Happy Birthday Kansas!

Since yesterday was Brad's last day to hang out with us for a while we decided to let Ashton ditch school, and we had a very fun family day. It just so happened that it was also Kansas' birthday. Happy 148th Kansas! The Kansas History Museum opened it's doors for free to the public to celebrate the birthday's of both Kansas and Abraham Lincoln. 

We started our family day there. They had tons of hands on activities which were geared towards kids. Ashton did basket weaving, sewing, knitting, voting, coloring, gluing, birthday card making, and of course, picture taking. 

Abraham Lincoln brought to life!

After we had done all there was to do at the museum we asked Ashton if he wanted to pick somewhere to have lunch. As always, he picked McDonalds. Mostly because he had recently seen a commercial for a double cheeseburger value meal. I think he's about to have a growth spurt. He inhaled his double cheeseburger, fries and chocolate shake then took his brother on the play gym. This was the first time Talan was really big enough to play on the big kid stuff. Ashton watched him very closely, and Talan was so nervous he went backwards through all the tubes, but the first time he went down the slide he was hooked. When he reached the bottom of the slide he started screaming. I didn't know if he was scared or hurt. I pulled him out of the slide the rest of the way and he took off running as fast as his legs would go. Running and screaming. He ran around the tables to the other side of the play place, stopped and ran back. Turns out he was looking for the stairs to get back to the tubes and slides. 
After McDonald's the 2 big boys got haircuts, followed by Talan's first movie. We saw Madagascar 2 because if Talan didn't like it I was only out $2. He loved it so much he fell asleep, but not until he was done eating popcorn. 

The past couple weeks we have been lucky enough to have Brad home with us. Ashton and Talan loved having their dad home, and I was happy to be on the back burner for a bit. Now I feel like I can start the coming home countdown. 9 more months. 

Ashton didn't know Brad was coming home. Brad had called before he went to school and told Ashton he was going to call at 4, when he got off the bus. At 4 Ashton walked in the door and the phone rang. They chatted for a bit then Brad told him to go downstairs. He was surprised and so excited to see his dad at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him. 

Talan was lucky enough to get to accompany me to the airport to pick Brad up. Alot of people thought he wouldn't remember who Brad was, but he knew exactly who it was. He would not take his eyes off him or let him go for a second. 

Snuggle time-
Showing dad how to get to the park--

Ashton and Brad went on a run--

Ashton had his first wrestling tournament (this will get its own blog post)--
We went on a couple dates--
Talan showed daddy how to make a mess, count it, and clean it up--
They like to work out together. Everything is a contest. Talan lost because he didn't do pushups right, he just lifted his head up and down--

As Talan is getting older and having more of a personality he's been exercising his decision making skills. One of his favorite decisions of the day is which shoes to wear. Most of the time he brings me a boot and a converse, like he couldn't decide. Even with clothes, some days he wants to wear a tie and some days he doesn't want to wear anything. I always love when he brings me things and says "dis?"

On this particular day he had not wanted to get dressed. I'm fine with it if we're staying home. Talan was helping me fold Brad's laundry. He pulled a few things out of the basket, gave them a good stare down, handed them to me and said "dis?" How can I resist. 

This just might be the best mistake Krispy Kreme ever made!

It seemed like a good idea

Reach body inside small space to get something that is going to get taken away anyway, while all the adults in the room, who should be stopping you, talk about how you are going to get stuck and get out the camera. 

check.

Realize your mission is going to be unsuccessful because your arms are way too short to reach in the back of that cabinet. You also failed to judge correctly the size of the space versus your off the charts sized head.  Either your stuck or the cabinet is trying to eat your head. Either way it is terrifying.

check.

Scream until the adults in the room, who should have prevented this from happening in the first place, come to your rescue. Thankfully they first take pictures.

I can see Talan pulling out this picture when he was older and telling his kids, "You're lucky you even have a bed. When I was little I had to sleep on the floor and use my rainboots as a pillow."