The Four Corners

Happy anniversary to my Zach!

And no, I could not find a good picture of just the two of us from the last 6 months or so. Those crazy kids are always around.

Awake on a Train

Queenie and Mantis came for a delightful visit. Aside from Owen's feverish delirium and first-ever ear infection that encompassed a few days, we had a great time.

One of the highlights was our train ride up to Santa Barbara. Owen, who has recently become enamored with Thomas the Train, was delighted with the whole experience of the train, then promptly fell asleep for most of our wanderings around Santa Barbara.

Eagerly awaiting the train. It stops in Simi Valley at a station about 5 minutes from our house.

Owen and Mantis scope things out right before the train approaches.

Owen enjoying the view from the train.

Family picture on the train.

Queenie, Mantis, and Caelum enjoying the ride.

We putzed around throughout Santa Barbara, did some shopping, and got lunch.

Then we took a nice long break. Note Owen passed out in the stroller.

A historical site in Santa Barbara. Zach could tell you the name.

We checked out the beach as well.

On the pier

View from the train as we headed back to Simi. The tracks are right on the coast, clearly.

Everyone was very relaxed on the way home. Except the people whose seats Queenie stole.

One last family picture with the train.

It was a perfect daytrip and now Owen is "on a choo choo train to Santa Barbara" when he drives the steering wheel on the playground at the park. Thanks again Queenie and Mantis! More posts to come regarding your visit...

Splitting Hairs

A mixture of thriftiness and laziness makes me very lax when it comes to haircuts. This reached a peak in college, and there are a few pictures from that time upon which I can look, grimace, and ask why no one told me to cut my freaky long hippie hair. My hair wasn't that bad this time around, but it was still time for cut.
A good 12 inches later, and I got my mom-do. Apparently, my hair is so thick, I had enough for two wigs for Locks for Love.



More importantly, and certainly more adorably, Owen got a haircut as well.

He did very well and sat still the whole time.

He may look like a rebel, but he's still the sweetest big brother on the block.

And, just so you know, the mohawk only lasted a few weeks. It has since been shaved off, so Owen is now rocking a summer buzzcut.

He's Alive!

I was thinking about what a great Easter we had this year. That doesn't seem like a typical thought: "Remember the Easter of '11. That was sick." It's usually Christmas, or maybe a birthday (like my 26th, right?)I think that a lot of it was due to the fact that Owen can understand so much. Easter is by far the most important holiday of our faith and it has been fun imparting that to him. I made Resurrection Eggs for us to go through at family worship and the visuals seemed to help. But I forgot to put nails in one egg, so there were two empty plastic eggs. It made the "empty tomb" egg a little less dramatic.

As I thought of ways to teach Owen about Easter, it made me reflect on what exactly Easter celebrates, and how foundational Jesus' resurrection is to our faith.

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

But we know that Christ rose again and is alive. As we (particularly Owen) sing, "Up from the grave he arose! With a mighty triumph o'er his foes." I've been teaching Owen that Jesus died on the cross for our sins (which he now says verbatim every time he sees a cross or some times to his little neighborhood friends). So it was so exciting to be able to explain that now he's alive! He rose from the dead and conquered death and our sins. Now if we see a cross and I say, "Owen, Jesus died for our sins," he'll go on to say how now Jesus is alive, and usually start singing a song that correlates ("Made like him, like him we rise, aaaaa-lle-luuuuuia").

I have never felt more sure of my faith than when teaching my kids about Christ. There's just no way to have those quiet doubts of, "Do I really believe this?" when I want nothing else than for my kids to believe in the same thing. My kids, mind you. Those precious little genetic bundles of wonder I care for each day. My legacy. If I thought Christianity was a sham or even just a little iffy, or if I didn't completely believe that Christ was risen, why in the world would I pray each night that my boys would follow an impotent Savior? A man that was rotting in the ground? I would be of all people most to be pitied.

We've had great Easters before this, of course. Let's have a look shall we?

Easter 2008 - Newlywed Easter in Texas. Made my first ham and had a bunch of people over from church

Easter 2009 - Another Texas Easter; had a 2 and a half month old baby

Easter 2010 - Easter in San Francisco? Yes please!

Easter 2011 - The first of many times our boys will be dressed in matching outfits.

Five Star Day

My 26th birthday was a few weeks ago. Best Birthday Ever. Zach had the day off thanks to Paid Family Leave, and so we had the whole day together. He really made it special and after a relaxing morning we went to the Camarillo outlets. I got five shirts for $25 which made me both very happy and well dressed. Then we headed to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, and off to the Oxnard beach.

It was Caelum's first time at the beach, and while he liked it at first, he didn't last long. Probably since he could barely open his eyes the whole time.




Once we got home, Zach did some last minute preparations, then our traditional scavenger hunt began. This year was quite extravagant, as there were presents with each clue.


I had fun running all over, deciphering Zach's clever clues.


The boys each got me gifts too: Memory from Owen and a book from Caelum.

Note the outfit change. Sweet Anthropologie shirt from Zach and leggings from Mom.

The hunt culminated with something ringing in my fab new diaper bag from Cathy...an iPhone! I'm loving it and still can't believe Zach bought it for me!
That night we had shrimp scampi (as I requested) then angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Zach worked hard to make the day fun-filled.

I'm definitely feeling blessed to have my two sweet boys and my amazing husband. Thanks Zach!

Let's Spend the Day in Bed

As 3 out of 4 Ashtons are sick (hold strong, Zach, hold strong!), this seems like a good time to post. Caelum had an 101 fever last night and this morning, so Zach ran him to the pediatrician who had him give a urine sample and get blood work done. Are you aware of how baby urine samples are taken? They tape a little plastic baggy around the kid's junk and wait for him to pee. Crazy.

The results came back fine. The doctor was just being cautious since Caelum is so young - 3 months - and we all agree that the baby just picked up the same cold that Owen and I have had for over a week. I'd like to thank all of the possible germ carriers who made this event possible: kid at storytime, guy hacking at church, and the germ-coated, 75 cent ride-on green digger at the mall. You guys are the best.This picture gives a pretty good idea of how we're feeling around here.

Anyway, Owen's finally getting over it and I'm hoping if I can get some sleep tonight (please sleep more than an hour at a time sweet Caelum!) I'll be much better tomorrow...just in time to nurse Zach back to health when he inevitably catches this nastiness. He took today off so that he could care of our sniveling, pathetic selves and I am so grateful! I was not making it. And no, I'm not putting up my picture right now.

Small Potatoes

We're famous! My embarrassing false labor incident is now chronicled by the legendary Ventura County Star which has 80,000 daily readers. Let's count this as Caelum's birth announcement.