Thanksgiving Recap

We had a great holiday weekend!  It was full of all my favorite things...family, food, and shopping!  Delaney was thoroughly spoiled by all of her grandparents & aunts & uncles.  We definitely had some reprogramming to do when we got home.  She had over her normal share of "time outs" on Sunday.  She was CRAZY!  Hilarious, but oh so naughty.  I didn't do the greatest job with pictures over the weekend, but here are a few to share! 

 We kicked off the long weekend right, and celebrated my baby brother Chip's 21st birthday.  His birthday was technically on Thanksgiving, so we took him to our hometown bar at 12:00A.M. Thursday morning. I'm getting too old for that, but it was a lot of fun to celebrate with him and see some old friends. 

 My baby sister had quite a bit of fun that night too.  Here she is with one of her long time friends, Abby!  Abby happens to be the little sister to my best friend Amanda!  It's so much fun when we can all get together like when we were kids.  I will apologize now for the hideous nostril self portrait...eww!)

 We did get so spend some quality time with our families over the weekend.  I promise we spent equal time with both sides, but I have no proof of the Menckes this weekend.  We had professional pictures take with them on Saturday. After pictures, I got schooled twice my our nieces Sydney & Jaiden in UNO.  I hadn't played in years, and it showed! 

 Papa was getting a little too cozy with cousin Chase, so Delaney strategically placed herself between Chase and "HER" Papa.  It was pretty cute.  Luckily, Chase didn't seem to mind sharing...

 Delaney is pretty cute with her baby cousin.  She was pretty infatuated with him,and has been talking about him nonstop since we got home.  It's going to be so fun watching these two grow up together.

 Isn't he adorable?!?  I swear this kid is always smiling.  Even when he's having a rough day, and not feeling the best he's still smiling!  I wish I could see him more often!

He had to model the new hat his Momma got for his upcoming 6 month pictures.  Isn't he cute!  I had my first little "miss the baby stage, let's have another one moment" after I fed Chase his bedtime bottle.  He finished in and nuzzled into my shoulder to cuddle.  I miss that soo much!  We won't be having another baby soon, but for the first time I missed having a little, little one.  Within the next year, we 'll talk about it!

Time to Give Thanks!

Time seems to be flying by these days.  I thought I'd take a moment today to stop and be thankful for the many blessing in my life!  The rest of the week is full of family and fun, so I probably won't be back to post until after the holiday! 

My little peanut seems to be growing up so fast these days!  Every day means new words and more personality!  It's hard to keep up sometimes!  Obviously, she is the most wonderful blessing in my life!  She can have me at my wits end, pulling my hair out, and then give me one look and I melt!  (She gets that from her dad!)  She's one of a kind, and I wouldn't trade her for anything!  My world has not been the same since that little, tiny baby entered our world...and I wouldn't give it up for a second! 

After 10 years you'd think you'd get tired of one person, but I can't imagine my world with out my man.  We often drive each other nuts, but there is no one I'd rather fight the good fight with.  He's my best friend and my partner.  I couldn't have chosen a better father for my kids or a better companion for my journey!  I'm sure I take him for granted far more than I should.  I really should work on that more...love you honey!

Obviously, my puppy has taken a bit of back seat over the last 20 months, but I wouldn't give Izzy back for the world!  Aside from her crazy anxiety and shedding, she's pretty much the perfect dog!  She loves to play, but will snuggle like nobody's business!  She tolerates her little sister better than we could have hoped for, and for that I am truly grateful!  She was our first "fur"-baby, and I love that little dog like there's no tomorrow! 

Our home is something I'm grateful for every day!  It keeps everything I love safe and warm.  I can't wait to go home at the end of the day and be at peace!  (This is far easier no that the railroads, "Quiet Zone" has gone into effect!)  Of course we have a list a mile long of upgrades/changes we'd like to make to that house, but we love it!  I'll be very sad to leave it whenever the time comes down the road! 

We have two vehicles sitting in our garage right now that are completely functional and PAID OFF!  This is a huge blessing, and I am so thankful for!  They both get us safely from point A to point B without any trouble!  The miles are racking up on them, but I'm hopeful they'll last a little while longer! 

We are both gainfully employed in a horrible economy!  Although our bills aren't going anywhere, we are surviving!  This is far better than the alternative!  Craig even managed to find a new, better job this year, so that is truly a blessing! 

We have so many wonderful family and friends that love us and our kid like nobody's business!  We are so lucky to have so many amazing people in our lives!  We don't say it enough, but thanks for being you!  I hope everyone takes a little time this week to remind themselves of all the good things in their lives, we have so many blessings in ours! 

Professional sliding with Miss D

We had a fun weekend here at the Mencke house.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner out at the Parthenon Friday night.  It had been quite a while just the three of us had eaten out.  Delaney really like the Greek food, and unexpectedly we got a show with our dinner.  There was a group of belly dancers that put on a performance right as we were finishing our meal.  Delaney, of course, was completely enamored by this.  She smiled and danced along. 

Last night, we traveled up to Omaha to celebrate Craig's brother's and nephew's birthdays.  Tyler's birthday was Friday and Brent's was today, so we split the difference and got together last night with everyone.  We had dinner at Farmer Brown's in Waterloo.  If you love a good small town steakhouse, this is a great one!  We all ate too much and then had DQ ice cream cake afterwards.  It was a fun family night!  Delaney even fell asleep on the way home, which is rare these days, so it was a great success! 

Today we had a quiet day at home.  It started off with another crappy football game at noon, that for some reason wasn't even on regular TV.  The ol' Green & Gold came through for us though this afternoon with a big win in San Diego.  It restored a little faith in our football teams, given how awful the Husker game and the Chiefs game tuned out it was a little bleak for a while!  (ouch!!)   Between games, we got Delaney out in the backyard to enjoy the weather.  Uncle Chip even came over to hang out for a while!  She went wild as usual, and demonstrated some killer sliding techniques on her swing set.  I thought you might enjoy some pictures & a  little video!