Family Photo Shoot. Inspired by the Huse Family. Thanks Rachael, JD and Lorelai~

R and R

Ron has been home for 17 days now. If you do the math you know that means in a matter of days we will be sending him back to A CO for the second half of his deployment. R and R has been great. We have had to do a lot of adjusting, which by the way no one warns you about, but we have had a lot of fun and made some wonderful memories.

The boys are so happy to have daddy/da da home. Chase is finally at the stage where he can appreciate Daddy being here. Rhys just loves having a man around. I am enjoying the fact that the boys don't know I exist for now!

We were so blessed to have all of our family in town for Labor Day. We had a great time. Thank you so much to my Mom, Dad, Caleb, Karlie, Jackie, Rick, Cat, Adam, Robin, Floyde, Max and Garcion for all driving hours to be with us.

Last week we spend a few days with Nany, Karen and Ricky at Myrtle Beach. We actually also got to spend some so of our friends who were on R and R also. Thanks to Rissa, Jake, Kylie and Maddie for spending the day at the beach with us. Jake....FYI.....there is still sand stuck to me.

We have spent the rest of R and R just being a family. Chase and Rhys both had their 1st day of school last week. Yup that's right....Rhysie is in preschool 2 days a week. Not sure what I will do with my time yet, but so far Ron and I have used our free time to play golf and hit the pool. Which by the way....anyone who is free for golf on Tuesdays or Thursdays between 9 and 1 let me know. I suck....but it's still fun! We will be spending the last few days just being together. I think I'm still in shock about him going back. I worry more for the boys. Any men willing to offer there time as Manny's here at the Sturgeon house, please email me for qualifications.

We love you all~

Free Java

Enjoy a free sample of Coffee!!!! MMMMM....does anyone know where I can still get the coconut creme creamer????

Bug Spray....Hair Spray

Last night was the Kenny concert. I honestly can't remember when I have had such a good time. (Well, I am sure I could remember if I tried....but let's face it....I don't want to try.) Thanks to Leona we had VIP tickets. Basically we just had little blue bracelets and got to drink in a really nice tent. We still ended up at the VERY top of the lawn. I did get to go down to our row F seats for a moment to get a peak at Kenny. I think that brief moment may have made me a concert snob. I really liked watching the concert and actually seeing everything in person and not on a screen! Here are a few of my favorite pictures.
As of now I am sitting in bed with OFF in my hair......yes...that's right bug spray. I somehow got tree sap in my hair this afternoon and OFF was the only thing I could find that would get it out that doesn't come out of the kitchen. I think it is working, but there is still a bit left....I must need to re apply!

Bert and Ernie

Bert and Ernie
Current mood: cheerful

I'm watching Street as Chase calls it and I see a very familiar situation taking place. Bert is telling Ernie to pick up his toys. Ernie says "I know how you don't like messes Bert." and Bert replies with "You can say that again." So Ernie says "I know how you don't like messes Bert." Then Ernie picks all his toys up and puts them in the toy box. He then says "Now when I want to play with my rubber duckie I can just look in the toy box." He then throws all the toys out as he digs for his duckie.....

I am Bert and Chase is Ernie.

I guess it is 5minuteswithchase.blogspot.com

I discovered 2 things about myself today.....1st....I can't operate our AC and 2nd.....I am scared to death of snakes....(ok well I already knew that, but after an extensive counseling session with Rachael I have realized I am STILL scared of snakes!)

I woke up today to a pretty cool house. That's not saying much considering it was at 8am. As the day went on I realized that the upstairs AC was running and the light was on but it was hotter that Haiti up there! After consulting with Rachael, I went to Wal Mart at 5pm in Hope Mills....(I know you are jealous that you couldn't experience that today!) to get air filters. I thought that would surely fix my problem since I hadn't changed them since hmmmm October. I get home and my uncle comes to look at the AC and he finds the problem.....I'm an idiot.....apparently it's not enough to have the "cool" on you have to also have the fan on.....well at least he saved me a service call! (I can't even imagine what the Mark Air guy would have thought!)

Now to the snakes......I'm really worried they are going to come out with a vengeance this year since we cut down about 1/3 of an acre of "their" habitat, which happens to also be my backyard. While the boys were napping today I decided to work in (or look at) the backyard. Just as I was feeling a bit better about not seeing any snakes a huge lizard jumps out at me. So while I was at Wal Mart, I purchased some snake killer or something....see I don't really know what it is because I was scared to read the package because there were snakes staring at me all over the bottle.....the only part I did read said that "Spring is when snakes are most active" Oh my....it's spring and I just knew that if I didn't get this stuff that was guaranteed by some university I have never heard of there would be dozens of snakes waiting at my back door tonight. So after explaining to Rachael about the snake killer she kindly says "I hope you didn't get snake food!" Great...thanks Rach...now when I wake up Im going to be tip toeing to the window to make sure there are no snakes in the back yard.....oh by the way...I was so scared of the snake killer that I had to have my uncle put it down for me......Thanks Tony!

So to the boys......While we were getting ready to go to Wal Mart, Chase comes out with a tee shirt, jacket and upside down sunglasses on, carrying his shoes. He looks at me through the nose of the sun glasses and says "Go bye bye!" Well no Chase....You don't have any pants or underwear on.......wish I would have had the camera! As for Rhys.....He slept 7 hours last night!!!! I couldn't believe it....hope it wasn't a fluke!!!!!

Oh also today was Kendra's last day of work!!!! God am I glad....I don't know where I am going to fit all these ladies at my daycare though! (Besides Rachael I have a new friend Amanda that attends Kristen's SAHM daycare~!)

Rhys rolls over and Chase rolls out! (for Rachael)

Last week we took a trip to Virgina Beach to see my mom for her 50th birthday~ Yes that's right...Nani is 5-0!!!!! When we got there on Thursday Rhys was on the bed getting ready for his bath when all of the sudden....bam....he rolls over! Oh my.....my little boy is growing up.....He rolled over 2 times before his bath....Nani was glad to be the first to see it. What a great birthday present!!! The boys also stayed with their 1st non-family (Emily is Family) babysitter! She was amazing! (On a side note...the surprise party was amazing. Mom was so surprised! I'll add pictures later...I left my camera in VA!)

Chase has been riding his bike everyday....(Yes that is EVERY day!) If I want to go anywhere, I have to load the bike in the back of my truck....(yet another reason I NEED that suburban!) and take it with us.....otherwise there is a large amount of arguing, fighting crying and giving in that happens. When ever we get out of the car or come out of the house my bouncing little boys says "Ride bike lil bit?" (which is him asking if he can ride his bike for a little bit not in a little bit.) He has even figured out how to grasp the handle bars tightly and then squeeze his legs around the seat so I can't physically take him off the bike.

Wonder if they will let him have that at school tomorrow!

Speaking of.....Chase is so smart....he can count to seven (shaking his head at the number 5, because he used to skip 3 and 4 and when he would say 5 I would shake my head no.) He is also very good at singing the ABCs all the way to H! Today he surprised me with knowledge of the complete wiggles DVD that we own saying "no Henry" to song #4 which is by no coincidence "Dance with Henry." He also says "No Beach" in reference to the beach song. In case you are curious, he like the Wags the dog song!

Oh and we are on day 2 of letting Rhys cry it out.....(He was awake AT LEAST every hour at my Moms house....and I NEED some sleep.....) He is catching on quick.....he must have been messaging Lorelai on MYSPACE for some sleep secrets!

Happy Birthday!

Chase was telling himself Happy Birthday yesterday! He is so cute! I can't believe he is 2. He even knows it....when you ask him how old he is, he will tell you 2 after you hold up 2 fingers!

He was so good on our trip. He met Alyssa for the first time. (That is Alex's daughter.) I think he was glad to meet someone who could play "posies" with him with out getting tired!

My Funny Valentine!

So this morning I went into Chase's room with a very exciting "Happy Valentine's Day!" of coarse...my little parrot repeated me with his version of "pee banti nes" Then I ask him if he will be my valentine and my beautiful baby looks me dead in the face with all seriousness and says..."Nope!"

Like he even knows what a Valentine is!

I never got to how we got to 5 minutes with Chase...

Basically Rachael was amused at Chase thinking his dinner was yucky and she said...."Get a blog and call it 5 minutes with Chase or something...." I am in no way creative enought come up with anything better... so there you go.....5 minutes with Chase!

Here we go....

Ok...so my friend Rachael...aka...my daytime roommate decided I needed another reason to be on the computer instead of doing much needed maintenance around the house! Now let me explain how we got to 5 minutes with Chase.....

I obviously find my son adorable, so quite naturally I want to share every cute quirky thing the kid does and says with all of you. After dinner tonight at the Pizza Hut buffet here in Hope Mills....(just try to picture all the trash we encountered there on Kids Eat Free Night!) Chase gets in the car and says...."yucky dinner!" "What" I asked just to be sure that was really what he said and sure enough the whole way home he says..."Yucky dinner!" Wow....I thought is was great myself, minus the plastic fork, lack of plates and no salad dressing at the salad bar. Oh and the waitress who about died when we asked her for napkins....not extra napkins, but our 1st napkins! I know I'm easy to please, but Chase apparently not!

Then we get home and Chase looks at the couch that Rachael and Lorelai sat on for 7 hours today....(yes I did say 7 hours TODAY) and says "Lorelai?" Like where is the chick that goes on the couch! Wait....now that I read that back it sounds terrible that Rachael and Lorelai were here for 7 hours, but that is our new thing. I babysit them all day and frankly, they babysit us! It's quite a great relationship. JD says its called a symbiotic relationship....