It's a.....

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!

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!