*divine timing*

This last week had been my last week before going back to work after a glorious maternity leave. It hurts my heart to even think about it, but I know both of my precious angels will be in good hands, I just wish it were MY hands! I can't think of a better cure for the back to work blues than two of my favorite people coming to town for a visit. My cousin Jena came for four days, and we had such good bonding time. Kaden is so smitten with her, he was so sad to see her go (as were we!) She is the amazing photographer that took this sweet family shot above. Check out all her work on her site, Jena Cumbo Photography and her event site (if you are looking for a wedding photographer, seriously, she is your girl!!! You will NOT be dissappointed!) JC Event Photography.

Later in the week, my LA Zingy, Farrah stopped off for a visit on a road trip moving a friend back to Chicago. Though her visit was short, I was so happy we were able to play for a bit! It was so awesome to see her. She brought me a piece of LA back, and it was the first time I had a bit of homesickness for LA. She brought back a jar of that insane Chimchurri sauce that they serve with the bread at Lala's on Melrose, which was our favorite stomping ground back in the day. We may have wolfed the whole jar down that night after a few glasses of vino.

please notice kaden's random green socks. he wore these the whole time TT Jena was here after he noticed that she had neon green socks when she first arrived. we unfortunately did not have any neon green, so these had to do.



Kaden and his favorite TT Gabeen.



me and my zingybing. kaden was not feeling camera ready :)

happy girl.



the night after Jazz in the park. Our *processing* party.


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On a not so happy note, last week, I was super excited to introduce Jazz in the park to Jena. My amazing friend Audrey met up with us, and we had fun with the kids, listening to sweet jazz, chowin down on snacks, and soaking up the energy of one of our favorite outings during the summer. Toward the end of the night, Kaden needed to go potty and i took him to the boathouse to do his business. While we waited in line, I watched at least a dozen little ones play barefoot in the grass, right next to the parking lot. I stared as we waited wondering how many of them would have goose poop embedded in between their toes, since there is such an abundance of this lovely green stuff in the park. This is the visual that I can't help going back to when I think back to that night. Moments later we were in the bathroom, doing our thing, and as we were washing our hands, we heard the shots. The bathroom flooded with people screaming and yelling and looks of terror in their eyes. It was absolute chaos. A cop came to the bathroom entrance and told us to stay in there. I picked up Kaden and ran and hid in the bathroom, trying so hard to be calm, but was on the verge of a breakdown. In my mind, I was sure that there was someone out in the park, just randomly shooting at innocent souls. Chad, Sophia, Audrey and Jena were all out in the park and I had no way to know if they were alright. I saw a few girls leave the bathroom, and the girl crouched down next to me (an angel for sure!) had texted her friend who was in the park, and she told her she thought it was ok to come out. I followed her out of the bathroom and the park was completely madness. People had mostly abandoned their things and just taken off, not knowing what was happening. People were running for the one side of the park and we ran too. We caught up with everyone, Chad took one look at me and took Kaden from me, obviously seeing that I was a complete mess. When we got home, we heard the horrible news that it was an isolated incident and a female police officer was shot while trying to break up a fight between two gangs (I can't stop wondering where the *gangs* are at jazz in the park....I have never seen one shady character here, only families and chill and relaxed souls having a good time). The news was even more grim when we learned that she was the single mother of a twelve year old girl. My heart and prayers go out to her daughter, her friends and her family....and those sweet little barefoot children that I was watching outside the bathroom that I know must have seen something that their carefree hearts had never dreamed of seeing that evening.

Tommorow night, Jazz in the park continues, and I think we have decided to go, although I do have mixed feelings about it. I think it's important for Kaden to continue to have his joyful feelings about Jazz in the park, and maybe it will be good for my soul as well.

Sophia dolled up in her Hello my name is onesie, gifted from my sweet friend, Lisa.

Sophia loungin on this gorgeous quilt that Aunt Gloria made for her.

 

I love the look on her face.

our morning hula hoop session. Unfortunately, one three year old was injured moments after this photo was taken. he got a wee bit excited about this hula performance and bonked his nose on the hoop pretty hard.

This week also marked the start of one of the worst fire seasons ever in Colorado. The devastation is so unreal and the whole situation is so heartbreaking. If you are wanting to find a way to help, this site gives some helpful info that can help to lead you in the right direction. Click here to find ways that you can help!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and an awesome holiday this week!



*a wordless wednesday, trip to the zoo post*

"write your own caption"

*be kind*

Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies. God damn it, you've got to be kind. - Kurt Vonnegut

I love this quote. To me, this is the most important lesson that can be taught to our children, Be Kind. Whatever it takes, BE KIND! I have been grateful for little teaching lessons that come along and focus on this for Kaden, but one moment this week backfired on me.

We went to the park one day, it was a steamy day, close to 100 degrees. Denver can be HOT in the summer, being so close to the sun. So 100 degrees here really feels like 120. While we were getting everyone out of the car, this sweet VERY old woman (I'm thinking she was in her 90's) fumbled over to us (you are probably thinking she is homeless, but she was most definitely not...very well to do area, and she was dressed to the nines) and explained that she had lost her car and had been wandering around for a long time trying to find it. We talked for a little bit and I tried to be helpful, and she shared that she was feeling thirsty. We had two HUGE containers of water and I gave one to her and told her to keep it. I figured if she had been walking around that long, she REALLY needed it. The water containers were cute, but somewhat disposable, or so I thought. Kaden lost his mind. I spent the rest of the day discussing the importance of helping other people, especially those that are much older than us. He continued to say he was "sad about the cup" and "it was sooooo special to him". Later I told the story to daddy and he said "why did you give her the cup, I loved that cup", and kaden actually jumped up and down and yelled "I told you so mommy, that cup was SPECIAL to us" So much for a lesson in kindness. Mommy sucks.

Two days later, we were watching some Curious George episode and I commented on how *kind* George was to the squirrel. Kaden didn't look at me and did'nt skip a beat and said "I miss my cup". Lovely.

Mamaw and Papaw met up with us at this really cool festival that was sponsered by the Rec centers....they had fire truck rides for the kids, a band, fun treats and games, bouncy houses and an awesome obstacle course for the kids to live out their dreams of being a firefighter. Had I known how amazing this moment would be, I so would have captured it on the Flip.

His assignment was to weave in and out of the cones, go through the tunnel and then run over to the hose and spray the fire. We watched 10 kids do it and I explained as each one went what he needed to do. Kaden just went ahead and sprinted like a madmen all the way up to that little hill in the back of that picture. We were all laughing so hard...I have never seen him run so fast....I think he thought HE was on fire!

so excited about the Chik Filet cow....he thought he was hysterical

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~riding the fire truck with Mamaw.



 ~Sophie partying in her party dress.



~makin brownies for father's day

  ~kaden wore this when he was recuperating from his surgery....it was a costume that he wore when he was not even 2 years old. I think this in combination with watching Mary Poppins 9 times made him have a speedy recovery.

*celebrating daddy*

Happy Father's day to all the amazing daddies out there! Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend and has some special time to celebrate Dad!

We celebrated father's day a day early this weekend, since Chad has to work on Father's Day. We took some time to celebrate the guy who often gets little acknowledgement for all those seemingly trivial things (i.e. taking out the trash, replacing the screen in the window that the squirrels eat through for like the 19th time, fixing everything and anything, doing all of the laundry because you secretly love to, cleaning (yep...Chad is a maniac at cleaning, while I fall dreadfully short), skateboarding and riding bikes with kaden and playing every type of game that any child could possibly dream of without even batting an eyelash, and so so so so much more.....I feel so incredibly blessed to hold hands with a daddy that I admire so much and learn so much from every.single.day. Cheers to you!

And those other two guys on the right side of me in the second pic? My own Daddy who has given me  unconditional love and support through everything and a positive outlook that has influenced the way I live my life, and my brother who inspires me so much as a parent, and as a pretty damn amazing human being. I celebrate you both today....Cheers!

And to all the other Daddies, those among us and those we remember...Happy Father's Day to you all!

Rocking out with the Miller boy band.

Daddy playing peekaboo with Sophia.

*trooper*

My poor little nugget had his surgeries today. He was such a brave boy, such a little trooper! I had tried to prepare him just a few days before, but he was feeling really anxious just before the surgery. Not sure where he gets THAT from! *ahem* They had him wear his jammies to the hospital, which I made the mistake of wondering out loud if he got to wear hhis jammies during the surgery.....when it came time to change into the cute lil astronaut scrubs, he lost his mind. So he went ahead and had the surgery in scrub bottoms and his jammie shirt.  Anyway, Daddy went back with him (only one of us could go, and I was with Sophia, and let's be honest, I would have been a mess!) where they put him to sleep. They wiped a mask with Skittles lip balm (wow!?) and put it on him and he was asleep. We were told that both procedures (clipping his little tongue and putting tubes in his ears) would take about a half an hour, and we were blown away when they told us he was awake less than fifteen minutes after we left. He was a bit groggy when he woke up, but did say "I've had a haaaaaaard day". Sweet boy.

On the drive home, he was in and out of sleep, kind of groggy, but by the time we got home....we had Mary Poppins on, he did a few sommersaults and wanted to have a dance party. He also stated "I can hear MUCH better now! I can hear the band better! We don't have a piano. I need to get me a stand up Bass!"

Hallelujah!

*update* I wrote this while he and Sophia were napping today (such a treat when they nap at the SAME time!), and apparently the euphoria wore off during his nap. His tongue was crazy swollen and he was in crazy agony. A little drugs and a Wendy's frosty seemed to mellow him out.

And how on Earth did Children's Hospital let him come home with THESE on? Seriously? Ouch, I have a crazy fear of ripping these badboys off! We left them on overnight, and daddy is going to *operate* on them in the morning.

lately....

I have been a wee bit camera crazy. beware of this post if you are not in the mood for pics!



sophia and her best friend Owl.



Some randoms....

~Kaden has an imaginary friend named Chad.

~Still not a fan of the wind, but he is trying SO hard to be brave, you can see him grinding his teeth a little when a big gust of wind comes, and his hands clench, but he says "the wind is fun" with a sweet little forced smile on his face.

~For those who know Chad, you know that he loves to turn trash to treasure. He always finds these sweet items that others don't want, and turns them into amazingness. He found the most incredible box in an alley and turned it into the sweetest toy box, it looks like something out of pottery barn! Kaden has also become interested in *trash*, but does not yet care to turn it into treasure. It took us about 25 minutes to walk from the parking lot into Target yesterday due to him spotting a pink piece of a broken toy (dirty and broken with sharp edges). He had a complete meltdown when I wouldn't let him get it, and we had a twenty minute conversation about this piece of trash outside Target.  Fun trip to target!

Kaden brought his favorite friend to hang out with her when she was sad...and it worked!

This is so Kaden right now, although I think he reaches the thousand mark each day.



experimenting with fun headbands.



hello bee is obviously her fave.



nothing cozier.



Kaden completely posed this shot and asked me to get my camera to capture this moment ;)



Sophie loves to chat!


Mamaw and Papaw took Kaden on a super cool train ride with his buddy Seamus.  Kaden was so super stoked! It was about an hour and a half long and went over this cool big trestle.

kaden and his favorite buddy, Seamus.



Cue I've been workin on the railroad....



~I have been loving trying new recipes out while on my maternity leave...here are some of    our faves!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Tilapia Parmesan

Overnight Blueberry French Toast

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Squares

My new go to Lasagna recipe. sooooooo yummy!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! xo