Zombie Attack

There's something wrong with this kid. Maybe he needs coffee.

Lightsabers, Clean-Smelling Teeth & Ice Hockey

If you're a Star Wars fan,
hit 'play' below for a deleted scene :)

Now when I was a kid, they had
lightsabers that were sold fully extended
and equipped with (make-believe) sound effects.
When I was a bigger kid
(ok, maybe I was in my twenties)
my brother Josh bought me one that
could actually extend and retract, albeit manually,
but that had prerecorded sound effects!
Very cool!
Not to be outdone, Ashton used a
birthday gift card (courtesy of the Chalmers')
to purchase the new and improved model...
this thing looks and acts like
a real lightsaber!! (WT-lol)
Not only does it light up and make noise
like mine, but it also automatically extends with
the push of a button!!
(I'll raise a Star Wars nerd if I want to)
:)

Such a big boy...


A few weeks ago I scored some free tickets
to a night of college ice hockey
at the Savannah Civic Center.

Ashton LOVED ice hockey!!
...for about 15 minutes.
Thank God his Uncle Jon and Aunt Judit
joined us and kept him company :)

Introducing...Ashton's Snuggie

So...my son has had his first experience
as a victim of 'As Seen On TV' marketing.

One day, after I picked him up from daycare,
he went on and on about how much he needed a 'Snuggie'.
(For those of you not 'in-the-know', it's a blanket with sleeves)

Of course, every other day he sees something
that he thinks he needs,
but normally those passing fancies are forgotten.
Not true with the Snuggie.

For weeks he tried to convince us that a Snuggie was a necessity.
The repeated ads on television only fueled the fire.
Finally, one day last week, we had gone into Walgreens
and lo and behold, there sat a full floor display of Snuggies.
I couldn't believe how excited my 4 years old was
over this silly backwards bathrobe.
He was just too cute (and I'm a sucker).



Fifteen dollars later we were back in the truck
and Ashton had his treasure in his lap.
He looked at me with a self-satisfied smile and slowly nodded his head...
I swear it was the best 'yeah, baby' look I've ever seen.
:)
Ever since then he's never without it.

Fun for (with) young and old

A little fort-building fun



Ashton thinks he's clever...



Well it was recently birthdays time again for the Southern Sturgis family.

I turned twenty-sixteen,
and my parents hit THE BIG 6 0


Stacy, Ashton, my brothers and I joined my folks at
The Sunbury Crab Company for dinner.
The restaurant is open to the surroundings and the view was amazing.
Before the food came we did our gifts exchange
along with the obligatory 'senior citizen' birthday cards!

Over the years I've grown rather fond of painting plaster miniatures.
My folks have had a pair of stone pelicans
that they wanted finished to resemble Eastern Brown Pelicans,
and so I took on that challenge for their birthday.

Before

After

The Pets

A Cat In A Sack
(just a random Claudia pic)


Once upon a time I think that Stacy barely stomached my aquarium.
I've got a 55 gallon tank with a rather large pair of cichlids:
a red oscar (Murtaugh) and a blood parrot (Don Corleone).
My oscar tends to be a lethal weapon,
(especially when I feed him crickets, worms,
tree frogs, volkswagen bugs...whatever)
and for some reason my lady-friend was slow in warming to my cold-blooded pets.

Well I'm delighted to report that Stacy finally came around!
While at the pet store one day,
her eye was caught by a pinkie-sized albino oscar.
Before I knew it "Aurora" had joined our little underwater family.
In the video above, she's already doubled in size since bringing her home.

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time

A long long time ago (like, 2 months), back in the peaceful ages before my son knew about Peanut Butter Jelly Time...things were quiet and serene in my house.

And then...
My thoughtful and helpful girlfriend looked at us in shock when she realized that Ashton and I were unfamiliar with Peanut Butter Jelly Time...

Stacy remedied that oversight quickly.




Ashton LOVES Peanut Butter Jelly Time.
I mean, he REALLY LOVES it.





Now here's a YouTube video that Ashton and I can agree on...


That vid always cracks us up!

(And Ashton is perfecting his British accent...

...his Aunt Judit would be proud)

June 2008 - Beach, Pool and Stick your tongue out and bite it

Jekyll Island

First off...yes...I am sporting the Lex Luthor look in this pic.

From time to time...much to my poor girlfriend's chagrin...I like to suddenly shave...my face...my head...my...

Making an in-ground pool

Stacy getting some sun

Mr. Cool

Karen and Pete's Pool

A couple of friends of ours have very graciously invited us over several times during the summer to enjoy their hospitality and their pool.

It has given Ashton some wonderful deep-water exposure.




We're still a ways away from him swimming like a fish, but at least he's slowly getting over his fears and having a blast doing it!

Stick Your Tongue Out And Bite It

This is nothing more than a "night in the life" at our house.

The following video is VERY typical Ashton behavior.

He cracks me up! :)

Loving Spring time...

My Easter Lily!
(oh yeah...and my son)


Smile, Smell...POPCORN!





For my parents anniversary Ashton and I dog/house-sat while my folks got away for the weekend. That we managed to get their home put back in one piece and (somewhat) the way we found it before they returned was amazing. I had to sort through my videos carefully in making the following selections (had to make sure that we didn't incriminate ourselves)



What a look!


My parents beautiful German Shepherd "Ajax"

Bunk Beds a.k.a. Ready-Made-Fort

...my house
has never been cleaner
AND there was money
left over...

So I've been wanting bunk beds for Ash's room for about a year now. They're kind of expensive to buy new, and I hadn't had any luck finding a nice used set.

Finally, I decided that if I cleared out and sold all of his nursery furniture (along with the 3.6 tons of miscellaneous stuff I had crammed in my attic), I'd probably make a pretty good dent in the cost of his new furnishings. Following Stacy's suggestion, I posted my lot on Craigslist over the course of 4 weeks. Not only did I completely pay for his new bed (and chest of drawers), my house has never been cleaner AND there was money left over!

Ashton's New Bunk Beds from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.

Of course... he can never decide whether he wants to sleep on the top bunk or the bottom bunk... but I suppose there are greater hardships in life :)

Easter Eggs, Easter Basket and CHOCOLATE!

Stacy and Ashton dyed Easter Eggs together this year (I had to work). He certainly seemed to thoroughly enjoy decorating the eggs... there's no doubt that he enjoyed breaking them with daddy the next day!


Ashton's Easter Basket from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.


Ashton LOVES Chocolate!
After digging through Ashton's Easter basket,
he and I made up a basket for his Uncle Jon
(who happedened to be working that day at the Fire Station across the street from us)


Stacy, Ashton and I after church on Easter.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Merry Christmas One and All!

What a glorious Christmas we have had this year!! I guess I'm s l o w l y getting older, and perhaps wiser, because the best present I received was Ashton...healthy, and under my roof.

In Savannah, we have to go through several cycles of warm-to-cold-to-warm before Winter finally sticks. As such, Ashton started getting sick in early October, and he seemed to stay that way through November. Thankfully, we were sickness-free during the Holidays (of course, as I type this I can here him starting to cough back in his room).

Ashton went on his first 'field trip' this year when he and the kids from his daycare ventured out to the Savannah Mall to take pictures with Santa...
On Christmas morning, he and I started the crazy gift-unwrapping extravaganza at our home, and then went out to Mommom and Poppop's house for Part Two, with uncles Josh and Jon.

Opening gifts (with the cat's help) Christmas morning...

Christmas at home from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.


More gifts (and tape)...

More Christmas at home from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.


It took a little bit of time for the adults at Mom and Dad's house to get around to opening their own gifts...we were all having so much fun watching Ashton tear through his like a Tasmanian devil!

I'm not sure that Mommom was too impressed though, when one of her 'smart --s' sons gave her a beaded necklace for her glasses....personally, I think they look very grandmotherly :)

All and all, a very lovely Christmas this year. It would have perhaps been even better if we had been able to visit with Ashton's Nashville family, but we send Season's Greetings out to Janma, Aunt Rachel and Uncles David and Jon!

Happy New Year Everyone!

What a BUSY holiday season this has been! To wrap up the old year - and to welcome in the new one - Ashton, my brothers and I met up with my folks at the Sunbury Crab Company for New Year's Eve dinner. It was wonderful. Delicious food!! While we always try to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas together as a family, this is the first time in a long while that we've all been together for New Year's Eve.
The only one missing was my sister-in-law Judit, who spent the holidays with her family in Hungary. She was SORELY missed (especially since there was no one here to keep her husband in check....or to help Mom with the kitchen....or to help keep Ashton occupied....ahem, I mean we love and miss her very much).

Here in Georgia, we can not buy "real" fireworks legally, but we can buy non-explosive fireworks (big Sparklers, really). Luckily, Ashton is still at an age where these displays are quite thrilling. Enjoy the vid...

New Year's Eve 2007/2008 from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.
The fireworks in the above vid had pictures of butterflies on the package. Ashton kept waiting for the butterflies to fly up out of the sparkles and pops :)



And with that, another holiday season comes to an end. It was a bit tiring, but extremely enjoyable...one of the best years ever, IMHO. I don't know why Ashton is so wore out in this picture...Daddy did all of the work! We wish peace and prosperity on all family in friends in 2008! Take care everyone!!

We're done potty-training!(The teddy bear, that is)

Ash_2yrs_Potty Training Teddy_00, originally uploaded by Michael n' Ashton.

So we're making so-so progress with Ashton's potty training. If you happen to put him on the pot at a time when he needs to go, well great, but he's just as happy doing his thing in his pullups and walking around in it.

His bear, on the other hand, is doing wonderful. Ashton has noticed that his furry friend is lacking a "wee-wee", but that's ok, he's got a solution for that: enjoy the vid...


Teddy Toilet from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.

OK...There IS a reason for this haircut...besides the fact that I'm cheap

No...I didn't use a bowl.
No...I'm not so broke that I can't afford to take my poor kid to the barber.
The problem is, everytime we go to to get his haircut he has a complete nervous breakdown. I mean, I've got a good kid. Sure, he has his moments, but all and all he's not given to temper tantrums. But come near his hair with any sort of cutting device? Oh, no. Not happening. He goes bananas. Screaming, flailing, kicking, tugging, tears-streaming, nose running...you name it. Each trip to the barbershop so far has ended with me holding Ash firmly in the chair while the barber and I both finally agree to dismiss any sort of style in favor of simply buzzing my son's head.
I even tried taking Ashton to one of those family places in the mall. I found one with a sweet woman possessing great chair-side manner, a soft touch and scissors (no clippers). Before getting there I took Ash to McDonalds for some comfort food and spent time talking to him, preparing him and getting him excited about his upcoming haircut. After putting him in the barber's chair the friendly beautician even tied a balloon to his ankle to keep him preoccupied.
And for what?
Screaming, flailing, kicking, tugging, tears-streaming, nose running...you name it.
So...this time around...I thought to myself: why am I actually paying money for this misery? Heck...I can torture the boy from the privacy of my own home...and save myself the 20 bucks!
So, without further ado, please enjoy the video below (and get your laughter out of your system before you see him in person...don't want the poor kid getting a complex)


Nice haircut! from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.

Such A Big Boy

He is growing up so fast!
I love his Batman bathrobe. He looks like such a little man!
Enjoy the video below...


Brushing Teeth from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.

There's Just Something About Childrens' Laughter...

This clip speaks for itself...

They never had stuff like this when I was a kid!

You know these refrigerator letters we always had growing up? There always seemed to be a mix of good ones and bad ones. The good ones had vibrant colors and stuck to the fridge securely. The bad ones had itty-bitty magnets (seemingly) designed to hold up 90% of each letters' weight. Close the fridge door too hard and half that days' words toppled to the floor.

Well not any more.

Not only do Ashton's words stay where their supposed to, a friendly child's voice announces each letters' name and sound!!! Enjoy the video...