The Reveal

Our family has a LOT of babies!  The oldest is almost 11 and there are 3 babies on the way.  By Christmas, there will be 17 great-grands!  Right now the count is 6 boys (3 on the way) to 10 girls plus our little peanut.  We had a 6 girl streak and currently a 3 boy streak.  There was a lot of pressure to keep the streak alive! Ha!  As the last few babies have been born, we've started the tradition of the BIG reveal.  My Shanty cousins both did cupcake reveals, and they turned out so cute! 

We had our gender sono on Friday, July 1.  I started researching ideas and came up with several:

• a pinata with pink or blue candy insde - lots of fun for the kids
• Hand out a Hershey's kiss to everyone - with nuts BOY, without GIRL
• blue or red/pink sparklers
• balloons in wrapped in a box

Since we were so close to the 4th of July, my mom bought blue and red sparklers.  We were going to hold off our reveal until after the fireworks on the 4th and light the right sparklers for everyone.  It would have been 11 o'clock if we waited until then, so we opted for a new plan.

We went with the balloon plan, and it turned out perfect!

Team Blue

Team Pink

The girls were finding out for the first time too!  They got to open the box to reveal the surprise for everyone.

It's A...

 BOY!!!!

Ryan Marshall will join the Krazy Kirk Krew on or around December 16, 2011!!

Kerrville-Leakey-Sea World

**Warning - long post with lots of pictures.

Last weekend, Lamar and I went to our 3rd Coaches Outreach retreat.  CO is such a neat ministry to Coaches and their spouses.  The coaches do a Bible Study throughout the school year and then during the summer, CO puts on marriage retreats throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Alabama. 

This year we went to Kerrville, TX and stayed at the Inn of the Hills.  It was so much fun to see some familiar faces from previous retreats and meet other coaches too.  It is so neat to be in small groups with people who are going through the same things!  The life of a coaches' family is a crazy one and only few can truly understand what it's like.

During the retreat we had some free time and decided to drive over to Leakey where Lamar's grandparents used to live.  We visited the house and the Frio river where Lamar used to swim all summer long.

After the retreat ended on Sunday, Lamar and I headed to San Antonio for the night.  We got a great deal on a hotel on Priceline.  We were across the street from the Riverwalk and just a block away from the Riverwalk.  We took a nap and then headed down to the Riverwalk for dinner.  It was so fun and nice!!

Monday morning, we headed to Sea World and Gigi, Grandpa, Landrie & Karsyn met us there.  The girls were so surprised and so excited!!!  They have been talking about SW for months!!

Their first ride - Shamu Express.  Karsyn was a little afraid, but they loved it!

Azul was our favorite show.  It had beluga whales, dolphins, birds and high divers.  It was so good!!

My pink flamingos with real pink flamingos!

The Shamu show was really good too!  By this time the girls were exhausted and it was SO hot!!!

Thank you Gigi & Grandpa for this special day!! They loved Sea World and I know will be talking about it for a long time to come!!!

16 Week Update

Baby Size: About the size of an avacado - 4 1/2 inches and 2 1/2 ounces.

My size/weight gain: I gained one pound since my last appointment.  I'm still down between 3-10 lbs depending on when I started counting.
Clothes:
I have 2 pairs of maternity jeans that I wear most days.  I'm still wearing regular shirts and will probably keep wearing them.  I hate the look of maternity clothes on me!

Cravings:
I'm still craving salty foods, but I don't really enjoy anything particular right now. 

Symptoms:
I'm still tired a lot, and now that it's summer - I can nap guilt free!

Morning All Day Sickness hasn't let up yet. I still get sick at least once a day and the heartburn is out of control!

Sleep:
I'm sleeping OK.  I usually end up on the couch at some point during the night, but I am getting 7-8 hours consistently.

Stories to not forget:
We were able to have a gender sono on Friday.  The tech said she was 5000% sure and that she would repaint the room if she was wrong.  More on the big reveal in my next post.