Our Marine

     A few weeks ago Kyra and Eric came to Muleshoe. They were here for almost three weeks and it was awesome. We definitely got to feel what it would be like to have them close to us, and I must say it was even more amazing than we imagined. We got to see them almost everyday which made each day that much more special.

     Eric is in the Marine Corps in San Diego. His unit will be deployed on October 3rd for Afghanistan. Before a Marine deploys they are given three weeks of leave. Eric and Kyra chose to spend these three weeks surrounded by family. They are told to expect a 7 month deployment, so while Eric is away Kyra will be living with us. I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't imagine being without Tyson for that long, and I know it will difficult for them both. But knowing that she will be here with us, closer to family, and near Mark and Lynda (Eric's parents) will make this time that our brave Marine is away more manageable. I think having family close by will be the best thing for everyone, especially my dear sister.

     While they were here I was able to capture some of our fun together. The one who LOVED having Uncle Eric here was his biggest fan Rylan. He loves his Uncle Eric, and he loves to play rough with him.

This picture is just too cute to me. Rylan would get Uncle Eric to play football, race him, chase him, tackle him, and fly him like a airplane.  If Uncle Eric was at our house, Rylan had him out of breathe.

Granny got this shirt for Rylan because she knows the connection that Rylan and his Tia have. If only we could get him to smile for this picture. The shirt says, "I can't help it good looks run in my genes, just look at my aunt".

Before Eric and Kyra left to head back to California we had everyone over at our house for a farewell dinner. We had the best time with Mark and Lynda (Eric's parents).

The four of us became even closer while they were here visiting.

                          Momma, JJ, Kyra, Eric, Tyson and me.


     Eric, we are so very proud of you and the man that you have become. It is a big sacrifice that you are making for us and our country. We are forever grateful for you service and your sacrifices. We will miss you very much and we will take good care of Kyra. We love you, we are praying for you, and we can't wait until you come home.

The Apple Festival

     One weekend in September we were able to enjoy a nice day at the Apple Festival in Idalou, TX. Aaron, Samantha and Sophia were here so we decided it might be something that the kids would enjoy. There was fabulous food, little shopping booths, live music, a petting zoo, a hayride through the apple orchard, and a variety of all things apple. We went early in the morning and enjoyed a few hours there before heading back home. The kids seemed to enjoy the music, the food, the hayride, and of course the petting zoo. This type of festival makes me feel as though Fall is in the very near future. If we could only get some Fall weather.

One thing that Rylan loves is goats, and to his surprise the petting zoo was all goats, notice his excitement!

What is an Apple Festival without Johnny Appleseed? This cracked me up, and I had to take a picture.

Papaw, Rylan, Nana & Sophia

Along with goats Ryaln LOVES tractors. We can't go down the road (especially here in Muleshoe) without him seeing a tractor, and yelling "Momma, tractor"! So, he loved that he got to ride on hay filled trailer behind a tractor.

Aaron, Samantha, and Sophia getting ready for their tractor ride.

The hayride went in and out of the apple trees, at one point the driver stopped and told us to go pick us some apples. Rylan loved this and thought that he was supposed to pick all of them.

My boys and I in the apple orchard hunting for the perfect apple to eat.

A Little Something

     I have had difficulty deciding what to put above our TV in the living room. So, I began searching through all of the decorations that I haven't used from the old house, and I came up with an idea. I decided to add two pieces together, and create one personalized wall hanging.  Once again I kind of got my inspiration from pintrest.com.

This is a black wrought iron wall decoration, (that I got at Hobby Lobby)  I had it in the kitchen at our house in San Antonio. But at this house I didn't have anywhere to put it. Anywhere I tried to put it, it always looked to bare by itself.

I should have taken a before picture of this wall plaque before I painted, added scrapbook paper, and drilled holes (well Tyson drilled holes) for the ribbon. But as most of my projects go, I forgot to take a before picture. I painted it black, found scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby (I used Modge Podge for the paper), and added ribbon that I already had. I wanted to use colors that weren't to loud. So, black and tan were the colors I chose.

I stenciled on "The Purdy's Est. 2004", waited for it to dry and then I tied knots with the ribbon onto the metal wall hanging. That easy, my wall hanging was done.

This is a closer look at the paper, plaque, and how I tied the two pieces together.

    Now I have something personal and unique that hangs above the TV. However, now that I am looking at this picture I may should have gone with something bigger. All and all I love this wall hanging!

Cap'n Rylan's Room

Our house here in Muleshoe is coming along, piece by piece by piece. One room that I have completely done (and I am so happy to have it all done) is Rylan's Pirate room. At the end of July Rylan decided that he was done with his crib (he crawled out three times in one night). So, it was time for a big boy bed, which also meant that it was time for Mommy to do a big boy room. I will let most of the pictures explain the room. I just want to say that Rylan loves his Pirate room, which makes it that much more rewarding for his Mommy.

This is Rylan's chalkboard that Nana and Papaw ordered for him. I plan on using it to help him explore his creativity, and hopefully using some of my teaching tools to educate him. No promises but hopefully I will follow through with this. If you notice the rocking horse and the dog on the shelf, they both have eyepatches on. I tried to add a touch of pirate everywhere I could. Which became easier after my cousin Averi through a pirate themed 3rd birthday party for her son Cade. All of the gift bags were filled with pirate themed stuff.

My dear friend Allison will want a lot of pictures. That way she can fully get an idea of what I did. So, I apologize for the amount of pictures, they are for Allison. The small shelf that holds the big dog I found in Nana and Papaw's barn. It was white and dirty, we brought it home and painted it black. If I have something to paint and I don't know what color to paint it, it will be black.

It took a while to get things arranged how I wanted them, but I am finally very happy with Rylan's new big boy room. My dear sweet husband was very kind and patient with me. Maybe he knows not to mess with a 7 month pregnant lady, who is nesting beyond what most would expect. You can't see them but the bed does have bedrails that come up and down on both sides of Rylan's ship. He is a wild sleeper these were a must.

The bedding I found off of Amazon.com, and I immediately fell in love with it. The colors in the bedding allowed me to use a lot of the furniture and wall decorations that we already had (with a few tweaks here and there). The frame above his bed was from his nursery. Tia made that for us before Rylan was born. His name and Mom & Dad were painted a teal color to match his nursery. But Tia was here so she went over her handy work with a tan to help it match his new room. Plus, I love that I still have it in his room. It melts my heart to just think of the time when he was so little.

Just another picture so that Allison can fully see his room.

These are the shelves that house a lot of books, which Rylan has a lot of. I stole this idea from pintrest.com. These are just shelves made out of wood pallets. We asked a neighbor here in town who had some in the alley behind his house if we could have some. He said yes, and so really these shelves were free. Tyson made them all three in 30 minutes. Like I said this room was a team effort. Between Tyson, Tia and me we all contributed. I use the front of them to put flashcards up that I would like for Rylan to see more frequently. I simply put what I want on a notecard and use a clothespin to put it on the shelf.

I love this dresser. Can I just tell you that I got it off of craigslist for $30. I wish I would have taken a before picture but I forgot. It was a dark brown older looking wood, I simply painted it black and left the original knobs. It is perfect for the amount of clothes that I store in Rylan's drawers. Please ignore the ugly closet door, we are trying to get these replaced in both kids rooms.

These initial pictures I also love. These were simply made from things I have here at the house. The only thing purchased was the ship and flag, which were 67 cents at Hobby Lobby. The frames I had, behind the map is a picture of a flower (we just covered it up), and the matting came with the frame. So this was very cheap to make. I used an Atlas for the maps and cardstock for the letters. Tia and I then mapped out a pirates journey to their treasure and marked it with an X.

A closer look.

                      On the bear I simply used the hat and mustache that came in Rylan's gift bag from Cades party. I think it added a touch of pirate, and Rylan talks about the mustache everyday. The monkey above the dresser was another homemade project. I give all of the painting credit to my sweet sister. We found the monkey on sale at Hobby Lobby for $3.25. Kyra painted the monkey, which turned out so adorable, thank you Tia. I had the bulletin board, because when we moved in I found it in a closet. So we added the two and decided to make it a place where we can hang pictures of family and friends for Rylan. I painted the board black and outlined 2 4x6 pictures and 2 5x7 pictures with white paint, and we stenciled the "Ahoy Matey" on the board. After everything dried we simply hot glued the monkey on the board and we had our very own homemade wall art.
     After adding up this room redo I can proudly say that this room was redone for under $200. That includes the $90 pirate bedding. I love this big boy room and I am so proud of my big boy who now sleeps in a big boy bed. Where does time go? It seems like yesterday I was decorating his nursery.

Muleshoe Mules

     Well it is official, we are Muleshoe Mules Fans, especially Rylan. Last Friday we put on our Mule gear (well I put on Tyson's since mine is too small right now) and headed up to support our team. As soon as we drove up to the stadium Rylan started talking about, "Football game Momma, they hurt heads, ow". It was hilarious to hear him go on and on about the football game. However, we did have to correct him that we were at a Mules game and not a Red Raiders game. Once he caught on he wouldn't stop yelling "Go Mules". Our team ended up falling short in the end, but Rylan didn't know the difference. Rylan got a football from a cheerleader, played with all the 13 year old girls, watched the Mule from afar, and he loved the band. He LOVED the game, and talks about it everyday.

Rylan screaming "Football game", all ready to attend his first Mules game.

Rylan and his Daddy, who was so proud that;

1. He was taking his son to watch football where he played when he was in high school,

2. That his son loves football as much as he does.

                   Here I am all ready to go to the game, all 28 weeks of me, and our sweet little girl! Tyson's shirt may not fit for much longer.