It's a......

Girl!!!!!  Yay! Ryan and Whitney found out on my birthday that they were expecting a girl!  Wahoo!  I can't even begin to explain how exciting this is!  A boy would have been great too, of course!  But a girl....Ansley and Brynn? will have so much fun together!

To show just how it all went down....here's a video of us at the gender reveal party (those of us who thought it would be a girl...Pam, Dale, Rene, me, and Ansley.  Those who thought boy...Rick, Agatha, and Jason).  Girl won!

Ansley Harper: 16 Months!

Well, it just keeps getting better and better!  Time spent with you is so precious and we love to watch your little personality blossom!  Everyday you learn something new and watching you figure this big world out makes our lives so fun!  You make our lives so full, Ansley!  

*You are such a little talker these days and echoing so many words we say!  You are pretty good at saying some new words like...please, outside, slide, I love you, baby, thank you, and daddy is your best!

*You are climbing everywhere you can.  Chairs are your favorite thing to climb on and many times there is a bump or a bruise involved, but most of the time a busted lip! 

*Going outside is one of your favorite things to do.  You love to play with your outdoor toys, take wagon rides to see the horses (and stick your finger in their noses!), and you still think it's the best thing in the world to visit with Alleigh (you like to tell her to sit). 

*You enjoy watching Barney and Blue's clues, especially when you're not feeling well or in the mornings.  This is usually when we get our snuggle time in...it's the only time you stay still enough to let us!

*You love to have music playing!  When we're in the car, if you're not talking to me, you want to be singing! It is so precious!

*Speaking of not feeling well, you had your first ear infection at 15 months.  It's been a doosy...we are still trying to fight it off.  You also just had your first stomach bug.  Daddy had to take care of you because mommy was sick too!  It was not a good night (we went through every sheet/blanket in the house)!

*Mrs. Cathy found a bubble bee outfit for your Halloween costume this year, which is absolutely fitting since you are buzzing around everywhere!  You looked pretty darn cute in it!  We wore it to your daddy's half Ironman race and also to the fall block party. 

*You love to blow bubbles with me on the porch and eat the playdoh when I'm not looking.

*We are having lots of fun in your playroom these days.  You could spend hours playing with your kitchen and shopping cart.  I'm pretty sure you will one day be a domestic diva!

*The sweetest thing is watching you give kisses...the smacking sound you make is too much!

*You can be really silly sometimes, flirting is what some may call it :).  You give the cutest grin and look out the sides of your eyes...you can pretty much get whatever you want when you do this!

You are a joy, Ansley!  We thank God daily for the gift he has given us!

Last Weekend's Fun Times!

 This weekend was a packed one!  It was homecoming weekend, so Saturday morning we rode on the St. Francis float.  Their theme this year was pink for breast cancer awareness month, so of course, we were all decked out in our pink.  Jason's coworkers and the SEMO baseball team rode on the float with us and it turned out to be a lot of fun!  The crowds went absolutely wild for the baseball boys!  I'm ashamed to say, I've never been to the homecoming parade, but I will say...the sorority/fraternitys get pretty creative with their floats.  Just seeing them was well worth the trip!

Jason and Ansley getting ready for the pink parade!

 The St. Francis crew

Excited for the floats!

The winning float

Jason, Ryan, and Mark Coots did a half Ironman on Sunday, which means they swam 1.5 miles, biked 65 miles, and ran 13.1 miles.  Can we say...crazy?!  I still can't believe they spent over 5 hours exercising without stopping.  They are serious!  Jason did it in 5 hours and 41 minutes, which he was really proud of.  He deserves to be proud of this tremendous accomplishment...he has trained for this for several months (almost every morning of the week he was up at 4:45 am to exercise).  Way to go, J!!!
 

Jason and Ansley before the big race! 

To see them come out of the water and stumble around was a pretty odd site.  It was as if they had stood up too fast!

He was pumped after a great swim!

Here comes Ryan!

Next up...the bike.

Ansley greeted Jason in her Halloween costume at the finish.

Kisses for daddy after a great race

Matt, Kristi, and Alex came to cheer them on and Ansley enjoyed seeing Alex.

After the race, we all headed to one of the fall block party's that our sunday school class put together. The Underwood's hosted the party outside their house with food, lots of candy, and a movie. Let me say, I've never seen so many kids in one neighborhood! It was such a great way to minister to the community! Here are a few pictures of the block party.

At the Halloween block party with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Whitney

These girls looked too cute in their wings!

This is where Ansley could be found for most of the night.  She loved to pull the ducks out of the water!

Did I mention her arms were soaked from the water?  Yes, yes...they were.  And can you tell...she loved it!

Ansley found Rhiannon and McKinsley's new puppy!

Charlie Brown Pumpkin was playing on a big screen...how sweet!

We had a packed weekend...full of fun and lots of memories!

Beggs Family Farm

We were able to make a stop at Beggs Family Farm for the first time and it was such a treat!  They had so many fun things for the kids...animals, rides, jumpers, mazes, slides...there were too many things to name!  We have been trying to plan a trip there for some time, but it just hasn't worked out yet.  Since Ansley has been a little under the weather recently and is still teething something serious, we weren't sure if we'd make it there this year.  She was acting normal this morning, so we thought we'd give it a try.  You can tell from the pictures that she's not herself...her mouth was like a faucet the entire day!  We had to wear a bib!  We haven't done that for probably 9 months!  Anyways, she had fun for the most part, but the pictures don't show her enthusiasm!  

It was a perfect day!  It got to be a little windy, so Ansley had to put on the sockcap. 

Mimi and Ansley

Ansley would not take her eyes off the pig races for a picture! 

She wanted to take this pig home! She even tried climbing on it's back!

She loves little goats!

If she could crawl in, she would.

Ansley fed them leaves from a tree nearby.  They loved it!

Ansley and I in a barrel/cow.  It was way cute, but I think I was a little too big for it!

Jason puckering up for his camel kiss

Here we are in the GIANT rocking chair.  It was actually pretty comfy!

Ansley Harper's Room!

Kelly's Korner blog theme this week is nurseries, so I thought I would give a glimpse into little Ansley's world!  When we found out Ansley was in fact a girl, pink and green were definitely the colors of choice.  I couldn't wait to pick them out!  This room came together with a whole lot of help from Rick and Pam (Jason and my dad were remodeling our basement at the time) we managed to create a pretty adorable space!  Rick and Pam did all the painting for me and then hung just about everything!  Pam is a pretty accurate taper and hanger and Rick is just always go with the flow!  Because of their help, I was able to accomplish the vision I had intended!  I love it and can't wait until Ansley can really appreciate the love that was put into it.
 Unfortunately, I had to use flash in these pictures (yuck), so just envision it being cuter in person!

 I made Ansley's name that is hanging above the bed with wooden letters and scrapbook paper.

Pom poms by Martha (which I totally should have made myself) and a piggy bank from GG. The canvas art was made by my very talented friend, Ashley and given to me by a friend from church. This is one of my most favorite things in the room! Along with the platter that my sister-in-law, Laura got for me!  The book was made by Pam (also a favorite) and the Willow Tree Angel was a gift while I was pregnant with Ansley.  Look closely...the pink part of the wall was polyurethaned in a stripe pattern to give it an extra shimmer...I think it turned out great!

This scripture is so dear to my heart. I can remember praying this over Ansley while she was in the womb! 

 

This memo board was a shower gift from some of my precious friends that helped get us through those long months of infertility...thanks Mert and Chrisy! I made the lampshade with ribbon and one of the frames was made by my friend, Lilo. It holds one of my most favorite pictures of Jason and Ansley!

More pics to come soon! 

It's official!  I can finally say that Ansley will be getting a new little cousin in March!  Ryan and Whitney are expecting their first baby soon and we can't wait to meet little "B"!

This is the night we found out!  I was shocked (I thought we were going to have to wait another year or so before they had a baby!).  I think I jumped, screamed, and said "are you serious?!" for about five minutes straight!  Little did we know...they found out about little "B" when we were all in Destin...those dogs!  We ate at Saffron (yummy) that night and to get us back to their house, they lured us in by saying Whitney had made her delicious peach dessert.  So we all hurried over there to dig into it...well, lo and behold...there was no pie, but their news definitely made up for no pie!

They brought the grandparents a gift home from Florida...a picture frame for baby "B"

Mrs. Rene and Whitney crying does it for me!  I love this picture!

Pamaw made the shirt Ansley has on in the picture.  This was taken a week or so after we found out.  It reads...I'm the big cousin!

I had to post one more...Ansley looked too cute!

We are so excited for them! 

Our Sickly Little Girl :(

The night before we left for Boston, this sweet little girl got her first fever (104)!  It was so hard to leave this little thing...especially when she looked this pitiful!  She was in good hands while we were gone, but I still wish I could have snuggled with her the whole time she was feeling bad!  Look at this crazy hair!

She also found a hole in her face (I thought this picture was hilarious!) 

 How adorable is this scraggly haired girl?!  Just love it when she smiles!