Maeryn's Arrival

I've had some very special pictures tucked away ever since our friends came home with their adoptive daughter, Maeryn.  I know this sounds strange, but I forget that she's even adopted some days.  I actually think she looks more like her momma than the other Mayhew kiddos do.  Ha!  Heather just posted yesterday that they've been home for 2 months and I can't even believe it!  It seems like it was just yesterday!  She is such a precious addition to their little family and we are so thrilled to see how their new journey with 4 kiddos plays out.  

Here they are landing at the Cape airport

And seeing their kiddos for the first time in 2 weeks!

 

 Lots of hugs and kisses all around

 So happy to have them home safely! 

 Here's the star, Maeryn 

The kids loved meeting her for the very first time

My little family taking in the moment

 

I love that everyone was sporting their shirts!

 

  Unfortunately, it was a hectic drive to the airport for the Bandermanns.  We thought their flight came in an hour later than it really did and I was crying thinking that I was going to miss their arrival.  Needless to say, the trip to the airport was so stressful!  Whew! I would have been devastated to miss that sweet moment!  So thankful we are surrounded by friends that have answered this AMAZING call on their lives.  :)   

Lazy L Safari

We took a quick trip to Lazy L last week with some of our buddies.  

 Ansley and Charli both are such animal lovers.  It's so sweet how they interact with them.

 Charli was loving the birds

 And this girl liked the monkeys!

 It was all fun and games until a goat tries to eat your toes!

We had a little incident with the bag of food (a goat ate Ansley's bag and all!), so the girls had to resort to some good ole fashion petting.  :)  

  

 Fun times at Lazy L!

Ansley and Charli's First Day of School!

It seems so weird to have 2 little munchkins going to school at once.  Ansley is in Pre-K (for realz) and Charli is going one day a week to Mother's Day Out.  I can't even believe our lives right now.  I'm still wondering how I'm even old enough to have 2 kiddos!  Geez.

Our pretty little girl with her cowboy boots on of course!

Ansley and Daddy

The girls before Charli's 1st day and Ansley's 2nd. I did make Charli a sign but the thought of juggling her and a sign with all their school stuff was not worth it.  Sorry Char.  On your first day of Pre-K I promise I'll have a sign for you!:)

Charli's not so sure about this.....  

Both girls did really well and Ansley was so excited to go back each day. Can't believe these girls are getting so big!  Praying for both girls as they learn and grow and interact with their teachers and friends.  It's gonna be a great year!  

Our trip to the USAT National Triathlon in Milwaukee

Jason and Ryan recently qualified for the USAT National Triathlon in Milwaukee this past weekend.  Instead of vacations, we go to triathlons.  Ha!  Once we got to town, we of course had to go to the Expo.  These boys LOVE to buy their tri stuff there.  You know...their goo (energy gel), the sport of seeing how much free stuff you can get (this trip was free compression socks), and look around at all the fun accessories.  They're like little school girls. :)

The boys heading to the Expo with their bikes to set up in transition

 

Then we headed back to our hotel to check in and relax a bit before going to dinner.  However, when we got to our hotel they told us that our room wasn't ready yet.  Boo! So we sat and sat and sat....for almost 2 hours!  Finally they gave us the all clear, so we headed up to collapse on the beds for a little R & R.  We were so ready.  However, we found the room was NOT clean and it looked as though someone had a pillow fight before they left!  Needless to say, Jason got out his customer service speech and we got $80 worth of free breakfast vouchers.  Woo hoo!  

The next morning...the pregnant gluttons got their eat on.  For real.  This was our free breakfast and it was just for Whit and I!      

After shoving all the glorious food in our mouths, we headed to the start of the race.  I should mention that we DID NOT eat half of it, but saved most of it for the boys and packed a few to go items for our trek to the start line. 

We were thankfully able to catch up with the boys before they got in the water.  Jason and I before the race...notice my free smoothie :)

Jason and Ryan's swim heat.  This is actually only half of them!

Jason rounding a corner on his bike.  Not sure why his feet aren't in his shoes???

Transition!

And the finish!  Ryan was kind enough to hang with Jason for the last leg of the run and they got to finish together. 

Pushing through the finish!

They were feeling so accomplished

Not only was finishing the triathlon at all a HUGE feat, but finishing 2nd in the Clydesdale division is amazing!  I was such a proud wife.  Next thing I'm sure I'll hear from Jason...."I need some tats like that dude!"

My tough and adorable hubby :)

It was so neat to see the boys finish another big triathlon.  They are truly amazing!  Looking forward to the next fun trip with friends!

Charli Suttyn: 14 Months!

 

*We finally have a SLOW, Frankenstein-like walker!  This girl is moving on her feet though and that's all we care about-woo hoo!  She still loves to crawl most of the time, but she's taking more and more steps all by herself (so far it's been about 10 steps at one time).  She gets so proud of herself and claps while she's walking.  It's so cute!

*She loves to talk on the phone and when she isn't allowed to say "Hi!', she gets REALLY loud and starts to tantrum.  So much so, that you can hardly talk at all over the noise.  Therefore, she usually gets her way and gets the phone handed to her just so she can jabber!  It's so cute that you can hardly get mad.

*She is giving more and more kisses and hugs when requested and she makes the sweetest noise when she goes in for her kisses-MUHHHHH.  We are LOVING it!

*She LOVES peanuts.  We found that out the hard way one night when she had 3 full peanuts (with the shell) shoved in her mouth.

*We've got a climber too!  In seconds flat she can scale a bed (Ansley's) or get stuck on a chair without any of us having a clue.  My favorite is when she gets stuck in Ansley's baby bed.  She puts her legs through the slats and then can't get out.  She's a quick one!

*Usually if she's quiet and playing somewhere, I'll find her rocking or strolling her baby around.  The baby obsession has begun.

*She's become quite the little dancer.  My heart just wants to explode, it's so adorable.

We are so proud of you, Charli! You really seem to be understanding a lot more these last few months and walking more and more each day.  You're getting so big all of a sudden!  We are thrilled with how you're growing, but so sad that we're leaving the BABY Charli behind!  Sweet, sweet Charli we love you so!     

 

Top News for THIS Bandermann Crew!

Look real close....at the sign.....that MY car is parked next to.  I know it's tiny, but read it....

 

Yeah, it says what you think it says.  In other words.....we're PREGNANT!!!! 

 

Looks like we'll be hogging the Expectant Mother's/Mother's of Newborn's parking spot for a little bit longer at church (just in case you're wondering...Jason likes to still consider Charli a newborn.). Ha! 

 

This pregnancy test (taken at work) is when it all started to make sense.  I was for sure that my expired pregnancy test could possibly be a false positive....even AFTER Heather and Sheri called me crazy! 

And this test....for the disbelief that there really WAS a faint blue line in the first one.  I needed a sure fire.....YES! 

This was when the shock and excitement REALLY started to brew!

 

Needless to say, we are thrilled to announce that Bandermann baby #3 is expected to arrive in March of 2014! 

 

We literally JUST found out ourselves after some unusual symptoms (for me).  I'm the pregnant momma with no symptoms to speak of (for the most part), but this pregnancy has brought about a little different world for me.  Nausea is becoming a little more familiar around here, especially after riding EVERY ride imaginable at Silver Dollar City a few weeks ago!  I should have known SOMETHING was causing the uneasiness (I will never forget stumbling into the shower and thinking I would never get out of it, without losing my dinner, after our thrill ride adventures at SDC).  I should have definitely hung out with preggo, Whitney while the boys rode!  Oh well.  We're going for toughness in baby #3! Ha!  

Here he/she is!

 

Just a tiny little peanut!

The word on the street is....it's a boy.  But, I'll believe it when I see IT, if you know what I mean!  I seem to think we're headed for the Bandermann girl Trifecta (trifecta came from my friend, Heather and I've used it ever since.  Good word, Heather.  Ha!)

Ansley could not stop saying...mom, it's a real baby!

Her excitement alone made me cry with joy. 

Charli was pretty excited too!

 

 Our first family picture of being a family of 5 (grow peanut grow!)

 Of course, we are praying that the baby will continue to grow and thrive throughout the pregnancy, but we know that only God is in control of that and we will give Him glory for whatever takes place.  We are leaning on His Word and claiming His promises for this baby.  We are so excited to see where this next journey will take us and a little nervous about the craziness that will most likely ensue after baby #3.  I mean....Jason and I will be outnumbered for crying out loud! Pray for us, please! :)

 

Ansley's Cowgirl Birthday Party at The Water Park!

Our big girl, Ansley has a slight obsession with Disney Princesses, purses, cowboy boots and hats.  She's all girl, but she can also be a little rough and tough at times.  She loves mermaids and has asked for a Little Mermaid birthday party since her 3rd birthday, so that was the plan.  However, one day out of the blue a couple of months before her birthday, she told me she wanted a cowgirl party.  Wait..huh?! This wouldn't have been any big deal had I not already been looking everywhere for Mermaid birthday ideas.  Of course, that's what I get for planning ahead!  No big deal...I got this. Ha!  And then she mentions, Cape Splash is her location of choice because we advised against another birthday party at home.  Well, Daddy wasn't quite going for the hefty price tag associated with the waterpark party, so that was her next obstacle.  But this little turkey is smooth.  Every time we would drive by the waterpark, she would say with the most excitement she could muster up....Oh, look!  It's Cape Spwash, the best place EVER for birthday parties.  Daddy isn't that where I'm gonna have mine?!"  I mean...how can you say no to that?! Well you guessed it...he didn't.  One thing about little girls....they have their Daddy's around their little fingers!  So after months of trying to persuade her Daddy to let her have a few friends at the waterpark, it worked.  Cowgirls and cowboys at the waterpark is what we had!  She was so elated!  Despite the freezing cold, July 1st weather! 

Here's her cowgirl/Mermaid outfit.     

These were some of the table decorations. Some of the others were Ansley's cowgirl boots and hats.  We couldn't have a cowgirl party without them!  

Ready to swim!

So was this little bathing beauty 

The kiddos played in the windy, 73 degree weather (freezing on July 1st...how does that happen?) 

 

Charli finally decided to get a little wet too :)

Then it was time for some cupcakes, cowpatties (brownie covered oreos), and ice cream!  We sang Happy Birthday to Ansley and then it was time for her presents

 Charli loved the ice cream! 

And playing with her friend, Miriam 

 

Ansley loved all of her goodies!  She has some great little friends. :)

As you can tell....it was cold! Most lips were blue!

 Except for my dad.  He loves that kind of weather!

Jansen was so cute in his red cowboy hat

Charli and Westin stayed out of the cold water and played in the pavilion a bit. How cute is he?!

Ansley and her sweet friend, Sophia

Tanner, Chiara, and Ansley were the last ones to leave! 

 

 Bathing while sister played in the water with friends

It was such a fun day for Ansley and we're so thankful that her little friends came out despite the cold temps!  She is STILL talking about her fun Cape Spwash birthday and of course, planning her 5th! Geez.