Reunion Weekend!

The boys and I got back last night from a trip to Kansas.  My family (direct descendants of my Grandma and Grandpa Hill) got together for our first ever family reunion this past weekend.  It was so much fun to see all of my aunts, uncles and cousins...and especially all my cousins' little ones that I had yet to meet.  No one in the extended family had met lil' peanut yet either, so it was fun to introduce him to everyone.  He was pretty overwhelmed/stressed out all weekend but I think every once in awhile when we were split into smaller groups they got a taste of his true silly personality.

 

Hubby was able to join us for the weekend, but the boys and I flew out by ourselves early in the week.  We headed to the airport right after C got out of school Tuesday, so we had time to spare before our flight left.  We had an early dinner in one of the sit-down restaurants.

 

By this time he had already discovered the new pokemon cards I hid in his backpack.

C is, and always has been, my rock star traveller.  Lil' peanut, on the other hand, not so much.  He was decent on the way there.  The flight home was another story.  As soon as I buckled him in he decided that he did not want to fly on an airplane.  And he preceded to make it known for almost the entire two and a half hour flight.  Oy!

 

We got in late Tuesday night, but the boys were ready to go the next morning.  Nana and Papa's new swingset was a huge hit with all the kids.

Trying to get a picture of Nana with all her grand kids.  Haha!

My dad earned the title of the "kiddie whisperer" over the course of the weekend.  Anytime you spotted him, he was bound to have a trail of little people following behind him.  It's a well known fact that his own grand kids love him, but all his great-nieces and nephews seemed to agree.

There are some seriously cute kids in my family! :)

The actual reunion was on Sunday and we had almost the entire park to ourselves.  We tortured the children with family pictures before releasing them to run wild for the rest of the day.

2nd cousins!  Precious.

These are all of my grandparents' great-grandchildren!  C told me later he was sad that he didn't get to hold the teeny, tiny baby for the picture.  Looks like he made up for it by wrangling two little ones!

C got in some baby holding practice with the youngest of the bunch.  He would even ask to hold her when she was crying.  A brave boy. 

What a great weekend with family.  Rumor has it we're making this a regular thing.  I always loved spending time with my cousins when I was younger.  It was so fun to catch up with all of them and to watch our own kids running around together.  Definitely worth the trip back!

 

 

 

C's first music program

The kindergarten music program.  For me, it was a milestone that snuck up on me.  It caught me off guard.  It's here already?!  My baby can't be big enough for this!  Oh, how they grow.  

I loved every little thing that was so positively him on this night.  How he asked to go hang out with his friends (because he's too cool to sit with mom while we wait for things to start) and he reassuringly called to me over his shoulder "Don't worry about me mom.  I'm just gonna be over there with my friends.  Ok?"

Hammin' it up with his bestie!

I loved how every thirty seconds or so he checked in.  Scanning the crowd for me and giving me a wave, a grin, or a look. 

I loved his focused effort as he made sure to get all the words and actions right.  This look when the high school girls behind him started singing....

I loved how during the freestyle dance break others executed moves they had clearly planned out in advance, while my kid gleefully waved his flashlight around in front of all their faces.  So him.

The kindergarten music program.  Such a precious little moment.  One we can look forward to enjoying with our littles who follow C.  But, he will always be the first to cross over these milestone markers.  Seemingly rushing into growing up while his brothers linger in their baby days.  I'm afraid they will always take me by surprise.  Because he used to be my baby.  For a long time, he was my baby, with no one younger around to remind me of how much he was growing, how time was passing.  He is such a character.  He's friendly, sensitive, smart and sassy (traits he got from mama) and he's energetic, determined, funny, and charismatic (Daddy's contributions)  Oh, C you bring so much life and joy to our home and we love you so much.  We are proud of all you've accomplished this year.  Let's see if I can make it through kindergarten graduation without crying. ;)

Our gender reveal...revealed :)

You'd think that with this being my 3rd pregnancy it would all be very "beentheredonethat."  Not so!  I've been pulling out all the stops this time around.  To include, a gender reveal party!  Well, I actually wouldn't call it a party, we didn't go that crazy.  It was more like a gender reveal get-together. 

 

We (and just to be clear here, I'm referring to myself when I use the word we.  Hubby is so gracious to indulge all my fun, extravagant ideas, but really he would have been just as happy to do this the way we did the last two times and just find out during the sonogram) decided we wanted to find out the gender of this little one in a way that was slightly more exciting than having the sonographer tell us the news.  So, I scoured the internet for ideas.  The gender reveal is all the rage these days so there were plenty to choose from.  I wanted it to be something that would be fun for C.  You all know his introduction into big brotherdom was a little rough, so I've really been trying to consider him and his feelings during this pregnancy...hoping the addition of his next little sibling might go a little smoother.  Anyway, fun for C was a must!  Especially since he seemed to have his heart set on it turning out a certain way...I wanted his disappointment to pale in comparison to the great time he was having. 

 

I came across the silly string idea and knew it would be perfect.  I didn't think C would care much what color was coming out of the can while he was blasting Daddy in the face with silly string.  My prediction was right on...he LOVED it! 

 

We had our sonogram on a Friday.  All the boys went in to catch a peek of the baby and then they left to enjoy a snack while the sonographer finished up.  I gave her a blank card and while I was in the bathroom she wrote the gender inside along with photographic proof. ;)  That night at C's soccer game I gave the card to Grace, along with all my cans of pink and blue silly string so she could help with our surprise.

 

We went to their house the next night (thank goodness I didn't have to wait longer than that)!  We had brought food for dinner and I was thinking we'd eat first.  When I suggested it Grace was like, really?!?  Maybe she was afraid she would spill the beans if we waited any longer.  So, we headed outside.  Before we got out the silly string, we all weighed in with our guesses.  (I don't know how legitimate lil' peanut's guess was.  When given a choice he generally chooses whichever option you said last.  Do you think the baby is a boy or girl?  Girl.  After we gave him his pink balloon we asked him again.  Do you think the baby is a girl or boy.  Boy.  Ok, then mr. indecisive) :)  Out of the three of us who knew what was going on, I was the only one who thought it was a boy.

 



About to start the silly string fight!  The caps were the only difference in the cans, so Grace just gave us the capless cans.  Hubby was, of course, looking all over the can to see if it said the color.  "Why are you trying to ruin the surprise?!?  Can't you wait ten more seconds!"  Lol! 

 

The Chung's gave us a countdown and then it was time to spray!  It came out really light and I had a hard time figuring out if it was blue or pink!

During my internet searching I actually read a suggestion not to use dollar store silly string.  One couple had and when they sprayed it, it came out white.  The grandmother was pissed because she thought they were playing some mean joke on her.  Ha!  I got my silly string at walmart!!!  Why can't I tell what color it is?!?  See me just spraying it on the ground trying to figure it out?

Still spraying the ground. :)  I don't think any of us had it figured out yet at this point.  It took a bit of silly string before I was sure.

Now I know.  "It's a boy!"

Once I knew it was blue, I was ready ready for the fight.  You can see that lil' peanut is not too sure about the whole thing, hiding behind mommy. :)

Hubby and I decided to get him in on the action.

That didn't go so well!  So, our gender reveal was a blast for C, but a bit traumatic for lil' peanut.  50/50.

See how much fun he was having?!?  Looking back through the pictures I am so glad we did it this way, and that his little friends were there too.  Way better than finding out during the sonogram.

 

He looks so wounded in this picture.  "How could you do that to me Mommy?"  Poor guy.

 

After all of our cans ran dry, we headed inside for some food.  The kids all got big sibling gifts, a new book and some bubbles (because what's a party without gifts?!)  The girls are actually expecting their baby brother at the end of this month.  After we ate we sent the kids back outside with all of the pink silly string.  C and Kaylee had another great silly string battle.  Then we had cupcakes.  I had iced them with pink and blue icing.  All the kids chose blue cupcakes, except for lil' peanut.  Maybe he really did think it was going to be a girl? :)

 

It was such a fun evening!  I'm so thankful to the Chung's for helping us pull it off and for all the great pictures!  And I'm even more thankful for another little boy to love!