Best Gender Reveal Ever

Friday, right before I arrived in Utah, Colleen had her 20-week ultrasound.  She and her husband, Andrew, asked the ultrasound tech not to tell them the gender, and instead had her put the picture in a sealed envelope.  Then, they took the envelope to a friend who made a cake with either pink or blue insides.  The plan was to cut the cake with all our family Saturday evening after Ian and Chelsea's reception.
The friend baked super quickly and had the cake ready Friday afternoon.  To cut down on Saturday hassle, Colleen decided to take the cake down to Kira's when we went for the pre-wedding dinner.
Later that evening, however, when Colleen was showing the cake to my mom, she realized perhaps her friend and put the cake together a little too quickly.  Some of the frosting had melted down, revealing an obviously blue cake inside.  Colleen is having a boy!
Those of us in the room during the mishap had a good laugh and the premature reveal.  Colleen decided to not tell anyone else, and continue with the gender reveal party as planned, perhaps with just a little less drama than originally planned (or so she thought).
The next morning, Colleen admitted that she'd told Andrew what had happened.  It didn't seem fair that she knew and he didn't.  They even opened up the ultrasound envelope and looked at the pictures of their growing little guy.  Still, they thought, the gender reveal will be exciting for most of the family.
After Ian's wedding, we had a couple hours before we needed to be at the reception.  Colleen and Andrew were visiting Andrew's family, and the rest of us were at Kira's.  Mom, Katie, and I apparently had too much time on our hands. "Wouldn't it be funny," we laughed, "if we switched cakes on Colleen?"
Within minutes, Mom and Katie were driving to the store, giggling at the idea of making our silly idea a reality.
The timetable was sticky.  Once they returned from the store with a pink cake mix and frosting, we baked the cake as quickly as possible, pulling it out just before we had to leave for the reception.  Hoping to avoid the problem with the first cake, we put cake #2 in the freezer before we left.
After the reception we had a slight head start on Colleen, because she had to pick up her kids from the babysitter.  We hurried back to Kira's, and furiously frosted, sprinkled, and switched.  We ran out of white frosting, and Kira only had an off-white frosting, but we hoped in the excitement of the moment Colleen wouldn't notice.
The only potential hiccup in the plan was my niece, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth is four, very smart, and very eager for a sister.  I was worried she'd see the pink cake and get super excited, only to find out later it was a trick.  So, right before the reveal, I pulled Elizabeth aside and explained what we'd done.
And then, finally, it was time to see if our plan worked!  Everyone gathered around, extremely eager.  Colleen thought only a couple people already knew she was having a boy, but in reality, everyone in the room was in our the switch.  Grandma and Grandpa Bunker even postponed their departure to see the reaction.
Katie got it on video...

Oh dear, it was so funny!  Colleen, after overcoming her first shock, yelled, "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" We laughed and laughed.  Colleen and Andrew were really good sports.  They thought it was pretty funny too.

Poor Elizabeth did not think it was funny.  She understood that the pink cake meant she was having a brother and she was pretty devastated.

When we pulled out the first cake, and she saw the blue inside, she got excited thinking THAT meant she was having a sister.  Sorry, little one!

There was a LOT of cake.  

Ian gets hitched

Alternate blog title: That one time I went on a trip all. by. myself. 

Ian and Chelsea got married on a beautiful October Saturday.  Friday morning, I left my kids in the capable hands of friends, and drove to the airport.  It's been an extremely long time since I've flown without kids - I'd forgotten just how easy it is.  In fact, it's practically enjoyable! I brought along a great book to read, but moments into the flight I fell asleep.  Can't complain.

By Friday afternoon all my siblings but Sean had arrived at Kira's home.  Have I mentioned before that my siblings are fabulous?  It's such a good time when we all get together.  It did make me a little sad to see all the cousins playing together and know that my kids were missing it.  

Friday evening Kira hosted a pre-wedding dinner in her park-like backyard for the families of the bride and groom.  One benefit of not having my kids with me is that I was able to help much more than I might have otherwise - no naps, bedtimes, or fighting to worry about!.  I have no pictures with which to prove my point, but it was a lovely evening.  

Saturday morning, bright and early, we met Ian and Chelsea at the Draper, Utah temple.  It bears repeating - it was a stunningly beautiful day.  

Chelsea and Ian were equally stunning... 

(cowboy boots and all).

Once the love-birds were sealed, it was time to gather the troops for family pictures.  

I told you my siblings are great! (Missed you, Sean!)

We're super excited to have another sister.  Welcome, Chelsea!

My grandparents also made the trip out from California for the wedding.  Don't they look amazing?  I loved getting to spend time with them.  

Instead of a traditional reception, Ian and Chelsea had a very nice, adult-only dinner Saturday afternoon.  Certainly, that's a much less stressful way to throw a party!  More opportunities to socialize with family is always a win in my book.

After the reception dinner we (minus the honeymooners) went back to Kira's for Colleen's gender reveal party.  That is a topic for it's own post, but trust me - you don't want to miss it!  Epic.

What trip to Kira's would be complete without crafting?  This time Kira taught Katie and I three new hair bow designs.  Aubree is grateful.  

Sunday, I went to church with Kira and somehow ended up teaching the sunbeams.  I guess it's a good thing I regularly teach the 4 year-olds, because I just did the same things I usually do and we managed to survive the hour.  

All to soon it was time to leave for the airport to head back home.  Mark did a phenomenal job holding down the fort at home and while I loved my get-away, I also loved getting back to my family.

Speech (or lack thereof)

When I took Graham in for his two year old well child visit, as expected, the doctor asked, "do you have any questions or concerns about Graham?"

"Not really," I answered, "My only slight concern is his speech.  I know he's delayed, but I think he's still on the low end of normal."

The doctor asked a couple follow up questions, then surprised me by saying, "Well, I'll give you the phone number for a speech assessment.  If he doesn't improve, you might consider giving them a call."

I still wasn't too worried, because I remembered Bryce and Thane being likewise delayed in their speech at that age, and they're both doing great now.  

Except... I looked up blog posts I wrote about those boys when they turned two, and realized they were both far ahead of Graham at the same age.  Oops.

So, I called the number and scheduled an assessment.  I was so sure that he wouldn't qualify (and so worried about looking like an over-concerned parents), that I almost called back and cancelled the appointment at least five times.  

The assessment was wonderful.  Graham absolutely loved the whole process. And really, what's not to love?  He had the complete and total attention of two adults (in addition to me), and all they wanted to do was play with him!  New toys, fun puzzles, opportunities to show off = this 2 year olds version of heaven!

When we got to the end of the assessment, my previous worries bubbled up again.  "I know he probably won't qualify," I explained, "but I just wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything."

"Actually," they countered, "we'd like to recommend that he does participate in speech services."

I almost fell off my chair (good thing I was sitting on the ground).

They continued to explain that though Graham's expressive language score didn't officially qualify him for services (he scored 85 and needed to be at or below 78), his specific speech delays were concerning enough that in their professional opinion he needed services.  

More specifically, like many youngsters, Graham leaves off the endings of his words.  Unlike most youngsters, he also leaves off the beginnings of words.  So, for example, when he wants to say "sheep," he says "eee."  When he wants to say "daddy," he says, "aaa-eee." Apparently, this is a big concern.

A related concern is that he mostly communicates using vowels.  He only uses a few consonants consistently (m, n, b).  His receptive language skills are fabulous, and he's pretty clever at making his needs known (sometimes using cadence and intonation to "speak" phrases completely made up of vowels).  

But.  

He's also getting super frustrated.  He know what he wants to say, but can't get it out.  He wants us to understand, but it's not working.  His go-to phrases are "ee-ee" and "ee-uh," which basically mean nothing except, "I don't know how to say the real words."

Graham started receiving weekly, in-home speech therapy sessions three weeks ago.  The therapist has given us some suggestions that seem to be helping a little bit.  I'll admit, though, that when I first heard that he qualified, I figured he'd get services for a couple months and catch right up.  Now I'm realizing that this might be a longer road for us.  

I'm super glad he qualified and is getting help!  Graham loves his speech teacher and looks forward to her coming to play with him.  He gets excited when he correctly makes a sound which she/we have been working.  I get excited at the prospect of understanding what he's trying to tell me!

Soccer x2

Aubree and Bryce both recently finished their soccer seasons.  This is the first time we've had two kids playing a sport at the same time.  It meant 3 nights of practices (2 for Aubree, 1 for Bryce) and two games each Saturday ("divide and conquer" was our motto).  Throw in the fact that I was also coaching the Young Women in volleyball one night a week, and life was officially chaotic.  

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Bryce played with the same kids, on the same team as last year.  It was exciting to get to see how much all the kids have improved and matured in just one year.  Last year, it seemed like every other minute someone was crying or pouting, but this year those instances were incredibly rare.  

Like last year, he's uber happy just to be playing.  He's always smiling, and is positive about practices and games.  He's not particularly aggressive or competitive, but keeps careful track of exactly how many goals each team has scored.  He scored one goal this year (which is one more than last year!), mostly because he prefers to play defense.  

Bryce also sat on the "bench" a lot, not because of lack of skill, but because there were 10 kids on his team and only 4 could play at a time (a mind-numbingly ridiculous situation... we will be switching leagues next year). 

His team won most of their games, but win or lose, the favorite part was running under the parent tunnel and getting the post-game snack!

Bryce's practices were held at the same time as I was coaching the young women, so Mark had the pleasure of taking Bryce and all the rest of the kids.  Most of the time they didn't mind because they had a chance to play on the playground.  

Props to super daddy!

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Aubree was somewhat less thrilled to be playing again.  As in the spring, she enjoyed playing in the games.  Practices were another matter.  "No!" she'd argue, "I don't want to go to practice.  I only want to go to the games."

Sorry, sweetie.  That's not the way it works.  

Aubree also scored one goal this season, and while she certainly wasn't one of the top players on her team, she "caught up" to a lot of the girls who have been playing for years and years.  I'm proud of her for trying her best and sticking it out.  

Aubree's coach was a fan of conditioning; he made the girls run, run, and run some more.  So, although Aubree left the season feeling pretty confident she won't continue pursuing soccer, she did discover that she enjoys running.  As she puts it, "I'm not super fast, but I have stamina."

I take zero credit for any running abilities any of my children might have or develop - that's all from Mark - but I exult in it!  Oh yeah, Aubree always looked forward to the post game snack too.

Little G was often my sideline partner, and if he saw me pull out my camera to take a picture of Aubree playing, he'd insist I take a picture of him as well.  And who can say no to a face like this?

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I couldn't let the kids have all the fun playing sports, so after the young women played, I always stayed and played volleyball with the women.  I adore volleyball.  Our team didn't win too many matches, but we sure had a lot of fun.  

A Grand(parent) Visit

"They say genes skip generations. Maybe that’s why grandparents find their grandchildren so likeable." ~Joan McIntosh

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I mentioned briefly in other posts that Mark's parents came to visit in September.  I always love it when grandparents come!  We live so far from all the grandparents, that I treasure the times my kids have to establish relationships and create memories with them.  

Grandma and Grandpa Winters are great about being willing to go out and do fun stuff, participate in our normal busy life, and/or stay home and help out while I take advantage of built in babysitters.  For example, one chilly morning I volunteered at Bryce's school all day while Grandma and Grandpa took Thane and Graham on a preschool field trip to the beach to explore the low tides.  

They came back with great stories of sea life scavenger hunts and touching crabs.

On another day, we met up with friends and took our own field trip to the Salmon Hatchery.  

It's great having extra adult hands to assist in such adventures!

Of course, the kids took total advantage of having extra book readers around.  

One afternoon we took a long walk on a nearby nature trail.  Aubree and Bryce took their bikes and experienced their first trail ride; they loved it!  It makes me want to get my own bike so we can do that sort of thing more often.  

Bryce was thrilled that Grandma and Grandpa were here when he lost his first tooth.  

I tried my very best to convince them to move out this way, but they weren't swayed.  I guess I'll have to work on my persuasive skills... or else just look forward to their next visit.
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"The best baby-sitters, of course, are the baby’s grandparents. You feel completely comfortable entrusting your baby to them for long periods, which is why most grandparents flee to Florida." ~Dave Barry

October Preschool Treats and Tricks

At the beginning of October we took our little preschool on a field trip to a nearby farm/pumpkin patch.  You never quite know how the weather will be on such excursions, but we lucked out and had a perfectly gorgeous day.  

Since we scheduled our trip on one of the first days the farm was open, we had the pleasure of having the Farm's owner as one of our tour leaders (she was training the other leader).  It was fascinating to talk to her about the history and details of their operations, and get to know the behind-the-scenes workings.  A downside of getting there on one of the first days was that the corn in the corn bins was unbelievably dusty.

Thane's shirt was black before he jumped into the pit.  

We have such a fun group of preschoolers!  

This year's trip was just as fun as the kids remembered from last year (Aubree and Bryce were sad they had school and couldn't join us).  Graham (Mr. Two) insisted on riding the tractor trike alone, even if he couldn't quite reach the peddles.

Thane loved getting to pick out his very own pumpkin.  

Graham thought his pumpkin was too heavy to hold and was upset I made him hold it long enough to snap this picture.  

This little tractor-pull ride is always a favorite activity.  

Thane found a chalkboard and was so excited to be able to write his own name.  All that practice this summer really paid off!

When Graham saw me taking a picture of Thane standing by the chalkboard, he insisted I do the same for him.  Funny boy!

Later in the month we had our preschool Halloween party.  It was my turn to host.  We have a pretty simple party plan... each mom brings a treat/snack to share and an activity.  We ended up with all kinds of fun things to do... relay races, monster bowling, mummy wrapping, marshmallow ghosts, cookie decorating, a toilet paper bat craft, and pumpkin freeze dance.  

 This is the only semi-group shot I managed to get.

"CHEESE!"

A sampling of the themed food...

 Thane decorated three sugar cookies, ate one, then declared that he wanted to save the other two for his best buddy who was coming over to play later that afternoon.  He is the most generous kid!