Syphr is 1

A week late with this post, but for good reasons! Syphr's birthday was a hectic day where I had to try really hard to hold on to the last of my sanity. That was our last day in Topeka, so we spent the day loading the Uhaul trailer, packing the car and cleaning. Syphr spent most of the day with Grams because I didn't want him in the car all day the day before we left town. I am happy he could at least be with his grandma on his birthday so I don't feel like he was completely cheated out of a birthday, but I'm sure the guilt I feel from leaving him all day on his happy day, and being a giant emotional ball of stress by the time the party started will pay off for him in the toy department. I only took a few pictures, but I do have a birthday video.....only I can't post it until I get a fire wire cable to make my video camera compatible with the computer...the same camcorder hoarding both the pictures and video. 

Since you can't view the video yet, or see the pictures (except for the two posted which were taken on our drive to VA) here's what we did:

We had Cece's pizza for dinner, and the ever so yummy Cece's cinnamon rolls instead of birthday cake. Sy is not too much of a cake fan. He had a tower of 4 cinnamon rolls and he loved every bit of them. After he devoured his carbohydrate goodness he went straight to the tub. I guess it is normal for most 1 year olds, but he couldn't care less about presents. He was happy to play with them, but was not interested in the opening no matter how inviting the tissue paper was.

One year later, we still love this little guy. He's getting to be so fun, with a little personality poking through. He is super opinionated, silly, snugly, and most of all MELLOW. Such a welcome treat after over-dramatic and hyper-sensitive (though I love those boys too).  I love this age because you can see the wheels turning in his head. He is starting to understand some of the things we say, and while he doesn't communicate yet, I can tell he understands by his reaction. He's still not walking on his own yet, but I know he wants to when he sees his brothers running around at the park. I guess he just likes being carried, or maybe it is his super army crawling skills that he's not ready to give up. Either way, he gets to his destination. 

1 year stats:

    weight: 22 lbs  9 ounces

    height:  29.5 inches

Likes:

• kiwi. He might be able to win an eating contest if kiwi fruit is involved. 
• Milk. We graduated onto whole milk a tad early so it would be a bit more convenient for the car ride. He is a milk fan. We might need to invest in our own cow with Tal and Sy in the family. 
• Drinking through a straw. I watched my 4 nieces and nephews the weekend before we moved, but forgot to bring just about everything except diapers and wipes that Syphr needed for my 3 day stay at their house. That included bottles. He never missed his bottle so when we got home they all went in the trash, and we've since moved on to sippy cups. Just about the time I bought all new sippy cups, Syphr learned how to drink out of a straw. Now it is hard to get him to drink anything without a straw. 
• facing forward in the car! I was so bummed when the announcement came out that kids should be rear facing until 2 years. Sy hates the car. The morning before we left he had his 1 year check-up and I mentioned it to the Dr who was unaware of this new rule, so she went to investigate. She came back a bit later and said that it is a recommendation, not the law, and said it is probably a bigger crash risk to have a child in the back of the car screaming because they don't want to be there. Sy went forward facing before we left the parking lot, and I credit his new ability to see out of the windows, and catch a glimpse of the DVD player for allowing us a very mellow 18 hour 3 day drive with a 1 year old who despises the car. 
• The biggest and best slides at the park. He also enjoys swings, but slides take the cake. 
• Bath time. He goes from mellow to crazy splashing kid the instant his body touches the water. I can't wait to take him swimming this summer!
• Snacks. Syphr got snack cups for his birthday. The kind that have a handle and he can reach one hand in, and pull out snacks to feed himself. Well, that is how it is supposed to work. Sy turns it upside down and shakes it until snacks fall on the floor, then he eats them from there. Anyway, just the fact that he is getting his own snacks has gone to his head because he thinks he is hot stuff and has his snack cup practically glued to his hand. 

Dislikes:

• Putting clothes on. Even if his hands and feet are freezing and turning purple he still protests with his greatest strength if clothing comes near him. 
• Diaper changing. He twists, screams, and kicks to his best ability in attempts to avoid a new diaper. 
• Talan invading his space. Syphr is starting to retaliate though, so Tal better watch out. 

Talents:

• saying: dada, mama, ya-ya, ba-ba, na-na, la la
• communicating that he is angry at something that has just happened by screaming. Not crying so much, just a shrill scream. 
• pointing at anything he wants someone to see, or pointing just to point. 
• Super awesome baby dance moves

Kansas gives a spectacular send off

After 14 years of living in Kansas (minus a 2 year stint in Virginia) I have never seen a tornado. Most every spring the sirens blare and everyone frantically looks around trying to judge their personal level of danger, trying to decide when is the right moment to hit the basement.

Tonight we were having dinner at Cece's pizza when the sirens started whistling. I joked at all the morons that ran outside to look at the sky until those said morons started pointing and were all staring in the same direction. Then I became one of those morons.

I went outside and asked what we were looking at and someone pointed out a very obvious tornado attempting to form freakishly close to where we were. I went back inside and asked the workers if they had any plan if the tornado should touch the ground. They directed me to the man in charge who turned out to be just as clueless, but wore a blue shirt which meant he was the Dalai Lama of Cece's Pizza. I asked him the same question. What is the tornado plan because every business should have a plan since we live in freaking tornado alley. His response reminded me of another fast food chain worker which will cause me to go off topic for a minute because I'm not sure if I shared this story:

One night we were having KFC for dinner. My brother in law asked if they used peanut oil to fry their fried chicken because of Talan's allergies and all. The worker gave him a look like he was an idiot and said, "We don't use oil to fry our chicken." They must use skittles and rainbows in the KFC kitchen to make chicken that very much resembles the chicken the rest of americans fry in various types of oil and call fried chicken. Amazing!! 

So, the manager of Cece's response to my concern of the safety of myself, the 6 people I was responsible for and the other 50 people chowing down on the greasy goodness was:

"Ummm. I guess we go under the tables?"

Really?? Because a spinning vortex carrying wind speeds of well over 100 miles an hour is not going to stand a chance against a table that nearly falls over when I bump into it. Good plan!

It was hailing nickel size hail quite badly, but I spotted a mountain man who looked like he could be a creeper, but also looked like he had the wisdom in this particular moment. I asked him for his opinion of what to do in this situation. He came up with a better plan to either move to the back of Cece's or head to Target which seemed much more sturdy, but he also thought the storm might be past us even though that funnel cloud was trying so hard still to form and was still way too close for comfort.

After weighing our options for a while we had a break in hail and we rounded up all the kids and ran to the car as fast as we could despite the well known rule 'never drive in a tornado'. My 15 year old nephew held Talan on his lap and put his arm over Syphr who was also not buckled in. (This was a get out of here now moment, not a safety moment). We only live about a mile away, but while driving I happened to look left and saw a very beautiful, but very terrifying tornado which was so close it made my foot hit the gas pedal to the floor. At that point I wasn't sure which way it was headed. We got home and all the kids ran to the safety of the basement.

I walked back outside to see what was happening as we saw a few people viewing the tornado goodness on the way home only to view all of its spectacularness from the safe side of it. After confirming that we were safe, all the kids came outside for this once in a rare occurrence view. I was so excited for Ashton to see it since he loves anything weather related. We watched for a while, then saw the clouds behind that tornado dip up and down repeatedly until it decided to stay down in another tornado. So cool to see it actually form.

This is a picture someone else took, but this is the tornado that we saw forming at Cece's, and on the way home:

This is the second tornado we watched form from the comfort of behind it.

After it all, we are all safe, even Chappie who managed to escape any hail damage. That said, there is still 14 minutes left in the day, the world still might end.

Talan vs. Dander infested dog

I love those moments that you stumble on randomly that make you realize you're doing something right.

Because of this most excellent weather, we spent the evening at the park with what seemed like the rest of Topeka. At one point, an old man was walking by with his dog. A little boy (who I thought until this moment was a girl since he had a super long curly ponytail. Oops) that Tal had been playing with spotted the dog. The man walking the dog saw Tal and his friend staring and nicely asked if they would like to pet the dog.



Clarification:  I assure you this was not a creepy 'come pet my dog so I can lure you away from your parents and end up on the next  To Catch a Predator' situation.


Anyway, the little boy ran over to the dog, but Tal was hesitant. He looked at the old man and then at his friend who was having a great time petting the dogs head and said,

"No. I would not like to do that. I am allergic to dogs and I don't want to be sick."

Granted, his reaction would not be life threatening. Only hives and swelling around his eyes if the dog licked him, but nothing that couldn't be kicked out by Benadryl. Still I'm so proud that he made the choice to say no, even though his friend was having a good time. A task some adults can't even get right.

Superhero doesn't make the cut

Yesterday, while driving home from guitar practice, and during a very intense game of slug bug, I asked Ashton what he wanted to be when he grew up.  He thought for a while and realized he was not going to be able to narrow it down to any less than three options:

1. Meteorologist
2. Volcanologist
3. Astronomer

There was no batman, no garbage man, no cowboy or rockstar mentioned in the listing. I could very well see him being any one of those things, and can't really picture him doing anything that isn't science related.

In other news, I lost the game of slug bug.

Ashton is 9

The last year Ashton will ever be a single digit! And half way to heading off to college, which could be happy or sad depending on the day I have had. We celebrated the beginning of his last single digit year in style this year. It isn't often I have time during the day to spend with only Ashton, but this year I made sure to plan a big date for us. It was so fun just to hang out with him, without those attention sucking brothers. 

This year Ashton wanted to run a 5k which was put on by his school as a fundraiser and turned out to be today. I was hesitant, only because I was worried he would miss a turn and be lost forever (worry wart....i know.), but I was reassured that the course would be clearly marked off. He hardly had any training which puts both me and the weather at fault, but I'm so proud of his accomplishment today of his first official 5k race. Only 6 more years to train for the Army 10 miler.

He clocked in at 31 minutes with a bright red face and a sweat soaked shirt. As he rounded the last corner, and saw the finish line full of people cheering, his pace picked up and he used his last burst of energy to throw up his hands and shout, 

"I SURVIVED!!"

After the 5k we headed on our date which I have no pictures of sadly, but sort of not so sadly. I was able to have a fantastic time with my favorite 9 year old on the planet. Sometimes it takes away from the quality time when there is always a camera in the way.

We had lunch at Red Robin (where apparently now they require you to wear two balloons on your head while they sing), we painted ceramics at Potwin Pottery, shopped for a new/first suit (totally his request. I don't think he understands that summer is not the time you want to wear a suit), and we went to see Diary Of a Wimpy Kid. 

After our date we celebrated with the rest of the family, but instead of cake Ashton requested Krispy Kreme donuts. YUM!

 Then we had dinner at El Mezcal which means Ashton wore a super awesome sombrero which has been on the head of who even knows how many people, and he ate his first sopapilla.

Seriously can't say enough about this kid. Even though at times he has dramatic outbursts that very much resemble something you would expect to see from a 16 year old girl, he really is a great kid. He is helpful, responsible, smart, funny, handsome, and the list goes on. I have a feeling 9 is going to be great.

Likes:

• video games of any sort, but mostly everything Mario.
• Science.  Bill Nye is going to have some competition soon. Currently he is absorbing any information about global warming and planets. 
• Food. The more unhealthy the better. Wouldn't it be great to have the metabolism of a 9 year old boy? 
• Reading. He mostly reads mystery or action books, but also loves a good comic book or anything from the Choose Your Own Adventure or Goosebumps series. 
• Numbers. He loves and does great in math which is relieving for me because that is a subject I would not be great help to him in. 
• Independence. Its hard (mostly for me...well....pretty much its all me) to transition into letting him roam the neighborhood with friends. I have a constant worry of him being stolen, which means I am "that mother" who calls and texts almost every 5 minutes to see if everything is okay. It always is fine, and luckily Ashton isn't too annoyed with me yet. 
• Netflix. Currently his favorites are: Mythbusters, Man vs Wild, National Geographic documentaries and Phineas and Ferb. 
• Playing with his brothers. Ashton loves playing 'bad guys' with Tal, or catch with Syphr. Seriously the best big brother ever!

Dislikes:

• Chores, but really...who likes them? 
• Talan's constant need to annoy his brothers. 
• Mushrooms and sour cream
• going to get dressed, only to find out he has no clean shorts, which turns out to be my fault. I've declared age 9 a perfect age to learn to do his own laundry.

Talents:

• Running. He won't be a sprinter, but I can see him turning into a great distance runner...just like Brad.
• Sarcasm. Love 9 year old sarcasm.
• Memorizing.