Sunny Days

Part of the reason we moved cross country like 17 times and ended up in the Mile High City is the glorious sunshine and balmy temps. For the past couple weeks we've had the kind of days that when you step outside you catch yourself breathing deep, closing your eyes and humming the tune to Sound of Music (mile high dad has yet to see the flick). The Dude loves the outdoors as well, but is starting to wear holes in his knees from bustling around the patio on all fours. The walking thing is something inside his little head...not yet a reality. Big news though...tooth #3 has showed it's face!

We went to a park to top all parks on Sunday night with Uncle L & Aunt K and had a rip roarin' time. Dude giggled loud enough for the whole park to hear him when he went down the slide and soared through the air on the swings. Dad and Uncle L might have had the best time out of all of us though. Boys will be boys...not matter how many years they have under their belts.

A Little Croup, A Few Teeth...Good Times

I've been a stranger to this blog for what seems like an eternity. The reason? Dude has been cursed with croup and 3 new teeth all mixed into one splendid week. Good times for all! No one really warned us that there would be days where you'd lay in bed and pray that your child would miraculously be at someone elses house when you got up. God answers a lot of our prayers, but not that one in particular.

The good news...we got through it. One of us far better than the other (translation - I was a mess, my better half was a solid rock). Mile High Dad and I are now both sick, but we figure we can handle that as long as Dude is back to his happy go lucky self.

Before the blessed week began, Dude rode around our cul-du-sac on his favorite Tonka. I took pictures. Surprising, I know. Enjoy and may you have a week free of croup, teething, barfing, Baby Einstein & the Wiggles.

A Good Excuse For a Pedicure

We have a fabulous small group out here that meets every Thursday. For about a year now, we've gotten acquainted with 4 other couples between Thursday night gatherings and other social happenings. We love the fact that God directed our paths together. Two of the girlies in our group are prego and are expected to deliver within 2 weeks of each other. To celebrate the fact that soon we will no longer be the only couple in the group with a tyke, the five of us girls went to a cutesy nail salon and did lunch and gifts over here at Mile High Vogel's abode.

The dude went with dad and the other dudes in the group to a gym to play hoops. Little Dude actually rolled a ball around the gym and chased it pretty much the entire time. He's pretty content hangin' by himself! We're proud to announce that at almost 13 months, he has finally learned how to crawl like a real boy. Army crawling is becoming a thing of the past! Now we're just aiming for enough teeth to be able to chew a raisin. The two that he has just don't cut it.

Slip Slidin' Away

With each visit to the park at the end of our cul-de-sac, the Dude discovers new exhilarating activities. We sat him at the top of the slide where he clapped and squealed with glee. It took a few minutes, but he eventually scooted toward the plastic downward slope and found that his glee level nearly tripled. This confirms our suspicion that he will ADORE roller coasters and possibly illegal substances that give him the feeling of being on a roller coaster (just kidding...our angel will most definitely pass on grass).

The photo sequence above takes you through the mind of the Dude as he flies down the giant slide which, when Dad sits on top, his feet practically touch the wood chips. I also included a photo below of Dude and Papa at the Auto Show (his first of hundreds to come). Dude was quite impressed...by the lights of course. We had a GREAT time with Papa!

2 Peas in a Dramatically Different Pod

Having friends with a son 5 days older than Dude can be a real "hoot" as my Grandma would say. It also proves that kids have minds and schedules of development of their very own! Valociraptor and Little Dude are best friends...that's what we, as their parents, have decided. But we nervously await the day when one or the other tells us that he doesn't WANT to go play with his designated best friend. We can predict Valociraptor not wanting to read non-fiction novels with Dude and Dude not wanting to wrestle in the mud. We can envision Dude asking what Valociraptor's infatuation is with mesh clothing and Valociraptor asking why Dude wears so many stuffy collared shirts. Until that day comes, we will force them to love each other (in a manly way of course).

The photo ops are numerous and irresistible and Cara and I take full advantage of this. I just asked her Friday if our kids are going to resent us for constantly having cameras down their throats and she replied with a very quick, "yes." At least we can admit our flaws.

An Extra Dose of Cuteness

Before we even knew about the Little Dude's existence, we got word that my bro and sis-in-law were expecting. We ended up with child (literally) before Dylan was born, so the two boys are only 4 months apart. And their names are only one letter different. We actually stole their middle name, causing them to choose Mitchell instead.

My parents now have two lights of their life (you lose your "light" status as their children when you start reproducing cuter and more lovable family members) and our family is gaining in momentum. Uncle Ky does his fair share of spoiling the nephews with Adidas, Cubs and Bears wear. I recently opened my email to find these irresistible pictures of "D" and had to do a posting to show him off to all my blog stalkers.

Mile High Dad's nieces and nephew share equal cuteness in our hearts...we keep up to speed with them through their internationally re known blog http://www.diplofam.blogspot.com/. They reside in Armenia but are moving to Toronto this summer. We'll be pumped to have them back in the general area!

It Aint Easy Bein' One

We partied yesterday....in one-year-old fashion, but partied none the less. The Dude shared his b-day with Easter weekend, so the race car party was postponed until Papa K and Grandma V could make it out. We had a group of friends over to commemorate this once-in-a-lifetime experience, opened a ton of fun gifts, ate some burgers, went a little crazy with salt and vinegar chips and ate about 1/4 of the monstrocity cake that we convinced ourselves we needed.

Dude played basketball in the grass and pushed himself around the patio on his Tonka and was doing just splendidly until we put him in the highchair with a big ole piece of cake in front of him. Some people will tell you that any kid will eat cake if you tempt them with it, but our son proved to me yesterday that he is not just any kid. Dude breaks the mold...he has never been so irate with us than when we forced him to get down and dirty with mounds of frosting and sugary goodness. He ate one finger lick of frosting and wanted nothing more to do with the experience. Oh well. I guess we should be grateful that he prefers a dry piece of Wonder Bread over a mouthful of sugary bliss.

Thanks everyone (Grandma and Papa especially) for coming out to party with us!

Launching gvCREATIVE...Check It Out!

A couple years ago I "started" a side business coined "gvCREATIVE." I went so far as to pay for a website and professionally printed business cards. Then we moved to the Mile High City (again), I got a full-time job which didn't allow for much attention to be placed on this budding business and finally the Little Dude happened along. That put the plan for making wads of extra cash on the shelf where its been accumulating more and more imaginary dust.

My current position at Food Bank of the Rockies has fueled my creative juices once again and the Little Dude has given us cause to evaluate how exactly to bring in more spending money, thus I'm giving this another go. This time I have a new tactic. I'm actually telling people that gvCREATIVE exists rather than hoping to be magically discovered by strangers through cyberspace.

The focus of gvCREATIVE is writing, graphic design and amateur photography (family photos, parties, engagement shots etc). I have 7 years under my belt now in the above and love putting my creative skills to the test. Check out my cost-efficient (free) blog site just launched today and if you feel compelled, pass me along to anyone who might be able to utilize my creativeness.

www.gvcreative.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Mile High Easter Photo Collage

A Mile High Easter

The Easter tradition in the Mile High City is to go to Oma B's house and hope for enough warmth and sun to make the annual Adult Easter Egg Hunt possible. 9 times out of 10 our wish is granted. Yesterday was one of those days. We had 2 tables full of good eats, hundered of plastic eggs strategically hidden around the huge yard and dozens of people running around in search for the Peep free eggs. Tim was blessed with the new tradition of finding dog food in one of his eggs, so that was appetizing.

Little Dude was decked out in patchwork pants from Nanna and looked quite charming! Uncle Mark and the Dude and Mile High Dad and little Nolan apparantly made the "what are YOU wearing today phone call." They all looked pretty darn cute in their matching ensembles (see above pictures). Dude participated in the egg hunt in the trusty backpack and laughed every time Dad swung him back and forth. Since he detests rough grass and refuses to even entertain the idea of crawling on it, we had to keep him elevated for this portion of the day.

It was a great Easter 2008! Church provided the opportunity to sing the songs we anticipate every year and hear a message of h0pe and just how blessed we are to look forward to everlasting life. However, we didn't get to sing our favorite, "Up From the Grave He Arose," so we honored Little Dude with a loud and quite obnoxious rendition on our drive home. Ask him about it some time:) Hope you had a wondeful Easter!