Tales of Testosterone

I'm Back

2010-03-11T08:31:00.000-08:00

There is just not enough time in the day and no way to make up for the last year. I will start with what's current! The Blasi's took on two new sports this past winter. Ezra joined the YMCA swim team and loves it! He started the year with a 50 free that was well over a minute and ended the year around 37 seconds. He dropped times every week and has found his sport. Eli and Noah were both told by dumb basketball coaches that they were too short. They made the team but were told they just wouldn't get much playing time due to their size. So they opted for wrestling. It started with Eli. The H.S. coach began recruiting him to be the 103 pounder on the Varsity team. He had a great first year, loved his fellow wrestlers and his coaches. Eli finished 4th in his Regionals and had a smile after every match win or lose. Noah was tore it up this year at 70 pounds. He won his Regionals, placed second at Sectionals and is moving on to State tomorrow! We are very proud of the boys. They all worked hard and endured hours and hours of practices every night!

St. Baldricks Day 2008

2009-03-01T17:21:00.000-08:00

Ezra has a very good friend in second grade that has cancer. His name is Shaymus Guinn. Our family has been selling t-shirts to raise money for their medical bills. I was invited to sell shirts today at WIU at the St. Baldricks Day event. St. Baldricks is a fund raiser for children's cancer. I am so proud of both Noah and Ezra for shaving their heads today. Ezra said it made him feel really good inside. The big guy is one of our golfers. In total I am guessing they shaved 200 people including a few girls! It was a great day. Ezra says it is going to be a tradition.

2009-02-25T17:56:00.000-08:00

Golf Tournament in Sunny San Diego!! My boys won the tournament.

2009-02-25T17:34:00.000-08:00

Hey, IM ALIVE!! I started a new job in January and life hasn't slowed down since. I am working at the WIU campus bookstore. Everyone is great that I work with and mostly I love what I do. I love being around the students, I love their energy. They make me feel young. I get to see my golfers coming and going. It's been a blessing. The one great thing that has working is I have long gorgeous fingernails again... no time for biting! haha
Of course there is a down side and that is keeping up with my 3 boys after a long day at work. So far it is going ok but there are days!! It's getting better the more we all adjust.

Happy New Year 2009!

2009-01-01T15:00:00.002-08:00

Happy New Years everyone! We had a great New Year's eve. We had several of our friends come over, both old and young. The kids played wii and the grown ups had a men versus women catchphrase throwdown. I am sad to say the women lost. We had tons of snacks and rang in the new year with some sparkling grape juice. We ended the night with Mel's 2008 questionare. Every year Mel makes a questionare to help you reflect on the past year. Here are this years questions if you are interested...

1. What was the most significant historical even that happened in 2008?

2. Who was the neatest new person you met in 2008?

3. What were your favorite movies of the year?

4. What is the coolest new place that you visited this year?

5. What was the best thing that happened to you in 2008?

6. What if any, new books did you read in 2008?

7. What sporting evens do you remember from this year?

8. What new place would you like to visit in 2009?

9. What are you most excited about for 2009?

10. What was your greatest accomplishment of 2008?

Good Luck! There are no right or wrong answers.

2009-01-01T15:00:00.001-08:00

These are a few of my favorite things....The CITY MUSEUM

2008-12-31T08:20:00.000-08:00

We love going to the City Museum in St. Louis. These pictures do not do it justice. It is the # 1 coolest place to take your kids EVER!! There are holes and tubes to climb in everywhere, giant slinky's in the sky. There is a 3 story slide that is lightning fast and a 7 story slide in the enchanted caves that starts on the roof. AMAZING PLACE!!! Wear comfy old clothes for climbing on your knees, parents too! The entire place is recycled. You may need some hand sanitizer too! FUN FUN FUN!!!! Indoor caves, a running train, everyday circus...your kids will thank you. P. S. If you go when it is nice the outside is open too, you have to see it to believe it.

The Blasi zoo travels to the St. Louis Zoo

2008-12-30T08:17:00.000-08:00

Our family loves going to the zoo in the winter. If you have ever gone in the winter you know why. All the animals are out and about and crowds are not an issue. One of our favorite places to hang out this year was the tiger cage, where there were 4 new cubs and 3 of them were nice enough to pose for a little pic. It was really fun watching them pounce on each other and play. The mom looked worn out which I could totally empathize with.

Christmas Day 2008

2008-12-30T08:03:00.000-08:00

Just a few pics from Christmas morning and afternoon and grandma's house. We had a wonderful day and hope you did too!

More Karaoke

2008-12-25T11:35:00.000-08:00

Christmas Karaoke

2008-12-25T11:23:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I thought some of you might enjoy watching the boys do a little 8 am karaoke. It was great.

Tutu much fun!

2008-12-24T13:12:00.000-08:00

Today is Christmas Eve and I have been frantically making these tutu's for my nieces. It was so fun to make something "girly". I wish I could post a picture of the tutu's on but the boys were not interested in posing.

Happy 12th Birthday Noway!

2008-12-20T19:26:00.000-08:00

Tonight we celebrated Noway's birthday. We had taco soup and Green Velvet Cake. Noway got some ipod accesories, gum, sports magazines, and money to blow. He was most excited about the gum he got. Noway is sort of a gum expert. Everyone at schools come to him to get their gum, his backpack is always loaded. He also got Ironman which we watched tonight. It was a perfect night for a movie, the weather outside is nasty.

We also had fun with grandparents. The second picture is Mel trying to show Grandma and Grandpa how texting works. They were here when our niece Leslie texted me and it was funny to see their reaction to new technology.

They couldn't believe how fast she could send one back to Mel compared to Mel typing one to her. Thanks everyone for a nice evening. We love you Noway!!

The Weather Outside is Frightful

2008-12-19T09:21:00.001-08:00

We had an ice storm last night and thankfully our power is still on.

Thanks Marcia

2008-12-16T11:41:00.000-08:00

I loaned my friend my camera flash this weekend and she got me this for a thank you gift.

SWEET! Thanks Marcia!!! You can borrow my flash anytime. It's the little things people.

Let me catch some of you up...I am a lotionaholic and this "is my favorite brand of heroin." I put lotion on all day long, over and over again. So last week I was at Ace Hardware and the cute young lad working said "OMG do you smell that?" To which Kami and I were panicked like, is it a fire? " Do you smell that, It smells like cinnamon, and vanilla" Kami says "Oh that would be her" He looks at me like he might jump over the counter and says " you smell delicious!" FUNNY! I now love my delicious lotion even more. Yesturday I subbed at the school and all the kids had to come to me to staple their wreaths. Suddenly they were all surrounding me saying "you smell yummy, Mrs. Blasi" LOVE IT. I hope all of you smell deliciously, yummy this holiday season. I know I will! I bought myself 4 large bottles of love. That should last me til Spring....UHOH you can only buy it October thru December. Houston, we have a problem!

Video Trials- Pause music on bottom of Blog before playing.

2008-12-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

We will see how this goes. I just got a new little flip video camera for Christmas. This is my first video post. I hope you will be able to hear it ok. Thanks so much for the camera. It is so tiny to tote around and should make it fun for everyone to catch up on the boys better. More video's to come soon!

Yoda is in top video, front and center. Noway is singing front and center of the second video. Our guys aren't too tall yet but it does come in handy sometimes.

Tree Time

2008-12-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

The Tree is mostly up. I need to get a star for the top but I can't find one I like. The nice ones all seem to weigh a ton and pull the top of your tree down. I am looking forward to Santa's visit. The tree always looks better after he comes and and puts tinsel all over it.

Castro and Yoda put up our traditional tree in the downstairs family room. We love getting that one out and remembering all the ornaments we have collected over the years and hanging all the handmade school ones up. We hope all of you are having a great Holiday Season.

P.S. Mel picked out the tree, I think he did a great job!

Ballin'

2008-12-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

Noway had a big game on Wednesday against Monmouth. We lost by 2 but the game was very exciting. Noway scored 3 points and his quick relfexes helped him get 6 steals.

My Obsession

2008-12-10T07:32:00.000-08:00

I am sure most of you are expecting something to do with Twilight. While it is true that I am in love with a fictional vampire and ask that my family refer to me as Bella I do have another love.

This little bottle of deliciousness brings me joy everyday. My favorite hand lotion EVER, Vanilla Bean Noel from Bath and Body. It is so yummy! This flavor can only be found mid October - December so stock up people! It is a combo of Caramel and vanilla. I apply it easily 30 times a day so if you are still Christmas shopping for me....I'm just sayin' LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My First Gingerbread House

2008-12-10T07:25:00.001-08:00

So I finally built my first gingerbread house. I just want to say that the Grand Champion Food Network Bobby Flay Throwdown Gingerbread Queen lives in our town and I suddenly have a whole new respect for what she does.

I was so stressed out. Where should this go, this is the wrong shape, it has a crack, there are too many candies to choose from and not enough.

I am recommending that if you have OCD you not try to build one of these houses of horror. FYI

At least the boys thought my house was cool. That being said I did have a great time laughing it up with all the sister at church. It's always a good night when I laugh till I ugly cry.

A Balancing Act

2008-12-08T11:40:00.000-08:00

Uncle Jason taught Noway this really cool trick this weekend. You make a little pile of salt on the table and balance items on it. Waitresses love this salty little mess I am sure, since I have now swept my floor 50 times this weekend. Noway currently has a salt shaker balancing on it's side in the church kitchen. ( he is hoping it will be there next sunday) This is his latest balancing act. The can was nearly full, I was just waiting for it to fall but it didn't, lucky you Jason! I need to put salt on my grocery list as we are running out fast around here.

Christmas with the Martin's and the York's

2008-12-08T11:23:00.000-08:00

Friday night was Christmas with some of my family. After attending the ward Christmas party we came home and had our Christmas party. The boys made us some yummy cookies and we opened gifts. The boys each got a nice Gander coat which they are super proud of. Castro commented that just today at school he noticed all the boys in his class had on a camo coat and he wondered if he would ever get one. ( who knew?) We all got spoiled with great gifts but the big winner was when the boys each opened a large box, which contained a smaller box of course, and then another. The last box held a shiny new Ipod Nano! The boys also got equipped with ipod cards and are now in download heaven. It was a really fun, fast weekend. Thanks so much for coming to see us and spoiling us all rotten! We love you!

A stop at the Hawton's

2008-12-08T11:17:00.000-08:00

On our way to Thanksgiving in So. Illinois we made a pit stop in St. Louis to visit our friends the Hawtons. You guys are one of our most favorite families in the whole world, wish we could see you more.

Basketball Season Has Arrived!!

2008-11-22T08:40:00.000-08:00

Basketball season has over taken our home for weeks now with practices nearly everyday for someone. Yoda had his first few games this week but so far they are 0-3, dangit! Here are a few pics of him before his haircut...I will get the after's to you soon. Coach told all the boys the shorter your hair the longer your playing time will be. So, this past week he went in and told Grandma take it all off. Last night they played in Nauvoo, Yoda started and had tons of playing time! I Love Basketball Season!! Noway starts next week. He has a split squad this year so they are only playing in half of the games, that means he only has 20 this year. Last years 40 games on top of Yoda's 30 and Castro's 10....WOW. And that folks is why my blog is called Tales of Testosterone. Later.

Mom's night to Twilight

2008-11-21T11:48:00.001-08:00

Thursday night was Twilight night for me and a few of my buddies. We ditched our families for an evening, drove 1 hour to Burlington Iowa to watch the midnight show. The movie was great, not nearly as good as the book, by a long shot but good nevertheless. I am a Twilighter through and through. My friends are scared and Castro keeps telling me "mom, you are not Bella, she's not real." I plowed through all 4 books in the last 11 days. It is all I have done. The house would have crumbled around me and children would have starved had I not had the greatest husband ever. Thanks Mel! (He was just so glad to see me reading anything after 14 years of never picking up a book!) Best books I ever read! hee hee

Thanks girls for a fun night of just being us. I felt young again for one night! I won't soon forget it, lots of good laughs as we pull up rockin' the gold minivan.....standing in the long line, freezing next to all the tweenie boppers. Good Times!! Thanks

Twilight Countdown!

2008-11-11T07:19:00.001-08:00

StephenieMeyer.com | Twilight Series | Twilight

2008-11-09T17:13:00.000-08:00

StephenieMeyer.com Twilight Series Twilight

It has finally happened. I am reading a big girl book! Seriously people this is huge! The fact that I am reading anything is amazing. I started my Twilight book today after hearing a few friends going on and on about how great these books were. I have already read 57 pages!
I am in it, I can do this, I am actually excited to read on. If it can happen to me people,
it can happen to you! Happy Reading

Cooking Lessons for Mom

2008-11-09T16:48:00.001-08:00

Today started like any other Sunday. The boys breaking various " Sabbath Day" rules. One boy in particular was not so nice to his mother before church....and after. His mouth was bigger than he was able to reign in. So mom decided she'd had enough. I had already grounded him from living so what else could I do....Hmmm? I know! He is snack boy tomorrow for early morning choir....hmmm. So I told him I was done, make your own snacks. I am not helping you at all.

That was that, he stormed off to his room then fell asleep in anger. When he awoke his attitude had changed but I held to my word.

I laid in my room listening as he opened drawer after drawer, clanking, mixing, stirring....What is he doing I wondered....I dared not come out of my room. The only thing he came in and asked me was "what is cream of tartar"? I told him where it could be found and two hours later this is what he presented me with. I was very impressed although somehow I think my plan had backfired. My quest to teach that boy just how valuable his mother is did not work but there were still some valuable lessons to be learned for both of us.

Attack of the Beetles

2008-11-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

O.K. So, some people call them japenese beetles, others call them asian beetles I don't know what they are but every year we get plagued with them. As soon as the farmers come in to remove the crops the fun begins. These evil little beetles are everywhere. When you open the doors you have to run! In a matter of 10 seconds you will have them all over you, in your hair, down your shirt, really good times. They look like lady bugs with a bad paint job.
Did I mention they bite and stink!

2008-11-05T07:39:00.000-08:00

This is inside the house at about 3 in the afternoon and Mel swept all bugs the night before. The good news is they do die. It is like the attack of the locust for 3 good days then slowly they fade away. I am sure you are all happy that I shared!

Isn't She Lovely?

2008-10-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

This is Noway and his good buddy. Two boys too smart for their own good. Given the chance they would and could rule the world.

They decided to do something matching this year, OK the two moms said. Little did we know! They looked for matching cheerleader costumes but found nothing, so they decided to be matching fairies. While the other mom and I agreed that it would be very funny, we did not want them to get suspended from school. So, of course we let them be matching brides. Which is so much less controversial! They had a great time, here they are marching in the school parade, not at all embarrassed. It was a proud moment for Dad! The funniest part of the day for me was at the end when Noway said " mom, I shared my make up with B but don't worry I didn't let him use your lipstick I thought that might be a little wierd."

PS--Noway is the shorter of the lovely Brides.

The Money Man

2008-10-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

If you know Castro at all then you know he loves money. His room has money decorations, last year his most prized Christmas Gift was a safe. He is highly motivated by money, which works out nice for mom and dad on occasion.

So this year he decided to be a MONEY MAN for Halloween, not to be confused with a Pimp!

This costumed fits his personality all too well, I just hope I can get him to quit wearing it.

P.S. Notice the box says CASH ONLY!!! He says he is not trick or treating for candy this year.

Jack-O'-Lantern's

2008-10-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

For FHE tonight we made our jack -o'- lanterns. It was good, messy fun. Here are a few pics. The best was when our black kitten walked in front of the pumpkins. Happy Halloween!!

The Joker Strikes Again!!

2008-10-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

Yoda had a school Halloween dance tonight. My last choice of costumes would have been the creepy Joker but I finally caved. The good news is he won first place in the costume contest, the bad news is the girls were too creeped out to dance with him! Actually maybe thats not a bad thing, heehee.

Castro get's a fresh start!

2008-10-21T09:21:00.001-07:00

It was a big week for Castro. Scarecrow Day, birthday party with his buddies, grandma and grandpa came up for a visit but most importantly he was baptized!

Sunday was awesome, an unforgettable day. One memorable moment came when the Bishop informed us for some reason that the water is GREEN! That made things interesting.

Castro planned his entire program from would be playing the piano to what songs we would be singing. He played a CD of one of his favorite songs "Be Still My Soul" by BYU's Vocal Point, he asked Yoda to give a talk and Noway played the piano for us. It was a beautiful day with lots of friends and family there to enjoy it with us.

Scarecrow Day

2008-10-17T06:42:00.000-07:00

Our second grade classes have a tradition of holding a scarecrow day once a year in the fall. I love it! I have made all of the boys costumes. Last night I worked on Castro's outfit. I was so excited for him to wake up today and get all dressed up.

Apparently I was the only one excited that it was Scarecrow Day. Most of the time Castro talks and acts as if he is 40 years old so this whole childish costume thing was too degrading for him. He hated it, do I have to go to school he asked...YES! "Why do we have to dress up like a bunch of stupid scarecrows?" Because it's fun, I answered...."this is not fun!"

He is so different than his older brothers, they loved it.

Needless to say we were late to school today due to a lot of uncooperation. I did manage to snap this picture of my grumpy scarecrow. Enjoy!

PS - Castro says he is not dressing up for Halloween this year because it is stupid and he doesn't want a bunch of candy to rot his teeth! Is this my son? Hello can you say CHOCOLATE and COSTUMES. What more could a young boy want?

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-12T13:50:00.001-07:00

Use the force Yoda!

That crew there made for one testosterone filled van.

Noway kept looking for the smallest of everything to give to the baby...corn, pumpkin, squash...

Little Punkin'

Castro and his buddy mastering the corn maze.

Friday the kids were out of school so my friend and I took the boys on a little adventure to a pumpkin farm. All 6 boys had a blast. We took on the farms corn maze. We found all 6 clues in the maze which wins you a mini pumpkin, woohoo! Then we shucked some corn with some fun old fashioned contraption that looked like it would take your fingers off if you weren't careful. Good Times for little boys. We had a fun adventure but I must say the best part was the ride over. Overcrowded, full of testosterone, radio blaring Pink's " So What" and all the boys singing along. I hope all of you are having a fun, healthy, happy fall. Love, Melissa

Mom's Little Choir Boy's

2008-10-09T19:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the fall concert for 6,7 and 8th grades. It was a great time. It went so well that Yoda and Noway even let me get a picture of them together. MIRACLE! So here are a few from our photo shoot.

Noway the last of the BIG TIPPERS

2008-10-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

So Noway goes to for pizza and a movie, with 3 girls, which is a whole other story! Let me just tell you he took a shower, brushed his teeth and combed his hair! One if the girls was looking especially cute wearing Noway's favorite color (green) on her shirt, her eyes, her shoes, her purse with her cute little red hair perfectly worked over for hours I am sure....OMG--I got a glimpse into the future and It's scary!
Back to the funny part, so they go for pizza and one of the girls buys them all a $10. pizza to share. When they get done eating one of the girls lays down $3.00 for a tip, the other two girls follow with 3 dollars each and tell Noway come on it's rude not to leave a tip. So if your doing your math the tip is now $12.00 and the bill was $10.00!
I was like ummm...do you know how much is a fair tip? NO
Was she a great waitress? NO...we had to go up and ask for plates and she didn't bring us any napkins....Then suddenly he looks at me in shock and says OH CRAP HER TIP WAS BIGGER THAN THE BILL! Yes, Yes it was Noway! Gotta love those life lessons! The best was when he realized he could have bought another snack at the theatre. The worst was when he told me he did'nt have change for me! Sigh.

News Flash: Yoda is now President

2008-10-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

Last night Yoda was confirmed the new Deacon's Quorum President. WOW! I feel so proud of him and so old all at once. He is great, a good leader. His Scout teachers say that all the other boys wait until Yoda does it....If he doesn't die they all try it. He has no fear in any sort of way. He was very sad this year that the Bishop did not ask him to give a talk on Scout camp. ( he did not get that from me!) He was the top popcorn salesman for scouts, even getting one guy to donate $100 in front of the local video store. He is a creative salesman I must say. I have to hold him back from participating in every event at the school. Ok so now that I have just painted this wonderful picture of my "perfect" son....Let me just be perfectly clear he is a typical teenage boy. He eats me out of my house. Would rather play on the computer than just about anything else. Has a very sharp tongue at times which his mother may one day cut off. Yoda is sneaky bad, so you think he is good and mostly he is but if he is bad it's hard to catch him. Well last night was just huge for me, realizing how old he was getting. Which in turn made me feel really old. I was impressed with him though watching him in front of the other Deacon's planning activities and leading his peers.... It made me realize that I don't have too much longer with my great boys...Soon they will be off on missions and leading Elder's Quorum. But not yet, thank goodness!

Soccer, Food and the loss of Krispy Kreme

2008-09-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

A busy golf and soccer weekend. Friday Mel held his annual fundraiser for the men's golf team. That kept us all busy but when it was all said and done we got a steak dinner out of it.
Saturday was a busy soccer day again. We started off by dropping Yoda off with his coach to ride up for a double header in the quad cities. Castro led us off with a big loss of 8 to one. Castro was not so happy about that! Noway then followed up the loss with a win, he scored 4 goals bringing his total so far to 22 goals this fall. Grandpa took the younger guys so Mel and I could attend Yoda's games. We missed the first game due to the long drive. His team won which is HUGE considering it is a tough league and they usually play older squads. Yoda is usually paired against someone a foot taller than he is. He gets tossed around pretty good but he takes a
lickin' and keeps on tickin'. The second game they lost but it was a very good game. After the games we had planned on going for Krispy Kreme doughnuts only to find out that it has recently closed and was being remodeled into a Chick Filet...This is so wrong. I have been in depression ever since. What is the world coming to? How sad! Anyways we finished off our weekend on Sunday with church and a fun evening of TV. Dad is gone with the team once again so the boys and I watched the Amazing Race, Ace of Cakes and Iron Chef America: Elk challenge. I just have to say that I love the fact one of the boys favorite channels is food network. I feel like I have at least done something right! haha Some day their wives will thank me. They rarely watch Mel's Cardinals games with him but if mom says hey Ace of Cakes is on the couches are full of boys within seconds. We love you Duff!

Saturday Soccer

2008-09-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

I am a soccer mom. Love it! I could watch my boys play soccer everyday. I love the fall, cool morning soccer games with my lawn chair and hot chocolate. Today was however a hot soccer day. But a soccer day nonetheless. Noway and Castro both had games. Castro did not score this week but is usually his teams leading scorer. Today they played a very good team though so he spent his time making sure they didn't score. Noway had 3 goals but his team still lost by 1 shot. He has played in 4 games so far this fall and scored all 14 of his teams goals. WOW! Noway is lightning fast and fun to watch. I Wish all the family were here for Saturday Soccer, good times. Here are a few pics of the boys.

P.S. No Soccer for Yoda today. He went to the University for an all day Boy Scout event. He earned his rifle merit badge today. What do you think grandpa? He says he is ready to go hunting with you again.

Castro's Pancake Dinner

2008-09-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that I love my boys! Castro surprised the family last night with a pancake dinner. I was on the computer taking way too long to cook dinner obviously so he took it upon himself. He came to the computer and informed me it was time to eat. What?? I went to the kitchen and oh my goodness wow! Castro had made batter, hooked up the griddle and went to town making some of the best looking pancakes I have ever seen. We were all very proud of him and pleased with his service. We all enjoyed a great pancake Dinner. Thank you Castro.

Girls Camp 2008

2008-06-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

I survived girls camp this week! I am proud to say although I picked ticks off several people I had none on myself! This year camp was held at the Cuivre River. We stayed in cabins but I have decided I prefer a tent. A tent is not already occupied by roaches, ticks and mice. The beds were nice though, beat the heck out of sleeping on the ground.
I had lots of fun with the girls. They braided my hair, painted my nails and we giggled till the wee hours. We had spiritual lessons, team building, fun crafts, kitchen duties but I must tell you about our favorite night. We all packed in my van for an illegal movie. 4 people in the middle row and 6 in the back and trunk area. We watched Baptist at our Barbeque. We laughed so hard and I am sure the girls will not soon forget that squished crazy night when the leaders broke the rules. It was fun. Now I am home and enjoying the chaos that is mine for eternity. The boys are all good, happy and healthy.