I'm Alive!

Have you all been missing me? I know, I know, I have been a total blogging loser lately. It has been pretty busy around here lately. Nothing of a national emergency sort, but just life with 4 kids. Here is the rundown of what everyone has been up to:

Brendon:

Brendon has been playing baseball and loves it. His team could use a bit on the talent side, but he is still really enjoying it. He gets a chance to pitch every few games and enjoys that. He has two more games until the season ends.

He has learned to play the violin this year. He has done this without any encouragement from me, and has done it despite my negative attitude. He approached me in the fall and asked if he could play in the school orchestra. I told him that wasn't a good idea. (Note, my great parenting skills of encouragment) I just knew he was going to decide it was too much work after I had rented the violin for the whole year. But, he kept pushing and pushing (as only Brendon can) and I finally relented. To his credit, he stuck with it all year and I am truly amazed at how much he has learned. He asked me to print him some staff paper on Mother's Day. Again, using my best parenting skills, I reluctantly printed it, but was thinking the whole time at the cost of getting new ink for this "POS" printer I have. Guess what, he wrote me a song. I know, I was shocked also. Not only did he write me a song, but he played it for me on his violin. Amazing! The song even had measures with the appropriate beats per measure with some rests added in and those two lines at the end that lets you know the song is over. He has learned to read music, write music and play the violin all during his lunch hours at shool. He might be the next August Rush. But, I am pretty sure that Heavenly Father knew better than to send me a child prodigy. Apparently, I am more into the theory, "Let's not learn anything new, just go outside and play." Brendon's final orchestra concert is today, where he is playing in a quartet.

Brendon is looking forward to summer, but not looking forward to a summer without his Dad. He keeps asking Joey why he can't go get another job. He will live. He will spend most of his summer riding around the neighborhood looking for kids to play with, swimming and playing in Heber with his cousins. I am going to try to throw a few chores into that schedule, but who are we kidding, getting my kids to work is more work for me. So, I will ask, but if it doesn't get done, I will just pretend not to notice. (Boy, I am just painting myself as super parent!)

Brendon is one achievement away from getting his Bear. This has been a goal for him and he is really excited. He will probably get that at the next pack meeting. He will then be a webelo.

What else, what else....

Favorite Food: Salmon
Least Favorite Food: Almost too many to name. Mayo, Tomatos, Mustard and Onions
Favorite Sport: Football
Favorite Team: Colts
Favorite Player: Peyton Manning
Favorite TV Show: Drake and Josh, iCarly, Zoey 101 (Must admit that I quite enjoy the first two, but haven't really seen Zoey 101)
Favorite Pastime: Playing with friends

Is a major over achiever. Would NEVER dream of showing up at school without his homework done. Is quite positive that he is going to get a scholarship for college and that one math test with an 80% in 4th grade could ruin his chances. Not quite sure where he got that drive, but am quite sure where he got his smarts!!! :)






I had every intention of discussing all of my kids, but this has gotten so long that I thought I would break it up. So, today you only get Brendon. Check in tomorrow for update of another one of my children. (I am just trying to get into your good graces with many posts in a row.)

Just so you know, I am not going to proof read this before I post it. I am in a hurry, and I don't really need to, because Karen and Jennifer will point out all of the grammer and typo mistakes within 10 minutes.

Tune in tomorrow.....

911, What's your emergency?

I am 34yrs old, and until today, I have never called 911. But, today was the day, and I have to admit that it wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. In fact, it was rather humiliating. Here is the run down:

6:00 pm- I give Blake a bath and put him on his changing table to get dressed. I lotion him up, and put a diaper on him. I realize that it is kind of hot, and should get some lighter jammies from the closet. I turn my back for one second and hear a loud thud. I turn around to see my sweet baby on the floor. (Now, I will admit that on more than one occasion, I have run down the hallway to the laundry room, or answered the phone in the other room while Blake has been on the changing table. But, this time I only turned my back for one second. Really, only one second!!!!)

I pick him up and he starts holding his breath and I can tell he is going to pass out. After what seemed like 5 minutes (probably only 30 seconds) he starts breathing and crying. I yell for Joey and he takes him from me to make sure that he is breathing. He then starts to struggle to breathe and his eyes and head start to droop. I freak out! Every once in a while he would start to cry, but mostly he would be in and out of a lethargic state. So, I call 911. I knew Joey didn't want me too, but I thought at any minute he was going to pass out. What if he didn't come too? Could I really wait? Did I over react? Maybe, but I was freaking out.

The 911 operator connects me to a paramedic and he starts asking me questions. By the time I have given him a rundown of what happened, and he finishes asking me all the questions, and let's me know that help is on the way, Blake has calmed down and seems fine. Here is where it gets embarrassing. I start to hear sirens when they are still about a mile away. Then the fire truck and ambulance pull up in front of my house with full sirens blaring. I can only image what the neighbors are thinking. Out jump 4 firemen and 2 paramedics. I start to get hot and am dreading the minute that they knock on the door and see my baby who is now smiling in my arms. Maybe I should have pinched him so that at least he was crying when they got there.

Those cute men entered my home and asked lots of questions and listened to his lungs and checked him out. Guess what, he was just fine. He just got the wind knocked out of him. (Just what Joey was telling me when I started dialing 911.) Then they packed up all of their bags, and took their trucks and left. It was awfully humiliating.

So, help me out. Make me feel better about being a paranoid, over reactor! I know some of you might have done the same thing. I think Joey is going to give me a few days to calm down, and then he is going to me a very hard time. I can't help it, I love my babies and do not handle these kind of situations very well.

I am going to run upstairs and give that baby a kiss. Good Night!

So Mundane!

It has been awhile! Have you been wondering about me? I have enjoyed receiving your emails and phone calls wondering when I am going to start blogging again. The thing is, I don't really have anything to blog about. And, I am not good at making something out of nothing. Sarah, for example, has the ability to keep us enthralled talking about Louisa May Alcott!!! Not many people can pull that off. So you see, nothing major has happened for me to blog about. I sent my camera back to be fixed, so I don't even have any great pictures to wow you with.

I am heading to Park City this weekend for a relaxing girls trip. I can't wait. Four full days of shopping, eating, and lap scrapping (get your head out of the gutter, that is our new term for digital scrapbooking.) I can't wait. I think it may be just enough to get me through the new few months. I mentioned before that Joey is leaving for 8 weeks. He will be gone all of June and July. I am trying to have a positive attitude about the fact that he will be spending his days in sunny San Diego.

Are you bored yet? Is this better than no post at all?




Brendon had his pine wood derby a few weeks ago. I guess I could have blogged about that before now. In honor of Joey, Brendon make an Idaho State Trooper car. He finished 3rd out of 20 cars!!! We were thrilled. My goal is to make sure the car gets down the track without falling apart. And, the best thing is that pine wood derby doesn't come around again until next spring! Brendon will probably give me a few months off and then he will start pestering me about starting his next car. The kid never stops!

Now I am just looking around my desk for something to blog about. This is getting pathetic. I think I will sign off now before I put you all to sleep.

I will leave you with this last picture. How does a child fall asleep with his legs straight in the air?

Five Things!!

Well, it has been a while since I posted and really, not much has been going on. So I thought I would dig deep and come up with 5 things I am thankful for and 5 things I want to complain about.

I am thankful:

1. that both of my boys are sleeping right now, and that Days of Our Lives is recording on the DVR just waiting for me!

2. that I have eaten healthy for the last two days and exercised.

3. that in 3 short weeks, I get to have another girls weekend!

4. I get to go on a cruise in November. And, I get to think and dream about it everyday until then.

5. I have a warm house to shelter us from the cold and keep us cool in the summer.


5 things I want to complain about:

1. My new camera that I did a ton of research on, and splurged on, is not working, and has probably not ever worked properly. But, I have had it for over three months, so will have to send it back to the manufacturer to get repaired! Ugg@!

2. It is about 40 degrees outside with a windchill of about 30. It is April people. I can't handle this. Plus, we get a sneak peak at nice weather (80deg on Sunday) and then it gets freezing again. Usually on a day that we have soccer or baseball.

3. My husband is going to leave me with 4 children this summer. He is going to be gone for 8 weeks. He is staying in a condo on Coronado Island in San Diego. I can already picture him lounging on the beach drinking a diet coke while I am in the midst of hell.

4. I have to miss Bunco this month because our ward decided to change the date of the Pine Wood derby. I was sure that this was my month to win!

5. My laptop is out of memory and can no longer run Photoshop. Just great! I am probably going to have to spend more money to get an external hard drive. And, then I have to figure out how to get all the stuff off the laptop to the hard drive. I am just not a techy. This sounds like too much work. But remember that girls weekend in just 3 short weeks, I need my laptop to scrapbook. Soooo, I have to figure this out right away. UGGGH!

So, there you have it. This is what you would get if we talked on the phone regularly. And, just so that you don't feel like this is a wasted post, here are a few pictures from the last few weeks.


Notice the trauma on his forehead? He thought it was a good idea to put a stool on his bed during nap time and then try to stand on it.


I just learned how to do ringlets with my flat iron. Unfortunately, they didn't tell me that you aren't supposed to brush them out after you curl them. So, our attempt was a disaster. We will try to improve.
Isn't that cheesecake in her mouth soooooo cute!
Notice how most of the pics are of Nicole? That is because she is just too photogenic. I have just as many of the other three, but none of them are worth posting.
Happy Tuesday!- Alisa

Again!

Ok, call me crazy, but I am starting the biggest loser again!!! As soon as the last competition ended, I fell off the wagon. I started eating a lot and stopped exercising. I felt a little out of control. So, this time, I am working on losing a little more and them learning how to maintain. I need to figure out a happy and healthy medium. So, I changed my weight lose ticker on the side to lose 9 more lbs and then I am going to work on toning and maintaining. Wish me luck!!!

Opening Day!

Today was Brendon's first baseball game of the season. He played at 9am. It was clear and sunny and 40 degrees with a nice wind making the wind chill about 35 degrees. It was so miserable. Hayden spent the entire game in the car and Nicole and Blake opted to stay home. (I wish I could have) But, I wanted to support Brendon. He was the starting pitcher, struck out 4 batters and threw a runner out at first. At this age group, they can only throw a limited number of pitches. He pitched 2 innings and played short stop for the rest of the game. They won!
Uh, Oh. We need to work on keeping that shoulder up.


After Brendon's game, we went straight to Nicole's soccer game. It did warm up 3 degrees by then.
Say Cheese!

The cutest fan!

Why do spring sports in Boise have to start so early? Don't they know it is still winter here?

Mr. Fancy Pants!

I think I have come to the realization that I MIGHT talk on the phone a little too much. I emphasize MIGHT because I don't want to make myself feel bad when I don't do anything to correct my problem. So, while on the phone this morning my little Hayden decides that it is time to give himself a manicure. Lucky for me, he didn't get any nail polish on the carpet or on Nicole's table. Whew!
I think he might have a future as a nail tech! What do you think?

This is his look when I got a little upset with him. But, by the time I got the camera he was over it. So I told him to give me his sad look again. Wow, I couldn't believe he was such a good actor. Just goes to show, that he can bring on the dramatics at the drop of a hat.

(Just in case my husband is reading this, I was being productive while I was talking on the phone. I was folding a super large basket of laundry. Once again, I need to make myself feel better about my problem.)