Ansley has something to say...

I am going to be a "BIG SISTER"!!! Yes, that is right. We are so excited, we have prayed and hoped for this day to come for a long time now. I will be 8 weeks on Saturday and we have heard the heartbeat twice and everything looks great :) Baby Mautz is expected to make his/her appearance around April 3, 2010.

We just wanted to share the great news!

Here is a picture of Ansley in her "big girl" t-shirt. We sent this to may parents when we found out a couple of weeks ago and Ansley surprised the Mautz's in Michigan by wearing her shirt when we got there.

Harbor Springs, Michigan 2009

We just spent 10 days in Harbor Springs, MI this past week and had a great time. The weather was substantially cooler then it is here, by 30 degrees. Yes, it was in the high 60's most days and then reached the low 70's by the time we left. They have had an abnormally cooler summer there. We still got outside a ton and had a great time. CC & Uncle Boo came up on Tuesday, so we had a couple of days with just Mimi & Pop's before it became a full house. But we always have so much fun with CC & Uncle Boo so it was non-stop once they got there.

We got to go on several dates nights which was very nice! One night just Rob and I went out to dinner, the Inn at Bay Harbor, it was beautiful! I wish I had brought my camera. And then the first night CC & Uncle Boo were in town, the 4 of us went out to eat. We can't thank Mimi & Pop's enough for watching Ansley for us.

With Ansley being a year older this vacation, she was all over the place. She constantly wanted to be outside blowing bubbles, watering Mimi's flowers, going on wagon rides, or going to the pool. That is what is so nice about Harbor Springs, you enjoy the beautiful weather and spend a lot of time outside.

We can't wait til next year! Thank you again Mimi & Pop's for everything.... here is a slide show of just some of the pics I took, and I took a ton!

(Remember to pause the music on my music player to the right of the blog so you can hear the music from the slideshow)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Goodbye Diapers...

... Hello Big Girl Panties!!! I can finally say we are done with diapers (at least until we have another child). I started potty-training Ansley last Monday using the 3-Day Method. The first day was not fun at all with lots of accidents (ofcourse to be expected). Then the second day she finally learned to use the potty without being scared but still wasn't connecting the urge with having to go on the potty.

Wednesday was a great day with only a couple of accidents, and Ansley was really getting it. And finally Thursday (Day 4) I heard the words "I have to go potty". With only one accident, which was completely my fault becuase I wasn't paying attention to her, we had a great day! She is so proud to wear her "Big girl panties". We have the left over diapers ready to take to our church, Ansley is going to put them in the bin for all the babies.... We have been telling her that since she is not a baby anymore, there are babies at the church that need her diapers and she is fine with it :)

4th of July Weekend

We didn't do too much over the weekend other then enjoy the nice weather we were having (upper 80's with no humidity :) ). We played outside a lot and went to the pool 2 out of the 3 days, which Ansley loved. If she could go to the pool everyday she would be so happy. Ansley is doing much better with the pool, she definitely is "Miss Independent" and forgets she doesn't know how to swim yet. But she just walks into the pool from the stairs with her floaties on and is content with swimming around. Hopefully by the end of the summer we will get her to enjoy getting her face wet :)

this is from one day last week after Ansley got her hair cut (notice the braid)

all wet from running in the sprinkler

helping daddy set up the water rocket

"Miss Independent"

On the 4th, we went over to The Wansley's house for a cookout. We had a wonderful time and the night ended with their neighbor's setting off fireworks which Ansley HATED! She was so scared of them and ran inside screaming "No fireworks.... Ansley scared of fireworks"! With that, it was our cue to go home. The whole way home she kept repeating how she was scared of fireworks, while Rob and I just laughed. When we got home I turned the TV on to watch the Boston Fireworks and Ansley told me to turn the TV off because she was scared. I definitely didn't listen to my 2 year old and said that Mommy wanted to watch them so she had to watch them too :) ... thanks again Laura & Dave for having us over!

Libby showing us some of her ballet moves

Laura & Tripp (8 wks old)

We ended the weekend with a birthday party, our friend's daughter, Elizabeth, turned two. Ansley had so much fun with all the older kids. We had to leave the party when the fireworks started to go off. Again, Ansley reminded us that she was scared of fireworks! ha!!!

All in all, we had a great weekend spent with friends. We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

Disney World, Anna Maria Island, and Father's Day

We just got back from a very busy week. We drove down to Orlando last Thursday and stayed with Kelly, Brent and the girls. Ansley and Madison had a great time with each other. On Friday, Rob and I left Ansley with Kel & Brent while we drove down to Anna Maria Island for a wedding. Anna Maria Island is about 15 minutes from Sarasota and is absolutely beautiful! Rob and I had a great time hanging out with friends and seeing his old roommate from Atlanta, Ryan, get married. We headed back to Orlando on Sunday and celebrated Father's day.... All the girls came down with a cold while we were there and had runny noses. I can't imagine being sick when it is so HOT outside!

Ryan's Wedding in Anna Maria Island, FL

Happy Father's Day Rob! You are such a wonderful husband and father, we LOVE YOU!!!

Ansley & Maddie trying to both make the sit-n-spin turn...

Ansley playing with Hailey

We were just hoping Ansley would feel better on Monday because we were going to go to Disney World and already had our tickets. Thankfully she had no fever and was very excited to go see Mickey & Minnie :) With 100 degree weather we knew it was going to be an extremely hot day at Disney World. We took our time and drank a TON of water. Ansley's face was so flushed from the heat, but that didn't stop her from having a GREAT time! It really is a magical place and we had the best time. We can't wait to go back!

seeing the Magic Kindgom for the first time

happy girl!

meeting Mickey & Minnie... can't tell from the picture but she was so excited!

watching the parade

within minutes of being in the car

we got our pink Minnie ears :)

We want to thank Kelly & Brent again for watching Ansley for us while we were at the wedding and for letting us crash with them during our trip! We had a great time :)

Heidi Cay turns 3

This past weekend we made a very short trip back to Atlanta. I had originally planned on coming into town for long visit but it just didn't work out. I had a hair appt. on Saturday (which I was really excited about) and we had Heidi Cay's 3rd birthday party later that day. I was so glad we were able to make it back for her party since we missed it last year.

Ansley had a blast at the party and absolutely loved the slip-n-slide! She really couldn't figure out how you get down the slide so she just decided it was easier to crawl down. What ever makes her happy, right?!?

Heidi Cay "The birthday girl"

one of my new favorite pics of Ansley

crawling down the slip-n-slide

Emma Kate checking the slip-n-slide out

Heidi Cay's turn to go down ...

Oh, how I miss Publix cakes...they are just so yummy!

We also met up with Uncle Boo & CC for dinner at La Paz after the party. We had a great time hanging out! They haven't seen Ansley since Christmas so they were in some need of Ansley time :)

To finish off our weekend, we took my dad "Pop Pop" out for an early Father's day breakfast on Sunday. We went to one of my favorite places, J. Christopher's, YUM! .... Even though it was a short trip, we had a great time and it is always nice to get back home for a little while!

Cooling Off & Stretching

Cooling Off ...

At the end of the summer last year I bought a new kiddy pool for Ansley. I didn't realize how big it was (definitely could fit about 5 kids in it). While Ansley was napping yesterday I filled up the pool so the water would be warm by the time we got our suits on and outside. I put our slide partly in the pool....She loved it! Ansley just kept going down the slide into the water, then would get out, and do it all over again. She was in heaven!!!

Here is our little fish:

Stretching...
After we played outside in the pool we got ready to go for a walk. While I was getting my shoes on I noticed Ansley doing something she obviously picked up from her daddy. Rob always stretches before we go walking. He walks half of the route with me and then goes off for a run and then I finish my walk. I asked her what she was doing and she said "what daddy does"... I found her stretching! HA!!! It was possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen her do!

Here is our future (best-dressed) athlete: