lil bit nesting, lil bit mary poppins.

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.

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*

~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**

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.