Baby K5 Gender Reveal

This time around we were excited to discover baby gender before the BIRTHday -- just seemed more practical since we are packing for the first few years of this little one's life!

And we wanted to share the news through a fun Baby K5 Gender Reveal for our families.  Our July 4th trip to SC proved to be the perfect timing...

Gender Reveal Part 1: The Kubaczs

Dean's older brother Darol and his wife Cheryl were also in SC (celebrating 2 years of marriage...Woo Hoo!!), so we all gathered at their lake house on Lake Keowee for July 4th.

G taking a swim

For this particular portion of our gender reveal, Dianna made Cake Ball Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies.  And taking Sugar Derby's advice (and recipe for both cake balls and CC cookies), used the appropriate (either PINK or BLUE) food coloring added to an ordinary white cake mix, thus -- Gender Reveal Cookies!!  Can you say YUMMY ?!?!

Everyone gave a vote (which all present voted BOY) and then chomped a cookie...

Yep, BLUE for BOY!!

Here are a few pictures from the process...(Sugar Derby provides more step-by-step photos in the above links for anyone thinking about trying this)

Blue Cake Balls
Fully cooked blue cake crumbled, then mixed with 1/2 can cream cheese frosting and rolled into balls.

Chocolate coated blue cake ball (which was frozen overnight)

Covering cake ball with cookie dough

Cake ball covered cookie ball ready for baking

This shot lets you appreciate the cookie ball "bump" -- it's the cookie's baby bump : )

YES, they are as delicious as this photo suggests!!

Dean "feigning" his surprise at the Kubacz reveal

Gender Reveal Part 2: The Plylers & LeGrands

The next party was for Dianna's family and extended family who were gathering at her parent's new lake house on Lake Murray (about 2.5 hours from Lake Keowee) on July 5th.

This time around we were expecting a few more people, so Dianna solicited her mom's help in making a gender reveal cake.  Again, the idea was not totally original but adapted from an internet image search leading to Betty Crocker.

Dianna's mom baked the cake and had it prepped, so all Dianna needed to do was pour in the appropriate color candy, add the final cake layer, and complete the icing...

Gender Reveal Cake with some remaining Gender Reveal Cookies

Again, we had everyone cast their vote -- this time by wearing either a pink or a blue ribbon -- before cutting the cake...

Nana, Papa & G cutting the cake.  Will it be pink or blue???

 

This time Gracie participated -- we decided NOT to let her observe our cookie reveal the previous night because we wanted part 2 to be an unspoiled surprise.

Nibbling at the cake innards...mmmmmmm!

And sampling a cookie, too!
"My baby sister is a BOY!!"

As you can probably tell, we are THRILLED to welcome a little boy into our family!!  Praying for continued health this pregnancy (we are beyond halfway) and a safe delivery in November.

Oh BOY,
DD&G

Wildlife Surprise

Our intentions were a relaxing family stroll but instead we had a walking wildlife adventure!

As shown in Gracie's birthday post, we enjoy the Great Plains Nature Center that is not far from our home.  Usually ducks, geese, turtles, an occasional (not sought after) snake are the typical sightings, but today some 50 speices were present as our "captive" audience.  What a special treat to stumble upon this annual event and fundraiser for the nature center!

Snapping Turtle
Gracie was bummed to learn this one had no "name"

We actually learned that the turtles in these tubs were the same turtles we saw in Pratt (see end of previous March post for recap).

Snakes, snakes, snakes...

We decided that given our upcoming move and future African surroundings, Gracie should NOT learn to pet snakes.  Sure the varieties here were harmless and she was interested in touching them -- but would rather her maintain a healthy fear and avoidance of ALL snakes for future safety sake.

The set-up for the Wildlife Walk was really neat.  Small stations with different animals were dispersed along the walking path.  Gracie's favorite question for the volunteers manning the stations?

"What it's name?"

Usual response:  "It's a opossum...(or whatever animal it was)"

G's response:  "No, what's it's NAME"

She was satisfied when the volunteer could report that the praire dog was "Yip" and the turtle was "Pancake" and the beaver was "Chompa," BUT when the volunteer didn't know the name or said "He doesn't have one," she was a bit bummed. 

Talking about O-possums

Vulture

The Hawking Club drew quite  a crowd...

Gracie was brave and touched the tail feathers! 

Crawfish...should I touch???

Why not ?!?

This was definitely a fun family treat for us on this relaxed Saturday!  

Last weekend we had fun sharing God's work in Chad with a couple churches and fellowshipping with friends.

Gracie singing with Dr. Chacko

Learning how to "play" piano

As our Wichita departure date approaches (less than 6 weeks away), we appreciate more and more the wonderful experiences and meaningful relationships that are here.  Thanks to all of you have played a role -- and still play a role -- in our life...be it in Wichita or beyond!

Enjoying HIS gifts and HIS creation,

DD&G

Pink Ponies and Prancing Princesses

Pink Ponies and Prancing Princesses, Gracie's turning THREE!!

Gracie has been very excited about her approaching birthday this year.  When asked what type of party she would like she rattled off several of her latest favs: "Pink...ponies...princesses."  And so this year's party theme attempted to incorporate all three...

Her birthday is this coming Tuesday, so we decided to celebrate early and take advantage of the holiday weekend which allowed for Gracie's cousin Anabel (with Uncle Josh and Aunt Michaele) to come from Kansas City and join in the fun.

As we thought about where to go and what to do, we ran across a great spot close to our apartment, the Great Plains Nature Center.

The party started at the Koch's Habitat Hall where Gracie, Anabel, Gabi and Lily enjoyed exploring the Great Plains and discovering various wildlife...

Quite a challenge to get all 4 girls in one shot

Then we watched a short Geo Kids (National Geographic) video (yes, it was literally VHS) on the big screen.  The girls (and parents) enjoyed this free trip to "the movies."

Not wanting to stay in any one place for too long (with 4 girls under age 3), we cut the video short and headed outside to feed ducks, geese, turtles, fish, and anyone else who needed a snack.

Part 2 of the party was back at our apartment (conveniently less than 2 miles down the road).  Originally we hoped to picnic at the Nature Center, but the picnic shelters were pre-booked for other parties.  Retrospectively, it worked out better to have our little ones indoors for eating, presents, etc. instead of outside fighting the KS wind!

A couple of crafts and a pile of balloons kept the girls busy until dinner was ready.  These crafts were adaptations from various sites and blogs with pony party ideas.  Given our pony-princess dual theme -- we decided on tiara's and "tutu" style ponytails.  The original suggestion involved pony headbands and matching ponytails made out of multi-colored yarn.

Decorating Pink Tiaras 

Prancing with a "ponytail"
Gracie thought this was GREAT!

A picnic style dinner of turkey dogs and crock-pot BBQ chicken (thanks Aimee for the recipe) with veggies, chips and dips refueled us before heading into the main event...

PRESENTS!!

Gracie -- with the help of her friends -- enjoyed unwrapping the gifts...

and she squeezed in a few "thank you" hugs in between!

Then she gifted her friends bandana goodie bags filled with stickers, bubbles, jewelry and chap-stick.

Lily trying out the new chapstick

No 3-year-old's party is complete without cake and ice cream!

Family Picture with Pink Pony Cake

The cake was actually easy to make thanks to THIS site.  Gracie chose strawberry cake with pink icing and pink glitter sprinkles...

YUMMY!!

Thanks to everyone who joined us in celebrating Gracie's special day!!  She is such a blessing to us, and we thank God daily for entrusting her to our care.  What a joy-filled little person she is!

With pink pony hugs and prancing princess kisses,

DD&G