Gender Reveal for Baby #4

Gender reveal day! We had So many friends and family come over to help us celebrate and have a fun time. The kids loved the mystery of the cans of silly string and had a blast spraying each other and running around the yard. Bryce couldn't get his can to spray and Clara was somewhat traumatized by the experience, but I think everyone else had fun. We're so excited to welcome our little baby....

 Most of the kids lined up and ready to grab a mystery can of silly string (on the right)

Getting ready to shoot...

 IT'S A.....

Yay PINK!!

 Bryce wasn't happy to be shot without shooting back and Clara just stood there and screamed

 Emeri showed her can who's boss

 Aunt Jenn and Ally even got in on the silly string, courtesy of Preston, haha!

Beckett and Mallory were happy to watch the chaos unfold. Good choice, haha.

Pinstack Bowling with Aunt Mary

We were so excited to hear Aunt Mary is in town this weekend! She wanted to spend an evening bowling and playing games at Pinstack Bowling and the kids were thrilled to be included. I had previous plans with Liz, Jenna, Sereen and Lanae to meet for dinner at Cheesecake Factory and the movie Me Before You. Thankfully I was able to meet them for a delicious dinner and then head over to catch up with the rest of my family. Derek, Bryce and Clara were having a blast running from game to game and all over the arcade portion of the building. Mitchell, Tyler, Andrew and I dominated a couple games of Lasertag. At one point, Bryce snuck off with Aunt Amy and Danny to get some food and he was in heaven having a whole plate of chicken strips and fries to himself, as well as the undivided attention of Aunt "Mamie" and Danny. ;) It was great to see Aunt Mary; Val; Aunt Veronica and Andrew; Aunt Jenn, Uncle Tim, Dillon, Tyler and Ally; Beth, Declan and Jilli; and Gamm and Papa. I think I just missed my mom, but we had a lot of fun hanging out with family and playing games together. Clara turned out to be kind of a good luck charm for Gamm and Aunt Mary at one of the games, Derek scored 500 tickets in a single round of a game, and Bryce was obsessed with the Transformers game. At the end of the night, Aunt Mary took all the kids, (Derek, Bryce, Clara, Declan, Jilli, Ally, Tyler and Andrew) into the prize room to pick out prizes. Altogether, I think we scored over 13,000 tickets! It was a super fun (super late!) night with my family. :)

 Derek loved playing this giant Connect 4 game

 Clara's great-grandma and great-great aunt ADORE her. 

 My lovely sister, Val and my lovely Aunt Jenn!!

 Derek, Ally and Dillon had fun playing this game together

 Mitchell was Phaser 22, I was Phaser 28, Andrew was Phaser 26 and Tyler was Phaser 33. Blue team for the win!

 Bryce loves Danny, Aunt "Mamie" and food. Triple score!! :D

 Who knew fishing was such intense work?!

 Derek's face when he got the biggest fish, haha!

 Mitchell helped the kids with another fishing game

 Aunt Mary, Gamm and I!

 Derek and Bryce loooooved playing this Ghostbusters game. They shot ping pong balls at ghosts.

 Bryce, Aunt Mary, Clara and Derek! :D

 Clara and Bryce took out the Decepticons on the Transformers Game. Mitchell eventually jumped in to help them out.

 Papa kept his eye on Bryce while he perched on the rotating entrance wheel

 Papa, Bryce and Danny

Bryce loves Hulk

CHICAGOOOOOOOOOO!!

This weekend was a whirlwind of AWESOME! Amy, Danny and I boarded a plane in the late afternoon and arrived after a blissfully quiet plane ride late at night in beautiful Chicago! We were welcomed to Aunt Mary and Aunt Nancy's beautiful bungalow-style home with authentic Chicago pizza and yummy treats. We woke early the next morning for the hour-long drive to the town where Aunt Nancy, Rhonda and Linda would participate in the Ride for MS. Mom, Aunt Jenn, Ally, Bella, Danny, Amy and I were to act as the pit crew and travelled from rest stop to rest stop, cheering them on and providing water and snacks if wanted.

 We're going on an adventure!

 

 I needed models to pose with the cool dinosaur fossil in the background. See the sauropod (probably brachiosaurus)?

 

 Ally has the ultimate lazy-girl life hack

 

 Rhonda, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Jenn, and Linda

 

 Beautiful rows of corn. I love the beautiful countryside here!

 Aunt Mary and I with the now-infamous bug spray, lol

At the first rest stop, Aunt Mary asked if anyone wanted some all-natural bug spray. I volunteered and assumed the position, facing away from her with my arms spread. We were both surprised by a powerful squirt of fluid instead of the light mist we were expecting, but I got a little suspicious when I felt the stream flow down the back of my shirt. Still, I turned around so she could spray my front half and some of it got into my mouth. Definitely not the normal taste of bug spray. I checked the bottle and it was all-natural Raid - what you would use to spray wasps and other flying insects. You were supposed to spray the bug from a distance of three feet and point it away from people. Oops. Aunt Mary was horrified and so apologetic, but I just thought it was funny... til I started feeling a burning sensation in my eyes. I called the poison control hotline (from my Utah phone number in Indiana and got connected to an office in Tennessee - huh?!) The poor guy had a thick accent and kept telling me to wash it off or go see a doctor. Lots of help. Luckily, this first stop was located at a beautiful farmhouse and I asked the owner, after a brief explanation, if I could borrow some dishsoap and a water source. She grabbed the Dawn soap and led me to a hand-operated water pump. I rinsed my face and skin as best I could and felt better in no time. This is going to be an awesome story. ;)

At the lunch stop, we set up a big tailgate party with lots of friends and delicious food. It was great to talk to everyone and make new friends and Amy was able to take a motorcycle ride on Mr. Jim's awesome Harley. Our Chicagoland Lab Rescue team biked an impressive 75 miles that day! We stayed at a hotel that night while we were waiting for round two the next day and were able to sample a local delicacy called the Chocolate Cake Shake from ___. Mitchell had them on his mission and loved it, but I'm not a fan of soggy chocolate cake in my chocolate shakes. :) Still, it was an authentic experience and I loved that. The next day, Aunt Nancy, Rhonda and Linda had a shorter run of 30 miles and then we all drove home for a delicious BBQ. Aunt Mary let me take a cutting of her fantastic lemon-scented roses to try to grow back home and I was able to successfully get that through the airport security and onto the plane. :) Cool! They're soaking in water right now and hopefully will start to sprout roots in a few weeks. It was great to have a spontaneous trip to visit family, see new sights and make new friends! Thanks Mom!

Gotta pose with the cute calf! 

Posing with a tractor for Derek :)

Bella rocking her cool orange shirt with the cool orange tractor

The tailgate party!

Amy on Mr. Jim's hog

She's so cute when she gets excited ;)

Crossing the finish line - victorious!

Hail, the conquering heroes!

Group picture in front of a cool bell on the local college campus

I love Aunt Mary!

 

The last rest stop - Back row: Aunt Jenn, me, Mom, Bella, Aunt Mary, Aunt Nancy. Front row: Linda, Danny, Amy, Rhonda and Ally

The Gradubirthday Party

My little sister is 21!! My cousin is has graduated from college and going straight for his masters! Crazy! Uncle Tim and Aunt Jenn invited Mitchell and I to join them at Pinstack Bowling for a night of fun - without kids! We were so excited for this evening... but I wear the crown of Dork of the Universe. I wrote "Gradubirthday, 7 pm" on the calendar.... under Friday. Not Saturday. So, Friday night rolls around and I've arranged to swap babysitting with Jenna and watch her kids Saturday since she's watching mine tonight. As Mitchell is dropping the kids off, I check my text to verify time and place... and realize the part is at 8.... tomorrow. GAAAAAHHH!!! So, Mitchell and I make the best of it and go to Chipotle and see Jupiter Ascending in the movie theater. Should've waited for the dollar theater, but Chipotle never disappoints. :) My family was understandably disappointed, but I had already made the commitment to watch Jenna's kids so she and Jon could go see the Nashville Tribute band give a fireside/concert at the Stake Center. So cool! After a little nudging from one or two people...ahem... I scrambled to work out a last minute solution for a babysitting swap yet again. The stars aligned for me, but Jenna turned out to be the only one who wanted to go see the band and Liz's family was in town. Mitchell, however, was exhausted from working 36 of the last 48 hours and fell asleep literally the minute he laid down on the bed. So.... I went. Without kids! :D I love my kids, but gosh it was nice to get a much needed adult night. Aunt Mary came in from out of town and she's always a blast. :D Uncle Tim and Aunt Jenn arranged for us to play a game of bowling, eat a ton of pizza, play unlimited laser tag, bumper cars, laser maze (think spy movies) and rock climbing, plus a ton of video games! It was so awesome!! I got there just after 8 and didn't get home til 2:30 in the morning. HAPPY GRADUBIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Mom, Aunt Mary, Rob and Val hanging out during our bowling game

Bella, Danny and Amy waiting their turn for bowling

These two need to stop being so cute! ;)

Pinterest inspired this...tasty... birthday cake. ;) No alcohol was involved in the eating of this cake, I assure you. The bottles were all emptied beforehand.

Dillon let Val blow out the candles, lol.

The birthday cousins!

Me, Kelly, Mom and a photobombing Rob. Well played, Rob.

Val, Mom, Kelly, me, and Amy! I love my family!

Uncle Tim was raring to go for laser tag! Pew pew pew!!

Danny, Amy, Dillon, Bella and Dwight attempted the ropes course suspended 15 feet or so above the video games. Danny was the only one to look down for a picture, lol.

Amy and Bella race up the rock wall. Amy won twice, but Bella was right behind her both times.

Amy did her theatrical waves as she repelled down the rock wall

Bella on the rock wall

Danny and Amy played the Wizard of Oz game, too and they scored the Dorothy card worth 100 tickets. Way to go!

Aunt Mary has the luck of the Irish - she scored so many extra coins, tokens and bonus ticket tokens that we were able to get several cool toys for the boys - a parachute man, two plastic sharks, a huge foam glider and a set of small wooden dominoes. We had lots of fun playing this game together! Thanks Aunt Mary! Thanks Uncle Tim and Aunt Jenn!