October Catching Up Post

Goodness, has 3 weeks gone by AGAIN without a single post? Phew, life gets busy here at the Man Crew house sometimes and living life is more important than blogging. Anywho, just a quick recap of the last few weeks. Let's start with...

GREETINGS FROM SUNNY AND WARM NEW MEXICO. We're still enjoying upper 80s and low 90s temps most days, but truly enjoying low 60s for the overnight hours. Great weather!

• Dan is still looking for work, although he's staying busy working on projects with friends, helping people move, hanging out with the boys, and enjoying some extra sleep here and there.
• David turned 14 on the 3rd of October. Where DOES the time go? He enjoyed his birthday game night, and we went camping the weekend of his birthday.
• Pat is getting so tall and is already looking forward to his 13th birthday that is rapidly approaching. He's really missing James and Titus each day now that they aren't coming as often. His drawings are getting better, and he's loving our weekly trips to the library. He always checks out his fill of cartoon books, plus 1 educational book (per my request) 2 movies and 1 CD so he can get to know some new music. He's such a creature of habit (little like his mama that way)
• Derek is really liking school. We're making crafts, writing letters and sounding out words. So. Much. Fun! He's busy as usual with riding bikes, enjoying game night, jumping on the trampoline, chasing his brothers, playing with the cat, and just being him : )
• I finally got that rest I've been wanting. Spent last Saturday evening at the ER with what I thought was appendicitis. Turns out, thankfully that it was *just* a viral infection that was making my lymph glands in my abdomen swell and mimic the symptoms of appendicitis. So I got a lovely script for some Vicadin and spent the next two days laying on the couch drooling on myself. Dan and the boys took excellent care of me, cleaned the house and kept everyone fed and happy so I could rest. The next few days were led mostly from the couch as well, and I've now got 'real world' experience that school can be done from the couch, instead of just a hunch : )
• I also talked just this week with a dear 'old' friend (like from high school days) that I recently re-discovered on FB, and she called this week and we laughed about old times, where life has taken us and how it rarely becomes what we think. GOOD TIMES, what a wonderful time of catching up it was.
• My parents are COMING!! They've been saying for years that they're going to become snow birds and stay the winters here in NM, but it's just never panned out. This year seems to be the year, and even though it's still 2 months away, I find myself stopping at least once a day and thinking aloud, "They're coming! They're REALLY coming!!" Not only for my own enjoyment of course, but for the kids, they miss PaPa and Grma so much, and can't wait for them to get here.
• Game Night lives on. Some weeks we have 8, sometimes 20 and no matter how many we have, it's always fun. Uno, Farkle, Skip Bo, sometimes Chess, Bananagrams, Fluxx, Phase 10, Spades and a few random others grace the tables. We eat veggies with dip, chips with salsa, bean dip or cheese goo, cake if it's a BIRTHDAY Game Night, and laugh ourselves silly. It's great!

I think that's it for major updates, and I'll post some pics soon. Thanks for the love.

Blessings,

Kristy and the Man Crew