Unearthing the Past

In an effort to clear out the guest room for Colin's new room, we moved a large metal file cabinet into the nook off of our master bedroom, creating a bit more of a formal office. And while I don't love having the office off of the bedroom, for now it works.

We started going back through old files to really clear out those we don't need. Some things, like really old tax returns (oh, I earned "big bucks" at Arby's in 1992....) were easy to toss. And then there was the stack of files that were like a time machine. A time machine where I visited each of my former jobs.

There are the happy things you run into: the copy of a long letter crafted to the company president applauding a customer service experience with me that resulted in him remaining a loyal customer, with a note from the president to me thanking me, as well. The promotion and raise letter that so swept me off my feet with surprise that I ran home from the mail box as fast as I could to share the good news with Matt. The offer letters, with hope of a new tomorrow. The resignation letters, with hope of a new tomorrow.

Then there are all of the personality assessments that each company does, with some variation on a theme. Many of them make me laugh because they are so true in how I deal with life as a parent. I'm a "quick start" with a bit of "fact finder." An analysis of this explains that one should not expect me to document procedures...and the last job I left I am certain I drove my replacement nuts -- I didn't exactly document how I did things. Because that might mean I had to do it the same way everytime, and that's not very much fun, now is it?

And then there are all of the personnel reviews, which remind me of all of my old bosses, including one I was so scared to death of (yeah, me) that it still makes me shutter to think about. But there were the ones that perplexed me, infuriated me, inspired me, encouraged me, "went to bat" for me, and had confidence in me.

I easily tossed old files from job searches, which largely included the time after I was laid off from "the firm." Dang, I can't believe how many places I applied to and interviewed with, only to land a job with one of the first ones I had applied with. I can recall interviewing with an ad agency who asked some of the dumbest questions that it's no wonder I ended up going back to work for a bank!

I haven't been in "Corporate America" for over 2 years, so I figured it was time to clean house and narrow down these files. I saved the "good stuff," and gleefully tossed the rest. My file cabinet can finally breathe!

Big Boy Bed

In preparation for our newest family member, we bought Colin a big boy bed last month and we have slowly been transforming the guest room into his new "Cars room." It's actually more of a transportation/vehicle theme, and we had fun painting the walls with green hills, trees, and mountains, a blue sky with some clouds, and a road on the wall with some stick-on vehicles. The stick-ons are fun because each unique vehicle is driven by an animal. Very whimsical!


Here is one very happy Colin

We finally cleared the closet of all of "Mom and Dad's" stuff, and when I returned from Portland weekend before last, Colin spent his first night in his big, blue bed. He slept really well and we are also pleased that he is still napping. I hear stories of kids moved to a big bed who stop napping. Yikes! Not here!



The road is filled with things like a pink gorilla driving a bug, a bunny driving a race car, and a penguin driving the ice cream truck. Also note that the train table no longer lives in my front living room (yeah!)

Family News

We would like to introduce our 20 week old bun in the oven, Baby Boy Sturm, due sometime end of August. We went today for our ultrasound and baby appears healthy and is doing well.

He cooperated with showing us the "gender goods," but no matter how hard we tried to make baby move around, he insisted on covering his face with his arm (and thus his face with his arm crossing him.) The picture looks a bit like rough clay-mation, but you can see his lips and cute lil nose, with his thumb and cute little fingers crossed just above his forehead.

It is amazing the see the functions of the heart and to realize it's only the size of the dime. Very fun to see God's craftsmanship in progress : )

So we went out for ice cream tonight and told Colin that baby will be a brother, and he just seemed happy to have his ice cream. We had asked a few weeks ago what he would name it if it was a boy. His reply: "Stinky Pirate!" (From his Pirate Pete's Giant Adventure book...) And we asked him what he would teach baby to do: "Brush his teeth!" He seemed to know it wasn't a girl. We asked what he would name a sister and he just said, "Nah!"

Happy Lil' Peach Tree

In addition to planting a garden, we have planted several fruit trees (cherry and peach), and one of the peach trees is in the front yard. It's currently in bloom and looks like such a happy lil' tree!

Victory Garden

Last weekend, unlike today, was gorgeous! It was our first weekend with temps in the 70's, and we basked in the sunshine and planted our first victory garden. Colin had fun helping Dad plant the seeds, and he seemed to understand the concept of planting and growing a garden (thanks to Curious George.) Now he wants to, "Eat peas," but that'll be another several months.

We'll see what actually grows. We have planted a range of things, from carrots and lettuce, to bell peppers and green beans. And later when it warms up we are going to plant watermelon and cantaloupe. Sorry, Grandma Sturm -- no zucchini! Should be an interesting experiment and it will give Colin and me something to go tend to each day in the summer.

Soccer Fun

Colin is enjoying soccer each Friday with his lil' buddy from his PEPS group. We occasionally join him and his mom for lunch after soccer, so it makes for a fun morning for the boys! I think Colin has a secret crush on his mom, as he always asks if she will be there, as well.

He has a great coach who is lots of fun, and we even had a surprise visit from Coach Dan, his coach from last summer who recently returned from Iraq. It was good to see that he had returned safely from his duties abroad and he seemed so excited to see Colin.

Easter Sunday

This morning Colin woke up to his Easter basket of goodies, as well as some eggs hidden around the house, a few of which were filled with mini-cars. Why go for candy when you can have a mini-tractor in a plastic egg? He DID, however, really enjoy the chocolate bunny, which is currently sans ears from all of his munching (the boy loves his chocolate like a true Sturm.)

We celebrated Easter by going to the 9:30 a.m. service. With no childcare for kids Colin's age on up, we took him to church with us and he lasted for the first 45 minutes -- pretty good! He was happy to come to "big church," especially since it meant he got a scone right before church (a tradition in our Crossroads Cafe each Easter.)

After church we made a trip to Starbucks, where Colin enjoyed his milk using the new bunny straw he got in his Easter basket. And the whole morning, he clung tightly to his new Dinoco helicopter which was also a treat from the Easter Bunny.

It rained all day, but Matt braved the elements to mesquite BBQ our turkey and we had a yummy turkey dinner complete with the fixin's. We have enough turkey to feed a small army, so guess what we'll be having all week?


And after dinner Colin decided he wanted to hunt eggs outside, even if it meant being in the rain. So Matt hid eggs in the rain and Colin had a blast hunting them down. He even wanted to do it again! It was a true PNW egg hunt! I don't EVER recall braving rain in West Texas to have an egg hunt. A sunburn, perhaps, but never the rain!

The Big Egg Hunt

This past Thursday we hosted a household of kiddos from my MOPS group and we had an egg hunt playdate, complete with Easter story time, craft time (decorating/icing sugar cookies and eating them promptly, of course!), making bunny ears, and snack.

The house was full of 8 boys and 2 girls, so it was a fun and rambunctious group that was psyched to go outside and hunt eggs. Fortunately it was dry and 50 degrees, so it was decent hunting weather.

As you can see, this is the year of Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars, and he has car rain boots and a Lightning McQueen Easter basket. Make no mistake about his current toy love interest!

We had so much fun with all of our friends!

Easter Celebrations

Easter celebration season lasted especially long this year, especially since this past week was spring break, and he celebrated Easter at preschool the week before.

His class had an Easter party, and I indulged a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds with a cute fruit treat I saw in my Parents magazine. They turned out pretty well, but cutting the cantelope into flower-shaped pieces was pretty labor intensive. I later found marshmallows cut into the shape of bunnies, which would have been a cute addition.

The day I picked Colin up from class, the teacher opened the door and all the kids rushed out, wearing their bunny ears and holding their cute milk jug bunny Easter baskets. Very creative!