It is the end of december, in Kansas, and while my children should be wearing winter coats, they are infact wearing short sleeves. For some reason it is 55* out. If this is the effects of global warming then I'm totally fine with it. We decided to hit the park and brag a little about our nice weather.

Ashton likes to climb trees. 

It's true. Ashton is a boy. Instead of playing on the slides, or swinging he made a sling shot with a fallen branch of a tree. 

This is my christmas card...because I'm lame.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Love, 

   Brad, Rebecca, Ashton and Talan 

Hyper-sensitive turns into drama

Talan, the once cute baby pictured in the post below, has had a mind of his own lately. He is really starting to have more of a personality which is great, but I can see where it is leading and I have my work cut out for me. He is very funny, always likes to have the focus on him, and incredibly dramatic and sneaky. I always said Ashton was my dramatic child. Talan has totally stolen his thunder! Here are a few of my favorite happenings of Talan lately.

A week or so ago he was playing nicely in the living room while I was sitting at the kitchen table doing who knows what.  He somehow snuck past me in the kitchen, went into the pantry, and picked up the box of trash bags. Even though he is only 16 months, he knows very well he may not mess with the trash bags. The entire pantry is off limits to him because of his allergies. After obtaining the box of trash bags he begins to walk towards me. I have yet to realize he is even in the kitchen. As Talan is walking towards me he is taking out trash bags one by one hurling them towards the floor. He stops just in front of me, but still far enough away that I can't reach him without getting out of my chair. We have a brief stare-down as I try to compute in my head what has just happened. How this small child went from playing so sweetly just momemts ago to standing in front of me in front of a trail of trash bags. I started to get out of my chair while saying "No Talan. " It was too late though. Before I could even get up Talan was running as fast as his little legs would go. He knew I was coming after the trash bags and he was going to keep them as long as he could. All the way across the kitchen and to the dead end at the other side of the living room, giggling like he had just done something hilarious. He's lucky he is still at that age where this stuff is cute. 

Yesterday evening Brad's parents came over for dinner. Talan did his usual. He ate a little while in his booster seat and then it was off to Uncle Clint's lap for seconds. Just his luck, Uncle Clint happened to be sitting by a Talan sized sucker. As soon as he saw it he claimed it as his own. Once the wrapper was removed from the sucker, Talan got down and walked around a bit. Never letting go of his candy. The family started playing a game at the table. Tal must have been upset that no one was paying attention to him because he walked up behind his grandpa, stuck his sucker in grandpa's pants, pulled it out, and put it back in his mouth. Classic.

I really love my sleep, and because of this I have made a rule.  The boys may not come out of their room until I come in to get them. Otherwise I have Ashton waking me up at 6a.m. wondering if it is time for breakfast. Usually when I wake up the boys are already up. They share a room now, and while I was worried about it at first, it has been terriffic! Ashton says Talan wakes him up every morning. Then Ashton, being the excellent brother he is, plays with Talan until it is time to come out of bed. Usually I open the door to find Ashton in Talan's bed. Once I found Ashton standing on a ledge under the window showing Talan how he could touch the ceiling. And sometimes I just sit outside their room for a bit and listen to Ashton do his crazy things while Talan cracks up.  They are quite the pair and I love they play so well together. 

A few weeks ago we were at the library. They have an excellent play area there, so if Tal is good and sits in the stroller while we load it up with books for Ashton then he can play. This particular day there was another boy his age playing as well. They had been playing fairly well together. Neither wants to share, but they both are fascinated by each other. Talan hadn't really noticed the other boys mom. Or if he did, he didn't really care. Then all the sudden he caught her eye. She must have looked at him wrong, because Talan flung himself on the floor. He didn't make a sound. I know, from the several other times Talan has been offended by the way someone looked at him, not to make a sound. If he's not making a sound then it could go one of 3 ways. He would either be angry and start screaming and throwing a fit, cry like someone has just killed his puppy right in front of him, or get up and pretend like nothing happened. I know that any move I make though will alter the outcome, so I don't move. Talan laid there on the ground face down, then the other mother chuckled a bit. It is rather funny to see a 16 month old be so incredibly dramatic. Talan heard the chuckle and began to cry like option number 2. This made the mom laugh a bit more because his crying didn't start until a good 30 seconds after the initial collapsing on the floor. It made me laugh too though. 

I've been wondering how I ended up with two sanity-sucking kids. I figured it out recently while wrapping christmas presents. The tiny gift tags don't have enough room to write all of our names by the from. To save space I started putting the first initial of each of our names. Our initials spell BRAT. Explains alot!

Look daddy!!! I got a haircut!

I finally cut Talan's hair. He's had the slight trim before, but today I tackled the entire thing. I didn't trust that he would let anyone else cut it and be still, and I wasn't even sure he would sit still for me. Turns out he does not move if there is unlimited fruit snacks and string cheese on the table. Looks like he will be getting gel and a comb in his stocking. 

Here is the new groomed Tal!!!

Santa is dead

For the past 6 years I've found the Santa story to be a little annoying, and just not very fun. Always having to be discreet when getting presents, keeping up with the story of santa. I've always kept Santa alive because Ashton thought it was fun to leave out snacks and think about santa coming. I've also always thought that I'll let Ashton think whatever he wants, but if he asks a question he gets a straight answer. 

Tonight he came right out and asked, "is it even possible for you to see the real santa?" As the conversation progressed and he began to think logically about santa he realized that flying reindeer were absolutely ridiculous, and even if they could fly, how would they pull a fat man and a sleigh through the air?

So the cat is out of the bag. He asked lots of questions. "Where do the snacks go?", "where do all the letters to santa go?", "does this mean you don't really have santa's email address?" 

Now only 5 years until Tal figures it out. Hopefully sooner.

Wanna Wrestle

If you happen to be a 6 year old 46 pound kid you better watch your back. Ashton is ready to take you down!

Thats right. He's started wrestling, and he loves it. I'm worried he doesn't get that the point is to NOT get pinned. This last practice they did 30 second take downs. He was wrestling with a kid who had obviously wrestled before, and a little out of his weight class. The kid did not hold back and threw him around pretty good. Ashton thought it was awesome.  

I have to say, also, he could not look cuter in the singlet. And, Mr. Modesty doesn't want to take it off. This is the tournament only singlet though. I had to veto his request to wear it while exercising. 

Cheap kid

A couple weeks ago I had to buy another carseat for Tal. Ashton is doing an activity that takes us across town 2 times a week, and Tal can't go. I hate taking the carseat out of the car and putting it in. I especially hate doing it in winter, thus, a new carseat. Ashton immediately took over the box. Once the bottom broke out he taped it with some sort of gorilla tape. Seriously...take back the christmas presents. I can find a ton of boxes at sams if this is what he really wants. 

Peanut allergy take 2...

Today was a baking day. No bake coookies and puppy chow. Both of which Tal cannot have since they contain peanut butter. The no bake cookies only had a spoonfull in 2 batches and the puppy chow only had half a cup. Not a whole lot once it is spread out. Everyone was snacking on the yummy goodness while Talan was sleeping, and the kids were even lectured to wash their hands and brush their teeth if they ate the treats. Either one of the children was not listening during this lecture or the adults didn't realize they should also be listening to this lecture (myself included) because Talan developed hives on the side of his face. This is mostly where he gets kisses. Benadryl knocked the hives out...and Talan for that matter, but we know know....

the peanut allergy has not gone away. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAD!!!

Today is Brad's birthday. Well, today in Iraq, tomorrow in the states. I'm celebrating with him on Iraq time though so I guess he sort of gets 2 birthdays.

Happy Birthday Love. We love you and we miss you!!!

Brace yourself

Something amazing has happened. The christmas season is upon us which means, my favorite drink of all time is in stock. Sparkling red grape juice (not the amazing part I was talking about, but fairly close). As I was savoring the entire bottle of wonderfulness I was tearing away at the gold foil on the top of the bottle. Peeling and picking at it. Then it happened. I took one look and yelled for people to come see my creation. After tonight I totally get what it feels like to be those crazy people on ebay selling a piece of cheese that looks like Queen Elizabeth.

Behold my masterpiece. I call it.....Peter Pan.

Best sour face in all of Kansas

I believe it was a sour fruit snack.

Note to self

Temporary tattoo + Ashton's face = scary kid at school

Over the weekend Ashton found these very cool tattoos that go on your face. There is a pirate, clown, dragon (ashton is wearing the dragon), tiger, and a page of random facial hair. Yesterday I told him we could put one on not really thinking about it. It looks super cool, but it didn't exactly come off. 

Good luck at school today, Ashton. So far it is 9:40 and I have not gotten a call from school, although I fully expect to. 

Ashton asked me to take a picture titled "I'm fearless" and this is the post and facial expression  which he came up with.

He survived!

In case you didn't know, and since it is an important fact for this particular blog post, Ashton was born tongue tied. I didn't know it, and no doctors ever said anything to me. It wasn't until he was 4 that I made this discovery. I was watching A Baby Story on TLC, and a woman had a baby who was tongue tied. She explained what that term meant, and that she had taken her baby to get the tongue tie clipped days after birth. From that point until now, 2 years later, I have talked endlessly to the military doctors about getting it fixed. Military doctors, I've found, don't really like to do much of anything. They brushed me off, mostly because he didn't have any speech problems. 

Once we moved to Kansas and live too far from a base to go for military care, we found our own doctors. Finally a civillian! As soon as I mentioned his tongue-tie I was refered to an ear, nose, throat dr. He said it wasn't that bad, but it was bad enough to do something about. 3 months later the procedure is complete. Ashton did excellent, and I think I was more nervous than he was. The doctor numbed him up with a cotton ball, gave him a shot of more numbing medication and snipped away. Ashton can now stick his tongue out of his mouth. He doesn't know how to stick it straight out yet, and he says it feels weird, but he's thinks it is the coolest thing ever. On the way to the car after the procedure he had his tongue hanging out of his mouth the entire way.

(this first picture will also give you a good look at another one of my freak outs. Look at the size of that tooth coming in on the bottom. It is taking up 2 spots. How are 2 teeth supposed to fit? Its completely freaking me out.)

In recovery.

He knocked something loose

Ever since Tal fell down the stairs he's been acting strange. He has started shaking his head no. This is the most bizarre I have to say. 

Talan tumbled down the steps today. Well, I suppose 'tumbled' is quite the understatement. He flew, bounced, and rolled down the steps. For the past few weeks we have had no baby gate. Talan has been doing excellent turning around and going down the stairs backwards. I'm not exactly sure what happened this morning. Lately his favorite thing to do is throw things down the stairs or from the loft. I think he tried to throw his milk down the steps and lost balance and down he went. 

As soon as I heard him rolling down the steps I ran to the top. By the time I got there he has half way down and all I could do was watch him reach the tile at the end of the steps. 

He is okay. No broken bones. He has a little rug burn on his cheek, but looks pretty untouched. Now Brad needs to fall down the stairs so he can join the club of clumsies!

Halloween 2008

We had a family theme costume this year. Ashton was the turkey hunter, Talan was the unsuspecting turkey, and I was the sign giving my turkey hunter permission to shoot his brother. At Trunk or Treat the kids won 'most hysterical' costume. 

Uncle Clint took Ashton trick or treating which he complained about the entire time. He didn't want to carry his bag....his feet hurt....his hat was hot. The list goes on, and needless to say, they didn't last very long. When they got back to the house Ashton had more fun handing out candy to all the other kids. Not too bad of a deal for me! 

Just like dad

A shoe store here in town hosted their second annual Munchkin Fun Run today. Ashton was very excited to run in the 1/2 mile race. I was very impressed at how well he did. He came in at 3 minutes 59 seconds.  He believes he was in second place, but he was in 8th or so place. I'm just letting him think he came in second. Next time he wants to do a full mile because "this was too easy."

Getting ready to run!Yes....I am running the half mile.
What a face. He is totally moving past this guy. (the parents could run with the kids if they wanted. It wasn't some strange adult trying to beat all the little kids)

This is how Tal enjoyed the race.

Yay Ashton!!!

The little kid in the red was going down. Ashton was passing him and then he got distracted by me on the sidelines. Thats okay. We will let that kid think he won. 

Superstar

Ashton made the news. His school had a halloween parade and the local news station was there filming it. He comes in at about 33 seconds, and is in between a bunny and a girl dancing around in a princess dress. He even briefly holds up his arms to show off the spider costume I made. 

Click to watch Ashtons 7 seconds of fame

Step aside Beethoven

2 Teeth Missing

This morning Ashton was brushing his teeth and another tooth fell out. He was really excited and came running downstairs to share the good news. This is what Ashton had to say about it...

"It is like a party in my mouth and two people left"

Add one to the list

Today Tal and I had a date to Children's Mercy Hospital. I've never been and really only seen the commercials asking for donations. All I knew was it was one of the most well known and best children's hospitals in the country. Driving up to this place it looks like freaking disneyland. There are fountains and kid themed sculptures twirling about. If I was a kid I would totally be fine with going there. I'm an adult and want to find a reason to be admitted!

The purpose of our visit was to have a chat with the allergist. First, though, we had to find a parking spot and overcome my disorientation. I've never been so lost in my life. There's hospital hill and Rainbow Road and a few others that I can't remember,  and on no sign to I see any Mickey Mouse glove pointing to the allergy clinic. After asking about 14 people I was finally on my way up Hospital Hill which IS actually a freaking hill. Me, with my hurt back, carrying 26 pound Talan, and 15 pound diaper bag up a 3 story hill. The best part? There were elevators right outside the allergy clinic. Nice. 

So we get in the room with the Doctor. Turns out he used to be in the airforce as a pediatrician and just came to Children's Mercy 3 months ago to learn to be an allergist. It takes 2 years. By the end of the appointment I felt like we had accomplished more than when we saw Dr. Mante who has been an allergist for several years. He said that both skin tests and blood tests are equal. Skin tests are nice because they tell you immediately what you are allergic to, but blood tests give you an actual reading of how extreme your allergy is. They, however, don't test for anything that he hasn't had a reaction to.

I allowed him to do the skin test. He did 5 pricks: dogs, peanuts, eggs, histamine (control), and saline. Much easier than I expected too. Tal didn't even know he got pricked. After 15 minutes the results could be read. The skin test told us Tal is allergic to peanuts and eggs. The next step was having a blood test so we can see what his levels are. This is important because when he is tested again in a couple years we want to know if the levels are going down or staying the same. 

The doctor said that he thinks it is best to completely remove the allergen from your diet and that gives you the best chance of outgrowing it. Even though Tal has been eating things that are made with eggs, he's never had a reaction because it has never been enough eggs to cause a reaction. The problem is he is still feeding to the allergy. I do think he will grow out of the eggs, the peanuts are another story. He said just from looking at his skin test his peanut allergy was most likely not going to go away any time soon. 

So we somehow found our way to the car after 37 elevator stops....no freaking joke. Tomorrow starts the new diet. Tal can have anything except for, of course, peanuts and anything made with eggs....oh, and no flu shot since the vaccine is made in chicken embryos. 

Just like dad

Ashton and I went on a run tonight. When we got home he was talking 10,000 words a minute about how he could run the Army 10 Miler with Brad and his unbelievable lightening speed. At some point this is what came out of his mouth.

A: Man, when I'm like 20 if I'm still this skinny I'm going to have to start running with my shirt off.

Me: Why? What does that do?

A: It helps me get married faster. Girls just like to look at boys with their shirts off. 

talan gave himself a makeover...

Seriously, is 2008 over yet? This has to be the absolute worst year of my life! Either that, or I have broken too many mirrors, walked under too many ladders or came in contact with too many black cats. 

Today started off bad when Tal decided not to nap. Because of this, he was a very unhappy child by the time 5:00 rolled around. Ashton was doing homework at the table. His very first homework assignment EVER I might add. I was sitting next to him with Tal screaming on my lap. I reached my arm over to Ashton's paper to point at his homework paper. That is when Talan thought it would be a fabulous idea to fling himself forward and ram his face into the corner of the table. He started crying even more. I kept checking his face out, but couldnt see where he had hit. I was sure he hit his nose and it was broken. His face made a loud sound on the table. I didn't see anything besides his bright red face from screaming for the past hour. 

We finally sat down to dinner where Tal enjoyed bananas and texas toast. I glanced at him and saw something funny in his mouth. I thought he had eaten something not on the dinner menu. When I got a closer look this is what I saw....

I can't even handle it. His mouth is going to be this way for the next 8 or so years! I will have to tell him to smile with his lips closed. Snaggletooth

Due to an incident involving Ashton, a dog, a glass door and a piece of cement the size of his face he was grounded "from anything that looks like it might be fun" was I believe how I worded it. I should know that I need to be more specific. 

At dinner Ashton asked if he could have dessert. It was decided that dessert would be fun so the answer was no. Ashton retaliated with "dessert isn't fun! It tastes fun but it doesn't LOOK fun." I will chose my words more carefully next time. 

The lives of Ashton and Talan

Ashton likes doing "man stuff"

We are so not buying that, Ashton!!
Would you walk into target with this? I've given Ashton complete freedom to dress how he wants. Sometimes I wonder what he is thinking, but its only clothes, right?

The laundry basket in the kitchen has provided a ton of fun!!! 

Tal doesn't know it, but his future wife is in the laundry basket. He enjoyed pushing her around the kitchen. 

We are soon going to have to upgrade from a hand towel. Although, I guess it really doesn't matter. He usually only makes it to the doorway before he rips off his towel and streaks through the house.

The illegals across the street had music so Tal paused to show us some moves.

His hair is looking more red.
Mid Toys-R-Us shopping Tal decided to pause and practice his Michael Jackson move. Julie....he's ready for the birthday dance off.