Weekend with Chase

We started off the weekend Friday night with a 65th Wedding Anniversary celebration for Craig's grandparents!  I will have to get pictures from his mom, as I managed to not take any!  After the dinner, Craig headed back to Lincoln to prepare for his boys trip down to Kansas City for the Chiefs game.  If you are at all familiar with our household football preferences, you'll know we had a rough weekend!  The Huskers lost, the Chiefs lost, the Packers lost, and it looks like we'll both be losing our first week of fantasy football (I have a last chance to take the lead tonight in the San Diego vs. Oakland game...fingers crossed!)  It was a rough weekend for football fans like us!

Delaney and I stayed up North to spend some time with Chase (& his lovely parent) who came to Tekamah to meet us in the middle.  We hadn't seen them since Okoboji, which was almost 2 months ago!  Chase has changed so much!  He is full on toddler now, running and keeping up with Delaney as best he can!  The kids had a lot of fun playing, fighting, and getting spoiled by their doting grandparents.  It's going to be so much fun watching these two grow up together!  We're all still adjusting to them not living in Tekamah, but it is fun to all shack up under one roof for a couple nights!

After nap time on Saturday, we took the kids for a walk over to visit Grammy H!

We expected a lot of kicking and fighting, but they rode so nice together in the wagon!  It was so cute, Chase would point things out to Delaney along the way and she would respond as if he was giving her a grand tour of the city!

We rolled the wagon right on into Grammy's room and gave all the residents quite the parade!  She said she was bored that day, so we gave her a little excitement with the two little ones!

Then, Papa came home from work and both the kids were sooo excited to see them!  They have trouble sharing their grandparents...good thing Papa has a lap big enough for the two of them!

Weekend Wrap-up

We had a good Memorial Day weekend full of friends, family, parties, & fun!  So much fun, in fact, that I didn't take ONE, single picture!  I'm getting pretty bad about that!  All of these pictures are of the last few weeks from my phone. 

Saturday night, Craig & I had our 10 year High School Reunion.  We had about half of our classmates show up, so it was fun to catch up with some of them.  It's pretty crazy to think how many of us live within about 100 miles of Tekamah, and we haven't seen some of them since the day we graduated.  Two of my favorite people on the planet conspired against me at the party, and I ended up having a little bit (WAY) too much fun!  I sure paid for it on Sunday!  In fact, I'm still exhausted and half a headache...

Sunday we celebrated Chase's 1st birthday with a Monster themed party!  In my hungover state, I didn't document it at all, but it was a lot of fun!  Lots of family, great food, and lots of laughs!  Delaney had a great time, and Chase hung in there pretty well for going on no nap!  He was pretty timid with his little Monster cake, and he got bored with his gifts after about two of them.  His favorite thing was the tissue paper in the gift bags!  He is a full-time walker now, and he's very curious so they will have a busy summer of chasing him around ahead of them.  Poor little guy had tubes put in his ears on Tuesday morning.  He made it in and out of surgery without any trouble, so let's hope he's done with those pesky ear infections! 

We made it back home late Sunday afternoon, and walked into the sauna that was our house.  When we got home it was 85 degrees in there, and the AC was running.  It didn't take Craig longer than about 20 seconds to realize we had a big problem.  Given that the AC unit is 13 years old, we figured it was toast and braced for the worse.  Since it was Sunday night of a holiday weekend, we had to tough it out for a couple days.  We all took cold showers before bedtime, ran every fan we had, and slept with as many windows open as we could.  When you have a freight train track in the backyard, this is a major challenge.  The good news is that it was just some small piece that was bad, and it was really dirty so after a few replacements and a good thorough cleaning we are back up & running!   A couple hours of work and $300 later we are comfortable once again!  (We were expecting to have to put in a whole new AC, which would have been around $3000 so to say we were thankful is a major understatement!)

Monday we tried to stay out of our house as much as we could as it was HOTT in there!  We had a picnic at the park, and D got in some serious playtime at the playground.  She settled in for a long nap Monday afternoon before we grilled some dinner with Uncle Chip & Aunt Lauren!  I did manage to get all our laundry done, so that was a success!

Delaney wanted a picture with her Elmo!  That girl LOVES Elmo!

A couple weeks ago we checked out Pioneers Park for a while.  Delaney got up close & personal with some geese!  Of course, she loved it!  I'm sure we'll be making another trip out there soon with proper geese-feeding supplies!

Little Miss D is becoming quite the challenging grocery shopping companion.  She doesn't like riding in the cart much anymore, and she likes to help with everything...including pushing the cart...

This is what a 3 1/2 hour nap does for Delaney!  One happy girl!

Delaney has developed an infatuation with watering plants.  She loves to help, even if she waters more mulch than plants!  Izzy makes a good supervisor!

She's very independent with pretty much everything these days.  She climbs up into the carseat by herself and buckles herself in.  After I tighten her up, she'll tell me if she wants to wear her sunglasses or if she wants her window or the moon roof open or closed.  Very bossy, this one! 

KC Weekend

Last weekend, Craig and I did something we hadn't done in almost 2 years.  We left town alone together.  Amazing enough, we made it home in one piece without killing each other!  We headed down to KC for the Kenny Chesney concert!  He came to Arrowhead on tour with Uncle Kracker, Billy Currington, & the Zac Brown Band.  This was a show like we've never seen.  Even if you are not a county music fan, you must see Kenny in concert!  It's no wonder he's won Entertainer of the Year so many times!  While in KC we also enjoyed some shopping at the Plaza and the Legends Outlet Mall, as well as some seriously good food!  It was a wonderful weekend away, and Delaney was royally spoiled by Grandma Mencke back home in Lincoln!

 I swear I am too short to do self photography of us, so this is the best I got!  We were on the sunny side of the stadium in the 100+ degree heat!  It was steamy, but so fun!

 Kenny always makes a "dramatic" entrance!  He rose up from a little tent hut thing set up in the middle of the field!  Pretty sweet!

 Craig wanted proper documentation of the shirt Kenny wore...Craig had seriously considered purchasing this same shirt earlier this morning.  He must have good taste!

 I thought this turned out pretty cool!  Someday I'll get one of those really sweet cameras, so I can zoom in on the actual person instead of the jumbo screens...for now, this will do!

For the Encore, Kenny came back out and brought Zac Brown back out for a few songs!  It was by far my favorite part of the show!  It also happened to be Zac's birthday, so we all got to sing to him! 

Thanks for the fun weekend away honey!  Happy late 28th Birthday & early 3rd Anniversary!

Crazy Weekend

We had a fun-fill crazy weekend! By Sunday night, we were all exhausted! We had a surprise visit from Jess & Nick Friday night. They joined us on our date night to the Chocolate Lover's Fantasy! OMG! It was heaven! We enjoyed some delicious desserts! The chocolate ganache cake was my favorite! Jess & Nick headed for home Saturday afternoon after some quality time with Miss D. We hadn't seen them since Christmas, so it was sooo fun to spend a little time with them. Jess is all baby...she's getting that look that she's smuggling a basketball under her shirt! It's adorable!

We spent the rest of Saturday preparing the food for the big game. Craig made a trip to Sams, and I headed to HyVee after Delaney went to bed. Sunday, we got up and started getting ready. We had a house-full for the game. It was a lot of fun. All but two of our guests came from Omaha, which was so nice since we don't see them all that much! I'm a little nervous for Delaney's birthday party, since we will be doubling the amount of people...it will all work out, I'm sure!

Of course, the biggest news of the weekend is that my team won the Super Bowl! Go Packers! I'm not as boisterous as my dad & brother, but I was totally stoked that they pulled it off. It got a little hairy there in the second half, but it all worked out in the end! Craig has already started the countdown to next season...

Yesterday, we got some very sad news. Our 19-year-old neighbor, Lisa, was found dead Saturday night here in Lincoln. There are a lot of unanswered questions as to what happened. We visited with her dad last night, and our hearts go out to him. Please keep this entire family in your prayers, as they could really use them right now.

Spoiled Rotten

Delaney playing with Grandma Jaccie & Daddy

Little Miss D spent the weekend getting spoiled rotten by all of her grandparents and her aunt and uncles. She was completely doted on from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. This is one lucky little girl! She got to spend some time with all of her grandparents and great grandparents, as well as her Aunt Jess & Uncle Nick who she hadn't seen for almost 2 months! She even saw her Uncle Brent & Aunt Buffye for a little while and Uncle Chip & Lauren. She has been trying to recover for two days. She's taken some serious naps at daycare! Here she is with all her peeps!

Delaney & Grandpa Gordy

Over the weekend, Izzy got really sick again with her bladder infection. She was one sad little puppy while we were home. She's been battling this for quite a while. Our vet yesterday discovered that Izzy is on the verge of getting stones in her bladder, so we are trying to prevent that! We are now on the most powerful antibiotic available and a prescription dog food for two weeks. Then, she'll spend an entire day at the vet for further observation. Poor puppy, it's so sad to watch her suffer!

One sick puppy, Izzy

It seems like everyone has been sick lately. Craig missed a day of work last week, Izzy's sick, Delaney's cousins have been sick--Tyler had a 106 degree fever this morning! (He's doing better now, thank God!) It seems like so many people are fighting off crazy viruses. It's no fun for anyone! I hope everybody starts feeling better soon! I've been drinking my orange juice and washing my hands hoping to stay healthy!

Delaney & Cousin Sydney

While I'm writing, I'll share my awesome story from today. We had Delaney's 6 month pictures taken this evening, and last night I tried on the outfit I had planned for her to wear only to find that she has not yet grown into it. Needless to say, I panicked and decided to make a trip down to South Pointe at lunch today to find a last minute replacement. As I was walking up to the BabyGap, I caught my flip flop on a seam in the sidewalk. Next thing I know, my purse is flying, and I'm face down sprawled out on the concrete. My hands are cut, my knees are bruised and scraped. Of course it was a beautiful day at lunchtime, so there were a ton of people sitting on nearby benches enjoying the show. Three nice ladies helped me collect my purse contents and helped me to my feet. Honestly, why does this stuff always happen to me? The only bright side was that I somehow managed to not rip my new jeans even though I scraped my knees underneath. Thanks goodness! I wish someone was taping me, as I'm sure I could have won some money!

Delaney partying at the farm!

So, we had Delaney's 6 month pictures taken tonight. She was such a good girl. She didn't totally cut loose and ham it up, but she did so well! She sit, she stood, she smiled, and she stuck her tongue out a lot! I can't wait to see how they turn out, but we'll have to wait a couple weeks for the proofs! Craig got a little creative with some of the shots, so we'll see how those look! I'll post a link as soon as I have one!

Delaney & Great Grandpa Gerald

So, I know you don't care what I have to say, so I'll leave you with a few more pictures. Enjoy!

Delaney & Aunt Jessica

Delaney & Uncle Nick

Delaney & Great Grandma Hassler

What a Weekend!

We had a really fun weekend! We got to go home to Tekamah/Herman for the first time in a couple months. It was a long overdue trip! We got to spend some quality time with our families and enjoy what might be the last childless trip home! My Pampered Chef show at Jessica's on Saturday was a huge success...the biggest show I've had to date! Our baby shower on Sunday was so much fun! Auntie Jessica really outdid herself. We were again super spoiled by our families. Baby Mencke now has a serious stock of diapers built up, which is so great! We also got some other great necessities! I'm thinking it's about time I start getting the baby things washed and organized!

Last night, the Tekamah-Herman Boys Basketball team qualified for the state tournament for the first time in 22 years! Both of my cousins, Jacob & Trevor, are on the starting lineup. We made the trip up to Fremont to watch them play last night, which was a lot of fun! We're looking forward to cheering them on next week right here in Lincoln! I think Hotel de Mencke will be booked! It will be another fun weekend!

Nothing really new to report on Baby Mencke! Same old thing...swelling, no sleep, and back aches! The baby continues to kick me just in case I forget it's in there! My ribs are getting a little sore because of that! We are still struggling with Baby Girl names, so let us know if you have any suggestions! We're running out of time!

It's official...

I have the ever-so-popular "baby itch" that inevitably hits most women at some point in their lives. My itch has been growing for months now (pretty much since the wedding), but the last few weeks have gotten pretty serious. Craig's not "there" yet, but I'm working on him!

It's probably not helping that yesterday I got to hold a newborn for the first time in a couple years. I also spend a lot of time reading other blogs about people with their new babies or the tales of pregnant women. It seems like there's a baby boom going on these days!

My thing is we're married, we have a house, we both have good jobs...why wait? Are we financially ready, probably not, but then again will we ever be? I doubt it! Do we have a good support system, I would like to think so? Are we ready to be parents...I think so! (OK maybe not so much yet for Craig, but I know he would be when the time came! I can't wait to see him as a Dad!)

In other news, not much going on! We're headed back home for the weekend. We're going to catch one of Chip's baseball games and hopefully get a tour of Jessica & Nick's new house. They should be closing hopefully tomorrow! We'll also visit the grandparents and hang with the 'rents! Should be a fun weekend!