The Blissful Life of the Bandermanns

Getting Pampered!

2012-02-21T13:03:00.000-06:00

Ansley and I headed out to the big town of Marble Hill for some pampering last week. I needed my hair fixed and my mom and dad live only 5 minutes from the shop, so she can meet me to help with Ansley. My cousin Danielle likes to spoil her just a bit, so Ansley loves going to "Donelle's shop" to get her nails done. She definitely got the royal treatment...crackled nail polish, rainbow shimmers in her hair, and Danielle straightened all those curls. I almost couldn't watch! She loved it all and sat so patiently as her little nails dried and her streamers were put in.

What is this look?!

Starting to get it straightened.

Who is this girl?!

I got curls and Ansley lost hers. She just looks too grown up!

Dani and Ansley!

Luckily for Jason (he wasn't too hip on his little girl looking older), the curls started showing back up that evening after a combination of some rain we had outside and Ansley running around and sweating. Ha!

You might also be wondering why Ansley is wearing a band-aid on her nose. Well, she loves to suck her thumb and scratch her nose, so we're trying to heal up a large gash she has created. We've threatened a trip to Dr. Hoffman's for a shot, but nothing seems to work. So now we roll around with a strawberry shortcake band-aid all the time. Fabulous.

Birthday Parties Galore!

2012-02-17T17:50:00.003-06:00

Birthdays, birthdays, and more birthdays! I feel like that's all I've talked about lately and I know Ansley is wondering weekly whose birthday we're going to celebrate next. We love all this partying! First up, we had little Olivia's birthday and then Evy Kate's. Wow. They were both so fun!

Olivia's birthday was at Le Bounce, our local jumphouse. It was Ansley's second time to go and she really loved it. At first she was a little hesitant, but with a little nudging from Jason (he physically had to get in with her), she was unstoppable!!

Olivia and her little onlookers as she opened up her treats

How cute is she?!

Daddy giving a bite and then taking two for himself. :)

Then for the jumping....she started loving it!

Whoa!

Thanks Mallory for helping Ansley the WHOLE party! What a sweet girl! I'm pretty sure she would not have braved this without her help.

Love that little profile

Ansley definitely got her exercise in that day. She was dripping!

And now for Evy's birthday. It was a birthday for some VERY special royal highnesses. And they were beyond excited with all the activities and food they had the honor of partaking in! Seriously, it was just too perfect. Ashley thought of every detail!

The beautiful cake made by Bridget

The birthday princess herself

The food table....yummy!

My princess was happy that we were doing a craft. Daily she will ask to do one now. I hope she doesn't have the craft bug like her momma.

Showing off her beautiful crown

Sonya and Ellie

Whit and Brynn

Could you tell these girls were having fun?! Sophia is super excited!

Evy opening her presents with some princess onlookers

This was our attempt at a group shot minus Isaac. Ansley looks like she's breaking her neck. This is her trying to pose? Hilarious.

Cake time!

Let them eat lots of cake :)

Isaac and Kristal

Treat table was so cute too!

It was such a great day and I know we'll all look back and think we had some pretty awesome birthday party memories. What a blast!

Jansen turns 2!!!

2012-02-11T17:08:00.000-06:00

This post is a little late and the picture quality is horrid, but I couldn't leave out that my nephew, Jansen turned 2! We had a little birthday bash for him at my brother and sister-in-laws new house several weeks ago and he was just the cutest thing! Laura had fixed broccoli cheddar soup, yummy chicken salad sandwiches, and all kinds of sides to go with it. It was delicious. And Jansen was so sweet...he offered every single bite of food to Ansley before he ate it, except for his grapes ;). It was precious and Ansley took him up on it SEVERAL times...so much so that I thought she had maybe eaten his whole plate! Also, it was the year for Thomas the Train. By the end, the house was exploding with little locomotives! Here are a few pictures of the evening and a video of the kiddos having a blast with Jansen's balloons. They loved it!

Jansen eyeing those candles!

Bloww them out Jansen!!!

Ansley chillin in Jansen's highchair....waiting for cake!

Now for the video....

Please excuse my very high pitched, annoying laugh!

Happy Birthday Jansen!!

Tuesday Treat Day!

2012-02-10T10:03:00.000-06:00

I'm going to hopefully get in a new blogging groove with a new little series of weekly posts! Most weeks seem so mundane around here and a lot of times I don't feel like there's much to write about, but I've started something new with Ansley that I thought would be easy to blog about. We are calling it Tuesday Treat Day and it's basically just that....Tuesdays we have started doing 1 really fun and different thing on Tuesday of every week. It doesn't have to be anything extravagant or over the top, just something fun that I know Ansley will enjoy. A treat for her. So to start us off....we began this Tuesday at the Riverside Library in Jackson. Our Parents as Teachers friend, Amanda gave us a schedule of fun events they put on as a way of reaching out to Jackson community of parents and children that are in the PAT program. I couldn't believe ALL the fun things they had for the kids to do! There were stations set up all over the room and they started things by reading a story to the kids and building a snowman throughout the story. Each kid got a glove, an eye, nose, or other part of the snowman. It was so cute to see the kiddos bring their piece of the snowman puzzle as Amanda read the story!

So we started out at the food table (she's just like her momma, always goes for the food first!). We put together a snowman with a powdered donut, chocolate chips, and a piece of candy corn.

Ansley got a little excited about the donut part and enjoyed a bite of her treat before we had even started. Oops.

I could barely get a picture before she had devoured the whole thing! Excuse the powered sugar teeth.

And lips....

Then it was time for sensory fun! They had snow, sand, flour, sugar...all kinds of mediums for the kiddos to play in! Ansley's favorite was the snow, she probably spent 20 minutes burying animals in it (and she wouldn't let the little deer that she called "reindeer" out of her sight)!

On to the glue-like substance where she made acorn and pine needle imprints. She loved this too!

The the pink squishy jello bags were fun too.

Then it was time for a Valentine craft with paint and gluing. She was most interested in painting her hands herself, which proved for an interesting situation with a 2 year old who thinks she needs no help with anything! Let's just say she wanted to include her whole arm in the painting process and I had to get a little stern with her. :) She was definitely showing signs of a much needed nap, so after the craft we bolted for the door before Tuesday Treat Day was a disaster. Ha!

We really had a great morning diving into lots of activities. We will definitely be going back for more PAT events like these!

My Little Chica!

2012-02-04T18:35:00.000-06:00

Ansley and I had a lunch date Tuesday at Chick-fil-a and she was in rare form. I think the thought of getting apple juice kicked her in high gear (she doesn't get it all that often)! She began by telling me that she didn't want the Polynesian sauce ("mommy, not dat wed sauce") and proceeded to remind me that ketchup was the sauce of choice. Who doesn't want to dip their nuggets with that yummy Polynesian sauce?! Apparently Ansley.

This is her telling me a big story about the Chick-fil-a cow. It was just too cute.

And then she got a little exercise going up and down the slide over and over again. She loves it there!

It was family time there on Tuesday and Ansley got to make a craft. It was a picture frame made out of popsicle sticks and little puff balls. I didn't get any pictures, but I want to remember what she said when she picked the frame up and stared at it so intensely. It went a little like this....."miwo, miwo on da wall. Who's the faiwest of them all?" And that's my confirmation....we've maybe watched Snow White one too many times! :)

Isaac's Birthday Party!

2012-02-03T08:25:00.001-06:00

One of Ansley's little friends, Isaac had a big birthday this week. He is 2! Kristal did such a great job on the decorations and made it so fun for the kiddos. It was a rainbow color scheme and so adorable! She had balloons everywhere in every color and little canvases with crayons for the kiddos to make. They loved it, except for little Ellie (she wasn't real thrilled about making her canvas, yet she thought it was so pretty). It was so fun and Krystal had all kinds of yummy food too (tailgate sandwiches are my fave and the rainbow cupcakes were so good!). Happy Birthday little Isaac!

Her colorful balloon mantel.

The foyer was filled balloons on the ceiling and the table had little pictures of Isaac

The train table upstairs was a big hit

And the craft was so fun!

They all played really well together

Krystal brought a bowl of crackers up and the kids swarmed the table! It was as if they hadn't eaten in days!

A blurry pic of Isaac blowing out his candles, but cute none the less!

Happy Birthday Isaac!

It's a.....

2012-01-27T09:57:00.000-06:00

We decided to have a pinterest-inspired gender reveal party to announce the gender of our little peanut and it was soooo fun!

It all started with me perusing through Walmart like a crazy woman one Monday night at about 11pm to find the perfect box for our little reveal. I knew it needed to be a pretty big box to house enough balloons to make an impact, so I probably made at least 10 laps around the store asking employees where I could find the biggest one they had. After some pretty funny looks and some very tired legs after my 12 hr shift, I found the perfect one. Thankfully, Jason is the king of wrapping gifts (and I mean it...he is a perfectionist with the seams and folds), so as soon as I got the box home he asked which paper he'd be wrapping it in (I love that he just knew I couldn't tackle the wrapping like he could). I made a cute little heart with a the phrase "It's a......." in the center and called it a night.

Unfortunately, I had to wait 1 more day until the ultrasound AND THEN came the fun part. After our morning ultrasound on Wednesday, Catherine (our friend and ultrasound tech) called Card Factory Outlet (after I had dropped the box off there) and told them which color balloons (blue or pink) to place in the box. She and I made it VERY clear....DO NOT let the family know which color is in there!

That evening after my parents picked up the box, they delivered it to Pam and Rick's where we had several of our friends and family waiting for the reveal.

Now remember....we have no idea what color balloons are in the box either.

So the wait was excrutiating! How do people last 40 weeks?!

Trying to explain to Ansley what was about to happen

Here we go....

It's a.....

Girl!!!!

Can you see my shock? And Jason's saying..."another wedding to pay for!" Ha!

Ansley, you're getting a little sister!

After all of it, Ansley was hilarious. She went around to all her little friends giving them hugs and telling them she was going to get a baby sister. It was precious!

And there you have it...another sweet girl! We are so excited!

Thanks goes out to my friend, Sheri for capturing this moment with some awesome images and to all our friends/family that shared in this special time!

Celebrating New Years!

2012-01-02T16:44:00.000-06:00

2011 has been an incredible year, but we're moving on! We are so excited about how our lives will drastically change in 2012 due to the upcoming baby and I can't wait to see how wonderfully CRAZY the Bandermann household will be with 2 kiddos (I still can't believe we'll soon have 2)! God is so GOOD!

Our New Year's Eve was spent with some of our favorite peeps...the Mayhews and the Bandermanns. It was pretty low key, which is how I prefer it. We all gathered at the Mayhews with our kiddos in tow. They of course had a ball (even baby Brynn got in on all the fun)! We ate till our hearts content with a spread so extensive it was nearly impossible to eat it all. We overindulged in the chocolate covered fruit skewers and for me I overate AND drank WAY too much Dr. Pepper. It was a stellar night!

The girls were busy playing babies and Ansley made quite a mess out of the lip gloss. They were so cute together.

All the girls

And the boys (I love Maks and Mason's faces)

At about 10 o'clock we decided it was probably best for this little turkey to go to bed (seeing as she was trying to eat the whole bowl of Doritos and we had church in the morning), so we packed up and headed for the bed.

Ansley had some major cheese mouth in this pic.

Who am I kidding, I was actually the real party pooper....I couldn't help but think about my 12 hour shift I had to do the next day. At 6:30a. Boo. But all is well...my 2012 holiday responsibility is now over. Woo Hoo!

Dear Lord, thank you for the many blessings of 2011 and I pray you will continue to watch over us in 2012! Hope you all have a joyful New Year!

It Was a Wonderful Christmas!

2011-12-27T13:06:00.000-06:00

We had Christmas at Rick and Pam's on Christmas Eve this year. It was so nice to spread our Christmases with our families out a bit, so it didn't feel so overwhelming all at once. We listened as Rick read the Christmas story from one of the girls' books and then opened presents. Ansley wanted Pappaw to read faster and Brynn wanted to play with his hair. It was pretty humorous!

Ansley was such a great help passing out all the presents this year. However, she had a hard time waiting to open them all. She wanted to open them for everyone! After mounds of Christmas paper was shed, we had delicious steaks and bacon wrapped asparagus. My favorite was the shrimp...none of us could stay out of it. It was oh so good! After our meal we lounged around and played with our new IPAD's!!! Yay! We were absolutely shocked to get these. Ansley and Brynn took naps and then we headed to our Christmas Eve service. It was such a wonderful day!

Reading the story of Christ's birth

Then on to the presents! This was quite a big load for such a little girl!

This was her stack of presents. Whoa.

Starting to unwrap the first one....

A Bitty Baby wrap from Uncle Kyle! She loved it!

Showing off her baby carrier and yes, my child has on a watermelon skirt. It's kinda funny how it all went down. She is ALL about tutus these days and INSISTED upon wearing a pink tutu in her closet, but I told her it didn't match the red shirt she had on. I explained that we didn't have a red tutu to put on and THAT'S when the little turkey pulled out her watermelon tutu. "Mommy, dis is wed (red)". Well, it sure is :/....now how can you argue with that?! Jason's comment to me..."So you rewarded her for getting her colors right? I'm confused."

So there you have it...she's wearing her red and green watermelon tutu on Christmas and looking as cute as ever. Nice.

Christmas morning we celebrated with just the 3 of us (well technically 4 of us ;) ). We listened to the Christmas story with our Word of Promise audio bible and then reiterated with Ansley what ALL of the celebration with presents was really about. She received 3 presents from us and because we only do 3, I really tried to pick things she really might want. She got a Belle doll and matching dress (she just recently saw Beauty and the Beast at the Fox with Pamaw and Pappaw), a Bitty Baby changing table (she somehow immediately knew what it was), and a Disney princess tote with a blow dryer, hair brush, curling iron, and straightener in it (she loves to blow dry and brush my hair!). Santa also visited our house and filled her stocking with new pj's and some DVDs. She was in love with it all! Then she realized there was one more gift to open from the Mayhew clan. When she opened it her eyes LIT up! It was a baby kitten in a carrier with all kinds of supplies to care for the sick little thing. Like I told my friend Heather, she mothered that little kitty to death! It's really unfortunate that Ansley will never have an indoor animal, especially a cat (I'm deathly allergic). She would be the best help when caring for it. Heather must have known that Ansley would never have the joy of having a REAL kitten! Ha!

Ansley with her new Belle and fancy matching dress on!

Love these 2!

Ansley and I

So excited about what Santa brought her!

Ansley loving on her kitty

So precious!!!!

It was an overwhelmingly GREAT Christmas. One we will always cherish. Ansley was sooo fun to watch as she learned about the story of Jesus, sang her beautiful Christmas songs, and also as she tore open each and every present with sheer excitement. She is such a joy and we can't wait until next Christmas when our newest addition will be here to join in on all the fun! So thankful to the Lord for our many blessings!

Christmas at the Cabin

2011-12-24T12:04:00.002-06:00

We had Christmas a little early this year at the cabin. Jason made us his famous yummy steaks, we had lots of sides including broccoli and rice-yay, and a birthday cake for my dad for dessert. It was a great evening. Ansley and Jansen had so much fun running around the cabin playing as usual and then got really excited when it was time for presents! They got WAY too much from Mimi and BB (we left most of it at the cabin)!

Ansley and Jansen playing around the tree. Last year I have a picture of both of them in the bucket. This year, Jansen couldn't quite squeeze in with Ansley.

Isn't she sweet?!

Jason explaining to Ansley why we celebrate Christmas and quizzing her on what gifts were brought to baby Jesus. She is saying "Fransincense" :) on this picture. Her favorite one to say is "Myrrh"

Counting his 3 gifts

She was adamant about opening this gift first.

After that first tear, she RIPPED away. Arms were flying!

She loved it!

Jansen was up next and this year was the year of the trains for him. It was hard to pry him away from them!

My brother in his camo hat I got him. We were laughing at his tiny bean head....the hat swallowed him!

After all the presents had been opened, Ansley and Jansen decided to steal one of BB's gifts. These flashlights would be on my "dad's favorite and must-have list" for sure. He gave all of his employees one and it was obviously on Jansen and Ansley's list of favorite toys! They played forever with them.

It was a fun evening, I can't wait for more Christmas/family festivities!

Ready, Ready, Ready, Ready....Ready to Run!!!

2011-12-23T11:54:00.000-06:00

My friend Heather and I still needed to take the kids to see Santa this year, so we planned a night we could take them together. I knew how Santa had gone the year before and thought having the Mayhew's there would help her with her Santa anxieties. Things started off so well. The Mayhew kiddos were so excited to sit on Santa's lap and sat ever so still as we all took pictures. They told Santa their wish list and cheesed it up for the camera.

Then there was this sweet, little thing that just wasn't so sure....

It took some pep talks from her little buddies and a hand or two toward the gate...

She was past the gate!

And almost to his lap! She had one simple question for Santa that she talked about all the way to the mall. "Where's your reindeer Santa?" (He lured her over by telling her he'd show her where the reindeer were)

When she found out they were on the roof, she was ready to hit the road!

This picture of the kiddos is my favorite as they try to convince her to stay.

Santa was persistent and Jason was too, so we tried one more time. Nope! Not going to happen!

Santa was determined and nice. He snuck up behind us while we were getting a family picture and Ansley didn't even know the difference. That sweet Santa wanted us to have one so bad with her smiling! We got a good one...yay!

She was all smiles once Santa stayed clear. Before we headed home, Heather gave Ansley a big smooch and left a pretty LASTING impression...thanks Memaw! Ha!

There's always next year, Santa!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party!

2011-12-17T08:37:00.001-06:00

My friend Ashley decided several months back to host a kids Christmas party this year. She has been putting this together for quite some time and Tuesday was the big day. Unfortunately on Monday, she became really sick with fever and couldn't host like she had planned. We were all so bummed! She'd worked so hard on everything (I had no idea until I saw the details first hand). Thankfully, Kristal hosted at her home and the party continued as planned. The kids LOVED it! Ashley had so many fun activities for the kids and lots of treats, including a birthday cake for Jesus!

We all started off making the gingerbread houses that she had put together using some milk cartons Whitney had gotten from school. The kiddos loved this because it involved LOTS of candy (gumdrops, candy canes, M&M's, marshmallows, and pretzels). There was plenty of finger-licking and candy sneaking that's for sure! After the little houses were made we moved onto the Christmas tree canvases. We each CAREFULLY painted our kiddos hands or feet and placed them on the canvas. I needed lots of help with this one...Ansley's hand consistently looked like a blob, so at one point I resorted to washing my canvas off! Thanks to Kristal and others I was able to get a somewhat decent looking Christmas tree made out of Ansley's precious little hands. After doing the canvases we ate some more and lit the candles on the birthday cake for Jesus. We sang Happy Birthday and Maksim and Ansley blew the candles out. It was so sweet and an awesome end to a great day! We enjoyed it so much!

This was the first item Ansley found when she walked in. She was not interested in anything else for a little bit. I loved Isaac scratching his little belly in this one...I just couldn't crop it!

Some of the gang starting their gingerbread houses (Emily & Wyatt, Heather & Maks, Kristal & Isaac, Sonya & Ellie, and Courtney's MIL too! Somehow I missed Courtney and Wylie?!)

Kristal, Isaac, Ellie, and Sonya

Ansley STILL on the truck, happy as can be.

Finally, we started our house. She was so intently placing those M&M's!

Making her masterpiece one candy at a time

Brynn got in on some of the candy action too!

Here's where she realized that she could EAT the candy.

Then came some sneaking of the gumdrops

So proud of her house!

Next up...more grazing of the candy and of course some baby Brynn time.

Frankie and Erin

Sweet Ellie

The precious cake

Ansley singing loudly!

Ansley and Maks blowing the candles out

What a fun afternoon. I asked Ansley that evening what her favorite part of the day was and she said "Issix's house". I'm pretty sure she loved it.

Just When I Thought Things Couldn't Get ANY Better.....

2011-12-15T08:48:00.002-06:00

Well, we have some really exciting news!!! Something we weren't sure would ever happen to us again. Something we've been praying diligently for for over 2 years.

Our family of 3 will soon be a family of 4! Woo hoo!!!! We are BEYOND thrilled and can't wait for this next chapter to start! God is so good!!! I'm 16 weeks at the moment, so Ansley and the new baby will be almost 3 years apart (God willing). I'm so thankful for this because we'll have been able to soak up 3 years of just us and Ansley....precious years I will always treasure. I know Ansley will be the BEST big sister possible. She is obsessed with all things baby, so I think once we get past the fact that she won't be getting all of our undivided attention...she will be a great little helper! We CAN NOT WAIT!

Here we are at the Dr.'s office after the first ultrasound. There's a little peanut in there! We were considered 6 weeks and 3 days at this point according to the scan. Dr. Carns wanted to do one to make sure there was a baby and thankfully we saw a heartbeat. Praise God! Of course, the tears were streaming when we first saw that little heart thumping. What an amazing miracle life is!

My mom and dad were along to see the baby and help wrangle Ansley. She was full of excitement!

This picture cracks me up....she was telling me what her shirt said

"BIG SISSER"

We are overjoyed and praying continuously for the health of this baby! It's one of Ansley's favorite prayer requests...."and da baby in mommy's bewy". It can't get any sweeter than that. I know Jesus is enjoying her many prayers for this baby :)

Life Group and the Madrigal Feast

2011-12-09T12:22:00.001-06:00

This time of year is always so busy with get-togethers, Christmas parties, and programs. It's hard to keep up with it all! We had our annual life group Christmas party last Saturday with our great group of church friends at the Greene household. It's always fun to eat, open our white elephant gifts, and just hang-out together outside of church. We are a pretty close-knit group of friends just doing life together one day at a time and we consider them some of our best friends. I didn't take many pictures of the night (it's sometimes just nice to enjoy and not be snapping away all the time), but I got a few of some of the group. Some of the best gifts this year: a sack of dirty diapers, Jersey Shore puzzle, Cialis, Jimmy's fro, our apron made another year's appearance, and Mike's Lutesville Motor jacket again. There were so many good gifts, I can't even remember them all!

Heather trying to pick a present and everyone else laughing over the previous one I'm sure (it might have been the sack of dirty diapers)!

Mark holding an AWFUL arrangement that Heather actually wanted to take home! She wanted the scary elf sitting on the top (she said she was too cheap to buy a one new:). I am too!).

Another pic from Jason's perspective

Love my Heather! We laughed so hard that night at all the presents, especially about the Cialis! No one, BUT Ryan wanted that one!

Good times!

Last night we went to the Jackson High School Madrigal Feast at the Bavarian Hall. Ryan and Whitney got tickets last year and told us about how fun it was. This year we were determined to get several tickets so that a group of us could enjoy it and we were so excited when Jason's Aunt Soni rounded some up for us! Her twins, Molly and Zach were acting and singing, so watching it was even more fun. Basically, we ate some yummy dinner with several courses while the Jackson Choir was acting out skits, dancing, and singing. It was like dinner theatre circa 1530s AND they sang songs about the birth of Jesus! We loved it! Wassail (this term was yelled out all night)!!!

Joanna and Nate

Ryan and Whit

Jason, our Table Master for the evening. He was caught up with the bell ringing all night!

Jason and I

My camera died after just taking a few shots. Ugh! Why does that always happen?! Our friend, Ashley was with us too, but when we were taking these she was chatting with her high school music director at the time, so NO pics of her :( (except if you look closely she's right behind Jason's left shoulder in this one. Ha!)

It was such a fun night with friends and we sooo enjoyed the beautiful music!!!

The Road to Bethlehem

2011-12-04T22:58:00.000-06:00

We stepped back in time this evening as we traveled to the little town of Delta for a neat display of a traditional Jewish city. We entered the city of Bethlehem and were greeted by Roman soldiers and asked to pay a tax with the tokens we were given at the beginning. As we looked through the marketplace we were able to buy jewelry, pottery, baskets, grapes, cheese, and bread with our tokens. They had people playing instruments, a game of dradle going on, lots of animals throughout, and then we were led to baby Jesus! Ansley has been so anxious to see him all day and then once we got there she was VERY shy, which was unusual. Later we asked her why she didn't want to see Jesus, she said she was afraid of Joseph. We still have no idea why, but it gave us a good laugh!

This little girl was playing some beautiful Christmas music

Ansley showing her pottery piece she had bought with one of her tokens

A couple views of the marketplace

Ansley loved the donkeys

And the little goats

Chiara is playing the game of dradle!

He was the whole reason we came to the Road to Bethlehem and she just wasn't too sure...

Ansley of course spotted a nativity and wanted to play with it as we were getting ready to have chili and cookies. She seems to spot them a mile away!

This experience was such a great one. We can't wait to make this an annual Christmas tradition. It's such a fun way to learn about traditional Jewish customs AND learn about the birth of Jesus, something that the Jewish people lived in anticipation for and we celebrate today.

Christmas is Coming!

2011-12-02T10:33:00.001-06:00

We've been working diligently on Christmas here at the Bandermann house! Our trees are up and the ornaments are hung. Christmas this year will be like no other. Ansley is at such a fun age...she really seems to get what Christmas is all about (whether she really does or not....I'm not sure. We can dream right?!).
Ansley was such a great help this year as we decorated the trees. She loved to put in the glittery springs and insisted on hanging most of the ornaments. Our tree is somewhat Dr. Suess-like this year with some of our branches having 3 ornaments on them and drooping considerably. She would get kind of stuck in one area and couldn't move away from it. But I wouldn't change it for a second...it was Ansley's little masterpiece. Perfect. About midway through decorating the tree she said "Hey, where's baby Jesus?" We hadn't got our Nativity set out quite yet, but she was adamant about getting baby Jesus out. So we did. Unfortunately with that, came strict instructions that she was NOT to play with baby Jesus (as we were opening the nativity this year we remembered that she had accidently knocked the camel off the table last year. We have a headless camel now, so we decided to forego him this year and give her a little pep talk about the importance of this particular nativity set. At this point, it was VERY clear our need for a PLAY nativity at our house for her! Stat. More on that later.

Here she is diligently putting the ornaments up

And glittery springs

Precious.

Loving the tree business this year!

Sunday we went to the Christmas Parade of Lights for our annual kickoff to the Christmas season. I love going because it really gets me to transition from Thanksgiving into the Christmas holiday spirit. Lynwood does a float every year and usually has the youth praise band singing on it. This year was no exception...they were rocking out to "God of This City" as they passed the street we were on...one of my favorites! Ansley was excited about the candy she got to eat, tootsie rolls were a hit and she loved seeing all the pretty lights.
After the parade was over and we were gathering our stuff up to walk back to the car, Ansley asked...."where's baby Jesus, Mommy?" We had gotten there a little late and missed some of the floats (I'm sure Jesus made some of them :)), but she was really concerned by the lack of Jesus or that she hadn't seen him, I should say. Her next comment was "Mom , we gotta go home and see Jesus!!" (and no, I'm not a fan of her calling me mom. I'm not sure what happened to mommy!). So we loaded up and went to Pamaw and Pappaw's where there were LOTS of baby Jesus' to play with and warm soup to eat!

Pam mentioned that night that she was going to get Ansley and Brynn a nativity set. I was of course thrilled! I couldn't wait for Ansley to get it...I knew she would love to play with it and she had nearly been talking about it non-stop for a week (and I was tired of reminding her about the NO PLAYING rule with our nativity at home)! Wednesday night after choir we went to Ryan and Whitney's for Pamaw and Pappaw to give Brynn and Ansley their special gifts. They loved them (Brynn wasn't quite as thrilled as Ansley)!

She sees that it's a nativity!

And then she spots JESUS!

And now life is complete! Thank you Pamaw and Pappaw!

Christmas this year is already so exciting! I can't wait for all the upcoming events!

Tiny Prints Christmas Cards!!

2011-11-23T14:41:00.000-06:00

As I was blog-hopping this morning I noticed that one of my favorite stationary sites, Tiny Prints is offering up 50 free Holiday cards if you blog about them. Yippee!!! I love Tiny Prints and usually find myself drooling over their website for their latest and greatest baby announcements, Christmas cards, or calendars. They are seriously one of the BEST stationary sites in my eyes! Recently, we used Tiny Prints for a baby shower announcement for a friend of mine and it couldn't have been more perfect for the occasion! Their products have this custom look that is unforgettable and their prices are so reasonable. Today as I was browsing, I noticed so many adorable Christmas cards with their colorful, designer looks. It was nearly impossible for me to choose a favorite! I absolutely love Tiny Prints and can't wait to order our Christmas cards from them this year!

Decisions, decisions.....

There are so many beautiful cards to choose from. The above card is one of my favorites. I love how the pictures are layed out and the use of simple words to describe the season.

Then there's this cute one. Who doesn't love the modern spin on the Christmas tree?!

This chevron/diagonal stripe is absolutely fabulous. And I'll take that adorable baby too!

I love the bright colors in this one! The snowflakes, stripes... it is perfection.

Tiny Prints did such a wonderful job this year of making the holidays just a little bit brighter with their beautiful designs! If you love a certain card and want more info on it, you can click on any of them to be taken directly to their exact location on the Tiny Prints site. Go take a look, you will love what you see!

http://www.tinyprints.com/shop/picture-christmas-cards.htm

New York, New York!

2011-11-20T23:19:00.001-06:00

Saturday we had tickets to The Lion King, so we checked into our hotel (the gorgeous, Sheraton), ate lunch at a cute little deli next door to Carnegie's (we didn't have time to stand in the crazy line), and then walked to theatre. As we were walking we stopped at some pretty famous along the way. Timesquare was one of our stops.

We loved it!

I was going to get a picture with Minnie Mouse for Ansley and Woody stopped me on my way. He roped me in and I couldn't get away (and he needed a breathmint REAL bad)! Unfortunately, I didn't realize you had to pay for pictures with these characters...shucks! Sorry Ansley!

On to the Lion King!!!

What an amazing musical. They were so inventive in how they captured the feeling of the movie. It was such a great experience!

After the Lion King we made a stop at FAO Schwartz to see if we could find Ansley and Brynn a little happy. The store was a DREAM for any child! There were 3 stories of toys, books, candy....you name it, they had it! Jason and I thought this Lego statue was pretty cool!

Sunday was the big marathon day (the whole reason for this New York trip). We stayed in the city that night so the boys could get a good nights rest and also because the ING shuttle left from the Sheraton that morning. These boys got treated like ROCKSTARS by ING. They had a huge charter bus to take them to the race site (with 4 people on it), a heated tent for when they arrived, and food/drinks for when they were finished running (we even got to join them). They had it made! We saw the boys at mile 8 in Brooklyn and mile 22 in Harlem (thankfully Jason was able to call us to let tell us where they were at). It was so awesome to see how different the city was in all the burroughs.

This picture is NOT good, but I was trying to do the video camera too. The boys are on the far left of the runners and you can barely see Ryan. They are rocking the orange ING shirts.

This is one of my Harlem pictures...Ryan is the only one that made it.

Here they are after their big race!

Marissa, Whit, and I got one with our boys

Me and my STUD!

New York was truly so much fun! We were able to see and experience so many great places in the city, watched a fantastic musical, stayed in a fabulous hotel downtown, and watched the boys run one of their dream marathons. It was amazing and we can't wait to get back to the city that never sleeps!

Our Love For the Concrete Jungle, NEW YORK!!!

2011-11-12T15:52:00.000-06:00

If you could see me now...I'm rocking out to the JayZ and Alicia Key's song, "Ohhh in New York, these streets will make you feel brand new, these lights will inspire you!" I love that song! And they sure do. It's an amazing city. We just returned from a packed week of sightseeing and marathon excitement. It was a blast!
On day one we went to the breathtaking Central Park for lunch in the Boathouse. It's the iconic restaurant that can be seen in several movies including 27 Dresses (which I will be watching soon now that I've been there!). It was a relaxing setting snuggled on the Central Park lake surrounded by the beautiful fall colored trees and people floating by on rowboats. The atmosphere was magical!

Our view on the porch was beautiful!

And my food was too!

Jason and his usual fish dish. Aack!

After lunch we took a tour of Ground Zero. It was quite a sight. The last time we were in New York it was maybe 6 months after 9/11, so the site was still in devastation. However, now the north and south memorial pools are built where the towers once stood. It was so surreal. So many innocent lives were taken that day and the hum of the falling water into the memorial pools really helped us all to reflect on the sacrifice that they all made. Also, the pools really put into perspective how remarkably high the Twin Towers were. They were giants! Right now, construction is underway for the Twin Tower Museum, which will house items recovered from the site along with the names of each precious person lost.

The museum

Later we decided to view some of the historical parts of the city. Lady Liberty was up first.

Jason and I at the harbor near the Statue of Liberty.

Then on to Rockefeller Center, which was absolutely gorgeous all lit up at night

And yes, I skated (in rental skates that scared me to death, they had no edges)!

Our train rides back to New Jersey were relaxing after a busy day of sightseeing.

The next morning we went to see the taping of the Today's Show with Al Roker and Ann Curry. They do a little segment outside that we were able to watch. While we were watching them, a young girl asked Whitney and I if we wanted to be on the Kathi Lee and Hoda show. We of course said YES! She asked if we had any questions for them and Jason piped up with one for Kathi Lee (he wanted to know if she would ever consider running a marathon). So we jetted over to the studio for our

big break (Ha!). Little did we know we would be making fools of ourselves in front of all of America. ;)

Jason and I outside the Today's Show

Taping their segment

Whitney and I so excited to meet someone famous!

Our big debut on live TV. The best running man you've ever seen!

Sarah Haines, Whitney, me, and Jason

Not only did we get on TV, but Sarah Hughes (Olympic Figure Skater) was on the show that day (what are the odds?!). She was skating at Rockefeller Center for the start of the holiday season. It was so special! After our big morning, we headed for Canal Street for some good, cheap shopping while the boys went to get their packets for the race.

On our way home (running to catch our train at Penn Station), we decided to take a quick picture outside of Macy's. The tree was so pretty!

That was it for our first couple of days. Another post of New York coming soon!

New York...Here We Come!!

2011-11-02T18:30:00.001-05:00

Jason, Ryan, and our friend Aaron will have the priviledge of running in the New York City Marathon this weekend. It has been a dream of Jason's to one day do this....so we're off!! See you in a week!

Halloween Night at the Underwood's

2011-11-02T13:04:00.000-05:00

Jason and Ansley headed to our church block party at the Underwood's last night for an evening of hot dogs, cotton candy, hot chocolate, popcorn, games, and a Veggietales Halloween movie. I had to work until 7 so as soon as I got off I headed to Jackson to see my little Snow White in her cute costume. Of course, I could barely catch the stinker, she was busy running around the hay bales with her friend Sophia and keeping close tabs on baby Brynn. Half the time she couldn't keep her shoes on and her hands were like ice from running in the cold air. She is a mess!

Regardless, we all had a great night and can't wait to do it again next year!

Here's a few pictures from the evening....

Ansley in her Snow White outfit...she was so proud of it. She wanted to show everyone who she was!

Brynn (the little pumpkin) and Ryan

Sophia (Nursey) and Ansley

Ansley found a lawnmower and mowed the Underwood's grass for about 45 minutes! Who wants candy when you can mow?! Ha! Looks like I'll be purchasing one of these for Christmas!

Tinsel!

2011-11-01T15:19:00.001-05:00

We've had a pink feather, but now we have pink tinsel! It gives just a little sparkle to her hair and what's so funny is that everyone tries to pull it out (they think she's got something in her hair that doesn't belong and then they realize...it's attached! :) Ha!)

She sat so patiently as Dani put it in her hair. Still no haircut (momma just can't do it yet)...just accessories!

The Princesses and a BIG Halloween Bash!

2011-10-31T13:04:00.001-05:00

My friend Ashley had 3 extra tickets for the Disney Princess Show this weekend and she offered them to us. Yay! I'm so glad she did! I didn't even realize that this particular show was coming to town, but I'm so glad that it worked out that we could go. Ansley loved it. She loves Snow White (hence the Snow White costume) and apparently Evy Kate does too. They both showed up looking precious in their Snow White dresses.

It's always entertaining to try and get a picture of 2 very busy girls. Evy's surprised face is priceless and Ansley's full-mouth smile is hilarious!

This is where she sat for most of the show...Daddy protected her from the wicked Queens.

Snow White and the Dwarfs were a hit with Ansley.

Attempt #500 at another picture of the two of them. Ha!

Ashley and Evy posing so adorably for the camera

Our little family. Can her smile get any cuter?! :)

Next up that evening....Bohnert/Bingaman Halloween Party! I've never seen anyone go to this extreme to decorate for Halloween! They go all out. Every year they have several themes, this year it was Egyptian mummies and a mad scientist lab. Lucas builds most everything and he starts getting the props together about July every year. Now that's serious.

Here's a pic of the mad scientist

Here's the Bohnert/Bingaman crew in their Halloween costumes. Scary!!

Ansley looks unhappy in this picture, but she really had a great time. She loved the caramel apples, the candy that could be found everywhere, and all the food!

Please don't laugh at our costumes. It was one of those times you just put on whatever costume you could find....Jason is Fletch, Ansley is Snow White and I'm...well, not sure. Random, I know.

Happy Halloween!

Jabberbox

2011-10-24T17:05:00.000-05:00

This is an early morning video that is too funny not to post. At the time, I had NO clue what she was saying because she was saying it so fast, but after watching it again I get it! She's saying, "you wanna go play with my mommy, my daddy, and my sissers? And my kitty cat?"

I absolutely LOVE when she purses her lips and is looking for a response from me! How cute are those puckered lips?!

Pioneer Days and MOPS Day Out

2011-10-12T21:06:00.000-05:00

Today we went to Pioneer Orchard with my MOPS group and had such a great morning! We went on a tractor ride through the orchard, pet the goats and rabbits, played in the sandbox, drank some yummy apple cider/ate a big red apple, picked out the perfect pumpkin, and watched Johnny Appleseed. Ansley and I had a blast! Her favorite part by far would be the sandbox and the apple eating. This girl ate 2! Other than little Nathan getting horned by a goat that had jumped the fence....yes, you heard me right....thank goodness it didn't do any major damage! This little incident just scared all the kids and the mommies, especially Kendra and little Nathan! But all was good and the fun continued!

Ansley on the tractor ride

Ansley petting the cute rabbits

"Mom, can I get in the sandbox?"

As you can see, I gave in. I'm glad I did...she loved it!

She was obsessed with filling the dumptruck up with sand

Here's our favorite pumpkin and Ansley digging into that delicious apple!

Cider time...she was drinking it so nicely

Roman loved it!

Johnny Appleseed and another apple....she just couldn't get enough. She should do a commercial for Pioneer Orchard!

A couple of weeks ago, we visited Pioneer Orchard during their "Harvest Days". We went with the Bandermann's and the Ewasko's and had a really great time. The kids loved all the activities and all of us adults got to enjoy each other's company, which is always nice! :)

This was an attempt to get Ansley and Brynn to smile at the camera. As you can see...it was a FAIL.

Ansley in the jump house

Ansley's first apple, which turns out, she ate the entire apple....core and all! I know, we're good parents like that.

A picture of the group

We actually got to hold Ansley's hand through the hay maze. This is big news, usually she's too busy for us!

We got some pretty exciting news from the Ewasko's...they're having baby #2! Woo hoo!

It's so great to have the Orchard just minutes away from our house, so we can enjoy these beautiful days of fall!

This is Just Too Precious for Words!

2011-10-07T06:08:00.002-05:00

I caught Ansley praying in her bed yesterday with Beatrice her bunny. I was watching her on the monitor and my heart absolutely melted! She left a few people out that she usually prays for (baby Brynn is always on the list), but I think she did a pretty good job remembering for a 2 year old!

The best I can make it out, she is saying...."Beatrice, you wanna pray?" Dear Jesus, thank you for having a good day, thank you God for home, playing, tractor (we do have a lot of tractors around our house during harvest. Ha!), gonna eat," and then she starts listing family members.

Sweet Kellan's Birthday!

2011-09-19T12:20:00.003-05:00

Little man, Kellan Pinkel had his 1st birthday party last weekend at the Discovery Playhouse and all the kids had a blast! This was our 2nd trip to the Playhouse and I've learned that Ansley enjoys it even more with little friends present. This time she was ALL about the dentist office area. She was even willing to be the patient and allowed Isabel to work on her! It was hilarious. It is seriously so cute to see how the kiddos interact with each other.

Here's little Brynn sitting like a big girl with Whitney.

These pictures don't quite describe her love for this place. I promise...she did have fun! And I cannot get over this girl in her skinny jeans...it's just TOO MUCH.

The chalkboard was a big hit too...she loves to draw straight lines and sometimes she throws a few circles in also.

Here's the birthday boy getting after his adorable cake! Face first.

This is Ansley's dentist office visit. Isabel is trying to get an impression of Ansley 's teeth apparently. I'm pretty sure Ansley would have let Isabel do just about anything!

The firetruck made lots of stops...these girls have BIG imaginations!

Baby Brynn was loving the water table.

And Ansley found some furry friends.

My sweet friend, Jen and Ansley

Oh my....I mean really? This face and those minature pigtails are just precious.

They could not be any cuter! As Whitney said...this will one day be on the wedding slideshow for sure. :)

Happy Birthday Kellan!

Ansley Harper: 26 Months

2011-09-12T15:41:00.000-05:00

Ok, so we have a real big girl on our hands. She's always been Miss Independent (we like to attribute that to her 4th of July birthday), but it seems like these days she wants to do EVERYTHING on her own!
Here are a few updates on Miss Priss:

*She still refuses to go on the potty. Not that she can't, but she doesn't want to.  She says, "No....no thank you." (And I haven't pushed the issue just yet). It seemed like for awhile before she was even 1 that she could be an early potty-trainer, but these days I'm wondering if we'll be sending pull-ups to kindergarten. :)

*She has just started making her way through the whole alphabet (with a few missed letters here and there), but for the most part she's getting it! Her favorite part recently has been "W, X, Y, and Z". I absolutely love to hear her sing this!

*A little over a month ago she started counting to 10 too. The first time we heard her do this was during a Sunday lunch at O'Charley's and she started in...1, 2, 3. We sat there listening, assuming she would MAYBE get to 5 and she went all the way to 10! It was so neat to see her hit this milestone with other witnesses :)! She's now dropping the 4 (I guess she's not fond of this number) and adding 11-15. Whoa.

*Ansley and Alleigh (our lab) have become pretty tight in the last few months...primarily because Ansley has learned she can kind of "mother" Alleigh.  She has learned that she can get Alleigh's food out for her and pour her some fresh water, so she's always asking to see Alleigh. I can hear her now..."Come ere Ayeigh dink your wadder and eat... come ere an eat." She is just too funny.

*She also loves to play on her new playscape that she got for her birthday. She's a slide ADDICT and depending on the day will swing for what seems like 30 minutes at a time! She loves climbing the rock wall (too fast) and making food for mommy or Mimi at her little lemonade stand.

*She started Mother's Day Out in August for the first time on Thursdays and she's loving it! It melts my heart to see our little curly-headed girl bopping into school with her lunchbox in tow.  Sigh.

* She loves to watch "T.D." and right now, Sharktales and Charlotte's Web are some of Ansley's favorite movies to watch at Pamaw and Pappaw's house. She loves Wilbur and has been asking her daddy for a pig at the house. Great!

*Swimming at Aunt Debbie's pool with Mimi and BB has also been a must recently! She swims from one end to the other by herself (with her water wings of course) and has no fear. We have to keep a good eye on her for sure!

*We've taken 2 trips with Ansley lately...Pennsylvania (17 hours-to see family) and Iowa (8 hours-for Jason's big triathlon). She does great as long as Monster's Inc. or another movie is on, but her common outburst in the car is "Mommy, I wanna hold you." It's so hard to not yank her right out of that seat and snuggle! :(

*Since Ansley's 2nd birthday party, she's been obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake. She calls her "Strawberry Cake", which happens to pretty adorable.  She loves to get our "special" Strawberry bandaids out when she has a boo boo, but then refuses to put them on.  Sometimes putting the bandaid on can be more of a traumatic event than the boo boo itself!

*She's started to cross her arms in front of her when she walks anywhere. I want to never forget this phase (hence why I'm mentioning it and you can kind of tell from the pic above) it is absolutely hysterical to see her be-bop around like this!

We love our sweet and sassy girl!  Ansley, you are the love of our lives!!

4th place BABY!!

2011-09-05T16:44:00.000-05:00

So this weekend was Jason's big Hyvee Triathlon U.S. Championships-woot woot!! I was definitely not looking forward to this trip when he qualified

for it several months back...I mean...Iowa?! They could have picked California or maybe even the Carolina's. Now, either one of those would have been nice, but Des Moines?

Ok, so maybe I was a little rough on the old state of Iowa. Des Moines had it's perks. The shopping centers were all brand new (notice how I judge by the shopping?) and the restaurant selection was fabulous! We had a really fun time AND Jason did great! It was nice to have Ryan and Whit, my mom and dad, Pam and Rick, Matt, Mark and Lora, and Alex, Meredith, and the kiddos along for the ride too. Ryan, Mark, Matt, and Alex entered the open race and joined in on all the grueling fun. They all did fantastic. Seriously, they all tore it up in Iowa!

This is Ryan and Jason before heading to the start.

Jason's clydesdale heat

All of the boys waiting for their turn

Ansley cheering on her daddy :)

Transition from swim to bike. Arrrr...

Now on to the run.

This is how princess Ansley got around most of the day (the stroller would not work on the sandy beach).

It was time to load up in the vehicle to go to the finish, but we were out of seats. Rick volunteered to sit in the trunk with the baby Brynn replica. Ha!

My dad and Ansley waiting to see Jason!

He made it! Yay! And he had an awesome time!

Icing the old legs.

His tatted arm

So proud of my hunk!!

Ryan came in next, then Alex, Mark, and then Matt. Nice work boys! Here's Mark coming in to the finish.

Unfortunately, Mark had a little wreck on his bike and had some road rash. It looked so painful, but he finished strong!

The capitol building was the finish and it was beautiful.

Jason checking his placement

He got 4th!!! Woo hoo!! He was so happy, but of course, wished he could have made the podium (he missed 3rd by 40 secs). We were so proud of him!

Some of the boys after the race. They were all really happy with how they did and excited that the months and months of training had paid off. Good job!!

Oh, and one of our very own Cape Girardeau girls, Kim Pancoast won the women's race and won a CAR! How exciting is that?! She's a stud too! It's hilarious though....they weren't quite sure how they were going to get that Mini Cooper back to Seattle with a bike! Ha! I wish I had that problem to worry about :)

First Day of MDO!

2011-08-26T09:32:00.000-05:00

For weeks we've been telling Ansley she was headed to school soon... and the bittersweet day finally arrived. Yesterday was Ansley's first day of Mother's Day Out! I say bittersweet because I know SHE needs the interaction and learning AND I'm also excited about an afternoon to run errands and such, BUT....I almost backed out (thankfully Jason surprised us by being in the parking lot when we arrived...him being there definitely helped!). If she would have cried for me like some of the other kiddos did, I'm not sure I could have left yesterday. Instead, her little hand raised to give us a sweet wave as we walked out of sight. Uh...I missed her so BADLY. It took me most of the day to realize....she was not with me AND I didn't have to go to work. I had a few good cries during the afternoon, got in some much needed retail therapy, and then got myself back together for her pickup. She was excited to get to school and excited to come home, so all around...it was a great day for her!

This is Ansley at the house before we left. That lunchbag was her favorite accessory. When we arrived at church she wanted to let Jason know EVERYTHING that could be found in there. "I have meelk, wadder, cheese, fuit naks...." ;)

Here she is marching in like a big girl!

This is the look of excitement in case you were wondering.

There was a little bit of time for a quick pic of our family of 3.

Here she is romping around with her buddy, Ellie.

This was taken as we were walking out. I asked her how her day went, what she did, of course I wanted ALL the details!

"Um...I payed babies with Ellie and....payed babies"

This was just about more than my heart could handle!

Big milestones are happening here at the BANDERMANN'S!

Chiara's Birthday Party!

2011-08-22T10:21:00.000-05:00

My cousin, Laura and her daughter, Chiara is in from France for a month to visit. While they are here we decided to surprise Chiara for her birthday, luau style. We obviously don't get to see her much because they live so far away (I only wish I could jet on over to Paris every so often), so the last memory of talking with her she was just a little thing spitting out English, French, and Spanish (the vision of a girl so young speaking all kinds of different languages is mind-blowing!). Now, she's 10 and has turned out to be such a sweet girl. Happy Birthday, Chiara!

I was so sad when I realized Chiara's eyes were closed. Bummer!

Here's Jansen taking a shot at the pinata.

Jansen and Ansley loving on each other.

Laura got this skirt just for Ansley. She loved it!

Lynwood at Cape Splash!

2011-08-18T12:29:00.000-05:00

Our church had a picnic at the Cape County Park Sunday and then rented out Cape Splash for the 2nd year in a row. Woo Hoo! Ansley had such a great time at that place. I should definitely take her there more often! I got a few pics of her before the lightning scare, but not as many as I would have liked:(. She was NOT going to leave willingly, so we had to bribe her with a little bit of ice cream from Dairy Queen with the Mayhew and Greene clans. It was such a fun night with our Lynwood family!

Here are a few pics from the evening

Ansley was SO excited to get there!

We ran into our little friends on the way in

Can you see the excitement

She was a wild woman!

A quick pic before heading back out

She was loving the fountains

This little guy was having so much fun too!

Fun with her buddies

Because she loved Cape Splash so much with our Lynwood family, I decided to take her back before they closed. My mom came over and we picked up Jansen from daycare so he could enjoy the waterpark too. Kristi, Matt, and Alex met us there and Chad, Kristal, and Isaac were already there. It was so fun to have other friends for Ansley to play with! The day was gorgeous and we enjoyed splashing around!

She was stopping in the fountains, like she was going to take a drink

Getting showered!

They were totally hugging on each other and I just happened to get a picture. So sweet!

Jansen was a little cold, so we bundled up and snuggled. Love the little comb over.

Getting some smooches from Mimi.

Something was hilarious!

I love that Ansley loves the water...she's definitely a fish like her daddy.

Fun at the St. Louis Zoo

2011-08-15T12:46:00.000-05:00

We went to the zoo Tuesday and this was just a glimpse at our day. It was a BLAST! I had no camera, so I didn't get much. First up....the train where Ansley and Marlee screamed the whole way through the dark tunnels and I'm absolutely sure that I've experienced some hearing loss because of it.

The stingrays and sharks were fun too. Ansley kept saying, "Come ere, baby ray, come ere". Here she is patting the barrier for them to come like they're dogs. Precious.

She stopped just long enough for me to get a picture, she was dripping wet!

Ansley sitting in the hippo at the kid's area.

The fountains were the most fun part of the day. She loved it!

I absolutely love watching her have fun!

And...she ate her first corn on the cob (thanks to Marlee for sharing).

It was an extremely hot day, but things are always better when you're with friends!

Vaca in PA!!!

2011-08-01T17:38:00.003-05:00

We just got back from vacation in Pennsylvania and it was so great!

This is how Ansley slept...oh how I wish I could've gotten this comfy during our 17 hour trip!

Once a year we try to see our PA family...sometimes they come here and other times we go there, depending if there's a big occasion (wedding, baby, or just because). I love visiting them because my cousins from PA are all around my age and we miss seeing each other so much! Also, my Grammy Booth (my dad's mom and only living grandparent) lives there, so of course, seeing her is a must. We usually stay busy the whole week seeing the local sites around PA and then we usually go on some sort of excursion (we've been to Gettysburg, Philidelphia, D.C., New York, too many to mention). On this trip, we were pretty much busy the entire time and decided to only go to the Poconos and Hershey, PA. Thursday and Friday we traveled, so most of our day was spent in the car and in the hotel. We usually use hotwire to book our rooms when we get to a good location, so we did the same thing this time. We usually can find $40 rooms and they've always been really nice...unfortunately, it was not the case this time. Hotwire booked us in the Mansfield Inn which was a total and absolute dump! The front desk was in the same building as a tavern...if that tells you anything (Jason's response to Hotwire when they asked what was wrong with the hotel, that was actually a MOTEL..."I wouldn't make Osama Bin Laden stay there if he was still alive"). Needless to say, they refunded us. We were exhausted and hungry, but could not find a hotel that had any rooms, but thankfully on down the road we did! Whew.

This is Ansley in the hotel pool right before she had thrown up in it....I know, disgusting! She got choked on some water and all her dinner came up. It got pretty interesting to say the least!

The first day we arrived in PA we visited with my Gram , unpacked, and helped her outside (well, Ansley and Jansen helped water flowers)

Such a big helper!

And then later, we all sat around the table with our barbeque sammies in hand and listened to what Miss Priss had to say (a glimpse at some of our conversation).

The next evening we went to a Luau at my aunt and uncle's house. My Aunt Sarah is all about making things fun, so of course, she had plenty of games to keep us entertained after eating a full spread of food. I had no camera that night unfortunately, so I have nothing to show of it (failure). The most fun part of the night ...the pinata for the children was filled with yo-yos, so hilariously enough Jason started trying them out. He had a little bit of yo-yo skill from his good-ole Jr. High days back at Woodland High, so for most of the evening we made fun of him, including my brother. After some taunting from Jason, Kyle tried his hand at it too and immediately was intrigued...he was horrible so he didn't put the yo-yo down the entire night. The next day we laughed so hard because my brother had 'yo-yo elbow' (he was so sore!), yet he still wouldn't put it down! Who knew a yo-yo could bring so much entertainment?! Sunday we went to church (baby Ashton was baptized :) and we ate lunch and lounged at the pool). It was pretty laid back.

Baby Ashton getting baptized

The church had no air conditioner and no open windows. Can you see my glow...at this point I'm sure my back is dripping too.

Our family of 3

My Gram with her boys

The whole crew

On Monday, we went to the Poconos (the PA mountains). We wanted to zipline and do some other fun activities, but it was rainy and most everything was closed, so we went shopping in at an amazing outlet mall. I'm pretty sure all the New Yorker's do their shopping there...it was pretty swanky. Thankfully, we had stopped on the way to get the boy's some NEW yo-yos at a Toys-R-Us and I'm so glad we did! Those things kept those boys entertained the entire shopping trip....you wouldn't believe the children that swarmed around them as they were doing tricks outside the stores Laura and I went in. They were like superstars! Ha!

Kyle walking the dog :)

After doing some minor damage there and watching the boys yo-yo the day away, we headed back to Grams for her famous barbeque sammies. Yum!
Tuesday, we wanted to do some swimming with the kiddos, so we planned a trip to the river. As a child, my Grammy grew up living on the bank of the Susquehanna River. The old farmhouse still stands snuggled in a valley with a breathtaking view of a gigantic mountain and sits right next to the river and a set of train tracks. It is such a great location! My great aunt and uncle live in the house now and farm the surrounding ground. It's quite an operation! We always get together with them while we are in PA, so usually we request a visit to the river. It's always a good time!

Here are lots of pictures of us lounging in the Susquehanna River

My mom and Ansley

My cousin Nate and his girlfriend, Colissa

Ansley and I floating

Maddy, Jason, and Ansley

All the kiddos wanting to sit by Jason...he's the kid magnet.

Ansley was wanting to drive and found a pair of glasses that she DID NOT want to take off.

My dad and Uncle Jeff took a ride on the motorcycle

On Wednesday we took a short drive to Knobbels (one of the best amusement parks for kids!) and spent the entire day on rides, eating lots of kettle corn, and picnicing in the pines. It was seriously....so fun. Ansley was loving all the activities and she especially loved their famous merry-go-round. She's definitely a horse lover!

Miss Priss on the train

My parents sat in front of us...they didn't want to miss a thing! The train took us to several spots in the park and through the woods. She kept saying more, more.

Maddy and Ansley on the ladybugs

Now for the jeeps...Jason felt like he needed to ride too

They were all about the steering.

Flying with my cousin, Becky and Maddy. These girls had so much fun together!

Guess who?

This girl wants her license!

My mom and dad on the Phoenix (this was their 2nd time). What a ride!

The tongue shows how clearly excited she was!

This girl was so good...even without a nap!

My uncle Jeff and Maddy on the Ferris wheel

Ansley loving on baby Ashton before he left. He is precious!

My cousins and I after an awesome day at Knobbels.

Ansley enjoying her very own moose tracks ice cream cone. She tore it up.

That next day it was time to head back. We had such a special time visiting with our family and soaking up all that PA has to offer! I treasure the times we get to spend with my Gram and hated leaving her, but hopefully next year she'll make another visit to MO.

Our family pic before departure.

We visited Hershey, PA on our way home. Ansley unfortunately got another fever (she also had one on the way up), but she was acting fine, so we continued as planned. I mean who wouldn't want to stop at the chocolate factory?!

The Hershey factory was a well oiled machine...starting with these buggies that drove us around explaining the process of making the amazing chocolate that I can never get enough of!

These cows sang a few cute songs explaining their role in the process. It was seriously so funny!

We even got the backside view. ;)

And there they are...sweet chocolate kisses.

It was surprising to learn that Hershey is responsible for all the other sinful candy I love to eat too, like Reese's, M&M's, and even Twizzlers! It was almost impossible to get out of there without buying the whole factory out...seriously, we were kids in a gigantic candy shop.

After indulging in WAY too much chocolate we headed back to MO. Unfortunately, we only got to the border of PA and OH when Ansley started getting sick. We quickly found a hotel room after some major hosing off at a hole-in-the wall gas station and got Ansley in bed with some EXTRA pampering. She was such a sweetheart through the whole thing and she kept saying to me...."Mommy, I want to hold you" (she gets a little mixed up on who holds who). After a LONG night in the hotel, we began our final journey home. The day in the car with Ansley had gone much better than we had expected, so we did the last 10 hours. We were on Rt. K getting so excited to almost be home and FINALLY able to get out of the car for good when Ansley got sick AGAIN. This time...all over me! It was not pretty...but we were home. And we could get in our own shower, our own beds, our own blankets, and just snuggle!!! So that's what we did. Ansley was back at it again the next day and thankfully had no more fever. Thank you, Lord!

It was a great trip to PA minus a few moments and we can't wait to see them again next year!

VBS and Clearwater

2011-08-01T15:15:00.001-05:00

We had VBS at our church recently so I thought I would show a few pictures from the week. Jason and I both did a skit for the kids during their morning worship time, so of course I tried to get a few pictures of his skit with Ryan and Bro. Mark in action. Their performance was very fitting for the brotherly competitive spirit that they both have and the kids loved it! You would have thought they were rockstars!

I was helping in the preschool music, so I got a few pictures of my kiddos during some of our fun songs.

These girls were the most excited about the music...front row center!

I also had the one's and two's. We quickly learned the importance of having an instrument in their hands. They loved it!

Here's some of our kids and the preschool leaders. They were such a blessing!

This is the night of their church performance. I caught a quick one of Maksim and Ansley. They were not quite ready to sing!

"Good things, good things, Jesus does good things!"

Ansley is still rocking out to Good Things! :)

We went to Clearwater Lake with my family a couple of weekends ago and we all had a great time relaxing and enjoying the water. Ansley is always so happy to be swimming or when she's able to just play outside, so she was in her element! This was how happy she was to just play in my parent's camper...all smiles!

Can you tell how much this girl loves the outdoors?!

It was just a little on the hot side...

Anzy

Be prepared for a lot of pictures....Ansley was sharing her water with Jansen.

She is such a little momma.

He obviously wanted more than she offered.

He got a little aggravated ;)

So she gave him more...they are so sweet together!

BB and Ansley riding the 4-wheeler Aunt Peggy got her.

My dad and Ansley wading near our campsite. She doesn't want to miss a thing!

It was so nice to hang out with the family on the pontoons and boats. We can't wait to get back!

Ansley's Birthday

2011-07-08T17:43:00.000-05:00

On the morning of Ansley's actual birthday (4th of July), Jason surprised us with blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes! Yay! We sang happy birthday again, blew out the candles, and burnt a little bit of her bangs.
Yes...you heard me right. As I was holding her, singing, I just blew a little too hard to help her with the last candle...and sszzzz. That's right....mommy burnt some of her hair. Thankfully, it sizzled for only a second and everything was fine. It smelled like burnt hair, but all was good....she didn't know the difference AND we got a really funny video. Maybe one of these days I'll put it on here. ;)

Later that afternoon we went to the Beel's cabin where Ansley experienced a lot of firsts. She fished by herself with her new Barbie fishing pole and caught 3 tiny frogs with her pink net. She touched and got up close and personal with a fish that Jason had caught and held her first sparkler (with help of course...we were not prepared for any more Michael Jackson moments).

She's watching Jason swim the lake (lap 4 at this point)...he's such a stud!

She would say everytime he came around, "what's daddy doing?"

My response..."he's still swimming!"

Her sweet little tacklebox, net, and lure keeper she got from the Beels. She loved it!

Jason showing Ansley how to fish with her own little pole

She loved it!

Ready to catch a butterfly

Frog gigging ;) with Macy

Oh, that poor little frog....

What a precious little hand

Miss Thing always wants her sunglasses on.

And here is the hilarious part...the adorable knee bend that she had going on. So intense!

Reeling a big one in! Ha!

First ride on the Ranger

Lounging on the dock, ready for the fireworks!

A sparkler for our very own firecracker. I'm loving the swimtop and diaper :)

Ansley's second birthday was a hit!!

Ansley's 2nd Birthday!!

2011-07-07T23:24:00.001-05:00

I can't even begin to believe that we're celebrating Ansley's 2nd birthday. It is absolutely bittersweet. We feel so blessed to have this amazing little girl that brightens up our lives in ways we couldn't even imagine possible and we love every minute of watching her grow, but yet the past 2 years have just swept by us too quickly...in what feels like seconds.  I know this is so cliche' and I say it so often, but how does life pass us by so fast? Ugh!  I sometimes think I haven't taken enough pictures, captured enough video of her silly little sayings or mannuerisms, or soaked up enough of her sweet little personality. I've just decided I can't even think about it anymore...it makes me so emotional! So...onward!
There are so many things to mention about Ansley, but it's almost impossible to wrap her up in a few short paragraphs. Here's what I can think of right now about her latest goings on....

*"No meeeamm (no maam)!" This is Ansley's new phrase these days when you know she's serious about "no".

*She loves to talk on her cell phone (she found an old flip phone lying around and loves it). She walks around jabbering nonstop and every once in awhile I'll make out a few words. A lot of times I'll hear her say....Oh gosh! And then she giggles. So hilarious.

*She is sporting a feather in her hair like her momma.  She got one just for her birthday in a light pink to match her party.  My cousin, Danielle put it in her hair and now she's her new best friend.  Ansley calls her "Donelle" and we all get quite a kick out of it!

*We've learned what an animal/insect lover she is.  She's not afraid of anything! She even loves bugs and frogs...she's quite the tomboy! On her birthday she caught some baby frogs in her pink Barbie net. They were so cute and she was so proud of them!

*She has recently wanted to be involved in the daily shoe picking process. She loves her shoes, especially the pink ones!

*Another favorite phrase...."No, no Ansley do it! K, K?!" She is definitely Miss Independent!

*It's confirmed...she's a water baby. She loves any chance she gets at swimming and she has no fear.  Jumping off the side of the pool is nothing for this little turkey!

*We were finally able to paint her toe nails....thanks to Heather! She's a fan now and sits so still when I paint them.

*We've noticed that when she gets really excited about something she shrugs her shoulders up and down and does it several times in a row. It's like she does a little dance and smiles from ear to ear. Most of the time she does it when she's excited about food (usually ice cream) or when she knows you're going to sit and play with her (she loves having a playing buddy).
Now, on to the party!

The party invite for her second birthday

The Birthday Girl!

Ansley's birthday party was a blast! We love having people over to the house and what better reason than to celebrate Ansley's birthday. We had lots of food...the amount of sweet stuff was pretty ridiculous, tons of activities for the kiddos (Ansley's new playscape was a hit), and so many friends and family to share it all with! We feel so blessed to have a great group of friends and family surrounding us! Here are a few pictures from the party....

The sweets table

The number 2 I used scrapbook paper on and the birthday hat I made out of coordinating paper and a feather boa I had.

The cake I made with one layer of strawberry cake mix, one yellow, and Ansley's strawberry on top was also strawberry. Every layer had strawberry pie filling in between and buttercream icing with fondant covering them all. My fondant was a little flimsy so my decorating looks like a Kindergartener did it ;).

The table centerpieces were a variety of cute strawberry shortcake or strawberry pictures and some of just Ansley. This is her invitation picture.

Another centerpiece

Jason putting her birthday hat on

Jason praying before we eat....Ansley was peeking just a little

Singing Happy Birthday! She actually helped us sing the entire song.

Ansley's strawberry cake

Family pic

Jason being a good daddy and cutting the cake

My sweet girl

GG and Mrs. Cathy talking

The Sides family!

Little Isaac or "Isick" as Ansley says

Some of my family

Pappaw and Anzie

She had enough of just splashing the water....she wanted in...clothes and all!

This water was FREEZING I might add....

Mimi, Jansen, and Ansley

Ansley opening gifts and finding a dress up outfit in one from the Sides. She loved the boa!

Jansen helped out too

Ansley hugging BB's leg after getting her gift

Blowing some bubbles outside after all the action

Pamaw and the kiddos

Laura, Brynn, and Whit

Ansley on her new slide with Uncle Kyle

Ansley and Jansen sitting at the lemonade stand ;)

Oh, what a day! It was definitely a beautiful one. One we will never forget.

Happy 2nd birthday sweet girl!

Random stuff

2011-06-27T13:51:00.003-05:00

The last couple of weekends have been a lot of fun...definitely busy, but fun! Last Friday was my last week of not working Friday :(....back to my old schedule....shucks! No more poolside Friday's for Ansley and I, it's back to the grind for me. We've had weddings, galas, birthday preparations, and everything in between. I'm just plain tuckered out. But I found a few pictures that I just had to post.
A couple Friday evenings ago we had a wedding to attend for a beautiful couple, Aimee and Kendall. Seriously....they are adorable and both in love with the Lord. It's so amazing to see how Christ has been so evident in their lives over the years. We were only able to make it to the reception, but I'm so glad we did! It was a very special evening! You can't tell from this picture, but Ansley had a pretty fun night too.

She danced just about the whole evening with her little friends Andrea, Will, Anna, Emma, Andrew...they were a hoot! I took a video of the dancing, but the picture is really dark.

On Saturday we had choir practice for our 4th of July choir program and then Jason and I went to the Heart Hospital and Cancer Institute Gala at St. Francis. Jason has put a lot of work into getting this going....his new office will be there and there's been so much to plan for. The gala was a huge success for the medical center and we really enjoyed the evening. There was dancing, amazing singing, yummy food, and fireworks. It was quite an extraordinary evening! For Jason and I, it means there's an end in sight to the late nights at work and the numerous dinners/work functions he's had to be at. Yay!!

There's been a lot of stuff go on in between the big events too....like feathers and cake making. Ansley and I both got feathers in our hair (her feather is for her birthday and mine is just for fun!). I'm in love with it. I can hide it, show it off, curl it, you name it...that feather has all kinds of tricks ;)!

Here's "Donelle"(as Ansley says it) putting Ansley's pink feather in. I love having a stylist in the family!

She loved it!

There's also been some major cake-making going on too. Ansley's cake was about a 4 day process and Danielle I. got to get in on some of the action. Ansley decided she wanted to lick the spatula and knew who to befriend to allow such things. More, more, more is all we heard from her!

She licked it clean!

She really got into it as you can tell :). Ha!

For those of you ate the cake....don't worry...all cake making supplies were thoroughly cleaned after this little one got ahold of them!

Memorial Day and Father's Day at the Beel's Cabin

2011-06-20T17:28:00.000-05:00

I had a few pictures from Memorial Day to post...I'm SO behind! We spent the day at my cousin's lake and cabin, which is gorgeous! I love to spend holidays there!

Ansley, Macke, Jansen, and Dani

The girls love to play with Ansley and Jansen. It's so nice to have another set of eyes!

Our Father's Day was low-key...just like we like it! We spent the day at church, then went to eat with the Bandermann's minus R & W, and then headed for the Beel's cabin. We had so much fun fishing, playing on the boat, eating lots of fried food, and Jason got his swim practice in! Woo hoo! It was nice day....I'm so thankful for my dad, Rick, and overjoyed that I have a husband who is an outstanding dad! I feel so blessed!

Jason and Ansley fishing

Doesn't this look like a scene from Forest Gump! I love it!

So cute!

Most of my cousins taking a ride in THE BEAST!

Jansen and Kyle

Ansley and Laura

The crew relaxing on the deck

Tanner and Rob on the boat

Please disregard my fro-like hair in this picture....it was a little steamy out!

Ansley rocking her new t-shirt dress

I love lazy, family days!

Ansley has a new BEST friend!!

2011-06-20T15:15:00.000-05:00

So come to find out...Ansley loves my friend Heather just as much as I do! Heather was at the house the other night and Ansley just clung to her the entire evening! She wanted Heather to play with her ("come ere" she'd say with her little cupped-hand wave), she let her paint her toenails (this was shocking...the girl cries when I try!), AND she even pottied on the potty chair for her! I'm telling you...she was her best buddy!! I just sat with my mouth gaping. That's when I made the executive decision that Ansley was going to go stay with Heather for a few days and come back potty-trained! It sounded like an excellent idea to me! :)

I've never seen this child sit so still when there's paint involved....seriously...I'm still shocked!

She was so proud of them when she was done. Not only did she sit like a statue during the entire painting, but when Heather told her she needed to walk on her heels afterwards so they would dry...SHE DID! I was impressed. I so wish I had a picture of the two of them doing that!

Ansley and Heather. Ansley is mid shoulder shrug as you can see.

Sewing Extravaganza and Craft Night!

2011-06-20T13:48:00.000-05:00

Whew! It's been quite an exciting couple of days! I started a sewing class last week because I know absolutely NOTHING about the art of sewing and I've been dying to learn! There's been numerous things over the years that I've thought....oh, I want to be able to make that!....and can't. I'm a dummy when it comes to anything with a needle and thread (I'm the girl that took shop class instead of home-ec) . I can't even sew a button on a shirt! So...as you can see...it was time to learn. My friend Lilo, grew up with a mom that made everything...she knitted, crocheted, sewed...she did it all. Linda is a sewing genius. Pam mentioned my interest in sewing to Linda and she offered to show us how to make a few styles of dresses. The pillowcase and t-shirt dresses were our first attempts. Wow. I had no idea what went into the sewing process...lots of detail, but I love it! Here are the dresses that Pam, Whitney, Linda and I made.....I was shocked!

Most of these pictures were stolen from Whitney's blog, because I had no camera...thanks Whit!

My little blueberry girl...she went through several containers of berries during our sewing. Thank goodness Linda brought some blueberries from her farm!

The finished product. Thanks Linda and Pam!

Oh, how cute is this!

We are so proud of these dresses!

One more taken with my iphone...I couldn't hardly get this dress off of her!

Now for the tshirt dress...this one is probably my favorite!

I can hopefully do many more sewing projects now that I have a little bit more knowledge about the process. The possibilities are endless! Woo hoo!!

We had our 2nd craft night with the girls and it was just as fun as the 1st! Ashley hosted and taught us how to make a "lollie wreath"!

Here's Whit with her safety goggles on. Ha!

Most of us did a 4th of July theme like the one above and they all turned out really cute! I'm not quite done with mine yet, hopefully by the end of the week. As always, I enjoyed visiting and crafting with the girls!

Summer Fun!

2011-06-13T18:22:00.001-05:00

Oh the joys of summer! There's nothing quite like the long summer nights, trips to the cabin, barbecued hot dogs, swimming in the creek, and jeep and 4-wheeler rides on the farm! It's just nice to get away...and do nothing! To not think about the million things I have to do at home or run, run, run from place to place. Just some good 'ole peace and quiet.

Ansley driving the jeep with Jason

Ansley was so excited to be at the creek...Alleigh loved it too!

Mimi and Ansley walking the shore

BB and Ansley playing splashing around

Bathtime in the old clawfoot tub. She loved it!

We are so thankful for our little cabin getaway!

Then last week we went to my Aunt Debbie's pool for a few hours to enjoy the sun. Ansley loved it! She had me, Jansen, Macy, Tanner, Mimi, and BB to play with in the water! Macy was her best buddy though...she payed close attention to Ansley all afternoon and Ansley ate it up!

My mom with Ansley and Jansen (it was nearly impossible to get a picture with no head turning)

Tanner, Macy, and Ansley on the noodle where they spent most of their time

BB joined in on the action too!

I had asked my mom to take a picture of us in the pool and this is what I got...a video of us taking a picture. Oh well!

We will definitely be enjoying more of these beautiful, hot days by the pool!

Mackenzie's Big Graduation!

2011-06-13T10:52:00.000-05:00

My cousin, Kenzie graduated from high school a couple of weeks ago and I had the opportunity to make her cake. I've made only 1 other cake and that was Ansley's first birthday cake. I learned then, I knew NOTHING about tall cakes, so since then, I've taken a cake decorating class to just learn the correct techniques. I by no means, am an expert now, but I feel like I have a better handle on what I'm doing. It took me WAY longer to make this cake than I had intended (staying up all night Thursday night was not fun). Meanwhile, I verified my sneaking suspension that my new oven does not bake properly and that my gumpaste numbers were not going to dry because I made them too large. After round 2 on the gumpaste "2011" and about 3 cakes ruined because I underbaked them....I realized I'd be pretty happy with ANY outcome at that point! So a couple things I've learned during this time intensive process...it's much more stressful to make a cake for someone else rather than yourself AND multi-leveled cakes are no small feat! Oh, and have someone clean up the aftermath (thanks mom!). However, it is really fun to see how it all comes together in the end!
Here are a few pictures....the first one is from the night before the party (the final touches have not been made)

Mackenzie's request: Zebra and purple

(She has been in love with the color purple since birth...not joking, she was like 2 when she said she wanted to be a nun and drive a purple convertible!)

Kenzie with the finished product!

That thing was heavy! Can you tell I lost some sleep over that thing?!

Kenzie was really happy with it and that's all that matters! However, Jason has requested that he be asked before any more cakes are made for anybody else...I get just a little crazy in the kitchen with the mess and my attitude. HA!

Laughs and Crafts!

2011-05-30T22:39:00.000-05:00

My SIL, Whitney came up with the idea of a craft night with a bunch of us girls. Her mom used to do a craft night at church with all her friends and as Whitney remembers, made all kinds of fun crafts back in the day....including some "nerdy reindeer". When she mentioned this I was so excited....I love getting my craft on and I love that it gives us all a reason to get together! So after seeing my burlap and rosette inspired front- door wreath, Whitney put together this craft club. We now have our very own artsy fartsy club called "Laughs and Crafts" (name given by Ashley). We had such a blast! I gathered supplies for a couple of the girls and most of the others got their own (there are quite a few girls that are very creative!). I basically taught them how to make the fabric rosettes and then guided the rest of the wreath making. It was so neat to see how different all the wreaths looked when we were all finished. They were all fantastic! We also had a fabulous time chatting and laughing (poor Whitney had us rolling after some tragic craft "situations"). If you want to read more on this, hop on over to Whitney's blog. She has most of the details. :)

Ashley and I showing off our rosettes

My SIL Laura made some adorable fluffy rosettes! We were amazed by her skills!

Whitney and Kelly....notice the aloe. Ouch!

Heather! She got the award for quickest crafter!

Krystal getting her craft on with her clever jellyroll fabric

Our group picture with all our wreaths. So fun!

It was such a great night hanging out and making memories. I seriously can't wait until the next craft night hosted by Ashley. We will be making a 4th of July paper lollie wreath. Woo hoo!!

Memphis in May Triathalon

2011-05-23T16:40:00.000-05:00

We spent a fun weekend with the friendlaws (word coined by Whitney this weekend) in Memphis. It was really nice to have a little get-away for a few days and just enjoy ourselves! I don't think I've laughed quite so hard in a long time...between Ryan's outbursts, Whitney's humor and imaginary games, to Jason's spoofs. Not to mention, poor Whitney had to pump every three hours...no matter where we were! Oh, how I remember those days!
The whole purpose in going to Memphis was to cheer on the boys as they did their 2nd triathalon. Unlike their first tri, this was the real deal. There were referees, professional tri athletes, and the distances were ligit. They both did amazing....especially considering the rain, thunder, and lightning that ensued while they were performing. Whitney and I were a little worried about their safety and our own as we watched by the sidelines! Thankfully, they both finished safe and unharmed!

The view of the start from our hotel room

Ryan and Jason before the race

Me and J

Ryan and Whit

The swim portion of the race (1 mile)!

Jason running out of the water and pulling his wet suit off

Finding his bike in the sea of bikes

Ryan starting his run portion

Jason and Ryan's post race pic. They were so happy!

Group pic...Whitney and I were soaked!

Jason beat Ryan...which has only happened very few times, so of course Jason needed the record to show who came out ahead this time. Ryan gets a break though...he does have a newborn at home! Ha! We got even more exciting news when we arrived home....we found out Jason had qualified to go to the triathalon U.S. Championships with his 6th place Clydesdale division finish. He was shocked and so excited! We are obviously so proud of him! Good job, J!

The weekend was so fun and we can't wait for another get-away with the friendlaws!

My lil Ice Princess

2011-05-20T17:32:00.000-05:00

She looks too grown up in these pictures....her hair all pulled up in a ponytail! What happened to my little girl?!

The sun was a little too bright for an open-eyed picture

I found this shirt in Ansley's closet and was so sad that I hadn't put it on her for the winter! Boo! So...we're rockin' the ice princess shirt in the spring...oh well.

I hope one day she IS my ice skating princess. We will see!

Playdate with Evy Kate

2011-05-16T16:46:00.000-05:00

My friend, Ashley asked if I could watch little Evy Kate a couple weeks ago and we gladly said 'yes'! Ansley and Evy are about the same age and really had fun playing together! We first read lots of books (little Evy is an avid Disney princess girl and I let her down! I learned very quickly that my Disney book supply is NOT where it needs to be, epecially when I'm raising a girl myself!). What kind of mom am I?! After finding some Disney books, the girls had already decided they wanted to go outside. So we took a wagon ride. They absolutely loved it! They giggled the whole way and the only reason we came in was because it got a touch too windy out! These girls entertained me the whole time and I can't wait to have another playdate with Evy....I mean, Ansley can't wait to have another playdate with Evy! Ha! So fun!

They were way too busy to smile for a picture.

Learning to share....

Sitting together is so much fun.

The wagon was a hit!

I mean...big deal!

They decided to lounge in the wagon. They were resting their tootsies.

Back inside for a little game of tag.

What a fun afternoon with 2 little friends.

Ansley Harper: 22 Months!

2011-05-16T12:27:00.000-05:00

The two year old mark is coming soon for little Ansley Harper and my heart just can't take it! These last 22 months have gone by too fast! I love this stage of life she's in right now and wish everyday we could just pause a little longer in this moment. Here are a few of the new things she's doing....

*Well, new words pop up left and right these days. She says anything from "Oh gosh" to "boob" (thanks Uncle Ryan). She is counting to three and saying her alphabet to about the letter J (her alphabet song is too much for words). She has started jabbering a lot. We can make out most of it, but some of the in between words...she makes up. It's like she's trying to imitate our full sentences and she uses her hands to get her point across.  Her little phrases and mannerisms just about do us in...they are hilarious and sweet all wrapped into one precious nugget.

*She says "Sorry, Momma" or "Sorry, Daddy" if she accidentally runs into you or maybe does something that hurts one of us. The other day she dropped a toy on my foot and it took everything in me NOT to start crying. I sat for a second while my toe stopped throbbing, meanwhile, she walked over to gently kiss my toe and said "I Sorry, Momma". I instantly forgot about my hurt foot and swooped her up to kiss her little cheeks....my heart was so full!

Another "sorry" story...Ansley was taking a bath one evening before bed at Pamaw and Pappaw's house. They dried her off and while Pam was hanging the towel up, Ansley ran into the living room where she had previously been playing with her new dollhouse.  Most of the pieces were on the coffee table, so she decided to jump up there to get them. As Pam walks out of the bedroom, Ansley says "sorry Pamaw"(she was standing on top of the coffee table in a puddle of pee). Somehow the puddle didn't reach the mound of toys, thankfully! We've learned...get a diaper on, stat!

*Ansley's renamed all her babies after her favorite girl cousin, Brynn. She is in love with "baby Ben" and asks constantly to see her. We have to keep a good eye on her while she's around Brynn, but for the most part she's pretty gentle with her.  I know they will have lots of fun together when Brynn gets a little bigger! Ansley's all giggles when she's around her!

*Her favorite toys right now are her new dollhouse, babies (not sure if we'll ever be without a baby around), her slide and playhouse outside, play kitchen, and she loves to draw and color with pens and crayons.

*Ansley's new thing is she always wants a play pal. She says "Come on, Daddy. Come play!" She'll cup her little hands and motion for you to join her. It's really hard to say no.

*She's been such a good little helper around the house! She loves to put the clothes in the laundry and helps me load the dishwasher. I couldn't ask for a better sidekick...she makes the grueling task of doing laundry fun.

*Ansley consistently talks with her eyes. I don't know any other way to explain it (maybe flirts? Using this word, kind of makes my heart stop)...she will give you the sweetest looks with those eyes and you'll know exactly what she's trying to do. Most of the time, she's trying to get away with something!

*She loves to go to her grandparent's houses. Anytime we're leaving the house she asks if we're headed to BB's house or Pappaw's house.  She loves to visit them!

*We've noticed that when we tell her to smile for a picture, she curls her bottom lip and squints her nose and eyes. It's almost too funny to fix....however, we're pretty sure she's going to kill us when she sees these pictures later on! We love it!

*Ansley weighs about 28 lbs. and wears about a size 18 months in clothes, 6 shoe, and a size 5 diaper.

I get so emotional when I think back on the last 22 months. Ansley is so special to us and we couldn't imagine our lives without her. She makes us laugh daily with her goofy little phrases and melts our hearts with her tender little spirit. We just can't seem to soak enough of her up. We are loving this phase of life with her and can't imagine it getting any better than this.

Tyson's Wedding and Jason's Triathalon

2011-05-14T23:41:00.000-05:00

A couple weekends ago we went to a wedding and Jason also did another local triathalon. I have been so behind on blogging recently, I haven't even had a chance to post it. So here's a few pictures of our fun weekend...

Ansley and Ryan getting down on the dance floor at Tyson and Meghan's wedding. She loved it!

This picture doesn't do her dance moves justice, but her little leaning shuffle was so cute.

Maeve and Ansley had a few dances too

A family picture by the lake at the Elks Lodge

Ryan and Whit with "baby Ben"

Pappaw and Pamaw wanted one with the girls

Cheeser

Love this picture...

Jason had a triathalon the same weekend and Ansley and I went after church to see the end of it. Jason, Ryan, and Matt all participated and did very well! Jason got 5th place in his division which was awesome! It was the first time he had ever gotten a trophy in a triathalon...woo hoo!!! We were so proud of him! Ansley and Alex were clearly happy too!

Ansley holding her Daddy's trophy. She was so proud!

Mother's Day Fun!

2011-05-09T11:18:00.002-05:00

I had another wonderful Mother's day with both families yesterday! I was pleasantly woke up by a kiss from my little Ansley on Sunday morning bright and early. She was holding my card in one hand and her bunny, Beatrice in the other. "Here ya go, momma!" she said with the sweetest little voice. It's those little things that make being a mom so special! The card was from Jason and Ansley and of course, made me get all teary. I LOVE being a MOM! I probably don't say it enough, but I am truly thankful to be Ansley's momma. I know there are so many families out there that are struggling to have a child of there own (we know the same struggle), so I most definitely DON'T take it for granted! I realize what a blessing it is and pray for those families to one day be able to experience the joy of having a child! All this to say....Mother's day is very special to me and Jason and Ansley made it wonderful!

We spent the morning at church (the sermon was wonderful...it was on how mother's are equipped for our job. Loved it and needed to hear it!) and then went to Outback for lunch with the Bandermann side. After taking a short nap (Sunday afternoon naps are a MUST around here), we drove to the cabin to have dinner with my family. Ansley had so much fun at both places because she got to see Brynn and Jansen in one day, so she was excited! She also rode the four-wheeler through the fields with my mom and dad, which made my mom an absolute wreck! They went turtle speed, but Ansley loved it! We had to pry her off. I think she would have rode all night!
I'm just surprised she loves that stuff...she can be quite the Miss Priss. Ha!

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Ansley lounging in the hammock

What a life!

My dad and Ansley riding

Jansen didn't want to miss out on this party!

I love this picture and she loves this dog.

Sweet Ansley and Alleigh...

Another fabulous Mother's day with the family!

Busy, busy Bandermanns!

2011-04-25T01:29:00.000-05:00

Whoa. It's been a busy couple of days around here! The thunderstorms have been trying to keep us from enjoying ourselves....but we don't care about baseball-size hail, floods, or tornadoes! Ha! Ok seriously...at times it's been a little scary. But we continue to get some good family time in during it all.

Turkey season is in full swing, so of course, Jason was out for the first day and got one! Ansley was so excited (as you can see from the picture) that Daddee brought home a big gobbler! Since Jason's hunt, she's said for days...."Ansley see turkeeeey!"

I had to get lots of pictures of my 2 turkeys!

The Easter egg hunts have been pretty popular with Ansley this week. We've got more plastic eggs lying around than I know what to do with! Ansley's preschool lab friends put on a hunt and then let her eat the chocolate while I was out running errands. Needless to say, Ansley was even more spunky than usual when I returned. She sure had a fun time finding the eggs with Mrs. Cathy!

This is Ansley's new "smile for the camera" face. I usually have a hard time keeping a straight face after the lip curl and eye squint!

One of my favorite little boutiques in town, Bloom was having a visit from the Easter bunny Saturday. Because we took Ansley last year, we had to make another trip this year to see what she thought of him. The pictures don't quite show it, but she was NOT a fan. However, after leaving...he's ALL she wanted to talk about! Of course, that's how it went with Santa too.

My two favorite people snuggling after having an overload of cookies and milk. I think Ansley still has a mouth full in this picture.

Friday night our church put on the first-ever Good Friday service, which was a huge hit! It was such an amazing night of reflection of the sacrifice that our Risen Savior made for each one of us! Wow. What a night! My sweet friend, Heather and I were asked to sing "Blessed Redeemer" by Casting Crowns at the end of the service. Even though we were crazy nervous...it went well! It was such an honor to be asked and I hope that God was glorified through it. Ansley is still singing Besssed Reeeemer to the top of her lungs! =)

Our Easter picture this year! After a wonderful church service this morning, we headed out to the cabin to see my family. We had another Easter egg hunt (the rain kept this one inside) and lots of food! Yes!

I love this picture....Ansley was giving the funniest faces to my family while we were trying to get a picture.

And this one melts my heart!

Ansley next to her lifesize Easter bunny smiling ear to ear!

Ansley and Jansen got lawn chairs for Easter from Mimi and BB. They loved them!

Of course, she needed to prop her tired feet up!

Next up....Aunt Soni's house for yet another egg hunt with Jason's family! Wowsa.

This girl knows how to hunt for a good egg! She found a money egg!

Happy Easter from the Bandermanns!

Crisman Clan

2011-04-18T10:47:00.000-05:00

We got to spend the evening with the Crisman kiddos last week and had so much fun! You would have thought Ansley was in heaven...she did not want our extended playdate to end! Victoria, the oldest was such a great helper with the little ones (she was another set of eyes for the twinkies, Ansley and Ellie) and Brotey and Kate, kept us fully entertained! These are some pictures from our fun evening with this sweet family (minus Emma :( )!

Ansley loved their slide!

Victoria was her swinging buddy too.

Look at these curly headed girls trying to squish into this tiny car

Brotey being silly

Looks like TROUBLE!

Ellie's face cracks me up!

Bathtime with the twinkies!

Nice wrestling move Kate!

What an exciting evening with a fantastic family!

Dads and Dolls

2011-04-04T17:02:00.000-05:00

Our church recently put on a "Dads and Dolls Tea Party" for all the little girls and their daddy's. Ansley wasn't really quite old enough (she was supposed to be 2), but somehow Jason got the ok for her to go. I'm so glad she got to be a part of this event! She absolutely loved it...it is clear from the pictures!

Here is my Doll and Dad...

This is during prayer time. She doesn't always keep those eyes closed.

Let's get this party started!

Ansley making a beautiful creation for her daddy and pappaw. She made a cup with her drawing on the outside of it...she worked real hard on it!

Pappaw and Ansley showing off their cup

Alex and Libby

Mike and Emma

Mark and Marlee

How precious is this picture?! Ansley thinks she is BIG stuff hanging out with these girls, Marlee and Kate!

Ansley, Evy and Kurt (the youngest dolls there!)

Naptime was quickly approaching. There was just too much fun had by all!

I love that Ansley had this quality time with her daddy and pappaw....they enjoyed it so much!

Baby Brynn is Here!

2011-03-26T23:51:00.000-05:00

Introducing......

Brynn Elise Bandermann
(our niece!)

Our brother and sister-in-law, Ryan and Whitney had their first baby, Brynn Elise on Tuesday! She is precious weighing in at 6 lbs 11 oz., 19.5 inches long and beautiful jet black hair. She is so tiny and adorable!
This was Ansley with Ryan and Whitney before Brynn arrived. She was so excited to meet Brynn...look at that smile!

When she finally arrived, Ansley found this stool and demanded to hold her. This is what she started doing to let us know she wanted to hold "N"

We let her have a few seconds with her. She kept saying...."awe...baby!"

She was giving her loves....so precious!

She wanted just one more glance!

Brynn is absolutely amazing and we are so excited to see her grow into a little girl. We especially can't wait for her and Ansley to be best of friends! Squeal!!! We are thrilled for Ryan and Whitney....their lives will forever be changed! Little girls are so much fun!

Ashley's Baby Shower!

2011-03-21T18:52:00.000-05:00

This weekend Ansley and I went to my friend, Ashley's shower at the Elks Lodge in Cape. It was such a gorgeous day and a beautiful shower! Ashley is due to have a sweet baby girl in May and I know she will be spoiled rotten! Here are a few pictures from the afternoon....

Ashley is in the pink....we have 2 preggers in the group. Whew!

During the shower Miss Priss started dancing in her boots!

And then she got a balloon!

"Noon" as she says it.

After letting her know it was time to go...this is what I got.

What a great shower for a great girl!!

2011-03-21T17:22:00.000-05:00

Favorite food: Blueberries!

My favorite part is seeing her face when she realizes that I've bought her blueberries! She squeals and the smile doesn't go away....unless there's a handfull of blueberries in her mouth!

She likes to just eat right out of the container. One right after another, there's almost no breathing involved. She inhales them!

This is how happy it makes her...how can I refuse?!

This year we'll be picking some blueberries at the Whitener's farm to freeze! Actually, I think she might need to get a job there when she's older, so she can work for her blueberries. Ha!