Week re-cap!

Our campus has been preparing over the past two weeks for a flood--one day after work last week, Ainsley and I walked down to our union to see all of the preparations that are underway.  The campus experienced a devastating flood in 2008, so there are many folks on campus who are very knowledgable about preparing for flooding.

Ainsley is such a hugger lately.  She will randomly pull us in for a hug!

Last weekend our neighbor girls came over to play.  Ainsley had the BEST time!

Chelsey is 4 and they are almost the same height!  Sweet girls!

A trip to the park!

And then a snow cone!

This is the flood protection system that is set up outside of one of the residence halls.  Ryan is on row two on the far end.  Ryan had to work late a couple of days/evenings the week before the anticipated flood--so we thought it would be best if Ainsley went to IL to see her grandparents so Ryan could be more free to help.

Anytime we called to check up on Ainsley, Ryan's mom would always encourage us to take time to relax and catch our breath.  She said, go out to eat...so we took the time to go out in the evenings last week!

This was Ainsley in Grammie & Papa Larry's car when Ryan dropped her off--she was super excited to see them!

We got to go to one of our favorite places after work one night, Blackstone!

Ryan's pick one night was for steak!

My dad sent Ainsley some money this month to get some goodies for her Mayo trip--these are a few things that I got Ainsley...a new swimming suit and a new book.  Her class had a themed week of Where the Wild Things Are a few weeks ago, she was SO excited to get home and see this book--thanks Dad!

It was such a huge help to have some extra time this week after work to prepare for our Mayo visit.  I got Ainsley packed--I had to take a picture of her travel bows...there are 9 total.  You never know what color we might need!

Saturday we met Ryan's parents in the Quad Cities to pick up Ainsley.  We were SO excited to see our sweet girl!

She is a country girl at heart!

Thanks Larry & Linda for taking such good care of our sweet girl this week--she had a ton of fun!

We had a great plan--eat lunch and then drive back home (1 hour) thinking that Ainsley would be fast asleep and we would put her to bed when we got home in the afternoon for her nap.  By the time we got into town, Ainsley was wide awake!  So we decided to stop by the Art's Festival.  We thought if she melts down, we'll just take her home to sleep since it was only 15 minutes from our house. 

I'm so glad we went because Ainsley had a great time.  She tried out some music and saw some friends from her school (which she thought was the best thing ever)!

Ainsley played a duck game and got to pick a prize.  She picked a purple scorpion ring.  She kept saying "scorpion"!

We got some frozen yogurt and by this time, Ainsley was pretty tired!

After that, she perked back up! 

Good times with her daddy!

Showing me her new ring!

We drove home from the festival and when we pulled into the garage this is how we found Ainsley in the back seat...fast asleep with her hands folded--too cute!

Ryan's mom got me a great mother's day gift this year--Ainsley's second year blog book.  I ordered it last week and it came in the mail this weekend.  I am going to start printing them every January so I'll print the year before.  Her new book is orange--thanks Linda!!

Another gift from Papa Bob--new markers!  Ainsley tested them out today and loved them! 

We are almost all packed for Mayo.  We are leaving tomorrow early afternoon and hope to be checked into the hotel by late evening.  Our first appointment is Tuesday at 8:45 am.  We are praying for some concrete answers and hoping to meet new doctors/nurses who take the time to get to know our Ainsley.  We've spend hours last week organizing her paperwork, labs, tests, etc so we will have everything ready for the doctors to review.  We are very hopeful and thankful that God has provided in big ways for this trip.