Lance's 30th Bday and 1st Snow

We had a lot going on these past couple of days! Friday we went to gymnastics. Ansley did great once again and she really enjoys it. Since her last class, all Ansley has been talking about is the star stamp she got. This time she got a turkey stamp!

After gymnastics we went to eat with Lance. We stopped and got him his favorite dessert first, strawberry cheesecake! Ansley also gave Lance her bday present. With help from me, we wrote '30 Reasons Why I Love My Daddy' and framed it so that he can keep it at work and look at it every day!

30 Reasons Why I love my Daddy

"Anyone can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a daddy." – Anonymous

 1. You are my buddy

2. You tell me everyday that you love me

3. You are my hero

4. You explain things to me, even when I ask “what’s that” a million times

5. You are supportive

6. You give me unconditional love

7. You are hard-working

8. You believe in me

9. You are always there for me

10. You protect me

11. You are funny

12. You encourage me

13. You are smart

14. You make me feel safe

15. You are tender

16. You teach me right from wrong in a kind, loving way

17. You are patient

18. You read to me, over and over and over again

19. You are silly

20. You teach me new things like numbers and the ABC’s

21. You are brave and courageous

22. You make a great breakfast

23. You are kind and thoughtful

24. You plan ahead and you are well prepared

25. You are confident

26. You get excited when I learn something new, especially if you taught me

27. You love shopping for shoes and I love new shoes

28. You show me that I’m beautiful on the inside and out

29. You show me how men are supposed to treat women by the way you treat, respect and love my mommy

30. You are a man of God,

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

 Happy 30th Birthday Daddy!

I love you! Love Ansley

She of course fell sound asleep on the way home!

Saturday we drove to Mankato to 'ChiliFest' (http://www.mankatochilifest.com/). One of Lance's trainers at work had entered his chili so a bunch of the guys from Federated went to support him. On the hour trip to Mankato it was raining, but as soon as we pulled into the parking lot it had turned to snow. We enjoyed about 20 or so different types of chili and then we decided to head back to Owatonna. There was over an inch of snow on the ground when we left and it had already stopped snowing. I guess in some places in MN, the roads got pretty bad cause they said on the news that they had about 200 wrecks reported within 3 hours! Crazy! I thought these people knew how to drive up here! :)

Although we weren't able to take Ansley outside to play in the snow,

she did get to enjoy a snowball that AJ made her!

Then she decided to throw the 'ball'

I knew it was a big bday for Lance so I wanted to do something special, but I just didn't know what so I asked Jen and Allison if they had any ideas and Jen suggested a surprise party. She had all these great ideas so I enlisted her to be the party planner and pretty much all I did was get the supplies! She and AJ even volunteered to have it at their house. It worked out great that the ChiliFest was that morning cause it keep us busy til it was time. Boy, was Lance surprised!!! I don't have too many pics right now from the party, but as soon as I get them I will share cause Jen did a great job with everything!!! Since UT was playing, we decided to do a UT orange party, so we had orange foods, orange drinks, and everybody wore a cut-out "T"!

Yes, Jen even made the cake!!! It was awesome and YUMMY!!!

there was orange punch and even "T" water bottles!

"From the lakes of Minnesota...."

I had given pics to Jen of some of Lance's milestones throughout his 30 years

"to the hills of Tennessee..."

there were pics from birth till recent with everything in between

It was really sweet!

A HUGE thank you to Jennifer and AJ for all your help and Patrick and Allison!! I appreciate everything, especially our friendships!!! Without you guys this would not have been possible!!!

Also, thank you to everyone who came to the party and who also helped!

Happy birthday buddy!!! LOVE YOU OLD MAN! :)

 

We can't wait to see everyone for THANKSGIVING!!!

Only 3 more days!

 Pray for us as we travel!

Ansley's 1st Gymnastics Class!

Considering the winters are pretty rough up here, I have been worried that Ansley is going to go crazy being inside so much so I started looking into things to do and I came across gymnastics class. Last Friday was her 1st class. (We missed the very 1st class because we were home in TN.) I was kinda nervous because Ansley can be a little clingy to me, but I was willing to at least try it. I found her a little leotard while I was back at home in TN from 'The Adorable Child' which is a consignment store and I could not wait to see her in it!!!

She loved it!

checking herself out in the mirror before class

This is the only 'full body' pic I could get

cause she was being a stinker and didn't want me to take her pic

So we walked into the gym and there were already 2 other mom's and kids there. I noticed that the moms also had their shoes off so I asked them, why? Keep in mind that this is not only Ansley's first class, but mine as well! The other moms told me that we do the class as well to help out with the instructors. Hmmm....I didn't realize that I was taking gymnastics class too!! :) Anyways, me and Ansley rocked the class! :) She got to do 'flips' or forward rolls, walk on the balance beams, and play on the mats! Ansley did great and absolutely LOVED the class!!

I don't have to many pics cause I was right there helping her, but here are some....

After the class she got a star stamp and she was really proud of her stamp....

she wouldn't even hold her hand still to show me...

She was one tired little girl on our way home!

 

Can't wait for class this week!

Winterizing

We have a lot to learn about 'winterizing' for our first northern winter! Last week we were supposed to get our first snow, up to 6 inches! Then they changed it and said that we would just get 1-3 inches. If you know me and Lance then you know we LOVE snow (we might change our tune after this winter) so we were excited, but we are not ready for the snow. So we decided that we needed to get a snow shovel. Now, the duplex we live in keeps the back of the duplex plowed (where the garage is) and the city keeps the street in front of our place plowed, so all we really have to 'shovel' ourselves is the path for the mailman. If you don't have a clear path to your mailbox, then they won't deliver your mail and they will eventually fine you. I know, crazy, but you have to understand that a mailman actually walks from house to house and puts mail in a 'mailbox' on your porch, there aren't too many mailboxes on the street. Anyways, we decided to go to Fleet Farm  (http://www.fleetfarm.com/) which is an awesome store! It is like a mix of a Wal-Mart, Co-op, Lowe's, and Home Depot all in one store!

Who knew that there would be sooooo many choices for snow shovels!!!

isle 1

isle 2

Ansley had a blast helping...

Anyways, after about 45 mins we finally made our choice....apparently for it to be a 'good' snow shovel you need one that is either all metal or has a metal tip on it so you can chip through the ice. I'm not sure if I'm ready for my first northern winter!! We also bought some salt and ice scrapers for our vehicles. Once we got home, we could hear the salt trucks and we were getting excited. After spending all night getting ready for the first snow, it didn't even end up snowing. It went southeast of us, but we aren't too upset cause we know that the snow is coming soon enough!

Recently I noticed some red sticks along the driveway when I was getting the car out of the garage. I didn't think too much about the sticks til I got to work at the hospital and noticed they had sticks as well around the curbs. So I asked a girl who i work with and who is from here, what the deal is with the sticks. While she was laughing, she explained to me that the sticks are there so the snow plows know where the curbs are and where to plow! Are you kidding me!?!

Not sure if you can tell or not, but here are the 'sticks'

One we first moved here, I noticed that the fire hydrants had these long poles attached to them and I just ASSUMED they were some kind of GPS to help locate the fire hydrants. Nope the long poles are so they can be found in the snow...it makes sense now! :)

Starting tomorrow, November 15th, we begin even/odd parking....which is where you park one day on the even side of the street and the next day on the odd side of the street. They do this for the snow plows...crazy!

Have I mentioned that it is gonna be a LOONNGGG winter!!! :)

Only 9 more days till our visit home for Thanksgiving!

Continue to pray for us and our adventure!

We love and miss you guys!

Halloween and trip to TN

We had a great trip home to TN this past week! It was really nice to be home for the week and it was really nice to be home for Halloween! This year Ansley was a moo and a pretty darn cute one at that!

notice the sucker in this pic

notice the sucker is gone...this is what happens when you take her sucker! :)

Let me begin with the start of our trip home. Once again, Ansley did great on the flight! We had a direct flight for our flight to TN, which was really really nice!

Once we got into town Saturday afternoon and went straight to Granny and Papa Chapman's house to help celebrate Granny Chapman's 80th birthday! We got to celebrate with Mimi, PJoe, Granny, Papa, Uncle T, Aunt A and the girls!

Ansley and Chloe catching up :)

After cake and ice cream, Travis and Lance went to the UT football game so me and Ansley helped get the girls ready for Trunk-or-Treat.

Leah (80's girl), Ansley (Derek Dooley), Hannah (Morticia), and Chloe (50's girl)

Sunday we went to 'Sunday Dinner' at Granny Wallace's and then we went to see Granny Freeman.

After visiting with Granny Freeman, Lance actually had to go to Louisville, KY to work. Me and Ansley went to the wedding of one of my really good friend growing up. It was a beautiful wedding and Ashley was a beautiful bride!

my super cute date for the night! :)

Beautiful Bride!

Monday we went to Norris to Trick-or-Treat!

Anna Kay, Foust, Eberle, Ansley, and Allie

Allie taking Ansley to her first house to trick-or-treat!

Funny story, we went over to Frits and Emily's to eat before we went out trick-or-treating and while we where there we were playing with their new puppy Zoomer, who decided it would be fun to go after Ansley's cow tail. As funny as it was, Ansley didn't like it one bit! To this day, if you mention Zoomer she will say 'tail, Zoomer tail' and make a sad face. She is devastated that Zoomer got her tail!

During our time back in TN, Ansley got some quality time in with Papa....

they checked on the moo's and goats

and they took lots of naps together!

Ansley got another haircut....

Ansley also had her 19 month check up....

So she's a lil petite :)

Here are some random pics from the week.....

Ansley helping sweep leaves off of Granny Wallace's deck

of course we went to Hammer's!

silly girl!

reading with Granny Freeman

We had a great visit home and it was so nice to not only see family, but MOUNTAINS! :) We had an uneventful flight back to MN. We got settled back into our routine; Ansley had swim lessons Monday night, we went to story time at the library Tuesday morning (where Ansley got upset because they didn't read Llama Llama Red Pajama), work a couple of days and Friday will be Ansley's first gymnastics class! Hopefully it will go good...fingers crossed! :)

Only 14 more days til our visit home for Thanksgiving!

Please pray for us and our adventures and our travels!

LOVE Y'all :)