How cute is he? He could make a piece of lint seem super fun.



~rockin out to Go potty Go at 6am.

*mama panic*

~the "give mommy heart palpitations fountain".


~testin the waters.

I have always been a bit of an anxious girl. Being a mama has thrown me over the edge completely. I worry about everything and anything and everyone. I have crazy paranoia about taking my eyes off of kaden for one moment in the park and someone snatching him up. I think about the worse case scenario in just about every situation and try to figure out how I would handle it. I desperately don't want my anxiety to wear off on him, and I try to be aware of how I am coming across at all times with him. For example, I hate spiders with a passion, but don't want him to have any ill feelings or anxiety related to them. So what do we do...oh we capture about 3 or 4 every single morning and set them free in the backyard. I want him to feel differently about spiders...the way I wish I could feel! Yes I'm a bit of a freak...and I desperately need to get back into yoga, no?

This crazy fountain in the top picture gives me an absolute heart attack. We played there so much last year and he had absolutely no interest in climbing those stairs. This year, he is all about it. I let him walk up the little stairs to the top one time, and I just about had a heart attack. It took me everything I had to not tell him how "scary" I thought it was. I want him to decide for himself what is and isn't scary. *sigh* Being a mama definitely comes with it's moments of wonder, cup runneth over love and complete and utter panic and freak outs.


~I love this park so much. yay for summertime!


~wavin to the choochoo.

And some linky love for you...

New York City.

chocolate chip cookie dough brownies. a complete slice of heaven. please get in my belly.

and how perfect would these strawberries be for July 4th!

Go ahead and let your kid BE bored! love love love this.

and finally read this article and tell me what you think

and my favorite pin from Pinterest this week. I'm going to teach all of these to nug, so fun.