And then to add to the chaos...

Austin left for Chicago at 7:30am yesterday morning for a 24 hour trip and by 8am, Braden was vomiting! Good timing huh? Especially considering that the shady floors guys showed up at 8:30am and asked me to leave the house until noon. That obviously wasn't an option so I asked them to come back next week which means more days without a kitchen. Apparently Braden picked up some kind of stomach bug b/c he was sick all day yesterday and did not leave the couch until 4:30pm when he finally started to perk up a bit. Let's just say we watched a lot of movies yesterday (thank goodness for television) and Asher and I did who knows what for endless hours yesterday while Braden laid on the couch. Let's just say Asher used his paci a lot more liberally then I would care to admit. It was not a fun day being stuck inside ALL day with one sick child and one who was super ancy and desperately wanted to go outside. I love my kids but I was so thankful when 8pm rolled around and I could finally collapse on the couch. Here is poor Braden at his worst. It really is so hard seeing your kids so sick.
Here is to hoping the rest of us stay healthy!

Chaotic Days

Let me just preface this post by saying that we have not had kitchen floors for 2 months now and as of Monday, we have no kitchen. By no kitchen I mean nothing...just a bare room with lots of dust and wide open electrical sockets...good for the kiddos if you know what I mean :) Here are the boys testing out the new kitchen -


So where is everything that used to be in my kitchen you ask...in my foyer of course!!!! Cozy huh?
And despite all the chaos, here is Asher practicing his pulling up skills on Tyson...
And here is Braden before the demolition began...he was practicing good safety by wearing his hard hat while using his tools to take apart the cabinets.

So yesterday morning, I get a phone call from our contractor and he tells me that they are going to lay the hardwood floors today and that I need to get out of the house in one hour and that it would be to my best interest to stay out all day long since it would be super loud and dusty. So I spend the next 30 minutes packing up my whole house so that I'd have all the food/sleeping supplies to get me through the day with two small kids. We get in the car, make a quick stop at the library and then start driving to my dad's house...all is going well until Braden throws up in the car. Perfect huh? So after pulling over and cleaning him up, I made the decision to go back home b/c I didn't want to take a chance of getting my dad sick...although looking back I now realize that Braden was just car sick from reading in a hot car on windy back roads. Anyway, I'm driving home, Asher is crying b/c he was supposed to eat 30 minutes ago, Braden is crying b/c he doesn't want the windows down and I'm about to throw up myself from the smell in my car. So we get home to a VERY loud house...between the saws and the nail guns, I can barely hear myself talk. I put a movie on for Braden, feed Asher and start to face the fact that I am stuck in this house with two shady floor guys, two small children and a house that is so loud that there is no way anyone is gonna nap. Oh, not to mention that every time the saws turn on, Braden starts crying b/c he is scared of the loud noise the saws make. Thankfully at this point, the rain has stopped so we head outside to a super muddy backyard and spend the rest of the afternoon outside. By 2:30pm, I'm starting to realize that I'm gonna have to try for naps even though it's pretty unrealistic considering the noise factor. I get Asher down for a nap by 3pm, just as they are finishing my floors, get Braden down by 3:30pm, head outside to clean up the rest of my horrid smelling car, come back inside to make a sandwich, take one bite and I hear Asher screaming from his crib. Apparently, he only wanted a 40 minute nap today...sweet considering that I'm exhausted and so need a break. Anyway...let's just say I've seen better days. It's just been a stressful few days having no kitchen sink, no stove, no dishwasher and no cabinets and not to mention a house that looks like a bomb went off in it. On a side note, we've been eating out every night since there aren't many options when you don't have a stove. So tonight after a fairly chaotic dinner with two little ones at California Pizza Kitchen, we decided to wander through Whole Foods. While I was getting some fresh almond butter, I look over to see Taylor Swift and her lovely body guard filling up a little mason jar with fresh peanut butter. You gotta love celebrity spotting in Nashville! Anyway...here is to better days despite a very chaotic house and a somewhat stressed momma!

Cute pics -

So here are some cute pics of my sweet soon to be 9 month old baby Asher...so hard for me to believe that he is that old already! He is so close to crawling, is babbling away saying "mama" and "baba" and still loves to laugh and smile, especially at his big brother. He is still a little guy, weighing in at only 16 lbs 12 oz and although he is not a huge liquids guy, he seems to love to eat. He will try almost any table food I put in front of him, although most of it still slides out his mouth and ends up on the floor. Asher still loves to be held and although he is crazy squirmy when I am holding him, he loves to cuddle right before naps and bed. I could rock him forever when he's got his head on my shoulder and I can feel his sweet breath and little eyelashes on my cheek. Here are some pictures of my happy baby. I took these the other day when Braden was still napping.

And what has this guy been up to?
...a whole lot of anything that has to do with water. Since it's so hot these days, Braden and I spend a lot of time in the baby pool, running through the sprinkler, watering, watering, watering anything and everything, playing in buckets of water, oh and painting the fences with what you ask...water of course!!! We try to get outside while Asher naps and then when it's so hot we can barely stand it, we come inside and cuddle on the couch and watch Bob the Builder. The other thing Braden spends much of his day doing is talking about his birthday. In fact if you ask him how old he is going to be next month, he gets this huge smile on his face and says, "almost six!" Ha...I love the things that come out of a 3 yr old's mouth. Every day he tells me about how it's almost his birthday and how we are going to eat chocolate cake and go to Bounce U for his party. He really cannot wait...and quite honestly, I'm pretty excited too! I love the spirit and excitement of a 3 yr old...it really is so sweet! I'll leave you with some pictures of my boys together...for the moment, they get along great...I know the dynamics are about to change once Asher starts crawling. Until that time, I'll enjoy them the way they are -

Naked hugs before bath time -
This is how I get my laundry put away -
And Braden lathering up Asher's head for the 800th time in the bathtub -
Apparently Asher likes it -

Summer

School ended the week before last so now it's me and the boys home together all summer. I'm actually really glad to have Braden home with me all summer. I mean sure there are going to be days when I'm gonna miss having some down time while he was in school and Asher was napping and I'm sure there are gonna be long days when it's way too hot to be outside and it's way too boring to be inside all day, but overall I'm so happy to have Braden home with me all summer. I'm sure there will be lots of pool days, hose days, sprinkler days, popsicle days, ice cream days, park days and who knows what else. I'm looking forward to it. In fact just the other morning while Asher was napping, Braden and I sat outside in his little play house, eating popsicles and talking about pizza, hamburgers and snakes. I mean does it get any better then that! Toward the end of our conversation, Braden came over and sat in my lap and we finished our popsicles with him sitting snuggled in my lap. I love my conversations with this little guy and I love, love, love that my nearly 3 yr old still wants to sit in my lap!!!! Braden is pretty pumped about summer too...in fact, a few mornings ago when I went in to get him up out of bed, he walked to the window, opened up his curtains, looked outside and said, "It's summer. Yeah! Now we can go to the pool!" So since now it's officially summer in Braden's mind, let the pool days begin.

Here are two pictures of Braden's first day of school. -
This was such a hard day for me back in September. Braden felt like such a little baby to me and I was sad not to spend every day with him like I had for the past two years. Mother's Day out turned out to be a wonderful experience for both of us and Braden loved his class and his friends this year. On his last day, I dressed him in the exact same outfit he started school with and it's crazy how much he grew and changed in just a few short months. Here he is this past week after school -
Here he is showing me his ceramic car he painted me at school. I love these little art projects he brings home...they are so precious to me. Now I understand why my parents never got rid of any of the artwork I did as a kid.
And here is little Asher...happy as always...ready to get this summer stuff started (although it was cold on Braden's last day of school so I had to pull out a little fall jacket for Asher).
Happy Summer!!!

Outside fun...

We stayed home all day and played today which means I have to get a little creative in activities...thank goodness it was a beautiful day b/c most of our day was spent outside. Braden was either shooting water guns, playing in the sandbox, looking at baby birds, hunting for snakes, sitting in the tent or wrestling his little brother. Here are some pictures from wrestle mania 2010...surprisingly Asher was loving it!

And it begins with a headlock -
And then you try to body slam him -
And when that fails, always pin your partner -
Asher pausing for a smile -
Braden pausing to smile -
And when it's all said and done, they are still best buddies -
Asher attempting to wrestle Tyson -
All in all, a great day! I love these little boys so much and I love their sweet smiles. So thankful that I am privileged enough to stay home and enjoy my boys in these ordinary moments.

San Francisco...the rest of the story

So we've been back home now for a few weeks and I have yet to post pictures of the rest of our trip to San Francisco. It was an amazing trip and we are definitely adding Napa Valley to our must travel list (a list of places we must go visit once our kids are grown and we can travel regularly). Here are some pictures from the rest of our trip out west.

Our lovely fire pit -

And who can forget the smores -
Welcome to Artesa...a Spanish vineyard, still owned by one of the oldest wine families in Spain -
The wine was good, but the views from up here were amazing. The whole winery (besides the grapes and vines of course) is built underground for earthquake protection.

One of the views...from up here you had almost a 360 degree view of the Sonoma Valley. Pretty breathtaking! All around us were vineyards...they went on for miles. Supposedly there are over 400 wineries in Napa Valley. That makes for lots of wine tasting :)

We also visited an Italian winery called Viansa, however my pictures didn't turn out so cute from that winery...maybe too much wine tasting on my part. Anyway, here are some beach pictures. We went walking on the beach one morning...it was WAY too cold out there, but the beach was incredible. We both agreed that this was by far the most beautiful beach we had ever been on...love how the water crashes against the rocks in the water.

That's our hotel in the background -
Famous Pier 39 and the sea lions in the background -

The beautiful Golden Gate Bridge -

A little rest and relaxation

Austin and I headed out of town on Friday for our much anticipated trip to Half Moon Bay/San Francisco, CA....good thing considering the horrendous flooding situation in Nashville over the weekend!!! Thankfully our house missed the flooding areas...praise God! Austin was fortunate enough to have sold enough cases with Humana health care and so they sent he and I on an all expense paid trip to sunny California. We are staying at the Half Moon Bay Ritz Carlton ...an incredible resort with breathtaking views of the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean...the kind of views that steal your breath and make your realize what an amazing God we have who has created such things with His very hands. Wow! Anyway, it was VERY hard to leave my little boys...I miss them so much already, but they are in great hands with their Nana and Coach this week. So thankful for good hands and kind hearts who are willing to care for my sweet boys this week while Austin and I have a little down time. More to come, but our week is filled with bike rides along the ocean coast, cooking smores over the private fire pit which sits on our balcony, a wine tasting tour of Napa Valley, a trip into San Francisco to explore the city and lots and lots of good eating and full nights of uninterrupted sleep - praise God for that! If only we could get it to warm up here...it's in the low 60's but man can it get cold here when the wind blows off of the water. Since we have been here we have been reminded many a time of Mark Twain's famous quote - "the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." Could not be more true! More pictures to come later, but here are a few from our adventure today...

Practicing safe biking with lovely, fashionable bike helmets! -
Stopping for a little break to take in the views of the ocean -
And this is one of the many incredible views of the ocean from our bike trail! -