A Very Merry Christmas, Indeed!

Hello to all our friends, near and far! We are loving it here in NM, even though the temp has finally dropped at night...28 degrees last night. Brrr! To all who helped make our Christmas so happy, a deep and heartfelt thank you is for you! Dan is still working, much to our delight, and just finished up his foreman project. We spent out Christmas Break just lazing around, spending time as a family and hosting a small party. The boys are thrilled to take time off from school, hang out with Tyler when he is home and just be bums. Dan is glad to have time to kick back and sleep in a little bit. I'm just glad to have everyone together at the end of this "interesting" year...LOL! We opened gifts and ate my Mom's famous caramel rolls and made a huge breakfast/lunch mess for Tyler. Later, we had neighbors over for dinner and a opinionated discussion of religion was had by some. We were given some money by a friend and we used it to take the kids to a movie, which is something that we don't get to do very often. Dan and I spent more time laughing at Derek than the movie, because he was so amazed at the entire thing. I will admit to shedding a few tears at not being with my dear friends and beloved family this year, but it was a growing experiance for all of us as a family. One that was possibly long overdue, but before I find myself getting melancoly...moving on! Pray for Dolli and the baby. Her placenta is right on the cervix and is causing some problems. She also has found out that she has two uterusses? uteri? However you say the plural of uterus...and that makes her a high risk pregnancy also. Karen is wanting her to just come home, but that remains to be seen. Pray also for Jodi, her heart keeps racing up to twice to normal amount for no findable reason. She and Aaron are also moving in a few weeks and that is always stressful. We are looking forward to the new year as never before since we are truly working on becoming a FAMILY unit this year. I cracked up yesterday when Dan suggested that I get back to homeschooling since it would help Pat get back on track... who ever thought that would happen?? It was great! Anywho, as this is getting long...man, I talk too much...I will sign off for now. If I've missed anything important, let me know in a comment and I will address it in the next post. Below are a few pics from Chrsitmas Eve...my camera has quit speaking to the computer, so I can't get any actual Christmas photos loaded...when I do, they will be put up...I have some really cute ones. Lost Boys, Mama K loves you! Everyone else, we all miss you and love you!!


Blessings,
Kristy and the Man Crew



David opens his gift from Aunt Jodi...games!


Patrick's present from Aunt Jodi...PJs!

That's a lot of people on one couch!

Auntie Karen helps Derek read his new book.

Guess What?!

It's not THAT kind of guess what, Mom, you can relax now. I know I just posted yesterday, but something great happended last night...it SNOWED!! Can you believe it? Go to the end of the post for proof. And because I don't get to go see everyone's tree this year, I'm posting mine your your viewing enjoyment. Plus, I'm still playing with the digital camera...I love new toys!


We miss you all and wish we could be with you this year. Enjoy the holidays and the rest they provide. God Bless!!!
Kristy and the Man Crew

Look...you can almost see the snow if you look really hard!! That's about all it ever snows here!

Our beautiful Christmas tree. We have the same angel as Karen!

Christmas Time in Las Cruces

Dear Friends and Family,
Hello once again from sunny New Mexico. It is December 21st and the weather is great by almost anyone's standards...sunny and 62. As most of you know, yesterday was my 34th birthday. It was great, so many people called or left me messages, that I barely had a chance to feel homesick at all. Karen brought me a huge poinsettia, just like my dad used to every year and Dan and the boys bought me a digital camera so that I could send pictures better and faster. We had a Christmas Dessert Party last night and we all ate WAY too much, and I made Russian Tea, which I hadn't had in way too long. We ended up having a good turnout despite several people being sick or out of town and fun was had by all. However, we have so many leftovers...does anyone want to come eat some???
As for actual Christmas preparation, we are all but ready, with the tree up with gifts wrapped and under it, and we are looking forward to going and seeing some of the nativity scenes and light decorations this weekend. The boys have a Christmas Countdown on their school chalkboard and are crossing off the days with anticipation! I love having a two year old at Christmas...they get so excited about everything! Derek is just beside himself trying to resist the urge to dig into the presents...LOL! His two favorite new words are cookie and candy and he REALLY enjoyed baking day this week. He even helped us lose one beater to my brand new mixer that I had used ONE time!!! So, Karen and I are trying to bake copious amounts of cookies with a mixer with one beater...ridiculous! It was eventually found, but not until all the cookies were done, of course. We had a good laugh about that, for sure.
Church is going really well. The boys are enjoying their Sunday School classes and meeting a few people and have even requested to start back to AWANAs come January, now that they know a few kids. Dan and I had a chance to visit with the pastor for a few minutes this past week before church and he seems great. I'm looking forward to the Christmas eve service, but it won't be the same as being there with all of you. BUT, it is better than not going at all.
Dan is almost finished with his temporary foreman job and I think he is glad. At this point, he is just supervising the other trades to make sure that they do their jobs right and so he is bored stiff. The one guy he still has under him is bringing a portable DVD player everyday and they are watching movies all day long. He comes home and is ready for a project becasue he hasn't done anything all day. And that has worked out well here, we have unpacked every box that needs unpacking until Karen moves out. We've been throught almost every box and sorted what needs to come out and what needs to stay packed. Dan reorganized the garage and now we have space for Dan's weight bench and even room for the dart board, which we all are enjoying. David and Patrick are actually quite good at it.
Oy! I just realized how long this is getting! I want to add a few pictures and then I'll sign off!
We miss you all so much and wish that we could be there with you, especially as the holidays grow closer and closer. Lost Boys, Mama K Loves you!! We love you all!
In His Blessings,
Kristy and the Man Crew

Look at all those handsome boys! They are growing so fast! David~10, Dan~32, Derek~2, Patrick~almost 9, and Tyler~14
Who is this goofy guy? This picture was already on my camera when I opened it. Sheesh! You'd think people would delete these things!
Look at this gorgeous poinsettia that Karen gave me...it's practically a tree it's so huge...and dusted with gold...it is lovely!

He's Back

Dan has arrived safely home and the truck has been unpacked! As for the huge piles of boxes, not so much. Each day or two, we tackle a new room. So far the living room has been set up and we are now working on David and Pat's room. The trampoline went up today, much to every one's delight and now the boys can burn off some energy without destroying the house. Derek has enjoyed having more than 4 books to look at over and over, and the boys spent one entire day in their room playing with LEGOs without a single fight!
On another subject, Dan is doing great on the foreman job...in fact, he is making so much progress so fast that they took away almost his whole crew because he was way ahead of schedule...LOL. He is really enjoying it, too. Plus, as of Monday, we have health insurance again! Hurray...anyone with kids can appreciate that one.
School is going more smoothly with the boys, as we are slowly getting into a better routine. I am becoming more comfortable teaching and relaxing a bit which always helps, especially with Patrick. I am enjoying it more, too, thanks to some new friends on the cafemom website that are encouraging me and offering great advice about new ways to try things.
We are starting to think about Christmas and how weird it will be to not have snow, or even cold weather. Call me crazy, but I love a cold winter night...a.great reason to snuggle down under the covers and watch a great movie with a fire going. Ah, well, I'll have to learn new ways to get into the holiday spirit this year. I am looking forward to finding my snowman collection and staring an indoor blizzard ;)
We are thinking of all you very often and wishing that we could see each other. I am praying for you by turns and hoping that you continue to do the same for us. All in all, the Lord is blessing us big time and we are enjoying that blessing. We love you and MISS you all like crazy. Lost boys, Mama K loves you!
Blessings,
Kristy and the Man Crew