Yucko Stucco & Dan's birthday

One of the worst jobs by far has been putting stucco on the house (although climbing in the attic with the dead rats to lay insulation was by far the absolutely worst). Probably one of the hardest aspects of this project, within the project, is that we totally under estimated how hard stucco ing is. I even had one guy stop by and ask if we would pay him to do it, and I turned him away. I have been kicking myself all weekend for that! By this point we would pay just about any amount for someone to do this part of the project for us. It took us a full day and a half to get the first layer up, we'll see how long layers 2 and 3 take. Hopefully not another full weekend!

One aspect that makes this part so difficult, is that the boys can't be around it, near it, or touch it. That sums up everything they do when exploring a new situation....see it, touch it, feel it. AH! Needless to say, our patience is short, and we are weary! God please give us the patience and endurance we need to complete this part of the task!

The other bummer aspect of our weekend, was that it was Dan's birthday. Yes, poor guy spent the weekend on a yucko project! We managed to take Sunday off, and not touch the stucco. I think we all needed our space from it! Unfortunately Dan didn't get the day off helping me out in the nursery! He didn't mind though, I put one of his favorite volunteers in there with him, Sara, and got him butter cookies for snack time! I also bribed him first thing with an eclair for breakfast! (An old Hacker family tradition for your birthday breakfast treat) Dan does attribute this to the fact that he got at least one spanking on every birthday. I guess by the time you're 31, you start to figure these things out. Needless to say, he didn't allow the boys to have an eclair on Sunday before church. When we all woke up from naptime, we celebrated Dan's birthday with the family. I had gotten a mini ice cream cake, and we all sang and blew out the candles. Nathan and Drew were a big help!

Contemplating the risk, to lick or not to lick?

To lick.
and little brother I am not going down alone!

Mmm good. It was worth it!

If I can just suck hard enough,
I know I can get that last bit under my fingernail.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Later that night Dan and I met up some of our friends from church and had a wonderful evening at Bonefish Grill. We sat for almost three hours and enjoyed an evening without kids! Now that's a true birthday celebration!