Beau or Bow? Our Gender Reveal Party

My cousin's wife, Stephanie, threw us a "gender reveal party" tonight. It was completely adorable.
The theme was "Bow or Beau" and it was done in chevron with blue and pink accents.

The cake had a question mark on the top. Oh and don't you love the punch, a tutu or a bow tie. So cute!

People  wrote down name suggestions. the weird ones are from my funny husband.

The wives tales were supposed to help us guess, but my answers were split right down the middle. Four of the answers indicated a boy and four indicated a girl. Funny right?

 

When it came time to reveal the gender, we cut into the question mark cake. Steph had filled it with either pink or blue frosting- depending on what the ultrasound said when we gave it to her.

Here's Chris and I getting ready to cut into the cake

And the cake says---- BLUE

IT'S A BOY!

Trying to get Bailey excited for another brother! Lol.

Oh this picture cracked me up. Tanner was not amused with all the shenanigans.

And Bailey was apparently not thrilled with the cake outcome. She crumbled her cupcake.
She wanted a girl, but I think she will be happy she is still my only girl when the time comes.

Chris and I with our BLUE cake.

Family shot with our blue cake.

If this baby boy is as cute as my sweet Tanner, I will be thrilled. I love this little face!

What do you think? He looks like a little stud to me.

Oh and here is the gender shot. Yep, all boy!

We are so excited. I guessed it would be a boy. I had no reason really, I just thought it would be a boy. I wanted a boy and now I got another little man on the way. So excited.

I think Tanner will love having a little brother and I think it's probably good that Bailey retains her position as my princess for a while longer.

Anways, we are so excited!

All Aboard....The Polar Express

While we were visiting family in Oregon, we got to go on the "Polar Express". It was completely adorable and the kids loved it. It was a gift from Mimi and Grandpa and I would definitely pay to go again. So cute!

The train ride is based on the book/movie and I think they do a very good job with it. We even had to stop for "caribou" a couple of times. All the kids wore their Christmas pj's and they looked so cute.

 

Here is a picture of us outside our train car before we boarded.

Bailey and I on the Polar Express waiting to take off for the "North Pole"

Tanner was sooo excited. He loved getting to hold every one's tickets.

Seriously, look at the excitement in his eyes. Magical!

I love this picture of Chase and Tanner checking out their golden tickets. All the kids got special tickets for the conductor to punch.

And Bailey loved her golden ticket too.

Family picture in our train booth.

Before the chefs passed out hot chocolate, the "hobo" from the movie came around and talked to everyone. Luckily he wasn't nearly as creepy as the hobo on the movie.

 Then the conductor came around and punched all the kid's golden tickets. Bailey wasn't sure she wanted to give her ticket to him.

But then she saw he was punching cool letters in it and she was OK with it.

Tanner and the conductor after getting his ticket punched.

All 4 grand kids on the Polar Express

Then they served hot chocolate to everyone. Aren't those mugs awesome? And the hot chocolate was just the right temperature, the kids could actually drink it without scalding their mouths.

 

 

Our attempt at a family picture with our mugs. Lol. We struggle.

While we were enjoying our hot chocolate, the actual "Polar Express" book was read to us. Bailey decided she needed to sit with Grandpa during "story time"

Tanner was quite enthralled with the pictures.

Then we arrived at the "North Pole". See all the lights outside the window? The kids were so cute, they all crowded around the dome windows so they could see.

At the "North Pole", Santa boarded our train. He then made his way to each child to talk with them and give them a special silver bell (just like the story)

My kids love Santa. Seriously.
When Santa asked Tanner what he wanted for Christmas, Tanner very loudly announced "I want a Bumblebee" He was talking about the "Bumblebee Rescue Bot Transformer." but no one except Chris and I knew that. Lol  

And Tanner loved his bell

Bailey very happily told Santa that she wanted "a little Minnie Mouse" doll. It was pretty adorable.

She also was thrilled with her silver bell

Bailey basically adores Santa and was so sad when he had to leave our table. So sweet!

By the time Santa made it all the way through our train, we had arrived back at the train station.

We snapped a picture with Santa outside the train and then it was time to go.

 

So I would definitely say our first excursion on the "Polar Express" was a hit. The kids adored Santa and loved the train ride. Tanner still has his golden ticket and Bailey is patiently waiting for Santa to bring her a "little Minnie".

I love this time of year and the magic it brings.

Here's to a wonderful Christmas season!

Elf on the Shelf Kickoff

Tonight, on the first day of December, we had our "Elf on the Shelf" kick off. This year was a snowman themed breakfast for dinner. The kids were pretty thrilled when they saw our elf "buddy" sitting on the table.  

 

We had snowman pancakes with bacon scarves, then snowman donuts and white chocolate snowman hot cocoa.

 

The kids gobbled up their dinners. (which, lets be real, consisted of lots of sugar) and were so excited about everything.

The first thing they both did was eat the nose off their donut snowman.

Then Daddy read the "Elf on the Shelf" book to the kids

Then we read the letter from Santa that our elf brought with a gift. The letter explained the special gift was to help them remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Then the kids opened their gift from Santa that "Buddy" brought to us.

We put it together and then listened as it played "Away in a Manager". The kids were a little mesmerized.

We told the nativity story and used the different pieces of the nativity to explain. Then they kids played and played.

 

We also started our countdown to Christmas with our books/movies. Tonight's book was the "Elf on the Shelf" book. We open one each night until Christmas. It's a really fun tradition and I look forward to it each evening before bed.

 

So now the madness begins. Our elf will be getting into mischief each night and we will find him each morning. Stay tuned.