Tub Toys

What is the best way to wash tub toys? I've done it by hand, by dish washer, by bucket of suds (above) and it all just seems to be a pain. Any good ideas for washing Mr. Rubber Ducky and friends?

Oh. My. Gross.

Raise your hand if you've seen this show on the BBC America channel. I learned very quickly that can't watch this show while eating anything lest I vomit. This show goes a step beyond the Clean House concept of straightening messy houses into the valley of filth and nastiness that live in "flee infested rubbish tip"s! Bug droppings, baked-on, caked-on grime and grease, pet hair, rust and "festering feces" and so much more - pure sickness. It's abhorring. And fascinating. And disgusting. And hysterical (British people talk funny). If you haven't already, you must check it out. If only to see the funny little houses that British folk live in (v. Harry Potter)!

.

Did you know you could clean glass with Worchester sauce?! And the kitchen sink with shaving cream? And two-day newspaper works like paper towels. Can you recyclable np w/cleaning prod on it? Maybe only if it's organic cleaning product? Will research.

.

I admit I am no clean freak but this show makes even the messiest of people to feel haughty and proud. I love and hate this show so much! I predict that we'll be seeing an American version in the very near future. Stand by for the fun!

Please stop!

I am really loving the age Brody is right now. I have to admit that up until recently I've been sort of looking forward to more. You know, like...'I can't wait till Brody can roll over...sit up...walk....talk...etc.' But right now - 2 years and 4 months - I want it to all stop! I just want him to be this height, size, skill-level for as long as possible. He has just enough of everything to be a total blast! His speech is exploding and his little brain captures absolutely everything.

He still has a funny little run (which I adore) and wants to hold hands when going down stairs and wants to be held more often than walk on his own. I'm not complaining. In a few short months/years I know that he'll be running wild and leaping off of dangerous ledges and too big for me to carry. He's growing so fast. I just want to soak up him up like gravy in a buttermilk biscuit!!!!!!

Me & B

I'm usually behind the camera so I was thrilled to get these pics of me and Brody Bear from MorMor. They were taken during our fun time with them during 4th of July this year! What a handsome little man...even when he's fussing.

Viva Fiesta!

Santa Barbara has no seasons. We celebrate Independence Day in 70 degree weather. And we celebrate Memorial Day in 76 degree weather. But every summer there's Fiesta. And (to be totally cliche) - it's hot, hot, hot!!! VIVA! Fiesta is 5 days of non-stop party. Dancing in the streets, Cascarones, Mariachi bands galore, Mojitos, parades, picnic dinners at the Sunken Gardens and Mission, yummy churros and Flaminco dancers! I mean, people take off work for Fiesta! This year we have been able to participate in more of the city events than we have in the past due to Brody being older and the year before Brody was born I was randomly ill?

All day that Fiesta 2004 I was queasy and pukey feeling. I remember the outfit I wore to work because I just wanted to be comfy...like in jammies. I also remember sitting on my cube floor just wanting to go home but I couldn't because I was judging a Guac-off later that afternoon! I left immediately after the competition and slept. At the time, my apartment complex was celebrating our "2nd Annual Fiesta party at The 521". I kept trying to attend the parking lot party but just being so sickly that I had to keep retreating to my bed. Turns out, I was pg with Bubba. And getting to enjoy the events with Brody this year has been so much fun. My little Fiesta Baby. So for me...Fiesta will always be a very special season!

My Cooking Bible

Twice this week I've called on our Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book [1989 edition]. Gramps Sturm handed this cookbook down to Kevin and I am so stoked to have it. What a gold mine!

Recipes of the Week:

(1) Peach cobbler - with the awesome crate of peaches we picked up at Buttonwood Farm Winery last weekend. So delicious!

(2) Frosty Strawberry Squares - Amazing. We had a bushel of Farmer's Market strawberries that were about to turn into fuzzy, squishy, mushberries. Kevin didn't love it but I end up daydreaming about them all day long. So delicious.

Thank you, BHG Cook Book.

Brody Pics

I had to share of some new Brody pics. My girlfriend Cheryl [an amzing children's portrait photographer] took these pictures at the Santa Barbara Mission. Even tho Brody was sick this day she was able to totally capture his little personality and several really awesome shots. She's rad. If you're looking for some amazing pics of your little angles, call her immediately!

Background on these photos: while we were playing at the mission a bus load of teenage boys pulled up. They ended up sitting on the edge of the steps looking out at the ocean infront of them. I asked if they minded if my son sat with them for some photos and they were totally game! Turns out it was a busload of Catholic school boys heading home from a retreat in SB. Without hesitation, Brody (a dude's dude) plunked down in between them like he was just chillen with his homies and started discussing his Crocs ("croc shoes"). They were SO great to him and as I watched I got all teary eyed. Of course. One day my little bubba is going to be a grown DUDE! That's a trip. Wow.

Anyway, to check out the entire session go here. For more Cheryl pics, check out her blog.

It's all about the SHOES!

Thank you, Rah Rah, for Bubba's cool new kicks! I'm so thankful for your and Brody's relationship and that you get to spend time together on a weekly basis. Please never live more than 5 minutes from us. Ever. We'd all fall into tragic fashion despair, I'm sure! Love you!

5 YEARS, BABY!

circa 2001

Kevie and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary last Friday. FIVE YEARS!?! My goodness how the time flies when you are married to the most amazingly sweet, gorgeous, kind, gentle, gorgeous, understanding, patient, genius, gorgeous, Christ focused, leader of a man! Did I mention gorgeous? I am so humbled by God's goodness. What on earth did I do to deserve this man? Nothing. God's grace and goodness are an absolute gift that a wretch like me could never ever deserve. I'm gushing. I know. But when I think about the fact that the man sitting next to me (on his laptop as well) is my forever boyfriend, partner and best friend...it just makes me gush!

I'd post pictures but they are all on his computer thanks to the new camera I got him (us) for your anniv. Check them out here. But let me tell you about what he did for ME! My mom happened to be in town last week and was supposed to leave on Thursday morning. Kevin worked out a way for mom to stay thru Sunday morning so that he could whisk me off to unknown lands! We just told me to pack and be read and so I was. I had NO idea where we could be going but when we started heading North I thought...BACARA! ;) Then we took 154 and I thought...EL CAPITAN! But we kept cruising and I was totally at a loss. I'm not a big 'guesser' anyway but he really stumped me. Turns out we went WINE TASTING for the first time in either of our combined 19 years of living in SB (K-13; C-6)!! It was a perfect choice and I was more thrilled than I would have been at either of my previously mentioned guesses. We stayed at The Meadowlark Inn which at first glance reminded me of a quaint Bates Motel (minus the scary house on the hill). But upon further inspection was actually quite lovely...and we had a hot tub! ;) Then we set off for a wine tasting tour with a local legend, Brigitte Guehr of Brigette's Restaurant (now Opal). We had SO much fun talking about local food & restaurant with Brigitte and hope to get a chance to visit with her again soon.

Wonderful time. Great planning, S.S.S.Sturm. Happy Anniversary, my love.

Quote(s) of the Week

#1. So the other night my mom was putting Brody to bed and called downstairs to him. When she looked downstairs at him she saw him holding a laptop on his lap. He said, "Wait a minute. I'm checking email!". WHAT!?! How cute is that?

Note: this photo is a couple of months old but speaks to the subject

#2. Brody coughed and covered his mouth with his fist - exactly the way his Grandmama does. She asked him, "Brody. Where did you get that cough?". She said he thought about it for a second and said, "Coffee Cat". That will only be funny to the local readers. Coffee Cat is our favorite coffee shop in Santa Barbara! But how cool is it that he correlated 'cough' with 'cough'ee cat?!

#3. This week he sang, "Jesus loves me, I know. For the Bible tells me soooo!" and "Old McDonnels has a farm. EIEIO! Sheepie...bahhh bahhh". Sometimes he gets frustrated and says, "I can't!". We just keep encouraging him. What a little man.

Little Lady Killer

Last Saturday we had the honor and pleasure of attending Matt and Betzhi's wedding! Matt and I became really good friends working together at InfoGenesis. And he and Kevin went to Westmont together and both started working for InfoGenesis at the same time. Betzhi is Brody's #1 girlfriend. She and Cara met while working at Anthropology and became fast friends. Cara also coined their celebrity nickname "Matzhi" which was used on their wedding invitations and website! They actually met when Uncle Mario invited Cara to join he and Matty for dinner one night last summer. Cara brought Betz and the rest is history! Cara was a bridesmaid - check out their custom Farmer's Market bouquets!! Matty also sported Cons with his suit and Betzhi wore flippy-flappys! I love it!

Somehow this was my first Westmont wedding! I can't even describe how lovely the setting was. As requested, the weather was absolutely perfect. It was a small, classically simple wedding that totally suited Matt and Betzhi's personalities. They are two of the most creative people I've ever met and together have the potential to rule the world!! I can't wait to see what they create together (including the future blue-eyed, blond haired, well-dressed little precious babies they're going to make!).

Brody and Daddy got matching haircuts that morning and they both looked so handsome!! Brody was quite the chic-magnet indeed. This little cutie-pie is Matty's neice. Kevin took this picture and said that she just walked up to Bubba and threw her arm over his shoulder. Being the Rico Suave that he is, Brody just put his arm right around her waist and smiled for the camera. Thank you! They continued to hug another dozen or so times over the course of about 10 minutes. What can I say, he's a lady killer. Just like his Daddy.

Bubba's first ER visit

As you know, we've started potty training recently. We've had several tee-tees and a few do-dos. We've making some excellent progress.

Well, last Thursday [about 20 minutes after my Niecey post] Brody woke up crying, panting/grunting, and literally shaking saying that his tummy hurt. He'd been complaining of upset tummy since waking up from his nap that afternoon. My suspicion was that he needed to take a poop. We had tried sitting on the potty a few times already with no results. And it occurred to us that he hadn't pooped in at least 2 days.

We were obviously concerned and decided we should take him to the ER. We got into the ER around midnight and left at 3AM. Three hours and $100 later, we had a successful BM. Bless his heart!

He had settled down about an hour after getting to the ER and was all playful and funny and WIDE awake. I mean, getting to hang out with Mommy and Daddy at 2AM...it was Brody's wildest dream come true! He's fine now. We think the upset tummy was either due to potty-training stress or too much dairy.

And we're cutting down on Brody's dairy intake :)

My New Girl Crush

Listen...if you're not a fan of Niecy Nash then you are no friend of mine. Yes, she's a little over the top but she makes me laugh every single time I watch Clean House. I just think she is so fun and funny and has a hot bod too! She's a curvy woman and wears it well, "UHH!" as Niecy would say. Niecy Nash is my hero :)

Composting My Thoughts

Kevin's Aunt and Uncle were green way before it was the v. cool thing it has become. They have this massive garden in their back yard that they fertilize with compost. Until we visited them last summer I had no idea what composting was...I was secretly shocked to discover that they scrape food into a bowl beneath their sink rather than throw it down the disposal or trash can like 'normal' people. But ever since that trip I can't get the idea out of my head. We throw so much usable food away! And when I found out that paper products (including paper towels and napkins) could be added to the compost heap...well, I'm literally intrigued. Poor Kevin. He knows he's fighting a losing battle here. Eventually we will have a compost bin and there's a good chance that he'll be the one managing it - but I promise to try!

I know that this green thing has become very popular and trendy as of late. But it's better than other fads (think tie-dying and neon colors), right? Hopefully this fad sticks. I'm sure everyone has changed their light bulbs already but if you haven't yet go by Costco and get the mega-pack of florescent bulbs and replace regular bulbs as many as you can. The savings on your electric bill should be immediate. We're also biking as much as possible - our cars usually sit parked all weekend long. We try to eat locally whenever possible. Completely unplugging appliances from the outlet when we're not using them. Recycling, of course. We use our own bags at the grocery stores and limit the bags we take from department stores when shopping. Trader Joe's Super Amazing Kitchen Cloth (like the Method microfibers) are awesome and our wicked cool new dryer balls are genius. I mean, we're never going to be 100% green - you'll never separate me from my TV and we will not be changing our shower heads anytime soon but we do what we can. Every little bit helps. Until we have the space and time to whip up some biofuel in our garage or have the finances to outfit our roof with solar panels, these things are going to have to do.

I'm also feeling really guilty about diapers right now. We're working on getting B out of diapers altogether now but in 2.5 years, we've added a bunch of dirty nappies to the ever increasing pile of poo-filled packages filling our land fills every year. And what's worse - I put dirty dipes in plastic grocery bags. UGH! Yes, I've heard of cloth diapers and no, they are not the solution I'm looking for! Next time around, I'll give the organic disposable dipes a try. I'll go broke doing it but at least I'll be doing my part. Are you?

Really loving this blog right now: http://dannyseo.typepad.com/
And this one has changed my life: http://thesecomefromtrees.blogspot.com/
For cool reviews and ideas check out: http://organicpicks.com/

Fourth of July 2007

Independence Day in Santa Barbara is a big deal. And let me tell you, the Sturms know how to do it right!! This year Mom and Dad Sturm and the Mathi3 joined us for a few days of fun-filled festivities. We swam in the pool at the El Prado, played at our favorite park, enjoyed some fine morsels at East Beach, spent lots of time relaxing on our new little fabulous patio, caught a little bit of the ghetto 4th of July parade, celebrated Dad's 57th birthday and OF COURSE continued the tradition of watching the beachside fireworks show from our custom built sand recycler!

This year things got a little out of control as we ended up carrying everything but the living room couch onto the beach with us. Having three toddlers with us made the transportation more difficult than the past years but the 3 coolers, 2 tents, pop-up table, 3 chairs, 4 blankets, full size shovel, bucket of beach toys, 3 diaper bags and 1 little red wagon really put us over the edge of acceptable beachside materials. But we sure did have fun! Next year we've agreed to slim down the equipment a bit :)














I'm trying to remember all the 4th of July's since I've been in SB. Can anyone help me fill in the blanks?
2002 - My first year in Santa Barbara....we were not married yet....don't remember details
2003 - Married....don't remember details
2004 - Beachside with just Mom & Dad Sturm...I think this is when the chicken tender tradition started?
2005 - Brody is 3 months old; I'm a stress case; Sturms, Mathi and entire Jano family here; Brody was enraptured by the fireworks!
2006 - 1st year to attend Bradley's party; beachside with Sue, Cara, Kev & Bubba [Sturms didn't come this year due to Dad's cancer]
2007 - Beachside fun with Sturms & Mathi!!!

Have you EVER!??!

I don't want to brag...but honestly? Have you EVER seen a more handsome baby?! This is his a rare photo where B is actually looking at the camera. It shows his big gorgeous black eyes (his dad's) and his big full lips (his mom's) and that massive amount of hair on that massive amount of head (also from his mom). Be still my heart!

I was thinking today about how hard the first year was for me. I feel like some people might think I'm a cold person or something for admitting that the first year was not much fun for me but it's the truth. I probably should have been on a hormone medicine of some sort or in therapy or whatever but at the end of the day - it was just rough for me. I tried to concentrate on taking one day at a time and I really made conscious decisions to appreciate the hard times because I knew even then that it would go by quickly. I knew that he was one day going to get too big for me carry in a cradle position so I needed to revel in the moment even if I was so tired I was in tears. The first year was long, for sure.

But my next thought was how quickly the second year went by. It literally flew by and now he's already a quarter of the way to being THREE. I am quite certain that the next few years will pass in a moment and all of a sudden he'll be 7....13....19. How absurd! I'm already thankful for the sleepless nights in that first year where I got to hold him in my arms, rocking, praying for every part of his little body that God might grow him into a warrior for His kingdom. What a little man he is. Be still my heart, indeed.

SB Saturday: Catch a Parade!

Listen....if it's a summer weekend in Santa Barbara there is a good chance you're going to see a parade on State Street. It's a beautiful thing! Unfortunately we haven't seen many parades in SB - Kevin's not a fan. But we caught the Solstace Parade this year and it was such a blast! And to make it a really special time, our dear friends Dave, Christy and Maddie Wold were in town. The kids were so cute watching the home-made floats and rando hippy people tumble down the street.

For a complete list of Santa Barbara parade's check out: http://www.santabarbara.com/events/annual_events_list.asp

SB Saturdays: Take a Swim!

What a Saturday! This morning Kevin let me sleep in (so awesome). He and Brody played and read books till 9:45AM when they woke me up (yesss!). Then we went to the Wicks' to GO SWIMMING! Now, not a lot of people have swimming pools in Santa Barbara but the Wicks actually have a community pool in their neighborhood that is awesome!

Then I went to Costco to prepare for The Sturm Family visit next week while the boys went to "Eatty Donalds" (McDonalds) for chicken nuggets and burgers.

Then, during nap time Kevin made a run to Ace Hardware and worked in the yard while I started putting together a my wedding albums!! Maybe I'll finish in time for our 5 year wedding anniversary! Brody - the little champ - slept for 2 hours (thank you, Mr. Swimming Pool).

After nap we played, worked in the yard, watched some of the new movie that I picked up at Costco, we started to go on a bike ride but someone decided that playing with the fire truck was more interesting, K dug up some dead shrubs in side-yard, we ate dinner (lettuce wraps and mac-n-cheese) on our awesome little patio, took bath, pee-peed on the potty and bedtime for Brody was insanely late (how did it become 9pm so quickly!?). While I was putting B down, Kevin was scrubbing BOTH of our bathtubs! I finished my (2) albums, ordered (2) more and started this blog while Kevin decided that he had to go to Scolari's for ice cream. He crazy. But he brought be back three magazines!!

If you don't have access to a private pool, check out one of SB's community pools. Or you could always crash at a hotel pool. Is that wrong? But do NOT forget the sunscreen...you should see K&B's shoulders. One word: OUCH.

Santa Barbra Swimming pool facilities include the newly renovated, 50-meter Los Baños del Mar Pool, Ortega Park instructional pool, and the West Beach and Oak Park wading pools.

Israel

Today's message was extraordinary - in the true sense of the word. As usual, the message was interesting and thought-provoking and totally inspired and powerful. I don't mean to imply that our church or my pastor is better than the others of the world. I simply mean to say that what God gave Britt to speak on this morning (from Joshua 10:28-43)) was...well, extra. The topic was Israel - the Israel of the Bible, the Israel of the past and the present and the future. The Israel that God loves and promises to defend against her enemies. Please take an hour to listen to today's message either via the computer or ipod (if you can't access either, let me know and I'll send you a CD): http://realitymessages.com/audio/2007-06-24-God_Fights_for_Israel-Past_Present_and_Future-Joshua_10.28.43.48kbps.mp3

For more on this topic, check out this message from last January: http://realitymessages.com/audio/2007-02-03-Israel_and_the_Last_Days-Zechariah_12.mp3

These are radical times.

PooPoo In The Potty!

We sing a little song in the Sturm household and it goes something like this (to a salsa-Mexican-hat-dance like tune) "Bubba pee-pees in the potty, Bubba pee-pees in the potty!". Well, tonight folks we had something new to celebrate. Brody poo-pooed in the potty! There was lots of hooting and hollering around these parts, my friends. Lots of shouting and dancing indeed. "Bubba poo-pooed in the potty! Bubba poo-pooed in the potty!". And we have pictures of the evidence....but I'll spare you all that.