Wordless Wednesday

Oh my goodness, I am at the library ALL by myself. I've got a private study room, iced tea, some pretzel M&Ms...Life is good! I, in fact, am speechless *winks*

Holiday Hallway~ Take 2

As I've previously mentioned on here, I've a delightful little hallway in the front of the house that I've claimed as my holiday decorating domain, since Dan prefers the LR to stay as uncluttered as possible. *snort* Ahem, I mean, I try to keep it simple in the LR. So, that means I give myself free reign in the hallway to clutter it up until it's almost too much. Thought I'd share a few of the fun scenes we've had in there over the past year. Most of them are printed papers or crafts that hang on the twine that you see, but some are more elaborate.

I'm a Summer Reading Star! Great reading program for over the summers found at www.howdoesshe.com

Winter Snowflakes that we crafted together a few years back and never knew what to do with them once the were completed. VIOLA!

This flag/heart was a part of our late/winter/early spring collection for St. Patrick's Day, MLK day, Easter and Valentine's Day

Fun colored flowers adored the hall in late spring. Thank Mom!

The hallway is currently empty and awaiting the summer decorations to be taken out and enjoyed. I'll share that once it's complete. I'm also missing a few set-ups on this memory card, I'll add them later as well. Thanks for enjoying this with me! I've never considered myself a decorator of any substance before, but with my little hallway that doesn't allow me to get too out of control, I'm having a ball!
    Blessings, 
       Kristy

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 honor of the little things, list a few with me that made your day, week, month or life brighter or sweeter. 

• It's having Dan home to enjoy all the company we've had the past few months.
• It's summer camp for the Little One while the BIGS are away at camp so Mama has a few minutes to herself each day this week.
• It's having boys BIG enough to pack for themselves, but being kind enough to allow me to pillage through their bags to make sure (for myself) that they did it right.
• It's leftovers on a night when I'm too tired to cook.
• It's Hercules fixing the little things that go wrong at the house without me asking him. 
• It's A/C on a hot day (well, that's a BIG thing, I suppose *grins*)
• It's Sonic Happy Hour 1/2 price drinks while I'm taxiing boys around town on a 100*+ day
• It's a library study room all to myself while DT is at camp so that I can blog in peace and quiet. 
• It's looking at your house and thinking that it is SUCH a mess, and then getting it tidied up in just a short time.
• It's walking through your home with new eyes and being reminded of how truly blessed you are, no matter the square footage. 
• It's amazing friends and great family surrounding you, whether that is in person, through snail mail, email, blogs, texts or social media.

I like the idea of this style of post. If you like it too, add your little things! I'm making it a goal to focus on the positive this year...Join me!

Catching UP with Us Meyer's~ January through June 2013 edition: Part 1

I am so far behind that I am just going to start by posting some pictures and telling little stories about each one. I will try to tag them as the appropriate month so that you can piece it all together. :) Sorry for my random-itis, just trying to start somewhere. ANYwhere, to be exact.

Susan, David, Dad and Mom all together. The 4 Amigos!

Auntie Susan and Uncle Dave are great company! Good times!

In mid-March, David and Susan Sweely came to visit us for a few days on their way to TX from AZ. Between Mom, Dan and I, I think we nearly talked their ears off :) We had a wonderful visit. Played many games, laughed ourselves silly and oohed and ahhed over Dave and Susan's arts and craft skills. David brought gem stones (self harvested) for each of the boys and I think, found a kindred spirit in Dan. They hit it off like no one's business. Once they went to the garage, I was sure we'd never see either of them again. Mom, Susan and I were content to enjoy the little ones, chat over cups of tea and putter in the kitchen together. Who knows when we will see them again as it's been over a decade since we'd seen them last, but it was a blessing to spend a few days soaking up their love and fun. 

(Late March) As you can tell, we LOVE to dye Easter Eggs at the Man Crew House. We get INTO it and enjoy it greatly. I think we dyed 5 dz eggs this year? Oh my, our fingers were funny colors for days! David is simple and likes one color eggs. Patrick likes to dip one end, the another, then a side, etc until he comes up with some plaid configuration to his liking. Derek likes to color on his with crayons before dipping, and Dan likes to experiment by over-dying in several similar colors to make his own signature color. Mom and Dad got in on the fun this year. Once Easter was over and we'd found all the eggs again (thank you Lord) we ate multi-colored egg salad for a LONG time.
Totally worth it!
  

Cake decorating at Albertson's. Let the wild rumpus begin!

TA-DA! All finished and posing in front of the flower pots. Happy cousins!

(Late March) The day before Easter, our local grocery store had some fun Easter activities, so I loaded up DT and nephew Titus for some cake decorating. OH MY WORD, did they enjoy that! I've never seen so much frosting piled on one little cake before. FUN FUN FUN~ they were so excited to eat them!

It was so wonderful to see Pastor Dennis behind the pulpit again after his sabbatical.

Easter morning found us at the local high school for the only time all year that our entire church gets to worship together in ONE service. With 5 weekly worship services, it can be hard to get to know one another so this is great! The BIGS went early to help set up the egg hunt for the little children. Derek was quite excited about the eggs, as it's this huge free-for-all in the football field after church. He gathered his limit quickly, and then waited (semi) patiently for them to call all in, when everyone can just grab as many as they can. Oh, the CANDY! The service was great, with all the worship teams coming together to help us find our way to worship and praise, and Pastor Dennis back from his sabbatical from preaching to be with TJ (his wife) I've got pics of the home festivities to be shared in another post. 

Whee! Even MORE eggs! Thanks Mesilla Park Community Church!

 Thanks for coming along on the journey with me! This is fun!
       Blessings, 
            Kristy

Time is Passing, Time for a POST!

My Goodness, time certainly DOES fly past, doesn't it? This is Hercules and myself once upon a time years ago when we were first dating! (1995)

Hello to all my friends and family who have been anxiously awaiting for nearly 5 months for me to post something new. So sorry for the lack of posting lately. I'm not even going to try to excuse it because everyone is busy, everyone gets sick, everyone has company and everyone has commitments. Suffice it to say that mine got out of hand for a bit and we are now back on a more even keel. I brought to the library with me my computer, a cuppa sweet iced tea and 2 memory cards full of memories to share. So I'll just wave a hand and get started.
How have all of you been? Anything exciting going on in your life? Share a comment and catch me up on your life please!
        Blessings, 
            Kristy

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 honor of the little things, list a few with me that made your day, week, month or life brighter or sweeter.

• It's a chat with 'Shua where he tells me know much he loves his wife and all the sweet things he's going to do for her while he's home from work for a day.
• It's being able to share the home that God has allowed us to live in this year with family and friends, whether that means game night fun, long weekend visits, laundry facility sharing or a baking party.
• It's starting to grow a pineapple 'tree' from the fresh one you just ate, so that someday, it will make you a new one to enjoy.
• It's a warm kitty in your lap while you watch TV.
• It's a new juicer that hubby bought so you can eat more healthfully! YUM~O
• It's the satisfaction of a day well spent doing something your kiddos are interested in, whether it interests you or not.
• It's warm socks on a cold night.

I like the idea of this style of post. If you like it too, add your little things! I'm making it a goal to focus on the positive this year...Join me!

Holiday Hallway Project

Hello Friends!
Just zipping past with a quick craft for the 'no big holiday' months of January and February. I have this lovely little hallway at the front of my house and I've claimed it as the 'holiday hallway' since hubster doesn't care for my 'clutter', I mean decorating attempts. So since we've arrived last spring, it's been adorned with our Summer Reading Challenge posters, spent a while dressed up for fall, and most recently was a wintry blizzard full of snowflakes. I had intended to leave the snow up all winter, but a certain someone declared with CHRISTMAS decorations and helpfully took them down for me. *ahem, thank you* So I now have a bare hallway that is NEEDING some attention. I've got two long pieces of twine strung along the walls and plenty of mini-clothes pins to hang things on, so it's just a matter of picking a topic. After perusing my calendar for upcoming holidays, I decided that I'd do a multi-holiday theme for the rest of the winter. Those holidays include more snowflakes, hearts for Valentine's Day, President silhouettes and quotes plus national and state flags for President's Day, and "I have a dream" Dream Clouds for Martin Luther King Day where they will fill in their dreams for the world. To some it might be a bit jumbled looking, but I'm excited about it.
I've got a house full today with Jodi's 2 boys here to join my 3, so once nap time is over for the littles, we will be gathering around the craft table with scissors, glue and crayons to enjoy some creative time together.
If you are interested, I printed things from these pages.
Flags~ http://www.free-printable-flags.com/ and http://www.freeprintablecoloringpages.net/category/State_Flags
Hearts~ http://homeschooled-kids.com/valentinesdayhearttemplate.html
Clouds~ http://www.edupics.com/coloring-page-cloud-i22857.html
President Silhouttes~ http://kidscraftzone.com/category/Presidents-Day-Crafts.aspx

Thanks for joining us. I'll be adding a few more pics once we are finished with our craft.