Wordless Wednesday~ well almost

OK, OK, I know it isn't Wednesday but this tickles me so much, it couldn't wait. My Man Crew, what a pack of goofs they are. See??

They were dying their hair together, LOL! I sure do love them

If only...

If ONLY we all got along so well. I'd certainly be grateful about THAT!

Wouldn't that be a blessing? Happy Grati-Tuesday everyone~

So So Behind

Alright people it's official. I'm so far behind on this here blog that I don't even know where to start. A *brief* overview follows.

April~ family trip to Co Springs for Gymnastics Regionals (Utah, NM, CO and WY). David took a place in every event and the all around. We also got to spend a weekend with my niece and her beautiful family. After the regionals, Dan went home to get back to work and I drove with the boys to IL and spent 6 glorious weeks hanging out with friends and family, and helping my Dad recoop from a health issue. (Homeschooling is wonderfully flexible, have I ever mentioned that?) Dad turns 75. Big party for him, which he enjoyed.







May~ First 1/2 of May spent in IL. We arrived home and went back to school. Dan was VERY glad to see us and I was glad that the laptop fairy had visited him while I was gone, LOL! Tyler (nephew) graduated from high school. Said nephew also turned 18 *yippee* Spent most of the rest of May just trying to get settled back in and back to *normal* whatever that is.




June~ More school. Back to work for me. Dan gets laid off from his beloved Wooten job. Joined local CSA, very excited about that : ) Dan refabricates engine for dune buggy. She lives!





July~ Independance Day! School finished for the year during the last week of July. Prepared for niece coming for 2 weeks. Dan gets hired by company called Les File. Really likes it. Dan puts final touches on dune buggy like decals, painted muffler tips, etc.

August~Derek turns 6. Niece comes and spends 2 weeks. MANY adventures (whole blog post about that later) Dan gets laid off by Les File. Jodi spends weekend in Chicago and nephews stay here, much to our boys' delight. Dan busiest unemployed man I know. *amused* Dan buys me a dehydrator and I learn to make beef jerky. Dan repairs damage to dune buggy done by neice, oops *grins* Nephew James turns 9.

Phew. I think that's all the BIG stuff. Coming up is our 15th anniversary, Sister moving closer to us and Dan looking for work, and of course, the start of school in early Sept. Good times!

4 Years??

4 years ago yesterday. That's when David, Derek, my Mom and I arrived in NM where Dan and Patrick were already setting up house. It would be our first time living farther than a few miles from our parents. It was the first time we'd be living far away from our high school and youth group friends. We were in a terrible place in our marriage, undecided about whether we should just throw in the towel, or keep fighting what seemed like an endless uphill battle. We'd lost our home, our pride and our self-respect somewhere along the way. And then, God led (that should read dragged) us here, and we started a new chapter in our life. One that was centered on Him. One that made family (our nuclear family) a priority, not just by a conscious choice, but by not knowing a single person in this town except for my sister and nephew that we were living with at that time. One that showed us how far off the mark we had become. Since that time, we've moved 3 times, lived with another sister and nephews, had and lost jobs, our sanity and sometimes our temper, but we've grown in the Lord, in our family and in our maturity levels. We do almost everything TOGETHER, sometimes to the amazement of our house guests. We live, laugh, love and learn here at home, because that's where we like to be. Life is good here in NM. Happy anniversary to the Man Crew! Here we are in July 2011

And here we were in 2007 not long after we arrived.

Blogging After Dark : )

Hello all and greetings from Sunny and HOT AS THE BLAZES New Mexico. : ) We are experiencing record breaking stretches of triple digit heat here, but since we have A/C, and running water, all is well. Life is good here on the surface of the sun, LOL! School will be out in less than 2 weeks (yes we homeschool year round, just saying) Our niece will be here in the same amount of time to spend 2 weeks enjoying the sun and fun here and Dan went back to work this week! It's all good! I just got home from work a bit ago and am heading to bed, but since I'm trying to carve out time to blog again, well this is it *hee hee* No pics this time either as the flash drive is in the dark bedroom with the sleeping Hercules, so I'll try to post some new pics soon. Mostly, just waving a hand to everyone and saying, "Hey, don't forget about us! We're still here."
Blessings,
~K~ and the Man Crew

Testing Testing

Please ignore this post unless you can tell me how to schedule a post. I'm just trying some things out. Thanks, the Management

Hello Again, my Friends

Just popping through to say HI to all my friends and family that try to keep track of me on here. It's been a hectic few months filled with school, gymnastics meets, travels, and much chaos. As things are simmering down a bit, I'll be around more often again. Hope that's ok with you all *winks* For now, just a hello and a quick update.

• In April, David made the gymnastic regionals in his first year of competing. And then placed in every event!!


• Also in April, my father became quite ill and spent the weekend in the hospital and then a month in a nursing home/rehab center.


• SO~ we made one trip count for two. Went to CO for the regionals, took a right turn and drove until IL and spent 5 weeks there. GOOD times! More on that at a later time.


• The great thing about homeschool is that you can take it with it, and when that fails because you are so busy, it can just wait until you get back home. The kids are playing with cousins, hanging out with grandparents and visiting old friends. The lessons learned about taking care of family are some of the ones kids don't learn at school anymore.


• David is about to finish his 8th grade year and will start homeschool high school in the fall. WOWZERS, when did that sneak up?


• Patrick is wrapping up his 6th grade year and will be enjoying middle school all by himself next year since D will have moved up.


• Derek is (sigh) finishing his Kindergarten year and is starting to sound out words. He is quite proud of himself.


• Dan is currently unemployed, but as this is a normal part of the construction life, we are not worried. He's taking great pleasure in having the time to work on all those projects he generally doesn't have time to enjoy. The current project is a new (to us) motor for the dune buggy which hasn't been running well in quite a while.


• Dan got a kitten for Father's Day and it's the best gift we ever got him. He even allows that silly thing to sleep on his head : )


• Me? I guess I must be boring. I'm still working at Kohl's, working at the gym on Saturday mornings, still teaching school, baking bread and spending too much time on Facebook. ;) Still spreading my own personal brand of sunshine wherever I go. That's me.

That's enough for now. I'll try to post some pics of our trips, antics and silliness, but I'm not going to go back and try to tell all that's happened since I was regularly posting. I'll just pick up and start again. I hope to be catching up on some of your blogs soon also! Much love and God Bless, ~K~