the day j wanted.

celebration. what a day we had yesterday. our little jeremy turned 4 years old. i truly can't believe that we actually made it to 4. it seems like yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital. i know, i know... so cliche. but truly it does seem like such a short time ago.




as i reflected over the past four years of his little life, i am amazed at how much he has grown and how much he has added to our life. while he is our typical little boy (always running and blowing things up) he has also brought us such tenderness. j is definitely our cuddle bug. he is our funny man. he is our dare devil. he is so much in our lives, i am not sure i would be the same person without him. i am definitely sure i wouldn't be the same person. each of us has a different connection with him. ash & j are inseparable. on her first day of school, ash asked me if i thought j was doing okay without her at home. todd & j are best friends. hommie. buddies. j and i are... well mom & son! i fix his boo boo's. i cuddle with him. i read stories to him. i just love him for who he is. each of us is so blessed to have a little piece of him.


we are not simply lucky because of the connection, but because he really is a funny kid. his imagination is so huge! we used to get reports from him each morning as to who he was going to be that day. some days he was buzz lightyear... others he was jack sparrow. but lately, j has asked us to call him 'turtle' or 'squirt' (from finding nemo). so we have. he loves turtles for some reason.



yesterday we let j plan the day. he picked what we had for all our meals. breakfast was scones with m & m's. lunch was peanut butter & honey sandwiches. dinner was hot dogs & mac n' cheese. so nutritious. plus he wanted a turtle cake... no shock. we had to go out to los osos and try and see the turtles. unfortunately we didn't see any, but we had fun nonetheless. it was the day j wanted... and it was such a blast!!!

it was a wonderful day full of remember when's & refections! i truly can't wait to see what this year brings us through his precious little... big life!

i did it...

i did it. on monday i stood back & watched...

1. ashlynn go to kindergarten
2. eat with her friends
3. her listen to her teacher
4. play on the playground
5. run out excited when the day was done

i did it. & i still have my sanity (on tuesday)...

1. woke up & went to the gym
2. took a shower
3. prep for home school
4. home schooled without tears (by ashlynn or me)
5. still entertained jeremy
6. plus i worked 4 hours today

right now i am...

1. asking todd to do things for me & laughing b/c i am asking a lot(which include trips to the car, water with lemon, and the cord to down load a picture)
2. watching t.v.
3. READY FOR BED!

the chairs.

i have been blessed with a mom who loves antiques. i must admit that growing up i didn't share the same affection for antiquing as my mom. actually i hated them all over our house. but things have changed. i am not as crazy about them as my mom is still, but i do love a good story behind the piece that i have in my home. i have hutch that was passed down to me that is from a farm house in texas from the 1800's. i have plenty of milk glass & jadeite. i am blessed to have a french vanity that needs to be restored, but the mirrors are beautiful. amongst other pieces my mom gave me 6 chairs when she moved to texas... she had so much stuff!!! we got these amazing antique chairs from her that i remember using when i was growing up (some are over 100 years old). they were really worn out and kind of gross! so i re-did them. after 3 trips to home depot... adding colors & changing my mind... i am finally so excited about them.

the three stages of the chairs.

natural. primer. & paint.

i used 4 different colors... here are two. i recovered them with fabric & a plastic cover... aka protection from ash & jt!

it was a labor of love! i enjoy a good project. this has been my project for the last week. everyone one got involved. ashlynn helped me primer. jeremy made a mess in the garage while i painted. it was really a lot of fun! plus i love them. the color of them is so happy and exciting. it really changed the looked of our kitchen. next i am going to paint an antique table that i have. it is worn and weather & screaming for attention.

just another day.

well... today started off like no other, but it was not surprising to me. you see, we are not the typical family. well, my husband doesn't have a typical job. we woke up this morning (wednesday) to a phone call at 1:30 a.m. there is no reason your phone should ring that early in the morning. but unfortunately ours did. now i know what you are thinking... something horrible happened. oh well, not horrible... just the typical...with a voice on the other line saying 'todd, go look in the front yard!' much to his dismay (as he is sneaking through the house and peeking out the bedroom window)... did we have a surprise... (p.s. they called and were still in the front yard... such amateurs).

we got tee peed. now some of you may be thinking... why is a 30 year old getting tee peed. being a youth pastor, it happens more than you think. it is really quite a privilege i guess. students spending their parents hard earned money on toilet paper just to spew it about your front yard. we had a good laugh. it was the perfect start to the typical anniversary we have being in ministry. oh did i mention that today is our 8th anniversary. which we wished each other 'happy anniversaries' while picking up toilet paper in the front yard. it really was a blessing and a fun reminder of what a wonderful job todd has. usually we are up at hume lake spending our anniversary with 300+ of our closest friends (aka our old church youth group). so it is fitting. ministry goes on. i loved it!

'cheap labor'

we paid ashlynn 1 penny for each piece of toilet paper she would pick up. cheap labor. she had a good time cleaning it up. it was really cute. this is the first time she has wanted to help clean it up. money talks with this one, even if it was a penny.

'we pay higher for the more dangerous jobs'

we paid more to get her on the roof. she got 25 cents for getting up there and pulling it all of the roof. this girl has no fear. she was more than willing to get up there. she even jumped down... not to the ground. todd caught her.

to top off the anniversary night... todd had to go speak at youth group & at cal poly's campus crusade. it was a typical 'i married a youth pastor' anniversary. don't feel too bad, we are celebrating on friday night. we got a babysitter (thanks taylor) and are going out! yeah for us!!! it has been a wonderful 8 years of marriage. filled with fun, laughter, tears, and my best friend.

5 things i learned today.

1. we have no control over the direction of our lives... but we can control our attitudes towards the direction.
2. even when life takes a sudden turn that hurts... your kids still need to be taken care of & that the dishes don't wash themselves.
3. we have the opportunity to start fresh after every mistake. frustrations will arise... thus the need for some alone time to regain your composure & start fresh.
4. we are not guaranteed a perfect tomorrow... today is the time to show people we love them.
5. there is always time to be silly!

ashlynn being silly.

ashlynn is known for taking pictures of herself. we are actually in the process of trying to figure out how to display all the pictures of her she has taken... most without us even knowing. she has done for the last 3 years so we have a lot to choose from. we are going to do a huge frame full of them... most of which will embarrass her in the future. we don't realize what we do as a child will effect us when we are older (there is a sermon in that statement i am sure!). well she is a cutie, despite this silly picture she took with todd's computer. we have been reading 'the secret garden' together, doing crafts, doing sidewalk chalk & having the most fun conversations. it has been such a fun time with her lately. i really needed that.

saying goodbye!

todd had to say goodbye to his bike this past week. a bike that has thousands upon thousands of miles on it! he got his kestrel about 12 years ago && has been riding it ever since. he found a crack in the frame. hopefully the newly bought kestrel will honor the warranty (we have the original sales receipt). i think it was really hard for him. when he pulled away from the house, the bike was sitting on our bike racks on my car... i was taking it down for my dad to take to a friend down south. he said he got really emotional. the second picture is why...

'michael john sartinsky'

todd's best friend from junior high, mike, bought the same kind of bikes around the same time. they rode together all the time. they even took pictures with their bikes. i put this sticker on todd's bike right before he did a century up in solvang... the one he did every year with mike. there was actually three really good friends, todd, mike & john marsh. these guys were inseparable. mike was killed by a drunk driver on august 29, 2000. i think the sentimental attitude behind this bike is why it was so hard for todd to give it up. you see, he won't ever see his bike again. we aren't really sure if he will even get a bike from the company that bought out kestrel a year ago. it really was sad to see my dad take it on the back of his car too. heart breaking really! so that is why we had to take pictures.

cousins.

just another day @ the santa barbara zoo! my nephew & my dad met us down in santa barbara for a little bit of fun together! i think the best part was eating together in the park up on the hill where all the kids tackled my dad @ the same time. it really was a hilarious moment! ash did her typical flying leap jump onto my dad's stomach. ouch.

what a blessing it was to SEE all the kids interact with each other & with my dad.