Football, snow, & playdates...

Those are just a few of the things that we've been busy with over the past couple of weeks.  Two weeks ago we headed out into the cold Saturday wind to watch the IA/MN football game.  Our friend Erin, and her adorable little guy Carter spent the night with us on Friday so they joined Nate & me as well.  Ava & Grant just loved Carter.  They are still asking about him.  Ava is so sweet with babies, very nurturing.  Grant was also very gentle with him and just loved him.  Ava & Grant did not join us for the football game.  We bit the bullet and hired a sitter for the day.  We had such a great time tailgating with friends and enjoying the great game and HUGE victory over IA.  With 4 pair of pants, 4 shirts, 2 pair of socks, and my winter gear I didn't even get cold.  :)

Sunday morning we tried out a new church about 10 minutes from here called Hosanna.  Ava was excited to go to Sunday school, and Grant was actually pretty good hanging with us in church.  I wasn't quite ready to see if he would be ok in the 2 yr old room, since it seemed to be quite full with a few crying kids as we walked by.  We really enjoyed the service, and went back again last week.  Ava likes it there, and so do Nate and I.  I'm hopeful that we have found a new church for our family that doesn't require a 45 minute drive.  As much as we will miss Plymouth Covenant, it will be so nice to have a church so close to home.  One that we can drive to even if the weather isn't optimal.  I'm very excited about this!

Big news on the swim lessons front, Ava passed out of her current class last week.  She will remain in the same class for the next week, but has passed all of her skills to advance to the next level.  She has improved so much this session.  She's now swimming with her head under the water for short periods of time, back floating, and jumping in.  She loves it and is always excited to go.  Almost as excited for swim lessons as dance class, which she is still loving!

Grant is still talking up a storm, and is officially a non-cryer at daycare drop off.  This makes us so happy!  Eventually we'll head back to the gym and see if we can conquer the gym daycare so that I can actually go work out.  I've been waking up at 4:40 on my days off to go running with some of the neighbor girls.  It's been quite chilly.  The windchill this morning was -1.  Once you get going it's not bad.  It's just kind of a cruel way to wake your body up so early in the morning.  It always feels good to get it done so early though. 

This past weekend was the gopher's last home football game.  I decided to take one for the team and stay home with the kids (in the nice warm heated house with the fireplace on), while Nate got to go and enjoy tailgating and the game in the beautiful cold snow.  He said it wasn't too cold, and that he had a great time.  Great energy at the stadium that day.  Mema & Boppa came down and spent the morning with us.  The kids were so excited.

Speaking of Mema, she started radiation this past Monday.  She goes 5 days a week.  She's hoping to finish up before the end of the year, but it all depends on how many days she can go around the holidays.  We're all looking forward to the new year, as this past one has been a difficult one for her!

Other than football, and the usual schedule the kids and I have been busy with play dates.  We are so fortunate to live in such a great neighborhood with so many kids around Ava & Grant's age.  We had a couple of play dates here at the house, went to the local community center with an indoor playground and gym, and on Tuesday I took the kids to the Children's Museum.  It's never a boring day around here. 

We are looking forward to our trip to IA next week, where we'll get to spend Thanksgiving with my family.  Wishing you safe travels and a happy  Thanksgiving filled with family and lots of blessings!
 

Avery, Ava, & Caylin loved riding this bikes at the gym.

Carter's first tailgating experience.  He did great!

Kersten, Kate, Meredith, Anne, & me tailgating

Nate, Great, Matt, Nathan, & Josh

The Veldmans and the Voights

We were supposed to get over a foot of snow two weeks ago so we had to try everything on to make sure it fit.  Thankfully the meteorologists were wrong once again.  We lucked out and only got a couple inches at most.

Some snuggle time as we waited for Grant to wake up one morning

Cooking me up a burger at the Children's Museum

The kids loved the new Clifford exhibit

Grant was all about touching the live snakes.  Ava was happy with just observing. 

Chemo, candy, and a tooth

We hope that you all had a safe and fun Halloween. It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away, and then Christmas. I would say the Christmas season, but I feel like that started a month ago in all of the stores. I'm usually not big on Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, but I'm just about done with the kids already. Not that I normally stress around the holidays, but it will be one less thing to think about when I would rather be snuggled up on the couch when it's snowing outside. Speaking of snow, it's supposed to make it's first appearance here either tomorrow or early next week. I am Not excited about this!!! Getting the kids strapped into their car seats with big winter coats on, and the time it takes for boots, hats, mittens, etc. Not to mention that just thinking about the driving gives me anxiety. What are you going to do? It's only 6 months right? :)

Back to Halloween, we had a very busy day. We started the day off with Grant's 2 yr well child check. He is a big healthy boy weighing in at 38.2 lbs and is 37 1/2 inches tall. He continues to have his umbilical hernia, but it is very small so Dr. Saxton doesn't think that it needs surgical intervention unless he would have to go under anesthesia for another reason.  I was pleased with that, since the last time he had anesthesia he had a horrible wake-up.  Both of the kids got their flu shots and then we were off to surprise Mema for her last chemo treatment.  The kids and I went and got balloons that morning (which was a slight nightmare) and they made cards/posters for her.  She was very surprised.  Then Boppa treated us to lunch at McDonalds.  That evening they came over for dinner and handed out candy while Nate and I took the kids trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  They brought back tons of candy.  Thankfully they were happy with just going around the block, as it was quite chilly out.  Ava loved getting the candy, Grant loved knocking on the doors. 

I had to work on Saturday and Sunday.  On my way home Sunday evening I got a text from Nate with a picture of Ava captions "Notice anything missing?"  Ava lost her first tooth.  I was shocked.  I was even looking for facial trauma thinking that she must have fallen and got it knocked out.  Well, she didn't fall, but it didn't happen entirely naturally either.  She told me that she bit into Grant's soccer ball to see if the air came out of the black dot.  When that happened her booth evidently bent a good 45 degrees backwards into her mouth.  There was blood and whining, and then Nate plucked it out.  They called our friend "Dr. Greg" to make sure that everything was ok.  Ava was reassured that he said she would be ok.  Monday night she left her pillow on her bedside table and the tooth fairy brought her a nice dollar bill.  She informed me Tuesday morning that the tooth fairy came and brought her a dollar bill.  Then she said, "sometimes the tooth fairy brings $5.  Thanks Grandpa B for telling her that.  From now on we'll make sure to bring her teeth to your house. 

Wednesday Ava had dance and they started to work on their recital piece.  Yes, it will take them 6 months to learn this.  I am already looking forward to the recital though (hopefully I can get that day off work).  They are all so cute!

We have a fun weekend planned.  Our friend Erin is coming to visit for the night and bringing her sweet little man Carter.  He may be the happiest baby I have ever met, and I can't wait to see him again.  Tomorrow morning we have Maddie coming over to babysit for the day.  I'm hoping that Grant doesn't freak out when he wakes up and she's here, since she'll be here all day.  Nate and I are heading to the IA/MN football game.  Of course the weather is supposed to be "blustery" with wind gusts up to 30 mph.  It will be a chilly one, but I'm sure a great time spent with friends that we don't get to see very often.  Sunday we are hoping to check out a new church by our house.  We're still looking for a new church to call home.  It's kind of difficult to do with two small children that are used to going to Sunday school rather than sitting through an adult service.  Hopefully it goes well and we find something that feels like "home" soon. 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Mema was surprised.  This was her last chemo treatment...YAY!!!  Unfortunately, next week she will start radiation 5 days a week for 28 days.  Praying that this is easier on her than the chemo!  We can't wait for this chapter to come to an end.  Ava is ready to have sleep overs again.  :)

You wouldn't be able to tell from this picture that he was on the floor screaming"off,off,  want to watch football with Boppa" three minutes prior to this picture

Our puppy and Cinderella

Miss Ava missing her bottom tooth.  My baby girl is growing up way to fast.