Cape Splash: Year 3!

It was another fun night at Cape Splash with our church family!  Ansley of course, loves it there and in years past you would have found me going down all the fast slides and lounging in the lazy river, but this year was a little different.  First of all, it was pretty chilly and then there was Charli....she NEEDED me! Ha!  That was my excuse for not getting in a swimsuit. :) I'm glad I had my trusty sidekick, Heather ( to keep me company and my in-laws to help with Charli.  It was fun to just watch Ansley and Jason live it up on the splash pad and in the pool.  She's my water baby and Jason is just one of the kids!

An action shot of Ansley with my Iphone.  It's just a touch blurry, but I just had to add it in!

She was loving her water time with Daddy! 

And frozen to the bone.... 

Chillin' with Pamaw and Baby Ben 

And Brynny could NOT stop kissing Charli.  I think she got well over 50 kisses in a 10 minute time frame :) It is so sweet to watch the girls together!

Cape Splash was fun again!  Happy Friendiversary to the Mayhew's and Crisman's! :)

 

A couple of weeks ago we went to St. Louis for a fun weekend getaway. Jason had gotten Cardinal tickets for the Build-A-Bear game, so we decided to take Ansley for a weekend geared just for her. She has been so great with Charli's arrival and we felt like we needed to treat her for being the helpful big sister that she's been. We went up on Saturday with Pam, Rick, Ryan, Whitney, and Brynn. We started at the City Museum which was so neat! I've been there before, but I just went with friends so it wasn't that exciting. But for kids....it's chalked full of interesting things to do. Ansley and Brynn had a lot of fun. We started in Tot Town (specifically for toddlers) and they went from one activity to another. First they climbed on bars, played in the balls (Jason called it the cess pool :)), painted works of art, rode the train, ran barefoot back and forth/up and down in the concrete park, went down the seven-story slide and wandered through caves. It was really fun. Ansley was NOT happy about leaving, but we were all ready to cool off and eat! Here are some pictures of the day...

Ansley was so brave and climbed on these bars several times.  I was scared to death she was going to fall...I couldn't even hardly watch!

She loved riding this tiger. 

Ansley and Brynny 

These girls were so into the paint! 

My little artist 

She loved the train too

She rode it SEVERAL times! 

Can you feel the excitement in her woo hoo?! 

Crazy concrete playground 

Love this pic 

Our family pic before we left.  You can tell Ans was NOT happy with us! 

After the museum, eating, and saying goodbye to Charli :(, we headed to the hotel for swimming and relaxing. 

We did lots of nail painting, hair do's, snuggling and swimming with Daddy. 

Sunday was off to Build-A-Bear and the Cardinal game. 

I mean...how adorable are these two?!

Picking out the perfect outfit for her bear.  It's a Tangled one of course! 

Stuffing her bear 

Lots and lots of stuffing!

 And picking out the best heart in the bunch! 

We named her Lucy since she came from St. Louis.  We're so clever ;)! 

She was so excited about the whole outfit with pink heels to match! 

Giving Lucy an air bath. 

Now to dress her 

After a fun afternoon of making little Lucy, we ate at Cheesecake Factory...yummy, and then to the Cardinal game!

  

Ansley lounging in her seat with her Cardinal bear.  

She insisted that she wear a hat!

Our little Cardinal rootin' family minus sweet Charli (next year baby girl, I promise)! 

This morning I was greeted in bed by an anxious little girl.  She came running into our bedroom with her raspy, sleepy voice yelling "Mommy, I so cited (excited) about my furst day of stool (school) today!". It was almost too much for me to handle.  How is she 3 already and going to school two days a week?!  It's official....we have a preschooler.  Crazy.
We loaded up all her little things...her backpack with all her fun supplies, lunch, sleeping bag, puppy dog pillow pet, Beatrice, and of course, Charli...she came too :).  On the way, she asked me..."Mommy, are you happy that I'm getting bigger?"  I knew this was probably coming, I had been a mess all morning knowing that my baby was getting bigger and there was nothing I could do to stop it. So all I could say was, "yes, Ans, of course Mommy is happy you're getting bigger, but it's bittersweet.

So there I was, trying to explain bittersweet to a 3 year old.....It was really funny, I promise. Ha!  I think she somewhat understood what I was trying to say as I was pulling into the church parking lot (10 minutes later). :)

  Here's the big preschooler!

She wanted to give Charli hugs 

She wanted me to take a picture of the two of them.  She seriously loves Charli! 

For pickup, Jason came along.  She immediately jumped into his arms.  

A proud Daddy 

Time to take Daddy back to work!

And then we got a special treat for our first day of school....sno cones!  She was thrilled, obviously.

Her flavor was watermelon and strawberry, 2 of her favorites.  

It was such a bittersweet day, but one we won't forget.    

      

Charli Suttyn: 2 Months

You are such a sweet baby!  I just can't believe you're 2 months already!  Here are a few things about you this month:
*At your 6 week checkup you weighed 12 lbs 10 oz. and are 23.5 inches long.  You are in the 90% in height and 89% in weight with a head circumference of 53%. Such a big girl!
*You have been sleeping so well! Usually you sleep from about 9 pm to 6 am, which allows mommy lots of needed sleep!
*Your schedule during the day is great too.  You eat, play for 30-40 minutes, and then sleep for 1/1.5 hours every 3 hours. This makes you and I both happy!
* You are cooing and laughing (small adorable laughs) more and more.  Our hearts just melt when you give us one of your precious smiles and daddy can always seem to get a laugh out of you with his hoot owl sound that he loves to do.
*You love your changing table. We can always get you to talk to us while you're lying there waiting. We call you "tom cat" when you do this because you sound just like one (Ansley did this too, that's where the name came from)!
*You love to be swaddled.  It's like your cue to go to sleep and almost every time you go down without a fuss.
* You've been to your first wedding (Kurt and Lindsey's) and a trip to St. Louis to the City Museum with the Bandermann crew.  You were so good!
*You have the sweetest little dimples in your knees.  They are just precious.
*You have a good amount of hair, especially in the back and a perfect little bundle of hair on top.  I love to sit and run my fingers through it!
*Nursing is going so much better! We have finally gotten each other figured out. :)
*You are so content (unless it's time to eat) and very go-with-the-flow.  This is so great considering your sis loves to go be on the go all the time!
*Your sis is enamored with you and you with her.  I can't wait to see how your relationship grows.  It gets me so emotional thinking about it!
*Binkies (Ansley calls them "pinkies" because they're pink in color :))are not really your favorite, but occasionally we can get you to take one.

Charli Suttyn you are such a dream.  We are so thankful for you and can't wait to see your sweet personality bloom in the coming months.  Thank you Lord for another sweet miracle!

Ansley's 3rd Birthday!!!

I can't believe I'm even writing that title right now.  Seriously, it is break-ing.my.heart.  But oh what a happy day it was!  Ansley's one request...."mommia, for my birfday can I have wots of children come to my house?"  Well, who could refuse that request and how funny that she referred to her friends as children?! Oh that girl! So, we invited all her little buddies and had quite a day!  She also wanted a Rapunzel party, so I went into high gear trying to get it together, with lots of help from my MIL and mom (executing a party gets a little more difficult with a newborn)!  I thankfully had lots of help and had somewhat of a vision as to what I wanted to do, but of course, I'm CRAZY and thought I could once again do her cake.  I say this EVERY year....I will NEVER do that again, too much goes into it, BUT for 3 years now....I persuade myself to give it another go (I swear it's like childbirth).  And Jason says every year....I'll pay someone, whatever the cost, I'll pay them!  Ha! Our kitchen always gets tore up in the process, which is definitely a pain (on top of trying to get your house ready, decorations up, and food ready).  Whew!  But this year....the reward was in seeing Ansley lay her eyes on it for the first time.  "Oh mommy, it's just beautiful!"  Those are the moments that make it ALL worth it!  Ok, enough about the silly cake.  On to the PAAAARTAA!!!  

This girl had one AWESOME day!

Ansley's party attire:  Skirt from Zullily ($8) and her shirt was from Hobby Lobby ($1), the 3 was made with my Silhouette! 

Ansley's Tangled cake made with an Oatmeal container (tower), Rice Krispie treats (roof) , and cake (bottom tier) 

The presents!

The treat table

Birthday banner

The canopy and sphere chandeliers made with balloons and yarn

The four of us

Our basement has never been so packed!

My beautiful bestie :)

My cousins

She was sooo excited to dig into her cake

All her little buddies gathered around to see her blow out the candles

She loved us singing "Happy Birthday" to her

Blowing out her 3 candles

Ansley still enjoying her piece of cake. Ha!

Present time!

Charli was there!  She just got passed around for most of the party. ;)

Pony rides for the princess and all her friends

The playground was a big hit too

And the pool....oh the fun!  This picture makes me so happy!  Ellie and Ansley are such great friends!

She is a water baby

Love this one....Trevor spraying the girls!!!

Someone lost their diaper! It's not a party until someone's lost their diaper. Ha!

It was such a wonderful day of celebration.  Ansley was so excited and had such a fun time.  We are so thankful for our friends and family that helped celebrate the life of our little princess, Ansley. :)