It's The Little Things: Day 141

 

I want to focus on the good things this year.
All the things people get right.
All the times that everything works out just perfectly after we assumed disaster had already struck.
All the times that the right word was spoken at the right moment.
So, let's celebrate those little moments together, shall we?

• It's a week FULL of activities, all of them good. 
• It's trying out my new MoviePass for the first time. 'Free' movie, plus I like to go to the flickers alone. It's a little time just for me. 
• It's sleeping in until almost 11am (completely unprecedented for me) after a super late and tons of fun Game Night on Friday. 
• It's helping a friend, mostly by keeping her company, while she packs for a move.
• It's Taco Tuesday with friends new and old. Amy and Jimmy are in town to visit Johnny and it was great to catch up.
• It's celebratory ice cream with Ricky and Judah on Wednesday to shout hooray for sleepovers again.
• It's Nathan graduating!! Class of 2018, baby! 
• It's ending up at the cool kids table at the grad party on Friday. Dan and I sat down, and Nathan and the boys all came to eat with us and boom. For a few brief moments in time we were cool again. 
• It's a lovely visit with my Sister-Girl Karen, it's nice to be in the groove again. 
• It's a beautiful new glass container to brew my kombucha. Dan REALLY is enjoying having it around all the time. 
• It's starting a new study with our community group and everyone was participating.
• It's a BBQ with friends on Sunday to celebrate Naomi's 75th birthday, and winning the party games. 
• It's knowing that there are only FOUR days left of school. I think I'm as excited as the boys. 
• It's a fun video chat with 'Shua, Lauren and Caden. He wasn't sitting still for me to read to him tonight, but he was scampering about and chattering away like a little chipmunk. He tried to say "Love you" to me tonight. *melting* I love that naughty little Punk. 
• It's the hubster saying that I don't need to cook tonight and we will just eat leftovers and that is one less thing for me to do. Yes, please. 
• It's keeping the dishes COMPLETELY finished and making sure the counters are clean every night before I go to bed. Waking up to a clean kitchen is the best. 
• It's creeping ever closer to my #HotMess challenge goal of creating a scrap-booking counter for myself in the SOC room. I actually cleared some counter tonight. 
• It's waking up early on a Monday morning to have time to complete several chores and still have time to be ready to head into work and get the week started right.  

Catching up with us Meyer's: Spring 2018 Edition

It's always fun to catch up with friends, isn't it? I like to occasionally give everyone a quick overview of what's happening in our lives. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading this as much as I do writing it.
Spring 2018: Jan-April

The whole family: We are still a household of 4 although Pat is home less and less often and I"m guessing he will move out in the next 6 months, so it often feels like we're a family of three these days. Catching all of our local boys (including Nathan) to come share a meal with us is a bit of a scheduling miracle, but completely worth the effort. The laughter and love around the table is delightful. The car projects abound between Dan's Beast Truck, Dastroyah's multiple cycles, Datsun and Pathfinder, and PattyCakes' Civic. Dan and I have slowed considerably in the amount of shuffling children we do, and that frees our evenings to hang out more together. We often watch tv and just relax, but it's also nice to have time to go for ice cream, or play a board game, or even work in the yard together. Derek is keeping us young with his silly antics and is well on his way to becoming a teenager.

Dan/Hercules: Dan is currently unemployed after being finished with the job in Eunice late in January. However, per the usual, he's the busiest unemployed man I know. His current work list is longer than my arm, and he basically has to shut off his phone if he wants to take a break from helping people for the day. It's nice to have him home more often, that's for sure. He's considering putting his Beast Truck into a car show at our church next month.

Kristy/MamaK: I'm averaging 35 hours a week at Jodi's office and enjoying it. We just finished running Spring Break camps and summer is right around the corner. I accompanied Mom back to IL at the end of March and enjoyed a few days in IL for Easter and Caden snuggles. (I've completely lost my tolerance for cold wet weather, oops) I'm knee-deep in No Pants April shenanigans and loving it. I'm working on stretching my attention span this year by reading more and playing on my phone less. I'm honest enough to admit it's been a struggle. In other news, my roses are blooming like crazy and this brings me joy that I didn't know I had in me for roses.

Dastroyah: D prefers not to be talked about these days. Sad sushi. However, his puppy Datsun is adorable, he's successfully holding down two jobs and he recently got glasses. (I think that's all generic enough info that I can say those things.)

PattyCakes: P is growing out his hair as he and Nathan plan to shave their heads this summer and he wants it to be dramatic. Rumors of new tattoos abound. He is still working at the church and the gym, but is looking for something full-time in the car/mechanical industry. He's spending his spare time and good amounts of money upgrading his car. It's coming along nicely. New tires and rims are the most recent addition.

Slick: DT is fully embracing his near teenager-hood and is letting us all enjoy the full range of emotions that come along with that special time in life. LOL! He's doing really well in school this year and is excited that the school year is about to wrap up. He's quite disappointed that the trampoline recently acquired a large hole so now he's filling his afternoons with riding bikes, pogo sticking, and imaginary sword-fighting in the backyard...and playing his tablet as often as I'll allow.

'Shua, Lauren and Caden: The Bean Bunch is wishing spring would come to IL, as at the time of this writing there is 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and more falling as I type. 'Shua and Lauren are house hunting, and in a bidding war over a house in Lindenhurst, while Caden is considering taking his first unassisted steps. He's just been diagnosed with his 4th ear infection and between that and cutting a tooth, he's a grumpy bear. However, overall things are good with them and they are excited about the prospect of soon owning their own home.

Ricky and Judah: Ricky, too, is contemplating purchasing a home, and even has a bid in on one, but is awaiting the inspections before moving forward. Judah turned 2 on March 31 and looks so grown up these days. None of us have seen him in months except through pics on FB since Ricky and Victoria can't agree on a visitation schedule. Hopefully that will soon be resolved and we will have him with us again. Ricky is working for the United States Postal Service these days and is enjoying the job.

I suppose that's all the news for this spring. Hopefully this finds you well, enjoying beautiful weather and creating precious memories. Please feel free to comment with what's new in your life.
     Kristy and the Man Crew

It's the Little Things: Day 45

I want to focus on the good things this year.
All the things people get right.
All the times that everything works out just perfectly after we assumed disaster had already struck.
All the times that the right word was spoken at the right moment.
So, let's celebrate those little moments together, shall we?

• It's waking up to find that your Tax Refund has arrived overnight and you are able to catch up on some bills...and maybe even afford a small treat.  
• It's Sister-Girl Night and laughing our heads off together over the antics of our children/grand-babies while enjoying some very tasty food.
• It's a call from your nephew asking if he's made the right choices for his Valentine's Day sweetie. (To which I laughed and replied, "Wrong sister. Kristy doesn't do V-Day and I'm barely a girl anyway.") But it's always nice to be consulted for our perceived wisdom...am-I-right? 
• It's a good day of school for Mr. T and Slick that included a pizza party (hooray for the tax refund)
• It's being nearly ready for tomorrow's Thursday Night Games for the BIGS and it's not even Thursday! Woot!
• It's enjoying my fun online Tupperware party and making new friends.
• It's appreciating my quiet alone time in the mornings to get a few small tasks accomplished and having a few minutes to myself before the rest of the Man Crew wakes up. 

Catchin' Up with The Man Crew

Hey everyone, I sure blogged a BUNCH in January, didn't it? Hopefully it wasn't overwhelming for you. I'm so enjoying having the time to blog more these days and with my new Little Things posts and the Pantry Challenge, I logged many posts over the past few weeks. It's been a while since I did a Catchin' Up post, so I thought you might all enjoy a broader scope of post that covers a little bit of everything and everyone.

Dan: Dan is home Home HOME!!
He is finished with the job on Eunice and he is delighted to be home again. Doesn't hurt my feelings either. *winks* He is keeping busy by working out with The BIGS and Ricky, building a deck for a friend's nursery/landscaping business, helping Dastroyah with motorcycle projects and building a bedroom suite for some friends from our beloved community group. We're enjoying the simple things like hanging out and watching Netflix together. 

Kristy: Kristy is cooking, baking, creating!
I am back to my regular schedule at work; M, T, W, and Friday from 8-2:30 and Th until 4. I'm well again after last month's flu business and I'm excited to have done so well on Pantry Challenge 2018. Only $143 spent on food last month and it was almost all fresh dairy and produce. And surprisingly, we aren't going hungry. LOL!I had fun rolling up my sleeves and digging into the kitchen work again, after Nov and Dec left me on a first name basis with the pizza delivery man and every McDonald's in town. I played paper with a friend, saw a musical concert with Mom, toured the local art museum, had lunch with friends, slept in a time or two and in general remembered how to use a Saturday. 'Twas glorious, I tell you! I pulled some books off of shelves and am in the midst of 6 books right now (no wonder I'm always confused, HA) and am hoping to surpass my goal of 52 books this year. It has been fun learning how to use my newly acquired free time. I've noticed that with the addition of a smart phone to my life a few years back, I don't read nearly as much and my attention span has diminished greatly. So this year I am working on getting my attention span back up to snuff and remembering that I had hobbies before FB and smart phones entered my life. This MAY be the year I finally get back to scrap booking!

Dastroyah: Dastroyah is doing his "life's work"
Dastroyah is in the thick of the competitive season with his little men and they are kicking butt and taking names. He is SO proud of them and all their hard work. He and  Hercules are currently working on 3 new-to-him dirt bikes in the hopes of flipping them and turning a profit. His Datsun project parts should be arriving this week and he will then start that project. His motorcycle is running again and he is SO over-the-moon about that. His little potato puppy is growing like crazy and is still so cute! He, Dan, PattyCakes and Nathan have been out off-roading several times this past month and always come home with some terrifyingly adventurous tales to share. Manly bonding and all that. *winks* 

PattyCakes: Pat is working, lounging, repairing. 
Pat is enjoying a slightly less busy season now that holiday camps at the gym are done until Spring Break rolls around. He and Nathan are currently enjoying some uninterrupted video game time since neither of them had to work any birthday parties today. His little car, aptly named "Gold Digger" is taking on a new shine as he has a bit more time to spend fussing over her. He recently overhauled his room and magically found more than 20 of my kitchen towels/reusable napkins, donated an entire basket of clothes to the thrift store, and shared some old toys/games with DT. I think he's enjoying his abode a good bit more now that it's less cluttered and more inviting. 

Derek: DT is schooling, playing, gaming. 
Derek is cruising through school with Titus and even though it took a while to get back in the groove after the holidays, they are doing quite well again. Jodi and I are so pleased with his/their progress this year. He is enjoying time after work (once his chores are finished) to just sit and play video games as our much fuller school schedule this year is consuming nearly all of his time while we are at work. (Last year we were LUCKY to get an hour at the school tables, this year he's averaging 4+) And especially since he's no longer on the gymnastics team, he has some free time to enjoy. His game playing skills, in board games and video games, are improving. In fact, he beat CHARLIE at a game of chess just last month. He's still quite intrigued by MineCraft and will play that as long as I let him. We updated his chores at the beginning of the year, much to his chagrin, and he's now emptying the DW every day, caring for all the pets except the actual feeding of the snakes, making sure the trash and recycling aren't overflowing in the house and getting them to the street for trash pick up day, doing his own laundry and keeping his game 'cubby' neat and tidy. Not that he hasn't capable of any of that for quite some time, but sometimes being the baby of the family has it's perks. LOL! Soon, he's going to start planning, shopping for and preparing one simple meal a week.

 Everyone Else: 
Karen is on temporary disability as her anxiety and several other health issues are interfering with her ability to do her job properly. She's "enjoying" the time off by spending copious hours a week at doctor appointments and therapies. I'm delighted to see her taking such steps to take back control of her health.
Mom is still here in Cruces, but after a move to escape the rats at her first apartments, she's not enjoying her second apartment much more (disruptive/scary neighbors). Poor thing, she may never come back. But her birthday is coming up this month and we are eagerly anticipating a celebration of that before she heads back to the frozen tundra.
Alex is doing very well after his motorcycle accident last fall. He's walking and driving and gaming and rebuilding engines and doing all the things he used to do, which is wonderful considering he should still be sitting in a wheel chair according to the doctors. Prayer works, y'all.
Nathan is nearing the end of his high school career and has admitted to having a serious case of senioritis, but is aware that he needs to keep his grades from slipping if he wants to get a scholarship to play football at the college level next year.

Prayer Requests:

• Either steady side job work or an actual job offer on something local for Dan.
• Continued enthusiasm for the school year for Kristy. It's about this time of year when the "I-don't-want-to-do-this-anymore" feeling kicks in. (I blame the warm weather and sunshine)
• Same for Derek and for more reading progress. And for new friends, now that he isn't in gym anymore.
• For Dastroyah to know how many projects are enough, so that he doesn't feel like he's trying to juggle flaming chainsaws ALL.OF.THE.TIME. 
•  For Pat to decide if/when he wants to go to school, or if he wants to join the adult workforce with a full time job. 
• For my mother's continued safety while she is here.
• Karen to continue to fight to get well.

    

#100HappyDays: Day 43

 

Day 43 of #100HappyDays
I've tried not to share more than one photo for each of these posts, and I've also tried to avoid making collages, but these were too cute not to share! As I looked through my SnapChat pics today, I discovered these of DT and Judah from Sunday.

I love-Love-LOVE that my boys love little ones so much! They all take such good care of any little one who passes through our door and our arms.

Please to note that in one of the photos, Judah has fallen asleep. He crawled up on DT's lap and they played until he just conked out. Precious!
— feeling happy with Victoria Sanchez, Derek Meyer and Ricky Bean at The Man Crew House.

Catching UP with Us Meyer's~ January through June 2013 edition: Part 2

Here we go again, trying to catch up on some of the fun things going on at the Man Crew House these past few months. Let's dig into the pictures to remember all the silliness!

 January: Patrick turns 14. He's been waiting and anticipating and and and...for so long! And now the day has actually arrived! He's a REAL teenager now because 13 is just a warm up year, dontcha know? :) That's my boy! He enjoyed it all very much. Birthday Game night is always fun, and with PaPa and Grma here for his birthday, how much better could it get?

Hey there Handsome Boy! Thanks for sharing your birthday smile with us!

Oh yes! A short sword, which he has been asking for. Daddy found it and brought it home for him. He was ecstatic!

 

We even made his favorite meal, Chicken Club Brunch Ring. (thank you Pampered Chef!)

PaPa and Grma gifted Pat with the much asked for iTunes card so he could download a few new apps on his iPod. Woohoo!

Patrick was even kind enough to share the frame with DT. DT was pleased to share the photo op

 January: OLLIE! Oliver is the sweet little son of our friends, Ryan and Kelsi. He's just a joy to be around and as you can tell, that's not just me saying that. We all just adore his smiles and spend hours playing with him. Thanks to Ryan and Kelsi for sharing him with us <3 br="">

Ollie gets a shoulder ride from 'Uncle' Dan

Sweet sweet face! I could gobble him up!

Patrick, AKA the Baby Whisperer is just great with Ollie, and the feelings are mutual, I assure you!

 January: Mike and Ricky came to visit for a few days! Ricky was honorably discharged from the Navy after his 4 years were up, and he was up in Washington state, so Mike flew out to meet him, and they took the long way home by way of California, New Mexico and THEN home to Illinois. It was great to see them both and the 3 Amigos had TOO much fun goofing off, working on Ricky's car and antique shopping together. Good times! Thanks for coming to see us! And remember, what happens at the Man Crew House, stays at the Man Crew House *winks*

Mike Hanna, my BIL.

Ricky Bean, our adopted nephew from Mike's side of the family

Dan, Ricky and Mike, or as they are better known, the 3 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. :)

What a Weekend!

Hello friends, near and far, in person and in cyber-space! We had such an exciting weekend that I wanted to share while it was still *semi* fresh my mind. : )

~Thursday, which is weekend warm up for us, was filled with school, tidying here and there, gymnastics for D, and Dan came home with the new movie AVATAR which we watched on the big screen. The CG in the movie is fantastic, the special effects are superb and the cinematography is resplendent, but the story itself is a bit overdone. A good movie, nonetheless. Dan really enjoyed it!

~Friday always means game night and it was a doozie! 23 people filled our home with fun, laughter and games! 5 Meyer's, 3 Starnes', 2 Balding's, 2 Bruno's, 2 Myer's 3 McKinney's, 2 Bean's and 4 Chacon's. Holy 10 pizzas, Batman! Being my mother's daughter, I WAY over did it with the pizza, assuming that everyone eats like Dan, even the babies...LOL! It was nice not to cook all weekend as we munched, and munched, and MUNCHED on that leftover pizza. We played games, the kids played outside enjoying the gorgeous weather and the adults chatted and carried on famously.

~Saturday Dan went to work as did I and the boys enjoyed some open gym while I wrapped up the concession stand duties. Then I realized that I had missed my Angel Food Network pick up and that some OTHER needy family had gotten the order I placed. Well, that was disappointing, but God will provide for us this week. : ) I went and had a lovely chat with Lauren, then headed home to rest. Dan arrived home later with 'Shua and the boy invited me out to dinner....yeah! David had his gymnastics banquet that evening, so I dropped him and then met up with 'Shua and we spent 2.5 lovely hours chatting over dinner while David got awards and played with his friends. He got a small trophy, and 2 small awards for getting the best haircut, and for getting the most rips from the high bar. (Boys are so weird) Went home and watched Avatar...again. Dan had bought a high def cable and the colors were so much more vibrant. So pretty! When we headed to bed...we still had a surprise waiting. As we prepared for bed, we heard a scratch at the door and some loud meowing. To our shock, Harley had returned! He looks none the worse for being gone 3 months and came right in and settled right back in like he was never gone. He's even warmed up to Sophie...well, a little : )

~Sunday....Oh sweet Sunday! Happy 74th Birthday Dad...we LOVE YOU! I woke up feeling terrible, as if I'd pulled a muscle in my right shoulder. OUCH! So, we decided to stay home and have a movie day. We did a few quick chores and then settled in to watch movies. We watched "Fireproof" *which is excellent, by the way...we BOTH cried* "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves" "Kate and Leopold" and "28 Days" We laughed, we cried, we played with the pets, we goofed with the boys and we just enjoyed being together. Dan spiked my morning smoothie, rubbed my back and attached me to the TENS unit to make my shoulder loosen up...he's the best. The boys watched some, watched a movie or two on their own while folding clothes and played outside. It was a a great day.And to make the day just about perfect, Dan caught the mouse that has been enjoying my pantry a little too much.

So, it's been a super great weekend. It means that I was ready for Monday when it arrived this morning. I didn't feel overwhelmed, behind or frustrated by it's arrival...and that's ALWAYS a good thing. Thanks for sharing our happy weekend with us!

**And the best part of the whole weekend is that Dolli and Ryan are in town...yeah!!**

Lost boys...I have been missing you so much! Dariel, Ricky, Tony and Alec...love you boys!

Mama K