To Alyssa on her 39th birthday:

 My mom was in the middle of telling me what a great daughter I was and how she can't believe that 39 years ago she and my dad were having me at Hendrick Hospital in Abilene, TX at 11:44pm.  I was out of it with the flu.  Thankfully my dear boy Collin documented this portion of my day in pictures!

 Katie carried her present to me at the table.

 Here is a gift from Jackson to me.  I love him.

 My gift from Collin.

I managed to shower today and walk to the table!!  I also blew out my 39 candles and ate a piece of cake and ice cream.  It was delish.  After that I went straight back to bed to sleep off my busy day.

I'm back again....I think.

This is proof that I am still blogging.  Been having lots and lots of trouble with blogger.  But have recently discovered it is trouble with my work laptop, not blogger!  So I shall resume!  Matt is at church this morning with Collin and Katie and I am home with a sick Jackson, 102 fever but breathing just fine!!  :)  This is a photo of him in November eating a WHEAT THIN!!!  Did you know that we have incorporated wheat and soy (when mixed with other ingredients) into his diet?  It's not all the time and it's not much, but we are excited. Although he is not officially free of the allergy to those two - some food items seem to be ok for him.  He will be tested again in March!  :)

 

So now I will blog from Matt's work laptop.  I know he will be thrilled!  :)

 

I'm back.  Again.

Blogger and I are done!

So friends, after my restart of blogging, blogger has decided to not let me ever upload a picture.  So we are through.  I'm moving over to wordpress because my dear friend at Let's Go Carrolling does wordpress.  I'll keep you posted on the new blog.  I have the cutest snaggle tooth picture of Katie that I have to upload soon!
Alyssa

Ice Skating

Today I laughed so hard I cried. 

 

I was nervous to take all 3 kids ice skating without Matt as my helper.  But I did it anyway.  Collin and Katie went ice skating last winter and loved it.

 

And this year Jackson joined them!!  My phone pictures are pretty horrible of them and I can't get them to upload right now anyway.

 

Today was fun!

Today was hilarious!

 

Collin has greatly improved since last year.  This year he moved away from the wall.  He fell a few times, but he was doing it!

 

Katie still is not a strong skater and has her dad's feet.  But she decided after today that she wanted to take ice skating lessons after basketball was over.

 

Jackson was awesome!!!  I was so nervous to let him on the ice without me right beside him.  The owner said he could push a chair around the rink.  And he did.  And he looked like a bulldozer.  He would get going so fast and then turn and kind of slide to the side, like he planned it!

 

The owner took Jackson on the rink by himself and had Jackson skate to him a bit.  He could do it!  Without a chair!!  I was shocked!  The owner is a professional ice skater from Russia.  He has an OC connection and he told me that Jackson needs to play hockey!

 

This news just shocked me and made me laugh!  Hockey?  What will a sports-loving-football-playing-every-male-is-a-quarterback-and-number-11-for-that-matter family do with an actor and a hockey player for grandsons?  Cheer them on I'm sure!  :)

 

Today was glorious!  Just what I needed to start this year.  A year of no "owie places" for Jackson.  A year of good health and breathing deeply and praying and not taking things for granted.

 

This is what I hope for you in 2013 as well.



Happy New Year

I am back to blogging!  I'm excited about it and I've got lots of stories to tell!  And you know what I've discovered?  That I scrapbook much faster if I've already blogged about an event.  I remember way more detail and cute things the kiddos said. 

Happy New Year blog friends.
Alyssa

The answer is always yes...

Friends and family,

You know me.  You know I say yes to lots and lots of commitments. 

 

If we take a stroll down memory lane way back to 1996-2002, I did not have this problem.  Because I knew my boundaries.  I was teaching school.  And I knew what that involved.

 

My stay-at-home/Sonshine School  identity from 2002 + has been the problem.  Because you see I have time...it appears.  I have my boundaries with SSS - those are Tues/Thurs.  Easy.  But I often let my part time job creep over into my Mon/Wed/Fri and that makes me really angry with myself.  Because I broke a boundary.

 

And now that my last chick-a-dee is the only one left at home, I've done my best to shape and mold my Mon/Wed/Fri into days of fun for Jackson and me.  Because I see and feel how quickly time has gone by.  The last time I had just one child at home, it was me and Collin in my 2003-2005 days.

 

But then add a Bible study here, and a PTO thing there and my days can become quite filled if I'm not careful.

 

So, I've come to the part of my year where I reset my priorities and goals that I've probably broken or readjusted from New Year's Day.

 

And I've found, quite frankly, that this blog and I are at war with each other.

 

I want so much for you, Momma and Daddy, to see our daily/past goings on since we live so far away.

 

I love getting feedback/comments from my local and far-away friends and cousins.

 

And I love reading all my friends' blogs.

 

However, I love to scrapbook.  And I'm 3 years behind.  So until I'm caught up on scrapping out my past life while living and enjoying my present life, the blog and I are on haitus.

 

 

So my schedule will look like this:

Monday:  clean/errands/play with Jackson

Tuesday:  SSS; gymnastics for C and K

Wednesday:  Bible study; lunch out with friends; update bills during nap

Thursday:  SSS

Friday:  field trip day for me and J; scrapbook during naptime

 

If you add in our trips to the library and the occasional free day at a random museum, Jackson and I will stay busy and make memories.  We can also add in Matt's always busy schedule and Collin's rehearsal schedule and Katie's busyness, plus homework and projects and piano lessons, etc.  And then add to that Brother's Keepers group, small group, college kids, playdates, having friends over for dinner and games, catching up with friends whose path you don't cross naturally anymore, etc.  Well, you get the picture.  We are all trying to get our ducks in a row aren't we? 

 

See you soon as a caught up and focused friend.

Alyssa

 



Go back to your favorite park day

 And we returned to the Magic Kingdom.  We even have a song about the Magic Kingdom.  Our kiddos would love to sing it for you sometime.  While you are driving in your car.  With 9 hours ahead of you until you can stop.

 Riding Goofy's Barnstormer

 Exploring the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse

 I placed our lunch time cold packs around Jackson in the stroller while he was napping!  I thought I was totally brilliant for this idea!!

 I didn't totally get this game but Collin was really into it and Katie thought it was pretty cool.

 Chubba hanging out waiting for the big kids and a parent to ride Splash Mountain.

 Again with the game thing.  Not sure what it going on here but Collin showed 3 cards to this window and that was a good thing.

 You cannot tell from Jackson's face but he loved the Winnie the Pooh ride!!

And that wraps up our wonderful trip to Disney World after a 6 year absence.  Loved it.  Loved it.  Loved it.

Thursday, July 19, 2012  Day 9