*home*

~enjoying some Abbotts.

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

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

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


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


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


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


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






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


~giving a *bump* to the amazing audrey.


~playing with Poppy.




~me and my amazing TT Nan.


~refueling.


~time with family is so good for the soul.






~the whole clan at Red Robin.

fun with the flip.

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


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


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



~rockin out to Go potty Go at 6am.

*mama panic*

~the "give mommy heart palpitations fountain".


~testin the waters.

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

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


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


~wavin to the choochoo.

And some linky love for you...

New York City.

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

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

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

and finally read this article and tell me what you think

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

wordless wednesday.

*home*

~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*

~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.