#100HappyDays: Day 32

Day 32 of #100HappyDays
All this talk of freedom with Independence Day coming up has me thinking about where true freedom originates. In case you're wondering, it's not from a powerful military, our Constitution, or from living inside the borders of the greatest country ever.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus...and save us from ourselves.

#100DaysOfSummer
#Freedom — feeling happy at The Man Crew House

#100HappyDays: Day 31

Day 31 of #100HappyDays
These two decided to have a wall-sit contest to prove who was the manliest.
Bwuahahaha!
This random silliness certainly needs to go into the "Only at my House" files

#100DaysOfSummer
#OnlyAtMyHouse
#TheManCrew — feeling happy at The Man Crew House. — with Patrick Meyer.

 PS. In case you are wondering, they are BOTH claiming to be the victor in this contest. A fair and impartial judge ruled DT the winner due to P not being down low enough, but he is currently challenging the authority of the judge, so...
Welcome to life with ALL boys. ;)

#100HappyDays: Day 30

Day 30 of #100HappyDays
Tickets to the dirt track for fireworks night at the races! 💥 It's one of our fave family events every year. 💥 We've only missed one time since we moved here nearly a decade ago. Everyone loves it. Race cars, fireworks, carnival food, glow sticks out the wazoo and every single year, Derek has fallen asleep near the end by either curling up in Dan's lap or on a blanket on the bleachers. 

#100DaysOfSummer
#TheManCrew — feeling patriotic at Southern New Mexico Speedway.

If you like this challenge, head over to www.100happydays.com to sign up. You can choose a start date, your favorite photo posting platform and even a custom hashtag if you want to be more original. Do it, you might just decide you love it. 

#100HappyDays: Day 29

Day 29 of #100HappyDays
Chicken Fajitas for dinner. It's gooooood to be in the kitchen again these days!
#100DaysOfSummer
#NoLongerAPlateSpinner — feeling happy at The Man Crew House.

Oh my word, does it feel good to back home and feeding the family these days. Since retiring my #PlateSpinner hashtag, I'm back to being the "old" me...the one that baked bread, made home-cooked meals and kept the home fires burning. Feels good. Feels real good.

 If you like this challenge, head over to www.100happydays.com to sign up. You can choose a start date, your favorite photo posting platform and even a custom hashtag if you want to be more original. Do it, you might just decide you love it.

#100HappyDays: Day 28

Day 28 of #100HappyDays
The return of the Summer Reading Star BINGO challenge! We've loved this summer reading program for several years now. It motivates the boys to read for fun and prizes, and it staves off summer brain rot.
Read for a BINGO, get a prize ticket. Get a blackout (all squares covered) win the GOLDEN ticket!
This year Mama K is reading for prizes, too! Woot!
#100DaysOfSummer

#GoldenTicket

If you want to play, you can find the whole set up over at www.howdoesshe.com/summer-reading-star-free-exclusive-printable/amp/

— feeling happy at The Man Crew House.

 

 

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#100HappyDays: Day 27

Day 27 of #100HappyDays
Dan's fish tank. It's always clean, bright, and full of beautiful creatures. I love to stay up after all the lights have been turned off and listen to the water gurgle and watch them all swim around while the rest of the house sleeps.
#100DaysOfSummer
#ManCrewHouse — feeling happy at The Man Crew House.

If you like this challenge, head over to www.100happydays.com to sign up. You can choose a start date, your favorite photo posting platform and even a custom hashtag if you want to be more original. Do it, you might just decide you love it. 

#100HappyDays: Day 26

Day 26 of #100HappyDays
A day spent at the waterpark with two of my favorite men.
Thanks Alexandra for having a birthday and inviting us to enjoy it with you and your marvelous family!! — feeling happy with Derek Meyer and Daniel Meyer at Wet n Wild Waterworld.
What a wonderful time we had today! Sun, water, friends, hilarity, good food. Spectacular! 

If you like this challenge, head over to www.100happydays.com to sign up. You can choose a start date, your favorite photo posting platform and even a custom hashtag if you want to be more original. Do it, you might just decide you love it.

#100HappyDays: Day 25

Day 25: Game Night!
     I love love love this 7 Wonders game! It's my new favorite for sure. Tonight, we had new friends over at Game Night and they tried it with us and we had a blast. I love game night, I love new friends, I love old friends, I love games that bring us all together. (PS. I also enjoyed winning, that's my score on the far right. LOL)

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#100HappyDays: Day 24

Day 24: Bowling with James and Titus.
   Each summer our local bowling alley has cheap bowling packages for the kids that are on summer break. Jodi and I decided to take the boys one day together and the hilarity ensued. Derek continues to be a better bowler than I am and while it stings my pride, I'm glad he's good at it. It's fun to see him having fun with his cousins, especially since he's practically an only child. My cousins have always been some of my favorite people even though they all lived far away.

Goodness, he's really looking like a MeYeR these days. And so tall!

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#100HappyDays: Day 23

Day 23: Pictures of my people.
I love that technology helps keep us close across the miles. SO very grateful that we don't live in the time that if we lived 1500 miles apart we would never lay eyes on our darling daughter in love or our adorable grandson ever. I love this photo so much, motherhood looks so good on her. <3 br="">

#BabyCaden with his beautiful mama, Lauren

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#100HappyDays: Day 22

Day 22: Fun at the new office
    DT and I have been having lots of fun hanging out at the new office, trying out all the new games and toys. Hopscotch is a new favorite.

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Baby Caden: Sweet Smiles

Random cuteness overload courtesy of Baby Caden. You're welcome.

#100HappyDays: Day 21

Day 21: First Paycheck from the new job!
Wooty woot woot! I'm already pretty excited about this new job and what it will mean for my family, but getting the first paycheck is a fun day for sure!

If you like this challenge, head over to www.100happydays.com to sign up. You can choose a start date, your favorite photo posting platform and even a custom hashtag if you want to be more original. Do it, you might just decide you love it.

#100HappyDays: Day 20

Day 20: Food with Friends
  Tonight, the entire (local) Man Crew went out to dinner with our community group. Our CG may never be the same, but I digress...anywho, we laughed and talked and ate and laughed and talked. Just what the doctor ordered, not just for us, but for everyone at the table. Now our CG knows why we enjoy our boys so much. They are pretty great. Pat and Alexandria seem to have a special bond, which touches my heart.
Yes, I know the picture is terrible, but with all the movement going on, it was the best shot I got all evening. Sorry guys.

#100HappyDays   Pat and Alex had everyone laughing like crazy

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#100HappyDays: Day 19

Day 19: Clean Cast Iron
All the daily service cast iron is clean and shiny again. P and DT had put it all to good use while Hercules and I were away. Hooray for them not eating out every meal!

Mama K worked hard on putting the house back together from the "trip aftermath" today. Dishes are clean, laundry is (temporarily) caught up, LR is tidy, I settled an argument between the PS3 and the Internet, and it's time to put the Littlest Meyer to bed and then put my feet up while I enjoy some Netflix time. 

#100HappyDays   Clean Cast Iron

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#100HappyDays: Day 18

Day 18: Air Conditioning
June in New Mexico rivals the surface of the sun. We often have 10+ days in a row with triple digit heat. So for today, I'm grateful for Air Conditioning. (and deodorant, but that's a whole other post, am-I-right?)

#100HappyDays  Blast the AC!

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#100HappyDays: Day 17

Day 17: Carlsbad Caverns
Dan and I stopped for a tour of Carlsbad Caverns on the way home from Eunice today. It's been about 15 years since we've been and it was a completely different experience for us without two small toddlers in tow while trying to keep up with our extended family years ago. We didn't have time to stay and watch the bats fly out in the evening, but it was a lovely trip nonetheless. Plus, time spent with this handsome devil is always an adventure.

#100HappyDays  Carlsbad Caverns

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#100HappyDays: Day 16

Day 16: Perspective
Perspective is a beautiful and necessary part of life, don't you think? Sometimes we all need to step away from the hamster wheel that is our life and look over it and say to ourselves, "Is this particular activity still meeting my needs? Is this level of activity sustainable long term? Is this where the Lord wants me to serve?" But often we are too busy being too busy to think about anything except finishing that all-important to do list. And so, perspective is needed. This little getaway with Dan has been a Godsend, while I'm learning to retire my often used hashtag #PlateSpinner. As I transition from 5 years as a nanny/chauffeur with the B-Bunch family to my new office job at Learn For A Lifetime, I'm looking forward to much more time to focus on our family, DT's schooling, and getting OFF of the hamster wheel.

#100HappyDays Perspective

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#100 Happy Days: Day 15

Day 15: Hotel Life, yo.
     Dan spent the day hard at work while I spent it hardly working. I blogged, I napped, I read, I watched TV (Food Network, of course) and I wandered the hotel. When Dan came home we had dinner and then decided we needed ice cream, and upon our return, we were greeted by this picturesque sight and I was reminded anew of how blessed we are. A beautiful hotel, time together, time for me to enjoy some time to regroup, and enough fun money for an ice cream run. 

#100HappyDays     #HotelLife

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It's the Little Things

I've discovered as I make this journey through life, that it's not the HUGE things that make or break your day, week, month or LIFE....it's the little things. So in celebration of those little things, list a few things that made your day, week, month or LIFE sweeter or brighter.

• It's an hour long chat with my sweet 'Shua while he drives home from work that gets me caught up on all the new things in their life.
• It's a work week vacation! I vacation during the day while Dan works and then we get to spend the evenings together uninterrupted while we enjoy a hotel stay.
• It's The BIGS being willing and able to care for the littlest MeYeR while Dan and I enjoy our work week vacation.
• It's being completely caught up on laundry AND dishes at the same time, even it only lasts 5 minutes. LOL
• It's being able to leave grocery money for the boys to use, and knowing they know how to buy and prepare decent meals.  
• It's catching up on my reading goals for the year. 
• It's working in my planner and realizing that I'm having success in nearly every area of my goal list, even if there is still plenty of room for improvement.
• It's a new job that brings less stress and allows for more family time.
• It's making fun summer plans with friends.
• It's sleepovers for your child's friend that is moving away.
• It's pizza and movies together on a Sunday evening. 

I like the idea of this type of post. If you do too, post a few of YOUR little things. I'm making it a goal to be more positive this year...join me!
~K~

A clean and beautiful hotel room, Food Network on the TV, and my bare feet up and relaxing.

PS. Looking over this list, several of them are actually BIG things. 

• My grown son calls me every week or so to keep me updated about his life. That makes me so happy!
• It's a small getaway that we need and can afford. 
• Intentionally spending time as a couple so that when the children are grown and gone we will still have a relationship to take us into the golden years together.
• It's having raised children that have become responsible, capable, amazing young men.
• It's making wise job choices that bring more important things to our life than just money.
• It's making memories with our children.

#100HappyDays: Day 14

Day 14: Surprise! I packed a bag, pawned my responsibilities onto someone else, and ran away for the work week with Dan! Quiet, relaxing days in a hotel reading and blogging, followed by evenings spent with Hunky Dunky Hercules! YES please! 😍

Oh My Word, I love this man!

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Baby Caden 4.5 months

Caden got a high chair and from the looks of it, he's pretty excited about it. For now, he will be using it to play with toys while his mama cooks dinner and such, but he's already dreaming about having some of his own food while sitting in it.
Stop growing up so fast, Caden!

#100HappyDays: Day 13

Day 13: A Sunday evening at home with this goofball. As I mentioned earlier, I've been traveling often in the past several months and DT has been passed back and forth between The BIGS quite a bit. He's ready to just be home with Mama and Daddy for a while. Daddy ended up being busy Sunday afternoon but DT and I enjoyed some time together playing video games on the PlayStation3 Move, folding clothes, going together to take care of Jude (Jodi's dog) and ending the evening with some RedBox movies and pizza. We watched Moana and saved Monster Truck for Monday.  Pretty much a perfect Sunday evening in my estimation. 

*Ahem* Perhaps someone takes more after his mama than we originally thought. LOL!

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#100HappyDays: Day 12

Day 12: I spent a few hours at the new job working on that master book list again. With Jodi away for a few weeks and the office officially closed, I can set my own hours for a while. I can live with that. The boys and Dan were all busy so no one was missing me right then, so I used the time to earn a few more dollars to tuck away for a later summer adventure. Sounds good to me!
In other news, any excuse to eat next door at Enrique's is a good excuse. LOL!

Starting the Master Book List: EVERY Thomas the Tank Engine book ever written.

If you like this challenge, head over to www.100happydays.com to sign up. You can choose a start date, your favorite photo posting platform and even a custom hashtag if you want to be more original. Do it, you might just decide you love it.