Jenny plus Chad equals Kaden: May 2010

I absolutely adore denver. The friendly souls, the majestic mountains and the sky, the pure air and the abundance of nature lovers and the state's love for the outdoors. Everywhere I look, someone is biking to work, doing yoga in the park, talking about plans for camping or simply sitting outside relishing in the beauty of the day. All of it. I have been struggling to find something that I DON'T like about denver...and the only thing I can come up with is the absence of Trader Joes. But even this tiny void isn't all that bad, as it has inspired me to become all that more creative in my search for similar products and other enchanting grocery stores!

Chad started work this week, and since I am still looking for work, I am getting to taste a little bit of what it feels like to be a stay at home mommy. I am loving every minute with my little guy. We have been spending our days exploring denver, being tourists in our new home. I can tell he loves it here too, although it's apparent that he misses his little friends from "school". Whenever we are at the park, you can see the way he looks at other kids, such a longing for a little buddy. I am going to look into some *mommy and me* groups this week so that we can work on getting him some super best friends.

Speaking of parks, my goodness Denver....you DON'T mess around! The parks here are in absolute abundance, and they like mini amusement parks for the little ones (and for those adults who are in touch with our inner child!).

Here are some of the highlights from our park tour 2010...

This is Washington Park, just a mile down the road...it's HUGE!

~practicing PLOPS with mamaw

And this is City Park, my favorite. I am not sure what it is about this one, as it is slightly inner cityish and attracts a rougher crowd, but kaden and I were in the love with all the fun things to do and the random souls we met. This one is also ginormous and so so pretty. It's in the backyard of the Denver zoo which is also so much fun since you can hear all the animals chitchattin!

~Kaden arrived ecstatic and extremely hyper.

~kaden loves to swing in the toddler swing and make one of us swing in the *big boy* swing right next to him. Not sure why, but he thinks it's completely hysterical.
We also were dying to check out Central Park in Stapleton. Stapleton is about a 10 minute drive from us and was one of the places we considered living before we moved here. It is a sustainable community built around the old airport in denver. Everything is incredibly new and modern, it is unlike any place I have ever seen! Central Park is something that truly took our breaths away, and i am sad that the pics just don't do it justice. We walked around awestruck that kids are so blessed to have a community such as this one to play in. Just one of the little gems we have found so far here that have justified our decision to move here....it's such a family oriented place!

~raring to go!

~making new friends

~completely smitten with his seeing his first kite.

~kaden spotted a little boy playing with the ball we had just bought him (but sadly did not take to the park) and pretty much chased him all over the park. Check out the majestic snow capped mountains in the back!

~this is hilarious. He wants that damn ball.

~and although "bye BYE" is his favorite thing to say....I think he is still saying go and get me that damn ball, and i just wanted to believe i was finally catching his bye bye on tape.

On a more random, non-park note...Kaden's new favorite thing to do is brush his teeth. About four months ago, it was sheer torture to have him put a toothbrush in his mouth, now he will point to his teeth at least 5x a day and want to brush his teeth, and absolutely not by himself, I must do it as well. Hopefully my next trip to the dentist will pay off...

And for those who have been asking for photos of our place....here are a few. We are not getting too comfy as we know we will be moving again in 6-9 months to a different neighborhood.

~daddy rockin out the ABCs in our favorite corner..

Those who know me well, know that I have this weird thing with mirrors in bedrooms...they totally creep me out. I was worried about Kaden getting freaked out by them in his room, but as you can see, they have been a major source of entertainment for him.

~kisses

Mamaw and Papaw came over for dinner last night and we had a great night! Did I mention how amazing it is to have family so close by? I so wish I could move both of our families within a 60 mile radius of us...that would just be too perfect.

~if you are wondering about our interesting couch with the lavender sheet, it is an amazingly comfy couch passed down to us from Mamaw's sweet friend...we are in the midst of working on making a slipcover for it.

~daddy trying to protect our little shrimp boat captain from being attacked by some territorial geese.

The title of this post was a line from a little girl that was too cute for words. On one of the colder days we had so far in our days in Denver, we bundled up nugget like a little fish boat captain (our winter threads are LACKING for our little dude) and went off to explore Washington Park, which is just a few blocks away. A little girl was interested in little kaden, and repeatedly called him a "she". Kaden is often times referred to as a "she" which I find comical because he is usually dressed a bit like a gangster. Often times I am asked, is he a "boy or girl", but i have never had anyone straight out ARGUE with me about his sexuality. After I mentioned the word "he" to this little cutie patutie in the park, she looked at me strernly and pointed out that "HE is a SHE". She was too cute, who was I to argue with her? But seriously, look at this crazy pic of him below in his Shrimp Boat Captain gear...how could you ever mistaken HE for a SHE?

~our little shrimp fisherman

We have been having the best time being tourists in our new home! Every day is a new adventure and something new to explore! We are enjoying our neighborhood more and more each day, espcially with the discovery that my old friend Jeff from my hathaway days is only about 2 blocks from our home! We randomly ran into each other at our neighborhood park after trying for days to get together for coffee and a catch up. A little piece of an old home always makes things a little bit homier!

I will update with more later, but for right now, here is a slew of pics from our random excursions.

~rocking in his chair with all his BFFs

Mamaw's happy retirement party!

~kaden learning all sorts of CHEERS.

~Karla and her wonderful friends!

~Kaden demanding that both "MOes" be read to before bedtime.

~kaden's absolute favorite thing to do right now is play in the streams, creeks, ponds...oh yeah, and gutters. He loves to chase flowers or leaves, it is too sweet to watch. I thought we would miss the ocean, but so far the peacefulness of all the ponds, lakes and creeks (and gutters) is making up for it.

~Uncle Brian and Aunt Suzanne had us over for a ridiculously yummy dinner and an impromptu slumber party, and kaden was in absolute heaven. Not only does he ADORE these two, but they introduced him to guacamole, ginormous bouncy balls, a playlist made just for him, golf clubs, Blues Clues, model planes, crazy fun toys and a kick ass pool to boot. So much fun!

~nugget getting set to do a fancy sommersault in his little room..he absolutely LOVES his room.

~Tattered Cover Bookstore is just an amazing bookstore! It is one of the few things I checked out on my first visit to denver, and I know it will always be one of my most favorite places in this magical city.