Time flies...

Time seems to be zooming by these days!  The kids are growing and changing by the minute, we have about 8 home improvement projects going right now, we are both busy at work, and we seem to be constantly busy!  It's great, wonderful, and exhausting!   I've been slacking with this little blog of mind, but I want to look back and remember some of these things.  So, here's a little catch up!

The kids have been loving playing outside with some of the nice weather we've had recently!  Cooper especially enjoys exploring the outdoors.  The problem is he is BUSY and loves to throw things in the street.  Thanks God we live on a quiet street without much traffic!

After months of letters, meetings, and appeals, we finally got Delaney into Cavett Elementary School for Kindergarten next year!  This makes our lives so much easier since Cavett is right next door to Holly's (daycare), and it makes this little girl sooooo excited for school.  She's counting down the days!  She is so ready!

The kids have been very interested in all the projects going on at home.  Cooper loves to play with all of Daddy's tools and try to "help"!  We just finished up the Master Bathroom, and it looks pretty great.  We just need to give it a good cleaning and add some new towels, and we should be good to go!  

Delaney had her Dance Recital in mid-April!  She danced to "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid, and she did so good!  Last year she had a bit of stage fright, but this year she was all about the performance!  She was so excited, and is already talking about next year!

Cooper is fearless and ALL BOY!  He loves to go fast, play hard, and get dirty!  He requires a bath every night, and hears "no" about 100,000 times a day!  He wants to be a big kid so much, so that makes life hard.  He is growing it seems, so he's finding even more ways to get into trouble.

A quick and easy home improvement project was to give the front door a little make-over.  We had painted the shutters black, and so the door got a sexy red paint job!  I love it, and so wish we would have done it sooner!  

Last weekend between rain showers, we had a busy day outside!  We planted flowers and a few veggies.  It was hot and humid, so Delaney begged for water.  We didn't have any of the sprinklers out yet, so we set up the hose in the tree for a redneck sprinkler.  They both had a ball!  It was a fun, family day at home!  

Cooper is fascinated by bubbles!  Delaney loves to blow them, and he loves to chase!   It's a great pastime!

Delaney has been super into basketball lately.  Our favorite neighbors have a basketball hoop set up on the curb for some street ball, so D has been working on her skills.  She makes more shots than I would have expected!  She seems to be growing up so much here lately, where did my little girl go?!?

The biggest house project took over a year to complete, but it is finally done.  Last year, Craig replaced some of the boards and the steps of the deck.  We let it dry out, and so this year he stained it.  It looks soooo much better.  We discovered our deck furniture needs to be replaced, so I'm anxiously waiting to get it all set up out there so we can enjoy it!  

We've had a week of crappy, raining weather.  The storms rolled in last night and dropped 7 inches of rain on Lincoln.  Our basement is dry, but our roof might be failing.  With more storms predicted for tonight and this weekend, it might get interesting.  Here are my 3 kids lined up with snacks watching the storms coming in last night!  Crazy kids!

Delaney turns 5

Well, it's been a while since our last update!  Life has been a little crazy around here...lots of sickness, busy weekends, and lots of travel!  I'm exhausted!  Most of it has been fun, but it's been a little intense!  The house needs some TLC one of these days from me (OR A CLEANING LADY!), and sooner or later we'll all get on a normal sleep scheduled, but life is good!  We have a BIG occasion this week...yesterday, Miss Delaney Jo turned 5-years-old!!!  I can't  believe it!

Delaney was so excited for her birthday this year!  She woke up and got all dressed up for Holly's!  She couldn't wait to start the day devoted to her!  She seems so grown up here!  Five seems like a big deal, like our little girl is gone and now we have this big girl that's starting school next fall!  She is so smart and funny, she says things every day that surprise me and make me laugh.  Her vocabulary has expanded tremendously lately, probably from the incessant questions she's always asking!  She is curious and inquisitive, and she won't settle for a less than sufficient answer!  I hope this is the same when she starts school in August!  

Delaney isn't a fan of frosting (unless it's chocolate), so a traditional birthday cake won't cut it for her!  She requested ice cream sundaes with all the fixing for her birthday night dessert.  We invited our favorite neighbors, Tim, Ali, and Greyson, over to join us!  It was a fun way to end the big day for our princess!  Delaney continues to be a kid that knows what she wants and isn't afraid to tell you!  She is independent, outgoing, and a bit of a diva!  We wouldn't have her any other way!

We baked some chocolate chip cookie bars (her request, or course!) to take to share with her friends at Holly's for her birthday treat!  Delaney helped with the entire baking process, she even cracked the eggs all by herself!  She loves to help in the kitchen!  Someday I hope to have a bigger kitchen which will make it easier for her to be involved!  She seems to be able to do things that surprise me all the time!  She is "improving" and "perfecting" some skills I didn't even know she had!  She is really an amazing kid, and I'm so proud to call her mine!  

Since her birthday fell in a middle of the week, we celebrated a little early last weekend.  Since Cooper got to have his birthday party at Grandma & Papa Farm's house, naturally Delaney wanted her party at Grandma & Papa Tekamah's house!  It works out nice since it's close for everyone and both of the Grandma's have bigger houses!  Delaney LOVES to be in her PJs, so we went with a pajama party theme this year!  It was so fun!  Pretty much everyone played along and came in their best PJs.  I wish we would have taken some family photos though...

Since we had the same non-frosting issue at the party, I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided what better "cake" for a pajama party!  It was a total hit with everyone, especially the birthday girl, and was the easiest birthday cake ever!  

A close-up shot of the Donut Cake!  

I had made a birthday posted for Cooper's birthday, so Delaney needed one too!  This highlights Delaney in a nutshell at 5 years old!  I think it turned out pretty good considering there was far more free-hand on her sign compared to Cooper's!  She was pleased, and it is proudly displayed in her new room.  Yes, she decided about a month ago she was tired of listening to Cooper cry at night, so she has moved to the bedroom in basement!  We have gradually been tweaking it into a fun, Frozen-ish, room for her, and she has done so well with the transition!  I thought she was years away from being able to move downstairs, but she has proven me wrong!  She sleeps great, and loves having her own space again!  Such a big girl!

Out little peanut seems all grown up these days!  She is thoughtful, smart, funny, challenging, relentless, exhausting, happy, excited, curious, eager, sweet, kind, independent, loving, and so much  more!  The transition with Cooper was tough for her, but I think we are finally on the "other side" , and she's come a long way!   She's grown up so much here lately!  She is so excited to go to school next fall, and she is so ready!  She will be an excellent student!  Five seems so bittersweet for me, but I'm so proud of her and can't what to see what's next for her!  We love her more than words can say!  Our Delaney Jo is growing up whether we like it or not!