6.15.2014

D Day




These guys (the big ones) are quite the men.  I don't know why I have this old photo of my dad, but I couldn't resist utilizing it.  Studly huh?  I try to tell my hubs of his greatness daily but I'm afraid I fail (miserably).  So today, we tried to make the day all about him.  I woke up at what felt like the crack of dawn to make a sausage filled egg extravaganza and of course the children sensed that I was upright, so they woke up too.  We spoiled Dad with a Superman grilling apron (you're welcome Tim), a ninja fighting man bottle opener (again, you're welcome Tim) and tons of home made cards and notes from the darling little hands that rely so heavily on their Dadio.  Church was next, followed by a lovelier than lovely picnic and stroll through Denver Botanic Gardens with the Glassmans.  There's an exhibit there called Chihuly, which is an assortment of mind boggling glass art displayed around the gardens.  It was amazing and combined with the beauty of that venue, top notch weather, and the company of kick ass friends, it made for a fabulous outing.  Photos to come soon.

We came home and chilled for a bit and headed to our pool for the night.  Man do we love that place.  Dude swam his brains out for 2 hours with all his little girlfriends, Squirt played with all her new little boyfriends, I chatted with Mamas and Tim played beach volleyball.  Oh, and we had root beer floats.  That was awesome and we had to ask ourselves why we don't have them more often.    

On Friday morning I forced my children to do a couple mini photo shoots for me so we could give Daddy some visual keepsakes this year.  Here's a sampling of what they gave offered me.  Very them.  
     























We do love you Tim.  A lot.  There's no one else I'd rather walk through fire or bask in the sunshine with than you babers.  You're my first and greatest gift.  And to my Dadio, who is currently frolicking in Prague with my Mother dear and another couple, I sure do love you too you great ape.  Happy Father's Day.    




6.12.2014

Keep Singing

My inspiration for today can be found on my other blogging baby.....

Just keep singing people.  Just keep singing.

6.11.2014

Sun Shiny June

June has been a sun shiny month over here, happy to report.  We've had 12 consecutive days with nothing out of the ordinary or traumatic to report.  Let's hear it for summer.  I'd like to follow my own advice of noting all the highs throughout my days and highlight a few June tokens of sunshine below.  

  • The weather has been fabulouso 
  • The kids have been joyful, frolicking and only get roughly 5 times outs a piece per day, most of them centered around suffocating the dog
  • We joined a local neighborhood pool and are meeting fun party people, including a lot of fellow little people from Dude's school 
  • Dude had a memorable 90 degree trip to the zoo in a limo with his now retired principal 
  • Squirt and Dude are loving summer camp at a local Lutheran school and Squirt has taken the role of "boss" in her classroom.  She's also singing songs about Jesus, so hopefully there's a balance there 
  • Our new across the street neighbors are proving to be socially awesome and a huge sigh of relief (we were quite fearful when we lost our Sheas) 
  • Dude started horse therapy today and quite enjoyed his time with Bandit  
  • Randy and Linsy were blessed with a perfect bundle of love, baby Hayes Michael 
  • Dude is also doing Tai Kwondo twice per week and has made a lot of exciting progress in his 3 weeks 
  • Squirt learned the letter "R," (she still thinks "red" is formally called "hot lava" but we're making small strides) 
  • Tim just wrapped up an exhilarating car racing weekend with his favorite boy on the planet, Mr. Chris Warp, and other fun man friends 
  • I've been working with a couple neighbor ladies and one rockin gentleman building a "Free Little Library" on our corner (more to come on that) 
  • Our Enzo makes all of us smile and ooh and aaah daily.  He does have a distended testicle that needs attention (did I catch you off guard with that one?), but is a perfect teddy bear that aside
  • We're (I'm) knee deep in becoming a thorn in the side of (I mean petitioning) the city of Centennial to make much needed safety changes on our street.  I'm not giving up and I think that point has been made obnoxiously clear to the powers that be
  • It's summer, which means cold white wine is now in my fridge
  • Dude's wounds are close to invisible, which means we no longer have to answer the question, "What the heck happened to your poor son?"
  • Our neighborhood has once again proven to us why we adore living around these precious people.  The have poured down love and care for our family since the accident through calls, emails, cards, flowers, food, treats, presents, visits, and hand made tokens of kid crafted love 
Some visual June tokens.....


We're officially entering that unfortunate stage that 90% of all boys go through around age 7.  They're just awkward in a plethora of ways.  Still darling in their mother and grandmothers' eyes and uber lovable, but awkward none the less.  Sorry buddy.  It'll pass.  



 A face only a mother and every other human being on the planet can love.


 So, these weren't taken in June, but they needed to be shared.  Because.  You see why.  



 Farewell Mrs. Ryan.  You've left a permanent ray of sunshine in our Vogel hearts.

 Enzo's first backyard bath.  Soaking we he was slightly bigger than a very large rat.  He wasn't a fan.  Dude giggled like a schoolgirl on helium the entire time.



  Farewell gathering for the Shea's departure.  Pre baby Hayes arrival.  


 Edible.  


 Two of my favorite man dudes.  



We had a sleepover with the two little Sheas before they headed out of our hood.  We all visited the famous "Y" building (a request of my son).  You see, it looks like a "Y" at the top and Dude talks about it every time we pass, which is daily.  They all touched it and we moved on to the park.  



Squirt's first one on one with a green caterpillar.  She talked to it like it was a crying baby.  After 10 minutes, Dude got up the nerve to hold it and proceeded to crush it in his excitement.  Dead.  He cried.  A lot.  

 Our new pool!  Crazy fun.  


Pre-caterpillar death.

 One of Dude's besties, Belen, joined us for a free day at our horse camp ranch.  That was the first time Squirt got on a horse.  She loved it.

 This night on the town happened over a month ago, but I never posted it.  16 ladies involved in a local non-profit I belong to rented a bike bar and handed out tokens of encouragement and love to women downtown Denver as we made a huge scene hootin and hollering.  Our tour guide thought we were a pretty good time.




 Movie night at our pool.  Darling.


 Dude's addition to his "chore chart."  Figured it would be an easy way to earn some dough I guess.  


 Party time at the Sheas rental townhouse pool.  


That's enough for now.  The Tonight Show is callin my name.  Love that guy.