Santa Barbara and Ventura

We hopped down to Santa Barbara and Ventura for two nights this Memorial weekend. Hotel points are one great perk of having a traveling husband!

Highlights included a lot of time spent hopping from the pool to jacuzzi and back with the boys. I loved that the room was glassed in.

After a rather unsuccessful beach trip in Santa Barbara due to wind, we rented one this beach cruiser, much to the boys' delight. Trenton proudly rang the bell for miles, and Chase giggled away. Ryan and I got a little work out, pedaling against the wind for the first couple of miles. But by the time our legs were burning it was time to turn around, and we coasted (thanks to that same wind) the entire way back. It was hands down the best thing we did on the trip.

Please excuse Chase's well-placed finger in the shot above. :)

Another highlight was eating at Lilly's Tacos, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant I spotted on yelp before we drove down. We steered clear of the eyeball and intestines tacos (seriously!), but the carne asada and pork were over-the-moon amazing! Each taco was only $1.60, but all four of us liked them so much that we ended up eating nine! Then we bought grapefruit and lime bottled sodas, one of which Chase claimed as his own by backwashing practically everything he ate into it! Sorry for the lovely mental image, but I don't want to forget how much we laughed about the big ol' radish that was in there by the time he was done with it! (Too bad I didn't take a picture!)

The low point of the trip happened when Trenton hopped right on a stool in our hotel bathroom. It instantly slipped out from under him, sending him head first onto the tile. I was only a handful of steps behind him but couldn't catch him in time. My heart breaks picturing it in my mind. It was instantly bleeding, so I grabbed a towel and held his head tight against my chest while assuring him that Daddy would be right back. I'm so thankful he was only parking the car! (Chase stood close to Trenton and I, repeating "big owie," "fall down," and "Daddy back.":)

Trenton was SO brave about the whole thing (sadly, he is no stranger to head wounds!), and after a phone consultation with Grandpa Greg the Doctor, Ryan and Chase went off to the nearest pharmacy while I continued to hold Trenton's head tight while we watched cartoons.

This is what his head looked like the rest of the trip:

The blood is dry and hasn't continued at all. Thank goodness. But the wound did necessitate limited swimming for the rest of the trip and a shower cap to boot (even at the beach). It's a blessing this all turned out as well as it did. (And yes, I politely but firmly gave my two cents to the hotel about that stool in our room!)

And just because we wouldn't want to end on that note, here are a couple sunset photos of my handsome boys!

Below, Chase's expression can be explained by the fact that he was very nervous being up high on that rock. He kept saying "Down!" and "Carefully!" This boy cracks us up.

Now we can say we've been to Santa Barbara!

Big Boy #2

Guess who is diaper free?

I tried to replicate this wonderful photo of Trenton from his potty training post 18 months ago. Chase wasn't quite as cooperative. Smiles for the camera are harder to come by with this busy body, but he is still adorable. We love this boy so much! 

He had been able to use the toilet for a couple of months, probably because he has watched his brother do it a thousand times. But I noticed him starting to refuse using the potty—insisting instead that he be "changed"! His attachment to his diapers seemed to be growing, so before he could dig in his heels anymore, I hid all the diapers and told him they were gone. 

Even now, if you ask him what happened to his diapers, he'll give you a forlorn, "Gone." 

Surprisingly, he didn't put up much of a fight after that. :) 

I have been so lucky to have had two great potty training experiences so far. (Knock on wood!) I honestly enjoyed it with both boys. Once again, we stayed home for a couple of days, wearing barely anything (the boys—not me!) and drinking lots juice. Trenton, who participated fully in Chase's potty training, thought it was awesome! He was over the moon about the abundance of juice! They each got a paper to put stickers on after Chase went potty, but T was definitely more excited about his sticker chart than Chase was. :) 

Eventually we ventured out to friends' houses and preschool. We showed Chase the toilets wherever we went, just so he would get the idea that everyone has one. :) He would usually say "M-K" (I'm okay) when I asked if he'd like to try, but it only took a few days before he was comfortable using toilets other than our own. 

For the first couple of weeks I had Chase go out of the house commando-style. Having no underwear and loose-fitting shorts helped him remember he wasn't wearing a diaper. Those loose-fitting shorts gave me (and my girlfriends also at the park!) many a view of that cute little crack. :) 

He is an underwear-wearing pro now, with a pull-up at night. Congrats, Chase!

*Thanks for letting me use this as our family journal and for reading far more potty details than you  probably wanted to hear! 

A Day in the Life

A couple of things to note about this video:

It is the green dump truck on top of the fridge that is causing all the mayhem. Sharing is hard! I remember my mom putting toys on the fridge when Rachel and I couldn't share. Now it's me doing it for T and C.

This is our house in all its lived-in, loved-in glory. I'm in the middle of unloading the dishwasher and reloading it with breakfast dishes. You may also notice a big circle of potato flour on the rug in the living room. I'm trying (quite futilely) to soak up a water stain in my new jute rug.

And no, Trenton doesn't hit me very often at all. And yes, this video ended with me putting both boys in separate rooms for a nice, long time out!

I'll laugh at this someday, right?

Happy belated Mother's Day to me!

Old Photo

I was going through some photos on our computer and ran across this little gem: 

Apparently I painted shorts on Trenton at some point???

He was such a little ham! And Ryan looks so happy, wet shirt and all.

First Taste of Summer

I think it's safe to say we're having our first taste of summer right now. It'll probably cool back off, but today's high is 78, and for here, that is pretty much summer. :) 

We initiated the complex pool last night. We won't turn on its heat until the very end of May, but that didn't faze these boys!

I think I might actually be tinge sad when Chase is potty trained only because I will miss seeing those legs in a swim diaper! It gets me every time!

Easter Egg Hunt in the Park

A bunch of friends and I thew an Easter egg hunt this morning at the park for our kids. We all brought some eggs filled with candy and threw them in the grass while the kids played on the playground. Simple as that. :)

I told the boys yesterday, and they were SO excited. They even went to bed without a peep last night, knowing the Easter egg hunt was in the morning. Chase has told everyone we have seen (or even talked to on the phone!) for the last day and a half—"Ee-ter. Hunt! Eggs. Park!"

 T and his best buddy Colton, with proud we-got-the-most-candy smiles!

Sweet Presley flanked by two handsome little men.

All of the kids together. It's amazing we got so many of them to look up from their candy!

(As a funny aside, I asked a mom I didn't know to take a picture of all of us moms and kids together. She thought I was asking to take a picture of her kids, so she posed her kids and told them to smile in another language. I felt too awkward to tell her, "No, I don't actually need a picture of your kids. I was hoping you'd take one of me and mine." So I just snapped a picture of her kids and ran away! Haha, she probably thought I was so weird!)

Reason #52 that holidays are even better with little kids.

Happy Easter!

Photo Shoot for Three

My wonderful friend Angelica captured some fantastic photos of the boys and I in our recent mini-shoot on the hillside at our complex.

It is normal to be insanely excited about family pictures, right?? Now I just need to print some and pin them up so that I can look at them any time these little cuties make me want to pull out my hair!

The fact that Angelica got so many great ones when Trenton was growling like a raptor half the time and Chase was determined not to smile means she has talent! Thank you, girl!

Because I am just that crazy, you can see even more pictures at Let Why Lead.