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.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the greatest Daddy to Landrie and Karsyn!

We love you Lamar!!!

Happy Father's Day to Pops and New Daddy Uncle Justin! {This was when Justin came to tell us that Easton was here}

We love Grandpa too!! 



Happy Father's Day to all the Dads in my life!  We are truly blessed!!!

Introducing Easton J

My first nephew was born last Tuesday.  He is just precious!  I am finally able to understand why my sisters and brother are so crazy about my kids!  Being an aunt will be so fun!

I got the chance to see him  Monday and we had a mini-photo shoot.  He's just adorable and one of the best babies I've been around. 

I can't wait to see him again and practice my photography on him!  I love that he will be a big cousin in December, too! It will be so fun to have our babies grow up together!!!

Karsyn's Graduation

Karsyn graduated from Preschool on May 12.  I'm way behind! LOL!!! 

Chaser up first!

Miss Karsyn -
Disclaimer:  I wanted her to dress up more, but she insisted on no flip flops since her teachers said no flip flops. 

Nana gave Chase and Karsyn money for Graduation---they were so excited!

Momma's girl!!

Week 12 Update

Baby Size: About the size of a lime.  Just over 2 inches long.

My size/weight gain: I'm down 3 pounds since my last appointment 4 weeks ago.

Clothes:

I bought a pair of maternity capris that I wear nearly every day!  Time to invest in a few more.  I'm not really showing yet, but they are much more comfortable than the button up ones.


Cravings:

I'm still craving salty foods.  My newest favorite is a Cranberry Limeade from Sonic - I get one 3-4 times a week!

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.  It's been worse at night than I remember with the girls. 

Sleep:

I'm still waking up around 4 every morning! I'll be glad when I'm completely over this cold so I can sleep all night without a coughing fit!

Stories to not forget:

Landrie still has a lot of comments/questions.  The other day she told me that I shouldn't eat "chunks" of food because the baby couldn't swallow them!  She thinks about things alot and comes up with some interesting things to say.

Karsyn is still just as excited as can be!  Her first cousin, Easton J was born on Tuesday and she couldn't keep her hands off of him.  She will be a great big sister!!  Landrie was not interested in him at all!  She prefers them after about 6 months old.

My first nephew - Easton!  Born 5/31/11, 7 lbs. 15 oz, 20.5 inches long.  He is adorable!!!  We are all so in love!

Shanty Suppers: Chicken Enchilada Ring

I originally found this recipe from Kelly's Korner.  I changed it to include only the things that we like, but it was easy and delicious!

Chicken Enchilada Ring

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked chicken (I use a store bought rotisserie chicken)
• 1/4 cup chopped black olives  I'm the only one that likes these, so we leave them out.
• 1 cup cheddar cheese 
• 1 small can chopped chilies, undrained 
• 1/2 cup sour cream 
• 1 package taco seasoning 
• 2 rolls of crescent rolls 
• 1 small chopped tomato 
• 1 lime (juice) 
• 2/3 cup finely crushed tortilla chips

1. Chop chicken and add cheese, chilies, sour cream and taco mix. Add 2 tablespoons lime juice; add to chicken mixture. Reserve 2 Tblsp. crushed chips and add remaining chips to mixture.

2.Unroll crescent dough and separate triangles. Arrange on round baking stone or cookie sheet making a circle with wide ends OVERLAPPING in the center and points toward outside. There should be a 5 inch diameter opening in the center.

3. Spread chicken mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle.

4. Bring points of triangles up and over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at the center of the ring.  Sprinkle with 2 Tblsp. crushed chips. ( I put shredded cheese all on top!)

 5. Bake @ 375 for 20-25 minutes. Garnish with tomato and serve with salsa and sour cream. 

Even my pickiest eater loves this recipe.   This is also an easy recipe to get the kids to help with, and in my experience that makes them more likely to try something new. 

Enjoy!

Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter weekend!  The weather was perfect!  Saturday we had an egg hunt with our Home Team - it was so much fun! 

On Sunday, we went to Meme & Papa's for our Egg Hunt and dinner.  Bapa was the perfect Easter Bunny!

Karsyn filled up her bucket quickly and started giving her eggs to others. 

12 of the Great-grands on my mom's side of the family!  By Christmas, there will be 17!!  I love our BIG, Happy family!!!

Big News

We have big news in a very small package!  The Kirk Krew will be a family of 5 sometime around 12-16-11!!!  We are thrilled!!!

I didn't blog when I was preganant with the girls, but I've decided that I'll document all the milestones for this one. 

Week: 8

Baby Size: About the size of a blueberry.  The girls have nicknamed it Peanut!

My size/weight gain: I'm down 2 pounds this week.

Clothes:

I'm looking forward to the maternity jeans soon!  I feel like my body is already changing alot! I did buy a maternity bathing suit (my first EVER) this week.  I plan on swimming a LOT in Lolly's new pool!

Cravings:

I'm craving lots of meat!  I really want salty, greasy food.  I know that's bad, but I'm sure it will change. 

Symptoms:

Extremely tired - especially around 3 in the afternoon.  Luckily, the girls are extremely understanding and let me "rest" on the couch before dinner. 

Morning All Day Sickness has started!  I was this way with both girls for majority of my pregnancy, so I really don't have any expectations of it letting up. 

Sleep:

I'm waking up around 4 every morning!  This is not like me at all! I am quite the sleeper and could probably sleep through a tornado if it wasn't for me needing to go to the bathroom. 

Stories to not forget:

We told our families over Easter weekend.  We gave a gift to our parents that was a little onsie that said "Hi I'm New Here".  Everyone was very surprised and very excited!!  Landrie's initial reaction was tears - she was very worried about the attention the baby would be getting.  By the next morning, she was really excited though and she talks about the baby constantly!!! 

The girls have had tons of questions, mostly about how long I'll be in the hospital and who will take care of them while I'm gone.

Our due date is an interesting one...12-16-11 is the day before State Championship Football in Texas.  Considering that we have been to the last dance the last 2 years, we'll definitely be discussing a scheduled induction for this baby. 

More to come soon...I need to do an Easter post soon!