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!

The Baby Gate Disaster

I have a story to share that I hope gives you all a chuckle and brightens you day because this event created serious havoc in the Mencke household last night. It was just an ordinary evening. We had just given Delaney an emergency bath due to a poop explosion, and I was getting her all lotioned up and into her pj's. Craig decides that this would be the optimum time to install the baby gate we've had for the last 3 months. So, I continue about my routine, and then give Delaney a little more floor time before bed while I check my email. Delaney starts getting sleepy, so I make her a bedtime bottle and take her into her room to feed her. Just as I'm laying her in her crib asleep, Craig starts yelling for me--saying he needs my help.

I come out to help him, and he's cussing at the wall and missing the drill bit for his drill. I put on my coat and venture out into the cold garage to look for it. I squeeze myself in front of his truck towards his tool bag. As I'm out there, I can hear various obscenities coming from the house and see a scared little puppy sneaking up behind me in the garage. Somehow, I miraculously find the missing drill bit in the bottom of the dark tool bag. I reload all the tools into the bag, and head back inside to discover that things have taken a serious turn towards chaos.

Apparently, the screws (sent with the gate) had decided to start stripping and get stuck. This lit an already sparking fuse in Craig. He couldn't get the screws out with the "reverse" setting on the drill, so he decided prying them out with a hammer would be a logical solution. Of course, he was completely infuriated by this point so as he's prying the screws out of the wall, he leaves a nice dent/crack in the wall along with a big hole from the screw he just took out. Then, I stand back and watch as my 27-year-old 6'5" husband morphs into a screaming, three-year-old throwing a massive temper tantrum. Looking back now, I should have grabbed the video camera and recorded this scene as it was entertaining to say the least. I haven't seen him lose it like that in years.

Next thing I know, there is drywall and and dust flying everywhere and you'd think Craig was Rocky or something the way he was wailing away at our wall. I swear I heard a little "Eye of the Tiger" in my head. I finally got him to stop punching the wall after about five swings. He then turns around and kicks the box from the gate clear across our living room into the kitchen. He continues to kick it while I'm screaming at him to calm down and the dog disappears downstairs. Then, he goes back and takes a couple more whacks at the wall in case there was any doubt about how he felt at that moment.

He managed to break open one of his knuckles which started bleeding pretty good, so I had some pretty sweet blood smear on my wall. This was about when I discovered the dog was no where to be found. I checked all over the upstairs--under our bed, in Delaney's room, under the kitchen table, she's not there. For all I know, she got hit by some debris and is bleeding somewhere with a chunk of drywall in her eye! I call for her, and call her for her and nothing happens. I decide she must be downstairs, and head down to find her shaking like a leaf hiding behind one of our tables. She will not go back upstairs after several minutes of petting and coaxing from me. I physically have to carry her upstairs and sit with her on the couch for a long time before she'll even look at Craig. He terrified her--not hurt, poor thing!

So, Craig then cut a huge square whole around his damage to "even it out". He cleaned up his mess, and then cleaned up his hand. The only good thing was that Delaney remained sound asleep throughout this entire ordeal, but I was fuming. We have a guy Craig knows from work coming tomorrow to start the patch process. He was going to have his brother help him, but that might be a few weeks since they are moving into their house this weekend. I think the huge whole of embarrassment and failure is eating at Craig. He doesn't want to wait, so we're going to get it fixed by a professional. Then, I have to pick out paint colors...I'm pushing for repainting the entire room because in all honesty it needs it, but we'll see what's in the budget.