Jenny plus Chad equals Kaden

crazy snow.

2012-02-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend! We have been snowed in all weekend after getting hit by a crazy snowstorm. My work closed for two days, all the school districts, the gov't buildings were closed, even IKEA closed early! I wish we had gotten out to take more pics of everything, it was all so pretty! I love this link of pics that the Denver Post posted, you can so see the joy on the faces of the kids outside playing! The combination of the snow and wind made things pretty brutal. We tried to take Kaden out sledding, and he went down one time, and decided that was enough! It was a super cozy weekend, and so nice for us all to be together, which seems to be a rarity lately!

Baby Miller is being super busy in there, showing me his crazy karate moves the moment I get ready to get some zzzz's. I feel so much bigger than I was with Kaden, and every move seems to be exhausting! I think doing prenatal yoga with Kaden helped me so much more than I know. I barely have time to brush my teeth now, let alone attend a yoga class!

Going to keep this crazy short, as I'm up to my eyeballs in end of the month paperwork for work. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

a few pics of the storm.....

~the snow covered up half of him!

~hidin.

~kaden tells us that he learns karate in daycare.

lil bit nesting, lil bit mary poppins.

2012-01-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

Kaden has been in love with Mary Poppins for some time now, but lately the scene with "Step in Time" has climbed ahead of supercalifragistic (which is also the name he has picked out for the baby coincidentally). We must have replayed the scene for two full hours with him perfecting his choreography juuuuust right!

my favorite kadenisms this week...

*hey mommy, where's babe? (referring to daddy, not the pig)

*mommy, when I get home, let's put on our jammies and make a smoothie and sit and look out the window. (1pm on a sunday, love it.)

~We have been taking out all the baby stuff and getting some new stuff along the way...and kaden has been taking a big part in the nesting process. He had to try out everything with HIS "babies" first, just to be sure.

~his family portrait with his "babies".

~playing with my phone at naptime.

white trash olympics.

2012-01-10T20:57:00.000-08:00

There is just something about a long weekend that sometimes leads to randomness. Our randomness was also thrown in with a little quirky and straight up WT. We started the escapades off by meeting up with a group of Chad's best friends from high school at a sort of reunion at a place called Casa Bonita. A HUGE restaurant complete with cliff divers, puppet shows, a waterfall, mariachi band, caves to explore and a huge arcade...and was even apparently in a South Park episode. Chad has been telling me about this place since we first met, and I was excited to see it for myself. I was warned of the notoriously horrible food, but yet was still taken aback by how truly BAD it was! And yet, there was a line out the door when we got there! A strange atmosphere, but so much fun with little ones. I think it would be truly hilarious to take someone on a first date here...the ultimate impression.

~cliff diver. kaden now has decided that he wants to work at Casa Bonita and be a cliff diver when he grows up.

~Uncle Brian. amazing.

~the whole group of us....all of Chad's buddies from high school, such an awesome bunch!

~some creepy dragon is a creepy cave. weirdest.place.ever.

~poor lil guy's look of terror in one of the caves.

~this place is heaven for kids. There was even a pinata.

~checkin out the mariachi band with uncle brian.

Then we headed over to the Great Western Stock Show today to continue the adventure. I have heard so much about this, and thought Kaden would absolutely love it, especially seeing the animals. We spent most of our time checkin out the animals....so many piggies, cows and horses. We smelled like cow poop by the time we left there, pretty awesome.

~we were both so in love with the pigs, so cute!

~cows on parade.

~feeding Zip.

and we finished off the Olympics with dinner at Gunther Toody's diner, craptastic food, but hey they have hula hoops so who cares?

We did have spurts of normalcy throughout the weekend, a little zoo, playdates with new friends and sledding adventures.

~roaring at the lion.

~nosey-nosey with the baby giraffe.

~ready for some serious sledding.

~I found this pic on Chad's phone taken on Xmas eve. The church that we go to on Xmas eve is incredible, and downstairs they have this labyrinth where one can walk and have a meditative experience. Kaden spent most of the service down here, as he wasn't feeling well and really couldn't get into the spirit of church this evening. As much as I adore this shot, it also creeps me out a little and reminds me of a movie poster for a horror movie. Is it just me?

linky love

I have been following this incredible mother's journey on her blog now for a while, and I was completely heartbroken to hear that her little one had passed away. I hope that he is at peace now and that through all of this, we can raise awareness about EB so that we can put an end to this horrible disease. Tripp's blog is incredibly heartbreaking and inspiring. Hug your babies a little tighter tonite.

Blueberry Pie Baked Oatmeal. Need I say more?

I dream of the day we can own our own home and have a playroom! This post has so much inspiration, I love all the fun bright colors!

This article about the importance of unstructured play for little ones so resonated with me. I have been struggling with whether or not to start Kaden at preschool in the fall, and this article made me feel confident about our decision to go ahead and wait until next year.

This article is a must read for every parent. It saddens me how many people avoid this conversation with their children. Right now over half of my caseload at work, ages 5-11, are working through this.

and for all my therapist friends....please please please do everything you can to go see this man's seminar! I had the opportunity to go this week and I found him to be not only incredibly inspiring, but filled to the brim with the most amazing ideas and techniques to use with our little ones. Thank you Lisa and Rachel for encouraging me to go! Check out his website here.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

*love and peace*

letter to kaden

2012-01-08T12:46:00.000-08:00

~Daddy and his mini me.

dear kaden,

today you turned three years old (ok, actually a week ago, but i accidentally deleted the post where i wrote you on your actual bday, so this is a wee bit late). another candle on the cake and another year of adventures and memories to look forward to! you are such a sweet, bright and hilarious little boy. i feel so blessed to be your mommy!

you had mixed feelings about turning three, and argued that you wanted to stay two a bit longer. i also could have enjoyed you at two a wee bit longer, i enjoyed all of those beautiful and crazy moments, that some people refer to as the "terrible twos". they definitely were not even close to terrible. we learned so much about each other, we took deep breaths, and we learned to be a bit more patient and present. this past year has gone too fast, but I suppose that will be a recurring theme in your childhood.

i know I say this all the time (and i don't think i will be stopping anytime soon) but you are a complete and utter joy to know. your laugh and your smile, and basically your entire energy for life is contagious and felt by every person you meet. i know you are going to grow up to be an amazingly talented and creative soul, and incredibly kind and i know you will find joy in the simple things in life. mommy and daddy could not be more proud of you. thank you for all the joy you bring us, you are truly one of a kind.

happy birthday my sweet little nugget.
i love you,
your mommy.

some of your faves.

song *you have too many to list, but the ones that stand out are ol dan tucker, sneaky snake, and gonna paint the town by the stanley brothers.

word *poop or poopy doopy.

food *spaghetti and meatballs. or a wetzel pretzel...you could eat those three times a day.

book *knuffle bunny is a definite fave, although you also adore the photo book that uncle tobe made for mommy from our roch-cha-cha trip. your new love is the happy birthday to you book by dr seuss because you love that it says "poop deck" at the end.

thing to do. go to "purple mountain park" aka Central Park. you would live there if you could. picnic is not optional. must.have.picnic. or the zoo...we could go to the zoo 365 days a year and love every second of it.

~Daddy's new electric blue hair.

~hot cocoa smile.

~loving his new bday gift from Poppy and LaLa!

~cozying up with his bday gifts from uncle tobe and aunt kerry.

~helpin mama cook chili. he chose shades so his eyes wouldn't water from the onions! smart boy!

and I thought I might post a video of daddy rockin out at his first gig with MOMMA! so proud of him!

three years old

2012-01-01T21:15:00.000-08:00

My sweet baby boy turned THREE years old this weekend. How is it possible that three years have gone by? I am having such a hard time wrapping my head around it. Yesterday morning, I whipped out his very first videos from those very first moments and had him watch with me, and not only was I blown away by how completely changed out lives have been since those very moments, but how fast it all goes by. It's so important to stop and catch your breath and just be in the moments while they are here....so easuer said than done, but definitely something I'm working on for the New Year. Being present, right here, right now.

Kaden really got some good giggles out of watching those videos, I also think it was good preparation for Baby Miller and all of the joys that come with being a big brother to a newborn! We talked a lot about what it might be like, and he is definitely showing much more interest, especially in how large my buddha belly is! Each morning he puts his hands on my belly and says "mama look at your BELLY!" He also asks each day if the baby is coming today...three months is such a long time to wait. I am thinking of doing an advent sort of calendar countdown like we did for xmas....if anyone knows of any ideas, drop me a line!

So for his birthday, we kept things a bit low key. He had mixed feelings about turning three, he was a bit like a middle aged old man, telling me he just didn't want to turn 3 right now. We took him to Noon Year's Eve on Saturday at the Children's Museum, which could have been really fun, except for the fact that there were 7 million children present. It was incredibly overstimulating, not just for him, but for me and Chad as well! There were children crying all over the place, and I think mainly because it was a nuthouse. We were there for two hours and got to see the "ball drop" and the fun area that they make to look like Times Square, but then we were all pretty much over it. That night we filled his room with balloons while he was asleep, and let him pretty much do what ever the heck he wanted the next morning. He wore his jammies all day, by request, even while playing outside, with a coat and boots. We had family over for a shindig, and he was blown away by all the thoughtful gifts from everyone. He kept grabbing another one saying "Is this for ME"?

~my half ass attempt at a train cake. I think my mama would be proud!

~Mamaw demonstrating Pin the tail on the donkey.

~we let him wear whatever outfit he wanted, he picked this snazzy getup.

~Zoo lights!

~completely spent and overstimulated at Noon Year's Eve.

~he was so smitten with a group of girls that were tap dancing in the dress up area, he couldn't take his eyes off their feet! I asked him if he wanted to give it a try, we found a pair of shoes that fit perfectly, and he got a bit nervous on the dance floor and couldn't find his dancin feet. Some jerkface standing next to me looked at me and said "boys don't tap", I almost ripped him a new one.

~playing vet.

~soaking up the beautiful day at Wash park

Happy New Year to you all! New year, New energy, New hope and New JOY!

Cheers to 2012!

*I had written a birthday letter to kaden, and then it didn't save before I posted it, so sad! I will rewrite for a post later this week.

holiday happenings

2011-12-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a magical holiday! Poor little K was really sick and feeling under the weather for the big day, which was a little bit heartbreaking. He had a crazy runny nose, watery eyes, and a fever, and would yell out every so often "I'm SiiiiiiiiiiCK!" That didn't stop him from getting in the spirit of things, he LOVED opening presents this year and seemed to adore every little thing that he opened up! His new guitar was the big thing that he had asked for, and he has not stopped playing with it since.

It's another one of those days when I have a ton to say, but I'm just feeling exhausted and need to go hibernate in my cozy bed, rather than ramble on and on about stuff. So I will just leave you with some fun pics from the festivities.

Hoping your holidays were filled with love and laughter!

~at Candlight service at Trinity church.

~super excited about church, with mamaw and papaw!

~poor little man. he was not a happy camper with his cold.

~our fake fireplace, the remnants of santa's cookies and the reindeer's carrots after santa gobbled them all up. Mamaw made me that stocking years ago.....I love it, poor santa has a lot of work ahead of him to try to fill that thing up!

~Santa CAME!

~his new love.

~Santa left us a sweet note on the board.

~the aftermath.

~mommy kinda can't wait to get her hands on this one. Kaden got this easel from Mamaw and Papaw, and it looks like way too much fun.

~getting into his jam session.

yeehaw.

Next up, birthday weekend. A weekend of celebrating the wonder of kaden! So looking forward to it!!!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all of you!
xo,
jenny

santa

2011-12-20T06:28:00.000-08:00

~Kaden and the big man.

So we finally got Kaden over to see Santa. We have made it a tradition (ok, so it's only the second year we have actually lived here, but still) to go see Santa at Outdoor World in Stapleton. There are a million other places we could have gone to see him, but we like to go to Outdoor World for several reasons.....Santa is awesome (and apparently has tats all over his arms we noticed after he headed to the restroom), there is a whole winter wonderland set up with fun rides/activities for the kids, there are a ton of boats, four wheelers and tents to play in for everyone, the ginormous fish tank and hello a free photo, which is really hard to come by these days with Santa! So it's no wonder that this Santa has been in high demand, and actually had a SIX hour wait to see him the previous weekend before we decided to go. We tried to find a time during the week to go, but only had Friday night free. I figured no one else would think to go on a Friday night....I was wrong! I got there at 5pm, with plans for Chad to meet us there after work. I walked up to the booth where they give out little "fast passes" to see Santa, and the guy's face said it all. He had given out all the passes for the evening, and maybe I would want to come back two hours before they opened in the morning? I was so sad, I even caught myself getting slightly misty over the big man. Kaden and i had talked about Santa all day and we were pretty stoked about the visit! I had caught him talking about santa during his nap, saying his name over and over again several times.

Some sweet angel lady must have seen me about to have a mental breakdown, and walked over and offered me her pass. This, of course, did make me start to cry and she must have thought I was a complete spaz when I gave her a huge hug and babbled about how insanely grateful I was. Yeah, I get a little nutz sometimes, espcially when it comes to my little guy and seeing him smile.

~practicing his santa sprint.

~waiting to see the big man.

~christmas cookie baking extravaganza with friends Ryan and Casey. Holy chaotic messiness.

~reading his favorite bedtime "story" with daddy, the photo book gifted from my brother of our visit to Roch-cha-cha. He relives every moment and every story as we go through it.

~kaden likes to have garfield ride Bjorn-style in the front of his jammies.

In other big news, Chad said goodbye to his beloved Mazda this past week. He has had that truck since our first days together, and I know it was really hard for him to say goodbye. I have such crazy memories of pulling up where we used to work together and feeling butterflies when i saw his truck pulled in the parking lot. I remember crashing out in the back and sleeping off a night of drinking, the road trips that we used to take with it, my first "camping" trip with him when we just pulled up the truck on a dock in Santa Barbara and slept with the back open....my kind of camping!

He had thought about getting rid of it when Kaden was born, and somehow it just stuck around for the next three years. For the past few months, he has been browsing for something that can tackle the winters in Colorado, but also be good for camping and family road trips. He settled on a Toyota Highlander, and he is so ridiculously happy in it!

We had a pre-Christmas party at Mamaw's house this sunday with the Sextons. It was a good time as always. The Broncos were playing, but sadly did not come through this time...better luck next time. Yep, I don't really know anything about football, nor do I really care all that much, but I love all the positive and crazy energy in the air when they play, so I guess that makes me a mini fan.

~a typical colorado christmas outfit

~Natalie not loving her white elephant gift so much.

~the fart bank was the prize white elephant gift and provided kaden with many hours of giggles.

~fart bank giggles.

~not your typical 24 week pic.

I'm feeling really hyper emotional with this pregnancy. Not so unlike my usual self, right? This is pretty intense. I cry whenever I hear that damn "Do they know it's Christmastime at all" song on the radio, I cry over santa, and I cry a ton about simple little things that should make me smile, and I cry for so many of my clients that are really struggling and going through such a hard time this holiday season. I am doing some serious cleansing of the tear ducts! On a happier note, all that nauseua and weird 3pm sickness I was having seems to have subsided for now.

and how about just a tiny linky love!

If I had the energy or the time, I would so LOVE to pull off this amazing Elf themed party. Completely amazing.

I really want to eat this, but it almost is too pretty to eat!

If you have a little one and you have yet to check out this blog, you must do so immediately. I have gotten so many amazing ideas from her and she is just incredibly creative! check her out.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

2011-12-06T21:19:00.000-08:00

It truly is. We have been Christmas-ing it hard over the past week and definitely getting in the spirit of things. It is ridiculously cold outside, there is a ton of snow, and I'm starting to think that my theory about denver winters being so mild and amazing is maybe so not right on the mark. In any case, it makes for fun playing in the snow, which don't get me wrong, I'm STILL loving. No burnout on the snow just yet for this mama!

I had a lot to say when I started writing this post, but after not feeling well for the past few days, I figure I better just post this before Christmas passes us right by...

~you wish you had a fake fireplace too doncha?

The parade of lights is my favorite new holiday tradition! We went last year, and we were so excited to go again this year. It was a bit chilly, but still so much fun! Thanks to Chad, we had the sweetest spot and an awesome view of the parade!

~the City and County building all lit up...so purdy!

Celebrating Daddy's birthday before heading out to the Parade of Lights...

After getting the most amazing care package from my incredibly thoughtful brother and sister in law, Kaden is pinchin his pennies to get back to NY to see his cousins. My brother made me an awesome photo book from our visit this past June, and Kaden wants to read it at least 6 times a day. He also loves these pics that all of the kids drew for him, he has them posted right next to his bed. The other day, he woke up and went straight to the computer....when I asked him what he was doing, he said "talkin to my cousins".

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season and all of the festivities!

hope

2011-11-25T21:56:00.000-08:00

~kaden rockin out on one of the pianos on 16th street.

I have so much to be grateful for this year, and I would love to go on and on about those things, but I feel that would be cheating in a way. I find this year, what I am most grateful for is Hope. Hope is what gets me through each day at work and is my greatest wish for all of the children and families that I work with. Hope is the ability for a person to dream big, and to take that initial step to making their dreams a reality...a huge step that I took years ago when I flew from my cozy nest in Rochester. Hope is also something I cherish as a mother who sometimes may get a little overly anxious about the little things and helps me to become full of faith and joy instead...and full of Hope.

Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.
― Shel Silverstein

some random morsels of happiness

* the first big hug of the morning.

* tuesday nights thanks to the amazingness that is Parenthood.

* little kicks in my belly from our sweet little lovebug.

* anything and everything PUMPKIN!

* kaden randomly busting out in a happy birthday tune for me at various times of the day.

* having an amazing hubby who also happens to love to do the dishes.

Here's a little peek at our Thanksgiving day at Mamaw and Papaw's house....

~checkin out daddy's technique.

~cozy with Uncle Larry.

~he loved his little white dress up shirt. He would put his hands on his hips and ask everyone if they "liked his shirt".

~people often wonder why I don't have more pics with me and kaden...this is a prime example of why.

~kaden finally fell in love with his four wheeler! He was saying the funniest things into his little walkie talkie.

~gettin a little help from Jack!

~kaden proudly wearing his fancy hat that he made at daycare.

~ "helpin" David in the kitchen.

~kaden getting in on the annual Euchre game.

~end of the night rockin out with Uncle Brian.

~posing with my 20 week bump and apple cider.

bits and pieces

2011-11-20T19:27:00.000-08:00

when life gets busy its easy to get stressed and spiral into a mess of bummed-out-edness...but it only takes a little bit of effort to stay positive. it only takes a minute of deep breathing to make me feel more calm...about 6 good ones. funny how doing less, thinking less, worrying less, having less, takes more effort than the constant sensory overload we've become accustomed to.
but even the littlest things can be pretty fantastic if you just think them so.
because...in the scope of things...life is good.

~chad teaching kaden the wonders of turning trash into treasure. Chad has sweet dreams of turning this crazy old chest into a really cool toy chest.

~an attempt at a family portrait.

~fun with a little shaving cream and food coloring in the bath. Kaden had way too much fun with this!

~kaden with his two fave stuffed animals stuffed in his jammies so he can be "just like mommy".

~daddy and me guitars. This eukele was a gift that Mamaw and Papaw brought back from Hawaii...kaden's newest fave.

~our little turkey.

~20 weeks. my buddha belly is growing so fast, I will make a point of questioning my OB at the next appt (for the thrid time) if there is truly only one nugget in there, or possibly two or three??? Please excuse my horrific hair...in desperate need of a new 'do, but it needs to grow a wee bit longer first.

Poppy

2011-11-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

I know that I have been quiet lately, and I have been neglecting our sweet little blog. I suppose I've been feeling a little bit awed by all that has been happening, and I am just trying to wrap my head around it all. This little one growing inside me has been quiet and cozy, but growing very very large (or at least my belly is). I am 19 weeks and I am anxiously awaiting the feeling of those little kicks! We had an ultrasound last week (for genetic counseling...very long and lengthy screening)and it was so incredible how they could zoom in and look at every little detail. I feel so blessed to have this little one growing inside of me, and I cannot wait to meet him/her in what seems like a few months!

I also found out that I was finally approved to take the licensing exam after jumping through all of Colorado's crazy hoops! I am hoping to take it at the beginning of February, which means I need to buckle down and get studying! I have horrific test anxiety and I am not sure how to go about studying for something so big, but I know that somehow i will find a way!

This weekend we were so grateful to have Poppy come and stay with us for a few days! We really had a wonderful time, and Kaden did some super bonding with my Dad. Kaden asked several times this evening if Poppy was coming back tonite to "sleep on the bed downstairs". We really didn't have any plans and just kind of went with whatever we felt like doing each day and it was truly a wonderful visit. I think it was good for all of our souls, especially Kaden.

~kaden not happy about saying goodbye to Poppy.

We have had two big snowfalls here so far, and both have been melted within 24-48 hours. I am a bit jealous of Chad, as he has been home with Kaden on these days (wednesdays) and has had an absolute ball playing in the snow with Kaden. I wouldn't mind if the snow stuck around just a wee bit longer so those of us that are imprisoned at work could enjoy in the snow fun too!

ps....I need a new name for our blog! Any ideas or suggestions?

happy halloween 2011

2011-11-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

Halloween was so much fun this year! We hit up Boo at the Zoo, Old Gaylord Street Fest and then finished the night off with some good ol fashioned trick or treating. It was so much fun to take my *two* lil ones trick or treating this year! Kaden got a LOT of candy, and we were a bit perplexed what to do with it all, since he doesn't really eat sweets or candy of any kind. We let him have a few pieces on Halloween and he slept horribly and had a tummy ache all day. I am thinking that the Halloween fairy may have to come one night this week, take all the candy and maybe leave a special toy in it's place. In the meantime while I am trying to decide if that is *the best* plan, I will continue making sure that the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups make their way safely to the bottom of my belly.

Speaking of bellies, I am 17 weeks this week and HUGE. So far, I feel awesome and feel truly blessed not to have more uncomfortableness or morning sickness. We have another ultrasound this next Monday and I can't wait to see the little nugget, part 2! We are choosing not to find out the sex of the little one. There are few surprises in life, and this is one we feel is worth the wait.

Here is a look at the weekend in pictures!

~a high five for mrs elephant at Boo at the Zoo.

~kaden's future wife.

"my mommy tried to make me wear that last year!" getting retraumatized by elmo ;)

~lil monkey.

~drum session with daddy.

~kaden and julia havin a crazy fun time at chipotle.

Kaden is so smitten with Julia. He always asks her if he can have a hug, and she says in her sweet and dainty voice, "No thank you". Kaden apparently couldn't handle the rejection any longer, and grabbed her face and planted a huge kiss right on the mouth!

~posing in the Gnome Village at Old Gaylord Street Fair...

~he just watched these older boy's every move at the Old Gaylord Street Fair.

~trick or treatin. kaden had this constant giggle the whole time...he loved every second of it.

~playing cards post trick or treatin.

~the squirrels tore up our pumpkins. This gang of squirrels is completely ruthless! They are so aggressive and they go after what they want and take no prisoners. These are the same guys that broke into our kitchen on four separate occasions. Killer squirrels!

a new bed

2011-10-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

~kaden is in love with his Big Boy Bed! He loves getting cozy and reading stories under the covers...yay for more cuddly time!

~and here he is pretending to be Snow White and asking me what I would like to eat ( he uses the guardrail as his kitchen). In this same conversation, he let me know he knew all the 7 dwarfs...dopey, grumpy, sneezy and gassy. Smart boy...there SHOULD be gassy dwarf!

Most random outing ever. Kaden loves these statues that he calls "those big guys" that are posed dancing in front of the Performing Arts Center. Chad thought it would be the ultimate thrill to hang out underneath the guys, rather than just seeing them in a drive by. Kaden loved it and continuously chatted about "the guys" all day. We also made a pit stop at the Big Blue Bear, since it had been a while. Nothing like spending a day galavanting around town checking out all the giant ceramic sculptures!

a>

The snow has all melted and we had a crazy yard full of leaves to rake before the next snow comes along! Kaden was lovin *helping*.

~having a picnic with daddy in the backyard.

a snowy day

2011-10-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

~a first glimpse at the crazy snowfall.

Fall was slightly interrupted this year by a crazy little snowstorm that dropped 10 inches of snow overnight. Literally, the day before it was 80 degrees, bright and sunny and the leaves have never been more gorgeous, and then BAM...winter wonderland! I so wanted to stay home and be cozy with a cup of hot cocoa and watch the snow with nugget, but instead I went to work, and Daddy decided to stay home and do just that. Boooooooo! I checked in with them throughout the day and they were having a blast playing hard in the snow. I am not sure how I lived without snow for ten years, there is really nothing like that first snowfall. It completely warms your soul, makes you feel cozy thoughts and it is just makes everything so bright and beautiful. If you are one of those people that don't feel quite like this about snow, Colorado might be the place for you. Because all of this white stuff practically disappeared today. I love the sound of the sun melting it to pieces, it just sounds like he is on a crazy mission to get the job done. I love it all.

~the beautiful fall trees all droopy from all the snow.

~a "shovel ride".

~kaden posing by his pumpkin creations. 24 hours later...the snow is all gone!

quirky

2011-10-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

Every child has their quirks. After years of working with little ones, I have come to know this to be not only true, but what makes each of them so amazingly unique and beautiful in their own way. Kaden has many of these quirky quirks, and there is one in particular that has thrown me for a loop. His objection to ponytails. Nope, I have not attempted to put his own hair into a ponytail, it is an objection to mine being up in anyway shape or form.

Ever since the little man can remember, I have had short hair. He never knew that mama once had long hair and rocked the ponytail on a daily basis. Now he has complete FITS if i so much as put my hair up to wash my face or clean around the house. He begs me "PEAS mama put your hair down", and will continuously become more and more upset and emotional if I do not follow his directives. With #2 coming into town, I have decided to grow my hair once again, so that I can rock the ponytail and make my life a helluva lot easier with low hair maintenance. I have been preparing kaden by practice runs with my mini ponytail. It has been emotionally exhausting for both of us! We spent a day at the zoo last week with his little girlfriend and my mommy friend who is also a child therapist. I told her about his ponytail aversion, and the look on her face made me feel that this is all stranger than I would like to think. We did some ponytail conditioning with him with her little girl's hair, and he had no problem with it. My friend played with my hair and pulled it back and he completely lost it.

The fate of my hair is up in the air with this little quirk of his. Am I being ridiculous letting my almost three year old have power over my hair. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome!

As quirky as he may be, he sure is one dancin machine! Here he is rockin out to his favorite, Old Dan Tucker (music by daddy).

guess what????

2011-10-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

Baby Miller the SECOND edition will be making a grand entrance into the world on April 3, 2012!!! We could not be more overjoyed!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wishing you all happy, healthy, and dreamed filled days to come.
love, light and peace,
The Millers!

fall fever

2011-10-06T21:29:00.000-07:00

What is it about Fall? This year, I feel completely intoxicated by all things pumpkin, the changing leaves and majestic Aspen trees, and all things Halloween. I just want to bake all things pumpkin and apple and savor every moment. I made an amazing apple butter last week, and this week I want to tackle pumpkin butter. It is supposed to snow this weekend so I need to enjoy this short lived fall FAST!

Kaden is also ridiculously excited about the season and has narrowed down his Halloween costumes to Snow White (has been in the running since he could say those words), Elephant, a "baby" pig, Mickey Mouse, Dopey, Monkey (he has an adorable Monkey costume thanks to Mamaw and Papaw...were pullin for the Monkey), a pirate, or a "girl". He is fascinated by all things girls. I really want him to be a mini Dwight Schrute (see below), but I have a feeling that will NOT be in the final three.

~rockin out at the Pumpkin Harvest Fest with Kaden and Julia.

~Kaden's first hayride with our friends Lindsay and Julia. Julia is the cutest!

~the road to our camping spot this past weekend.....to be continued!

AM dance festivities

2011-09-25T19:32:00.001-07:00

~treat every morning like a solid gold dance party...complete with Chad's amazing acid washed denim jammies. *swoon*

bullies

2011-09-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

~kaden with his owwie still *rockin on*

Poor little kaden got a little roughed up this week by some bullies. For the record, I do not actually believe these two and three year olds are actually "bullies", and I understand how impulsive and the low frustration tolerance that goes hand in hand with being a toddler. Although I know better and understand their intentions, my first instinct was to give these little bullies the stink eye.

The first was a huge scratch that he got on his face when some little girl (apparently with very long well manicured nails) wanted the toy he was playing with at daycare. I freaked out a little when I got home from work and first saw him, but Chad convinced me that his daycare teacher was super apologetic and said that she had spoken with the girl's mother. The second incident happened at the mall with both Chad and I there a few feet from him. I saw this little boy hitting his mama while she was texting (of course she didn't once put down the damn cell) and she continued to scream at him "go play". He was in a little tunnel in the play area at the mall, and although I didn't see exactly what happened, kaden said the boy smacked him in his face and threw him on the ground. Kaden was HOWLING and screaming "he got me".

At this point, I am wondering out loud how other mamas would handle this. In the past, I have felt that it is not my place to discipline other people's children. That being said, if a child is being overly aggressive, and no one is really supervising that child, I think somehow they need to be held accountable for their actions. I made the decision to go over to this boy's mama (still texting)and let her know what happened. She shared with me that he was autistic and he is nonverbal, and went right back to texting. Having experience working with children with autism, I quickly apologized to her and just focused on talking to kaden to calm him down.

I haven't stopped thinking about how I would handle this next time....and I know there will be a next time. Kaden is not the little guy that hits others at the park, he is the intuitive little people watcher that is probably gonna get bullied for being such a sweet and sensitive soul at some point. Or maybe not. He is a pretty cool little dude.

~jamfest.

Linky Love!

Loving this super duper adorable Fall Bucket List printable from Loves of Life. Just click on the blog and you can print one for yourself!

I'm feeling giddy about Halloween this year, and I'm feeling extra crafty. Loving all these cute Halloween ideas!

I stumbled upon this blog this week and it is my newest blog crush. Passive Aggressive Notes. Definitely worth a drive by...it is hilarious!

I have been quite lazy this summer with regards to cooking, and it has been TOO hot out to turn on the oven! I needed some inspiration to get back into it, and I tried out two new recipes this week that were incredible and I have to share with you!

The first I made in my beloved slow cooker. It was this Brown Sugar and Balsamic glazed Pork Loin from the blog C&C Marriage factory. Worth a look with that super cute blog name! This was soooooo yummy and so easy, I will definitely be making this again soon!

The second didn't *sound* very yummy to me, but I am always looking for ways to get us all to eat more sweet potatoes, so I decided to give it a try. Please make this! You won't be sorry! These are Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos from the Cassie Craves blog. I find myself always perusing her blog when in need of new things to try...her site is definitely worth a visit! These were SO tasty and may be my new favorite way to make tacos!

little stomper

2011-09-16T21:17:00.000-07:00

~kaden LOVES the Lion King and his new favorite song is Hakuna Matata. Well, this and Jingle Bells.

Last weekend (I know I'm behind on my updates), we went to the Italian Festival in Belmar and had so much fun! They had a grape stomping event for the kids, and I have always wanted to do that myself, so I thought I would try to live vicariously through my little one. Poor guy. I had no idea he would hate it so much. I myself, took one look and I definitely got over my desire to partake in any grape stomping in the future. Eeeewwwwww.

~kaden insisted on watching this flag throwing show three different times throughout the day.

~the amazing audrey!!! love her!

~what the....

~the face says it all.

~pure torture.

~the "little stomper" balloon slightly made him forget the trauma of the grape smooshing for a tiny moment.

and I had to do a litle update on chad's new hair. I am thinking of letting him help me out a bit with mine too! purple or green? hmmm....

The weather is finally starting to cool off a bit and is feeling like fall....yay for all things cozy! Kaden and Daddy were doing some daring moves on his bike at the park the other day... love his random jibberish at the end.

Next week I promise to be back with a real blog post and some linky love too!
Have a good weekend everyone!

~Jenny

goodbye mikey.

2011-09-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

This weekend we said goodbye to our beloved Michael Meowgi. After Simon died, he lost all love and lust for life, stopped eating, cleaning himself, making those adorable cat screeching noises that I had become so accustommed to when he was hungry in the morning. He his under the bed 24/7, and his breathing started to get really labored. We took him to our incredible vet (seriously, she could NOT have been nicer during this whole situation), and she said he was having a really tough time breathing and it looked like it could have been kitty leukemia. It was a really hard decision to make, as we really didn't want to let him go for our own selfish reasons, but he appeared to be in an enormous amount of pain, and we couldn't watch him go through that anymore. Now he and Simon are together and are the coziest snuggle bunnies in kitty heaven.

~new bike. I get misty at this pic...he looks SO big!

Some of the latest random Kadenisms....

*kaden likes to scream "STOP" to the cars when we are looking both ways and crossing the street. Not sure where he gets this, but I find it hilarious every time.

*kaden and I shop a lot, but we rarely buy anything that is not of absolute necesity. I have this thing about entitlement in the kids I work with, and I am slightly militant about trying to dissuade him from having entitlement when he is older. Lately, whenever we are at a store, he asks random people to buy things for him. I am so mortified in the moment that it's hard to address it with him. Thankfully, people think it's hysterical. We now have pep talks before we go into a store about what NOT to say to people!

*while over at mamaw's house, kaden heard "this land is your land". Kaden was blown away by the part that says "from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters"....he said "How did they know my name?" teehee. Little does he know he was named after a beautiful, ginormous tree.

Kaden loves The Lion King, and even more he loves the chanting at the very beginning when they sing The Circle of Life. Here's his version....

Tonite we ventured out to the Taste of Colorado to see a free show of Boyz to Men. Good thing there were 1,000 other things to do there, because we couldn't squish by the zillion other people that were psyched to see them as well! Kaden loved the festival and we saw a lot of cool bands and had so much fun walking down 16th street mall afterward. We met up at Old Spaghetti Factory with Unk Bri and daddy and had a yummy spaghetti feast. Such a fun day.

playing in legoworld...I love legos. I think I love them as much as kaden.

~he was head over heels for this violin guy. The guy ROCKED!

kaden's first camping trip....pic heavy!

2011-08-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

~kaden's favorite part about camping!

We took Kaden on his first camping trip this weekend, and aside from the fact that we realized we left the tent waiting in our living room, it was a wonderful time! Thanks to Aunt Gloria who happens to live in the mountains close to where we were camping, we were able to sleep in utter cozyness! It rained sporadically throughout the trip, but it was really peaceful to sleep to. Kaden slept like a rock, probably because we skipped his nap that day, but his favorite part was definitely peeing on trees and rocks. It must be very confusing for a freshly potty trained toddler to be told that he can go ahead and go pee on a tree!

We all loved it so much and are hoping to go camping again sometime within the next month before the cold weather comes. I tried to pick out the best pics to narrate this little photo post, but I know there are a ton! So many good times! If you make it to the end of this post, I found two cute videos that I posted as a reward for making it to the end!

~after a bit of coaxin, kaden agreed to just "sit" on the four wheeler, but he was adamant about not going anywhere.

~inchin forward a teeny weeny bit....

~going for his first ride!

~he absolutely hated it ;)

We got a visit from Dave, Caleb and Jack who all rode in on their dirtbikes...so cool!

~rock climbin with Mamaw.

~daddy's lil helper.

~the gorgeous rockies...still with some snow!

~I love camping!

~daddy made a sweet racetrack in the dirt.

~The left behind paraphanelia.

Kaden has been obsessed with the song "Ol Dan Tucker" (via The Wiggles, though Bruce Springsteen's version is pretty sweet too!), and I have been trying to get a video of him rockin out to it for weeks now.

silly songs

2011-08-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

I am in love with kaden's daycare for many reasons, one being that he is doing AWESOME with potty training, he told me two times today that he "had to go". woohoo! And I also adore his teachers because they teach him the craziest songs and then we are completely entertained and curious for days what exactly he is singing about!

and this is his newest love..."turkey in the hay"

update extravaganza

2011-08-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

I know I have not posted in what seems like forever, I miss keeping up on things. We have had a busy busy few weeks...and I just thought I would take a moment to wrap it all up and post some quick updates.

First of all, Happy Birthday to my Daddy!!! I wish we could be there to celebrate your special day, but were hoping we will get a chance very soon when you *hopefully* come for a visit!

We went through a mini ordeal a few weeks back when we took Kaden to the doctors and they recommended we take him right to Children's Hospital for possible appendicitis. Poor little man. It was a scary experience for all of us. Seeing him in so much pain was heartbreaking. It started out with a really bad stomach ache and then crazy shooting pains in his abdomen. They did some Xrays and said that they saw a lot of *poo* in his tummy and that it looked like it was severe constipation, and possibly due to potty training. Neither Chad nor I are convinced that is the case, as there seems to be a crazy tummy virus spreading around quickly. Poor Chad has been bed ridden for days with it this week. Whatever it was...we are relieved he is feeling better!!!

~my poor baby at children's hospital.

One of my favorite people on the entire planet also visited this past week and we had a FANTASTIC time! Sometimes we all need a bit of refueling, and having her here was exactly that. So good for the soul. And I realized that traveling around with her and showing her all the awesome things in Colorado made me appreciate it so much more, seeing it through her eyes.

Another incredible soul, our amazing friend Audrey, also happened to move BACK home to Colorado during Pammy's visit, and we celebrated with her in style with an adventure of our own!

I freaking love colorado.

~pam snapped this doozie during naptime. my boys fast asleep.

In other fun news, Mamaw and Papaw have been waiting for the perfect moment to show Kaden the new mini motorized 4 wheeler that they got for him. He was surprisingly a little freaked out by it, so Jack was trying to show him how it is done and he warmed up a little bit. Soon he will be riding that thing all over Colorado...

~Mamaw and Cheryl were visiting from Ohio, and we had everyone over for a bbq.

~hugs for mamaw bryant.

Chad has had his phone for over two years and I think we just now figured out how to upload the pics from it onto our computer. Here are a few favorites that I found!

~lil mountain man.

~pammy "in it".

~pure joy.

I may not be posting as much over the next few weeks. I am taking a course (finally!) to fullfill my licensure requirements and it is online and INTENSIVE!!!! I am not a fan of it at all, but i will get through it and get this license that I SO deserve after all my hard work!!!

have a lovely day everyone!!!

it a beautiful day

2011-07-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

~my little music man.

kaden has been saying this delicious phrase a lot lately, especially after these sweet long pauses where he gazes out the window sizing up what the world looks like. pure innocence and wonder.

This weekend we hit up Kidspree which is a ginormous festival just for kids and is free! It is held in Aurora every summer and it is ridiculous amounts of fun! We spent about 4 1/2 hours there in 100 degree temps, and I feel crazy overstimulated and in dire need of a nap. Kaden is a total sweaty betty and was pretty much delirious when we left. There were bouncy houses all over the place, pony rides, drums and a ton of musical instruments that the kids could play...kaden was so excited about the violin and demanded to hear violin music at the dinner table this evening.

~life size Candyland obstacle course....he loved this!

~making his debut on stage. she asked for volunteers and he said "mama I wanna go der", and up he went, for about 3 minutes...and then he ran off the stage laughing!

~he was incredibly smitten with this guy...we followed him all over the place for about 35 minutes.

~rockin out on his clarinet, which he insists is a guitar.

~anyone wanna join my drum circle?

~total popsicle weather.

~kaden and I had a jam session to The beatles "Let it Be"....this is him after jamming for an hour or so.

rain and other complete randomness

2011-07-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

It has been raining in the afternoon here for the past 36 days (ok, total approximation). And when I say rain, I don't mean just rain, but some serious holy cow crazy thunderstorms with strobe light continuous lightning. I always wanted to live in eattle for a bit, so I think this is my taste of what it might be like! I was always told it is rare that it ever even rains in Denver, and I have held off buying purchasing polka dot rain boots for this very reason. Now, I think it is time I make them mine.

I love me a good thunderstorm. Chad and i have spent many nights sitting outside watching the lightning and oooooh-ing and ahhhhhh-ing at the beauty of it all. Until last night. Last night, there was this insane rainfall, that was like nothing I have ever seen. Chad was out on an errand and I decided to cozy up with a movie in our basement family room. All of a sudden, I heard the craziest sound. Niagara falls decided to make an appearance in our guest room in the basement...completely pouring through the window and not showing any signs of stopping. The laundry room window started to do the same. I wish I was better under pressure. I grabbed a few bowls and a big ol bucket, but it was too little too late. It went on for twenty minutes, and then stopped, leaving these rooms completely beyond repair. Our amazing landlord showed up after 5 minutes of calling him, and Tony the carpet man was there soon after. By morning, the smell was gone, and miraculously, the water was completely dry.

I left for work this morning feeling better, until I realized my car door was open. Ummm, first thought, hello crazy rain. But then i noticed my glove compartment and console were open and stuff was thrown everywhere. Ahhh....so THIS is what it looks like when someone breaks into your car. I soon realized that my steering wheel and ignition for jacked up a bit, and silly me had left my office keys in that cozy compartment next to the drivers seat. This crazy fool had tried to force them into the ignition so many times, absolutely certain that I of course would have left my car keys there for safekeeping, and pretty much bent them into some crazy abstract design. Thankfully, everyone was safe and my car is fine and is in decent condition. How amazing to find out that my neighbors actually have 24 hr security cameras outside their house, and unfortunately I parked on the wrong side of the street, and they weren't able to see quite that far. But how incredibly sweet were they to go through an entire night's footage (so exciting!) to see if they could catch someone in action.

The highlight of this whole drama was the police report. A very nice police officer came out to the house and Kaden was in complete awe of him. he even flashed his lights several times for him and let him play with the high beam light that hangs out of the passenger door. This guy was all kinds of amazing, and he put a total positive shift on things, I can totally forget about the fact that some smelly dude was fiddling with my car and my keys for a bit.

"I a drummer".

Kaden is completely obsessed with having a drum set like his big cousin Nick. Yes, Daddy is a drummer, and he does have some pretty amazing drum sets in hiding, but we also feel his maybe a bit too young for a drum set of his own. So we make him fun imaginary drum sets. He is smitten with the cymbal. How could you not be?

and in other wonderul news....mission accomplished!!! Kaden was able to start in the Big Boys room this week at daycare! He is super psyched and did not cry when dropped off, which is a HUGE positive! (he has cried for the past 6 months pretty much!) He is pretty much potty trained at daycare, and they thought he was ready. This is a bit different than our experience at home, as i can count the times on one hand when he has hit the potty...but hey, at least he is doing it somewhere!!!

here he is showing off fun with chalk in his superman big boy panties.

two and a HALF!

2011-07-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

~taking a break from drumming to model his new big boy undies gifted from Pammy.

This weekend is Kaden's Happy Two and a Half year birthday weekend, and to celebrate...we are doing potty training bootcamp! How exciting, huh? Up until now, we have been going very slow with potty training, and have just been waiting for him to get more comfortable with the whole idea, and I was feeling completely okay with the fact that it is a process and could take a while. Then the amazing Miss Linda, Kaden's daycare teacher, gave us a pep talk about potty training and shared that she feels he is bored there and ready to move up to the next age room with the "big boys". He of course, cannot do this until he is potty trained. I was skeptical about rushing things, but after dropping him off one morning and sizing up all the kids in his room, and the fact that he is the oldest and all of his friends have moved on, I was determined to try to get this thing done.

some favorites:

favorite pastime - drums. or anything that remotely looks like a drum.
favorite song - old dan tucker.
favorite show - yo gabba.
favorite food - chips or pirate booty (thanks aunt kerry!)
new favorite imaginary friend (actually his first!) "Gabba"

recent favorite kadenisms

~where santa been?
~mama please put a new shirt on. (whenever mama is wearing a tank top)
~mama,eat your veggies. (while waggin a finger at me.)
~kaden, what's your full name? "kaden monkey sausage redwood miller". he will tell everyone he meets this exact name. a little girl asked him his name last night and he took a deep breath and told her his "full" name.

So this weekend we started the 3 day potty training method. In a nutshell, you throw all the diapers away (uh yeah no, we kept them in a safe place where he can't see them), and have him wear his big boy underwear all the time, trying to pay attention to his cues and making sure you rush him to the potty when he looks like he may have to go. So far, it is quite a reality show in the making. Everytime he has an accident, he says "what was that", so I guess he is at least getting more used to the sensation...but anything more than that, well we shall see!

Even though, the training method says not to leave the house at all, we have been celebrating the holiday weekend in the evenings. Last night, we went down the street to see the fireworks, and they were kaden's first! It was an amazing display, you would have thought Pearl Jam had just performed at the way the crowd hooted and hollered when it was finished. Kaden had mixed feelings about them, he clapped for about 5 seconds when they finally got started, and then screamed that he wanted to go home. We put his headphones on since they were unbelievably loud, and I held him tight while we layed down in the grass watching them above us. He seemed to relax a little more and enjoy them, and then fell completely asleep, face down in the pillow. Hw woke up after the grand finale and said "that was fun and a little bit scary" (showing me lil bit with his fingers). Tonite we are going to kazz in the park and we are hopefully going to catch a glimpse of more fireworks over at Civic park. Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend!!

~our spot waiting for the fireworks to begin.

~his initial reaction.

~sound asleep.

~his new personal waterworld in the backyard. yep he's in his underwear, I didn't want to screw up the "process" by putting a little swimmie or suit on.

home

2011-06-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

~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.

2011-06-11T22:56:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

~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.

wordless wednesday.

2011-05-31T21:33:00.000-07:00

home

2011-05-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

~fountains remind me of how much fun summerime is!

We have been living in the Mile High City for a little over a year now, and it feels like just yesterday we arrived and began this crazy fun adventure! Now that summertime is back, and the city is bursting with such a vibrant and happy energy, all those feelings of falling in love come flooding back to me. I truly love everything about this beautiful city. In the summertime, so much of Denver, reminds me of Rochester, my hometown that we will be visiting in just a few weeks. That beautiful energy and days filled with so much to do, the air smells so yummy, all the festivals and events making the city come alive. I am ridiculously excited to go and experience it all with Kaden (and Chad too of course, though he will only be there for the end of the visit!). I cannot wait for him to be surrounded by so much love and for him to bond and play with his cousins. I can't wait to soak up all the love and enjoy simple pleasures with old friends and amazing family, a much needed getaway for us!

~playing at The Gaylord Festival near Wash Park this weekend.

~dancin to Yo Mama and Papas, such a fun children's band!

~My mom used to say *stinky mafucie* all the time when I was younger...and I had to teach it to kaden.

~No one can make him laugh quite like daddy. A little long, but toward the end he gets hysterical!

Weekend Linky Love!

I have talked before about my obsession with Pinterest here...It truly has inspired me in so many ways. It's completely like my morning coffee, it picks me up and gets me back in line when I need to get refocused! Here is a helpful Beginner's Guide to Pinterest for those of you are not sure where to start!

I love this article No one will play with me-Helping your child make friends. I see so many lonely kiddos in therapy, and I think you can never start too early helping them out with a little social skills!

I am so in love with bubbles. Must try this one day soon!

I've been thinking we so need a fun sandbox in our backyard...here is a sweet tutorial for one, love the stripes and the umbrella!

all things foodie related....

Holiday weekends always make me think of yummy FOOD! We are spending the weekend gallavanting to some neighborhood music festivals and such, so we aren't really doing the picnic thing, but if we WERE, I would so make these yummy Baby Back BBQ Ribs!

I am dying to make this Copycat recipe of Beecher's Mac N Cheese!

I made these amazing Banana Muffins this week. I could have eaten all of them in one sitting, so yummy! Next time I have to try to make them with chocolate chips!

I am hoping to make this pretty Beet and white bean hummus later today, isn't it so pretty?

We decided to give Kale Chips another whirl...a co worker swears by them, and I thought maybe i did something wrong the first time. Heavy on the sea salt makes them super yummy. Kaden ate them right up!

and this yummy smelling Orange Chicken is in the crockpot right now for tonite. Not very memorial weekendish, but makes for a quick and easy meal for when we get home from the drum circle/festival that we are off to when nuggie wakes up!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

xo

freckle

2011-05-21T21:56:00.000-07:00

~kaden attempting to find my *freckle* for a little comfort.

kaden never had a "blankie", although not for a lack of trying on my part. I auditioned several blankies for the role, bought some silly pricey ones, tried some burp cloths that dear friends had used for their lil ones, and many many others. I gues because of my work, I was kind of set on him having a transitional object to help him through his various transitions, our big move and mommy going to work.
Nope. Not one of them worked. Instead, he has become strangely attached to a *freckle* next to my shoulder. I say freckle, but I'm pretty sure it's a birthmark...but that seems way too hard for him to say, so we just like to call it a freckle. He looks for it and plays with it close to 50 times a day. I'm not sure it is so much for comfort, though sometimes it seems like it is, but I think that he feels a sense of security to know it's not going anywhere, and it's comforting to know he can check in and make sure all is good in the world if my freckle is still there.

I have been wanting to write about so many little kadenisms...he is becoming SUCH a little character...off the top of my head, here are some favorites...

~I wanna do dat summmmore.

~ Convo in the car today: We were at a stoplight and there was a homeless man with a sign that said "Veteran with Cancer, please help". I let out a sigh and my sweet little guys says what HE doing? I say, aww buddy, that man is sick and feeling sad". He says "I wanna give him a kiss". whatever.

~lately kaden needs to know everyone's name and what they are doing. "What her name, what her FULL name". "what HE doing".

~we take a huge bag of sandtoys with us whenever we go to the playground so that we can practice *sharing* with friends. Yesterday, he was having a rough time with it, and a little girl kept ripping toys out of his hand. He tried so hard to share and that at one point, he stood up, gathered his toys and sang the "clean up" song. It was too funny.

~I love that this sweet little piece of blue tissue paper that we found on the ground was the highlight of our day today...we must have played with that thing for about 45 minutes. kids just so *get* the meaning of simple pleasure.

~this precious family brought their homeade lemonade stand to the park! how cute is this?

~kaden chillin with all his friends on his potty.

Kaden went peepee on the potty! The amount of peepee was probably smaller than the size of a dime, but hey, it was indeed PEE! He was overjoyed with himself and we were so proud! He got an M&M and ran back to the potty and said "I want anodder M&M!". He sat on the potty, looked down at that peepee from before, and said "I did it!" I didn't have the heart to tell him that was the same peepee as before, so he got another M&M. We did a crazy potty dance and I am hoping he will be super psyched to try again tommorow.

~might as well JUMP!

~giving unk brah some love.

and now for some weekend linky love!

This feature Kiddo Lunch gave me so many great ideas! I love this blog, and how ridiculously cool is her family?

Love Food on your Face Friday! Such an awesome weekly feature, I so want to try this homeade treatment!

I am so making this Coconut Banana Bread tommorow...yummy! I have made a lot of things from her blog, and all have been incredible!

and some of my faves from Pinterest this week!

~seeing this is so on my bucket list.

~yes please.

miller time

2011-05-17T21:34:00.000-07:00

~have you ever played the guitar backwards? It sounds way better.

any given night in the Miller home. We enjoy rockin out.

I am so overdue for a blog post...I have so much to say, but am ridiculously exhausted. I will definitely be back with a real post later this week!

But first, I have to mention that the little man rode the merry go round at the zoo for the first time since the completely lost his mind on it at 11 months. We were so very proud of him!

happy mother's day

2011-05-07T22:44:00.000-07:00

"Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes, by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers and sisters, aunts and cousins, but only one mother in the whole world."

I love this quote and it is so very true. I miss my Mother everyday but am so blessed to have had her with me for as long as I did, and I could not be more proud in those moments where I see how much I have become like her in so many ways.

This Mother's day I find myself grateful for so many things, my cup truly runneth over. This little man that holds my hand and brings unmeasurable joy to my world. An incredible partner/best friend/husband who so gets me and still likes me anyway, and who teaches me so much about balance and simplicity. an amazing family who I miss tremendously, yet am super ecstatic to see in about 5 weeks! an incredible beautiful and peaceful place to live, framed by those gorgeous purple mountain majesties. And a job that doesn't always feel like a job, to have the freedom to make my own decisions, and to be able to nurture and embrace the minds/souls of children. I am feeling so blessed and grateful today. I know this isn't Thanksgiving, and I feel that I may have written this same thing just a few months ago around that time, but I don't care....I want to recognize and express my gratitude for the abundance that I feel in my world right now. Thank you to everyone and everything that makes my world so bright.

And for all the mommies out there that continue to be such an incredible inspiration to me and so many others...whether you nurture a child or a furbaby, hope that this day was a perfect celebration of all that you are. And for the someday mommies...enjoy the journey!

We had Mamaw and Papaw over for a little brunch this morning and it was such a gorgeous summer day! We had Nutella stuffed french toast, sausage and strawberries, and mimosas of course! Thanks TT Gabina for helping me with the yummy recipe, and thank you TT Margie for the inspiration!

~I got 4 hours sleep last night, can you tell? hello tiny eyes.

~cracking up over eating his 973rd strawberry.

~Mikey enjoying a shady spot.

~3 outfit changes this morning, but his favorite was his new favorite phrase "it my birfday suit".

~Papaw getting kaden psyched up about pottytime.

~beyond cozy afternoon nap with nug.

~my amazingly talented cousin took this incredible photo, which I will soon be framing for myself. The birdies are the perfect celebration of our mommies, who we celebrate today and miss so very much.

forrest jr.

2011-05-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

~a new friend.

I was not with Kaden on the above adventure to the zoo, but my guess would be that while everyone was swooning over the orangatan, kaden was questioning each person "what your name?" or "what you doinin"? Lately he is extremely curious about everyone and everything as are most two year olds, but kaden will take it one step further and say "what's your FULL name"? Some mornings he wakes up in the morning and this is the first thing he says when i come in the room "I Kaden Miller". Cue the Forrest Jr from Forrest Gump, that's exactly how he says it.

Some other favorite phrases/words that make mommy and daddy chuckle lately...
~Shoe House (house shoes)
~Pick up me. (self explanatory, but he is too cute when he says it)
~Summmmmore peas. (Some more please)
~What that is?
I need to start keeping track more of the hilarious things he says. I am thinking I need to have a few kadenisms in each post...my brain is mush lately, and this is likely more for my own benefit than the blog reading world!

~thinking it's hysterical to eat his foot.

~still so curious about the merry go round. Has not wanted to go back on since the trauma of the Griffith Park merry go round!

~playin at the zoo with daddy.

~he takes his backpack just about everywhere!

~getting brave on the 4 wheeler with papaw.

~first taste of a chocolate bunny.

~chocolate! yummy.

~matching jammies.

~serious cozy time!

Why have I never been to Park Meadow Mall?! It is so close to us and absolutely gorgeous inside! I have never seen a mall that makes you feel like you are in a ginormous amazingly decorated log cabin. I could totally rent out a space and live there.

~about to jump in and steal all the money out of the fountain.

~hangin out at the amazing fireplace in the food court. have I said how incredible this mall is yet?

~I only love this picture because you can see Chik filet wrappers in it. All things Chik filet make me happy. And apparently kaden too, he ate EIGHT nuggets!

and way overdue...here is some linky love!

What happened to Osama Bin Laden's Heart. Such a powerful post! Our little ones are so wise. We need to all teach our children to ask questions like this.

a friend told me about this video....thank you friend. so inspiring and so NEEDED!

how cute is Jennifer Aniston with her new 'do?

Do stop over and check out my friend Amanda's new blog! Not only is she an incredible mommy of a little angel named Emma, but she is the mother of two adorable doggies as well! I love this post she wrote about her doggie Abby.

I love drooling over Shutterbean's recipes, and this one for Cocoa brownies with peanut butter frosting is no exception. holy yumminess!

I think I may be the last person to find out about Pinterest. Now that I have jumped on the bandwagon, I am 100% addicted and may be in need of a 12 step program. The thing about Pinterest is that you actually feel GOOD about wasting all of your precious time on this website, because it completely fuels your creative juices. It's basically like making a vision board (or 3 or 19 vision boards) filled with all of your (ok, mostly other people's) creative and inspirational ideas. Whether it be for decorating/renovating your home, hairstyles, artistic expression, style, or do it yourself projects. I am having so much fun with it! If you want to follow me, come visit.... me here!
I am a bit of a quote fanatic. Random inspirational quotes have actually gotten me through some rough times in my life. Some people call them cliches, but to me they are words from wise old owls and they help us feel validated in the moment and let us know that were not alone. Here are some of my faves I found on pinterest this week.

yes!

Definitely putting this up in kaden's room....such an important lesson for our little ones.

love.

way to go spongebob!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend and happy mother's day to all the mommies!

a drummin we will go....

2011-05-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Mamaw and Papaw, we went out last night for a much needed date night! Chad was more than ecstatic to hang out with Mamaw and Papaw for the evening, and Chad and I decided to check out a Rockies game. It was 75 degrees here all week, and of course on the night we decided to go, it snowed a wee bit and was FREEZING! It was SO much fun, and the energy downtown from the game was like nothing i have seen before. We had been to Dodger games in LA, in fact the last one we went to was 7 years ago when Chad got food poisoning from eating my hot dog that I had dropped on the ground. Good times. I love the fact that Denver is so into their team sports, even though I have never been a huge fan of sports myself. The energy and excitement of it all is thrilling to me, even if i have no clue what is going on in the game. We can't wait to take Kaden to a Rockies game later this summer, I know he will be so excited!

~huge tray of hot cocoa with a giant can of whipped cream to boot. It was chillllllly!

~the beers kept us warm.

~playing connect 4 at the bar next to our place after the Rockies game. Chad was completely blown away by my Connect 4 skills.

~chad and jenny date nights...not your typical run of the mill date night :)

~kaden jammin on daddy's drums in his monkey jammers outside.

A co worker where I work is really into drum therapy. He invited Kaden to come check out his Drum project in which he works with kids in urban areas and helps them cope with anger and feelings through the art of drumming. Chad took Kaden (I had to work, boohoo!) and Kaden could not stop talking about the drums. He absolutely loved it!

~my sweet boys rockin their flannels.

~multitaskin.

~kaden with his super BFF Cat in the Hat at Mamaw's school.

~helpin mamaw in the garden.

~kaden vroom vroomin on the four wheeler at Mamaw and Papaw's house.

I sent this link to a friend who is in the midst of planning a much anticipated wedding extravaganza. I love how hip and incredibly unique this wedding is!

This blog is one of my favorites, and how adorable is she and your precious little henry? I espcially am loving this Playlist that she made, so much wonderful ear candy.

Is there a teacher in your life that you want to recognize? This DIY kit is SO awesome, and would make an amazing gift for Teacher Appreciation Day.

I could spend hours on this site, definitely feeds my love for randomness!

Amazing post about helping your kids explore nature!

This trailer gave me goosbumps, it looks visually amazing!

and I know I have been talking endlessly about all these daily deal websites, but if you were looking for a way to use that 20 dollar credit from Ruelala, they have Philosophy products right now till the end of the day on the site, and that makes them FREE! woohoo for free stuff!

And have I mentioned Heartsy before? I cannot talk enough about how sweet these deals are? They sell out fast, usually before noon, so it's best to check them out in the morning. So many incredible gifts for loved ones to be found here, or even a treat for yourself! Check for your daily emails here!

~This so makes me smile! Kaden loves all things rainbow. He finds them everywhere, even if it's just a reflection from a prism, and he will list all the colors!

easter shenanigans

2011-04-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

What a fun filled Easter weekend! We celebrated a day early on Saturday with a road trip up to Fort Collins to Dave and Natalie's house. Not only do thay have an incredible home, but we had an amazing time there with everyone! Kaden actually was pretty worn out on Easter Sunday, and we spent the day being super mellow and had a visit with Mamaw and Papaw.

~Kaden's new love.He must have jumped on this thing for like 6 hours.

~Jack is ridiculously talented on this thing!

Shenanigans....

~celebrating Natalie and Jack's bdays!

~his first peep!

~playin football with daddy and Jack.

~the end *prize* at the end of his scavenger hunt. He has been begging for a backpack for about 4 months. Everytime we go to Target, he would ask to wear this around while we shopped, and when I told him he has to ask the Easter Bunny for it, he would scream super loud "eeeeeeeeeter bunnnnny, I wanna BAP PAK"!

~the Easter bunny left some eggs in the trees. It was freezing and raining, what a trooper that easter bunny is!

~I wish he would show just a wee bit more emotion and enthusiasm!

~his new "zoo shirt"

~I think this was the third round of his easter egg hunt...he couldn't get enough!

~Kaden loving Unk Brah's "bankie" and daddy's precious little cast from his baby foot.

Kaden is in love with our storytime at the library on friday, and he wanted to have storytime with us that evening....this is after 15 minutes of it, and I realized I needed the damn camcorder on.

nightlight

2011-04-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

~fun coloring Easter eggs with nugget.

Such a little ham...

Kaden has always been obsessed with the moon...I think it was the first real word he said other than Mama and Dada. Our dear friends, Mandy and Jeff sent him this incredible Moon night light for his room, complete with remote control to see all the different phases of the moon. Mandy told him that sometimes if we look close enough, we can see our furry friends looking down on us from the moon. Completely made me misty and warmed my heart. He will not go to sleep unless he gets his moon "just right".

~just a wee bit excited.

~my camera cannot do it justice, but I don't think there is anything calmer than this sight when I say goodnite to mr nugget.

sunday funday

2011-04-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

The weather is absolutely GORGEOUS out and it was a perfect day for a picnic at our favorite park! Mamaw and Papaw have never been to the Purple Mountain park so we had them come along.

~playing soccer.

Afterward, we ventured over to Outdoor World to say hello to the Easter Bunny and to get excited for all things camping! Summer is right around the corner, and this is going to be Kaden's first experience with camping...so excited!

~testing out the camping cots!

annnnnd saying hello to the Easter Bunny...

or on second thought...maybe not.

and please don't pay attention to my 10 year old jammie bottoms, but I love this video, especially at the end where he says "whoopsie"!

spring has sprung

2011-04-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

~super happy boy.

Spring has sprung in Colorado and we have been enjoying every minute of the outdoors! Chad wanted to venture over to his old neighborhood where he used to live and go on a hike. Chad had given me a tour of the different neighborhoods he had lived in when we visited a few years ago, but this one looked completely different to me now. The neighborhood is a part of Littleton called the Ken Caryll Valley, it backs right up to the mountains and the valley is incredibly gorgeous. We have been scoping out neighborhoods for where we would like to buy in a year or so, and this one just jumped to the top of my list!

~picinik!

~I swear we must have seen 20 deer up on this trail. And they were super friendly and approachable. Kaden refuses to call them anything but *reindeer*.

check out the deer just chillin in the parking lot behind kaden on the left!

~you see that white house below us in the distance. yep...I will make you mine beautiful house. oh yes!

~notice he had "enough" of his backpack? Makes a great butt rest though!

We spent last Sunday welcoming home Aunt Gloria and Uncle Larry from their winter escape to Florida. We had a BBQ at Mamaw and Papaw's house and kaden could not be more thrilled with all of the love and attention.

~papaw giving kaden his first tat.

~givin unk bruh some love.

and some linky love for friday, the thrifty edition! If you have not heard or tried Swagbucks yet, I urge you to do so! It is powered by Google, so all you have to do is download the toolbar and use it as your search engine, you get the same results as if you were to use Google! I have earned 200 dollars in Amazon gift cards just in the past year for doing this alone. There are tons of other ways to earn to, so your chance to earn gift cards and treats is even higher! Click here to get started!

For all the Mommies/Daddies that aren't sure what to do with clothes that your little ones have outgrown, yet they are in really good condition, check out ThredUP! I am so in love with this site! I just sold three boxes of clothes and it was too easy! The mailman picked my boxes right up from our front doorstep! I normally like to donate Kaden's old stuff to Goodwill and ARC, but when I need to find something for the upcoming season, it's a way of making a nice swap with someone else. And they have toys too!

And these daily deal sites are amazing, so many great deals to be found!
Zulily This one is my favorite! Definitely one to check out!
Bitsy Bug
Deal Pulp
No More Rack These are awesome deals, and they sell out early!
Heartsy This is an amazing site if you are an Etsy addict like me!
Gilt Groupe
Plum District

daddy time.

2011-04-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

Some people think that work Monday-Friday think that it would be horrific to work Saturdays. I absolutely love it. Not only do I have two other weekdays off because I am "paying my dues on saturday", but I am only there for a few hours, and Kaden gets a big dose of Daddy time, which I love.

Daddy took him to the zoo this morning...and here are some moments captured.

~feeding the birdie. love the expression on his face!

and walking like a penguin...

butterflies

2011-04-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

I have a thing for wings. I love to believe that my mom visits us often in the gift wrapping of a bird, and I sometimes feel butterflies are angels in another form. So it makes sense that we would take a little trip to the butterfly pavillion after we said goodbye to our sweet little simon. I just wanted to feel close to our angels....kaden, on the other hand, was super bored with the "angels" and wanted to focus on the cockroaches.

~kaden refers to him affectionately as "the big guy".

~butterfly was giving mamaw kisses on her shoulder.

~checkin out the turtles.

~really mom? I think you hyped up butterflies a bit. Not.so.exciting.

~he loved the cockroaches more than anything. lovely.

~favorite part in the whole butterfly pavillion was this beanbag toss thing.

~just about...

over it.

and as I mentioned, my Dad and Jennifer tied the knot this past weekend. They were together 15 years, and finally decided it was time to make it official! Sending you both mad love and best wishes for a beautiful next chapter!!!

manners and music

2011-04-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

a wee bit jenny.....

and so much chad...

Thank you so much for all the love regarding little simon. I will admit the loss of my little furry friend has thrown our world completely into a whirlwind. For those that asked, Mike is hangin in there, though he is most definitely feeling a huge void without his super best friend. we are all adjusting to live without our sweet boy.

ps...how much do I love denver? As if I have not said it enough......my hairdresser sent me the sweetest email with his condolences for simon. seriously? the degree of kindness I have stumbled upon recently has completely blew my mind.

thank you everyone for being you!!!! <3

saying goodbye to simon

2011-03-30T19:37:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

~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.

2011-03-25T22:14:00.001-07:00

wordless wednesday

2011-03-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

songbird

2011-03-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

~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

2011-03-19T06:27:00.000-07:00

~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.

2011-03-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

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

wordless wednesday

2011-03-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

~I wanna play with the big boys!

now I know my ABCs....

2011-03-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

polar bear love.

2011-03-13T21:00:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

~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.

*my new house is scary.

2011-03-04T21:17:00.000-08:00

This is what nugget has been repeating since we moved in to our new place. I know that moving (especially moving twice in 8 months!) is a difficult transition for anyone, especially a two year old. I think I was a little too optimistic thinking he would have been ecstatic about the big yard, and twice the amount of space, I wasn't ready for this reaction. And to be honest, it IS a bit scary. I have never lived on the ground floor before, and the fact that this is an older house and the floorboards creak with every move we make does not help one bit. The peace and quiet is a welcome change from our previous place, though it's almost a bit TOO quiet.

And then yesterday, Kaden took my being creeped out to a new level. We were making some killer forts downstairs with the couch cushions, and he looked up suddenly and said to me "Someone Watching". I assured him no one was watching and that he is safe, and tried my best to not talk too much about it with him. He then looked over at the stairs and said "not daddy". Seemed like a perfect time to grab the diaper bag and get out of there and go to the mall. lovely.

On a brighter note...who new that the song Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious would be such a hit during the move?! As you can see, kaden is ridiculously excited to perform his rendition during bathtime in the new house.

~I love when kids close their eyes because their "hiding".

~BFFs.

~I heart nutella.

and what is a weekend without a little linky love!

I need to have a mini vacay here as soon as possible.

This post made me smile and is such an amazing reminder on so many levels.

I think I feel much more comfortable with leeting nugget walk beise me at Target after this article.

hello cute jacket. please get in my closet.

contemplating a move to Australia so that nugget could go to this wonderful preschool.

I am loving the trailer for this flick....and hello, best.title.ever.

I love this interview with the incredible Dr Cohen about the Importance of Roughhousing. His book is an absolute must read!

goodbye cherry street.

2011-02-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

~so ready.

It's about time that we say goodbye to this crazy little neighborhood. From the moment I spotted our little place while perusing craigslist, I had a feeling that this place was going to be special. And oh yes it was! It's no secret how much I adore this wonderful city, but we truly landed in the strangest neighborhood I have ever known. After spending ten years floating around Los Angeles, I thought I had my share of strangeness. I was very wrong.

Things I will truly miss...

*easy access to Wash Park. Eh....but now were only a few blocks further, I can deal!

*my "moon shows" through the skylight. I loved lying on the couch and just staring at the gorgeous luna some nights.

*free entertainment. see below.

I am not sure why there has not been a reality show made about this apartment community...standing out on the balcony has been my main source of entertainment for the past eight months.

The characters that I will slightly miss, if only for their entertainment value...

~The woman that would keep her son on a leash and tie him to the fence, I appreciate the fact that she has either seen the error of her ways or that DFS made her stop doing this.

~The woman that lives downstairs that cooks random crock pot meals for the strippers at Shotgun Willies.

~The random gangster looking types that would knock on the door late at night looking for the person that used to live here.

~Young boys beating each other up with bats while lounging by the poolside.

~The woman that is 7 months pregnant and chain smokes heavily each day.

~The creepy old men that appear to be drunk from early morning until they pass out on the lawn.

~The ravers downstairs who very well may burn down the apartment complex, thank you for re-introducing me to techno, such a joy!

~The growers that live next door to us who turn the faucet on and off 712 times a day to keep their "plants" nice and healthy.

I will drive by often, (ok not really THAT often) and I will smile when I think of all the stories that we have made at our first place we called home in this incredible city.

~my boys at my beloved Wash Park

~playing at Wash Park at sunset.

In other news, Kaden LOVED his new daycare. I guess third time IS a charm! I asked him tonite what songs he sang at daycare today, and he busted out into a tune we couldn't quite make out....until we heard "put your right foot out". He was so happy when we figured it out, he did a full choreographed dance to it. Too precious!

hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

fast shoes and melody monday.

2011-02-20T21:55:00.000-08:00

Amidst all the chaos that is happening in our world right now, I thought we needed a good carefree day at the zoo. It was a gorgeous day, and we had such a fun time! Afterward, Kaden cracked me up with his commentary on the way home...
"New house, New school, New fast shoes." New fast shoes are some hand me downs from his cousins that we just discovered fit him perfectly, and he believes they make him run super fast.

~running through target in the tp aisle with his "fast shoes" on.

~baby anteater, kaden's new favorite friend at the zoo. he has a thing for anteaters.

~peacock making his way to the potty.

~first experience with chocolate puddin'

~love this action shot of him at the mall...he just likes to go there and do laps.

~totally has daddy's taste in shoes.

~Bri came over for our very last cozy fire on cherry street.

On a side note, I absolutely love so many aspects of my job....working with children and adolescents is quite inspiring, and they teach me so much each and everyday. What I am not a fan of, is the monotonous paperwork, which seems to come hand in hand with any mental health position. At my previous job, I lived for pandora, and listening to music while I attempted to trudge through the endless pile of paperwork. At my present job, I was saddened to find that the agency blocked pandora, along with so many other music sites. I was so happy to stumble upon project playlist just the other day at work. A little music can completely change your frame of mind at work. This is my zen like playlist for when I am having a heavier than normal work week. Hope it adds a little zen to your day!

third time is always a charm.....yes?

2011-02-18T22:09:00.000-08:00

~trying to stay positive!

I don't have any fun new pictures of Kaden to add to this post...because we were a little tied up with frantically searching for a new daycare option. Um, what happened to that amazing new daycare that we found you say? The one with the bunnies and the animals and the super loving woman to take care of him? Ah, that one. Things are not always what they seem. She decided that after the 5 days he had with her, that it wasn't going to work out. I received this message in an email, which leads me with a sick feeling in my stomach, but also wondering what could be wrong with my sweet little boy that he is not a "fit" for this seemingly wonderful place. He always has a difficult time saying goodbye to us, but that seems pretty normal, espcially when a little one is just getting comfy at a new place. I could not believe that the little guy that I believe fills my life with such joy is suddenly getting *booted* from his daycare. She had said that she just didn't feel her place was babyproofed enough for him and felt that he was unhappy there. After a lot of processing with Chad, a lot of anger, and scared and helpless feelings, we came to the conclusion that maybe it's for the best, and she is possibly a bit loopy anyway.

We decided to try something a little different this time around, and go with a childcare center. Up until this point, I always felt like the In Home daycares were a bit more personal and loving, but that has not been the case with our last two experiences, so let's switch it up a bit. We discovered a place that looks like it may be a good fit, and I wish I had a camcorder with us for when we visited, and Kaden walked into the two year old room. All of the other kids gathered around him and sized him up. It was really sweet, and Kaden was so completely curious about them! He has never had the experience of being in a place where he was surrounded by other two year olds, and I think he might really like it. I feel horrible that we have to make this decision so fast and there's no time to really transition him there, and then we are moving next week too, so THAT is going to be another difficult transition for a little dude that is not a fan of change.

Could definitely use some positive energy right about now! If you happen to have any extra, send it our way...

and now for some friday linky love and blog crushes...

I made these fun little roasted chickpeas this week. yummy.

incredibly important post about smiling.

I love this DIY jewelry organizer frame. This is on my must do list!

Can you tell I am desperately seeking my crafty alter ego? Look at all these fun DIY projects!

26 quick and easy smoothie recipes. yes please.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

I have a crazy crush on Adele (thank you Kristi!). I absolutely cannot get enough of her. This video completely touches that part of your soul that gives you crazy goosebumps. And I love so much that she has a rubberband ball just like my hubby on one of her bookshelves.

happy weekend everyone!
xo

a healthy dose of random for your wednesday.

2011-02-14T22:31:00.001-08:00

*teehee, I just now realized 4 hours after posting this, that it is in fact, Thursday. oopsie.

~fun at cherry creek mall. we wanted to take kaden to the zoo and we insisted we go to *mall* instead. he gets that from mommy!

~getting revved up to do one of his fancy pirouettes.

~kaden was slightly OCD about this bike, due to the fact that Snow White was one of the princesses featured on it. He talked about the bike for the next 2 days.

~grubbin down on our peanut butter/banana sammies while watching the snow melt away.

~peanut butter teeth.

~we made this pink playdough for vday. I have tried a few other playdough recipes that I didn't love, but this one was perfect!

~completely obsessed with escalators.

~love this!

~ridiculously random. made me smile!

xoxo
jenny

happy love day.

2011-02-14T22:12:00.000-08:00

~my valentine.

One of the pleasures of parenting is being able to reconnect with the wonder of things through the eyes of a child. I feel like each new holiday that comes along offers a new magical experience for all of us, and I am looking forward to what's around the bend...

happy love day from us to you!

a few little twists and turns

2011-02-11T13:35:00.000-08:00

~brave boy taking a turn on the "scary slide" at monkey bizness, holding on for dear life to his precious little reindeer.

This past week we have made same little and big changes, and we are about to have a few more twists and turns along the road! It's no secret that I haven't been super crazy about Kaden's daycare since he started going there 5 months ago. I wanted to give it a chance and see if things got better, and I felt guilty about pulling him out after he had had such a difficult time adjusting in the first place. Finally we decided to try something else this week, and it turns out it was an awesome choice for the little man! Kaden is incredibly smitten with his new place and his new friends. So much so that he doesn't want to leave when it's time to pick him up! The kids are all very sweet and the women that cares for them is incredibly nurturing and amazing with kids, I feel like he is in such good hands and learns so many wonderful things. His vocabulary has improved so much just in the week that he has been going, and he can't stop talking about how much fun he has there. Along with two little rescuse bunnies, they have a dog and are working on getting some chickens and a dwarf goat for the backyard, kind of like a little urban farm. Kaden thinks it's Disneyland!

We also found a new place to live! We kind of stumbled upon the new place (which is only about a mile from where we are now) and we move in two weeks. So happy to be moving out of this unsafe neighborhood and leave behind frequent calls to 911 and the fire department. Our new place is ginormous, has a finished basement, washer/dryer and huge yard! We are really hoping that after a year or so we will be more in a place to buy a home, but for now it just makes more sense for us to rent. I think it will be a really good move for us and we are super excited about it!

Kaden is putting together the sweetest sentences. Everything that comes out of his mouth makes me smile. My favorite thing that he said earlier today...deep thoughts by Kaden Redwood.

"Mommy, Dopey nice, not scary guy. Mickey Mouse too. Unk Brah too."

some *linky love* for your friday....some blog crushes and fun things I have stumbled upon!

First off, check out my incredibly talented cousin's latest photoshoot, so much fun!

I saw this and I desperately want to copy this in our new place! How cute!!!!

I shared this article with a few parents I work with, but I thought it was too good of an article to not share with you all!

Kaden and I are going to make this banana bread when we get home from our playdate this afternoon!

And this is such a fun twist on valentine's day treats! YUM!

and please do stop by and check out my friend Kelly's blog The Six of Us! She is an old friend from long ago who I adore who has an incredible knack for writing, and her blog is inspirational and a fun read for all!

and can someone please fill me in on who this is? This video constantly pops up when we are watching sesame street videos on youtube and kaden has a mad crush on her (must be the pink hair).

happy weekend everyone!

stolen from the amazing notebook doodles.

our weekend in photos

2011-02-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

~helping little simon find his *cozy spot*

~enjoying a superbowl snack.

I had truly forgotten how much fun winter could be! Ask me in April if I still feel lovey dovey about it...

~his first run down the "little hill".

~scoping out the "big hill" with the big boys.

~cousin jack giving kaden his bath. jack is kaden's super BFF.

~justin bieber hairdo.

Kaden had his first breakfast at Cracker Barrel. To my shock and dismay, he had no time for the hashbrown casserole OR the fried apples. what?! Oh but the checkers...YES! he was smitten.

silly daddy.

2011-02-05T22:18:00.000-08:00

This video got cut off a bit at the end, but it was too cute not to share...

a case of the ickies and linky love.

2011-02-04T08:59:00.000-08:00

Poor little Kaden has been feeling icky all this week. A gnarly cold ear infection and a fever equals not a happy little man and LOTS of Disney movies. We have watched Snow White a skadillion times this week, and I'm at the point where I feel like a horrible mommy for ever letting him watch it in the first place! What a scary movie that is! He talks incessantly about "the scary guy" who tries to stab snow white, and becomes deeply concerned when Snow is "hurt" at the end of the movie. I have tried to introduce him to Alladin and Cinderella, but he is not having it. He likes the terror of Snow White. Thank goodness for Mamaw who brought over Jungle Book yesterday....that seems to be running a close second to Snow and I'm hoping it will push her out of the top spot soon enough.

Earlier this week (before he was feeling horrible) we took him to the Museum of Nature and Science which is becoming one of my favorite spots in Denver!

~how fun to have THIS guy's job!

~kaden wasn't too sure about him at first, but slowly warmed up to the dinosaur.

~playing in the space station.

~snack.

~not too happy about TRex disturbing his peaceful snack time.

~reading his new favorite book *The Napping House*

It got soooooo COLD this week! We had temps around -12 at night. It was so cold we had a snow day from work, not because of the snow, but just because it was so brutally cold!

~the inside of our windows even had snow and ice on them!

~helping daddy "dust off his car".

This video makes me smile...there is something about his sweet little voice saying skeleton
that gets me every time.

and in keeping with my new friday tradition, here is some linky love!

This guest post on one of my favorite blogs is so perfect and spot on! I wish I had read this when kaden was a mini nugget....I think I was incredibly caught up in the anxiety of being a new mommy and trying so hard to get it *just right*.

I am trying so hard to be frugal and not buy new random treats, but if i could I have a moment of weakness I may absolutely have to splurge on this and this!

and in the yum-o department, I made this the other night and it was fabulous! Annie is becoming one of my go to's for tried and true tasty recipes! I also made this for nugget as he was feeling so under the weather, and it was was SO good! I will definitely make this one again soon, perfect for the cold weather! And I'm making this for the superbowl, it's becoming my go to recipe for shindigs, so yummy!

I love this DIY Valentine printable from Naturally Sweet. Such a sweet idea!

happy weekend everyone! cheers to tasty superbowl treats!

random wednesday.

2011-02-01T12:46:00.000-08:00

~I realize xmas is over, but how could I resist this face.

~jam session with unk brian

~who says that the fun of buying a GINORMOUS tv is the tv itself?

~"tack down"...his favorite word for body slams.

~doing puzzles on his "boat".

~blown away by the balloon guy at cherry creek mall.

~such a kaden face.

recent random kaden-isms
~hands are toad mommy! (toad=cold)
~suhmmmmmore peas. (some more please)
~ 1.2.3.4.5.6.14 ( not sure where he learned 14 from, we haven't gone higher than 12, but kaden is extremely confident that 14 comes after 6 and it MUST be said in a sweet singsongy voice)

gorgeous weekend.

2011-01-29T14:26:00.000-08:00

It was a gorgeous weekend in Denver and we took full advantage! We made sure to be outside as much as possible and enjoy the amazing days. Sadly, this beautiful weather has gone away for a bit, and we are expecting a high of 6 tommorow. I'm learning that Denver's weather is a bit biploar and leaves you not knowing what to expect next.

~the view on the hill of the "purple mountains"

~our favorite park in Stapleton was completely packed for a friday morning!

~practicing handstands.

~opening up a Vday gift from Uncle Larry and Aunt Gloria, a new favorite toy!

~reading on the floor, brining his entire bed onto the floor!

~and this is kaden a half hour after we put him to bed....he was completely mesmerized by his new toy.

linky love.

2011-01-28T12:55:00.000-08:00

~love this hopeful message.

some blog crushes and fun linky love for this fabulous friday...

why you’re privileged: perspective from the dark side wow. I so needed to read this today. you do too!

nienie. This mama is such a brave and inspiring soul. If you haven't read her story yet, it's absolutely a must read!

Interesting article on princess culture.

I so wanna have a mustache party.

new cooking blog I found and I am so smitten with these yummy cookie recipes! check out these peanut butter bacon cookies!

I heart owls and will force my son to heart them too.

2011-01-26T20:54:00.000-08:00

I love owls. My mama collected them, and over recent years, I have developed an intense love affair with them as well. Kaden is in love with pinecones. Above you may see that we made some little pinecone owls, or you may not....they kind of just look like little creepy deformed birds, but I am going to go ahead and tell kaden they are owls.

~In search of pinecones for his collection...and also telling me to "put camera away mama".

~In the art room at Lil Monkey Bizness, I love watching him paint....such sweet innocence.

~kaden got his new potty in the mail today. He already has a killer throne that was made in Amish Country....it was gifted by Grandpa Miller and it is just too pretty to poo in! Our hope is that eventually he will use that as his primary toddler potty, but in the meantime, we thought it would be good to teach him on one similar to the one he will have at his daycare. He immediately grabbed a pilllow and renovated his *throne* into a little cozy armchair, and demanded I try out his new potty first.

linky love.

2011-01-22T21:38:00.000-08:00

~first time at hobby lobby, our new favorite hangout. We only knocked over two ceramic bunnies while testing out every single pinwheel. We'll see if they let us in again.

So many of the blogs that I follow do this, and I wanted to jump on board! You know when you find something amazing and you just absolutely NEED to share it with others...you so get it. enjoy!

I spend way too much time reading blogs...anything related to parenting, psychology, cooking, whimsical randoms or even celebrity trash, I soak em up!

I have been following this amazing blog for some time now, and I feel the need to share it with the world! Not only is she an inspirational mama, she has a beautiful way of seeing the world. I secretly want her to be my BFF. check her out here.

I need to figure out a way to do THIS for kaden.

I love this girl's tattoo necklace. And her blog is pretty amazing as well!

this is a must read!

This girl makes me so happy and always brightens the day with her incredibly whimsical photography.

and for all you busy mommies with picky little ones, or someone looking for a new yummy recipe...here are some links to some new favorites that even a certain little man that will only eat waffles gobbled down!

Benchiladas

Crock Pot Saucy Pork Chops

Tilapia in the crockpot

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

and yep, all but one is a recipe for the crock pot. I would die without my crockpot!

happy weekend everybody! hope it is lovely for all of you!

fun with balloons.

2011-01-21T20:50:00.000-08:00

~ I just love his laugh at the beginning of this.....so priceless. And that couch, definitely the most hideous looking thing on the planet and the piece of furniture I'm most in love with. We have way too much fun jumping on it, throwing the cushions all over the place, and last week we found a smooshed banana under a cushion. I love toddlerhood!

family time

2011-01-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

It's so rare that the three of us have a whole day together and absolutely nothing on the agenda. We had an awesome day just playing around and doing a lot of giggling.

We started playing at the purple park down the street....it was a gorgeous day, almost 60! Have I mentioned lately that I love Colorado? The sun shines so bright, and even on the snowiest days it doesn't feel so super duper cold because of that beautiful sunshine!

After kaden's nap, we hit up *free day* (I am a little obsessed with free days, such a good excuse to get out and explore something new!) at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Kaden and i had been in the summertime, and the flowers were so beautiful then, and being a winter day today, I wasn't sure what it would be like....it was just as beautiful.

~checkin out one of Henry Moore's sculptures.

~gorgeous luna up above!

~my camera just doesn't catch sunsets the way I wish it would!

~love this.

~it took him about 10 minutes to fully realize what this crazy foreign instrument is used for!

~a first taste of...

~milkshakes and cheeseburgs. yum!

and a raging tummyache for ALL involved....

Jenny plus Chad equals Kaden

crazy snow.

lil bit nesting, lil bit mary poppins.

white trash olympics.

*letter to kaden*

**three years old**

*holiday happenings*

*santa*

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

*hope*

*bits and pieces*

*Poppy*

*happy halloween 2011*

*a new bed*

*a snowy day*

*quirky*

guess what????

*fall fever*

*AM dance festivities*

*bullies*

little stomper

goodbye mikey.

kaden's first camping trip....pic heavy!

*silly songs*

update extravaganza

*it a beautiful day*

*rain and other complete randomness*

two and a HALF!

*home*

fun with the flip.

*mama panic*

wordless wednesday.

*home*

*freckle*

*miller time*

*happy mother's day*

forrest jr.

a drummin we will go....

easter shenanigans

*nightlight*

*sunday funday*

*spring has sprung*

daddy time.

butterflies

*manners and music*

*saying goodbye to simon*

*furbabies, potty, love and linkies*

little joey tribbiani.

*wordless wednesday*

*songbird*

*sweet slumber and linky love*

for japan with love.

*wordless wednesday*

now I know my ABCs....

polar bear love.

*st paddy's day celebration*

*my new house is scary.

goodbye cherry street.

fast shoes and melody monday.

third time is always a charm.....yes?

a healthy dose of random for your wednesday.

happy love day.

*a few little twists and turns*

*our weekend in photos*

silly daddy.

a case of the ickies and linky love.

random wednesday.

gorgeous weekend.

linky love.

I heart owls and will force my son to heart them too.

linky love.

fun with balloons.

*family time*

letter to kaden

three years old

holiday happenings

santa

hope

bits and pieces

Poppy

happy halloween 2011

a new bed

a snowy day

quirky

fall fever

AM dance festivities

bullies

silly songs

it a beautiful day

rain and other complete randomness

home

mama panic

home

freckle

miller time

happy mother's day

nightlight

sunday funday

spring has sprung

manners and music

saying goodbye to simon

furbabies, potty, love and linkies

wordless wednesday

songbird

sweet slumber and linky love

wordless wednesday

st paddy's day celebration

a few little twists and turns

our weekend in photos

family time