Saturday, April 23, 2011

Gender Reveal Dinner - It's A .....

Last night Ben and I hosted a small gender reveal dinner for our family. It was an intimate gathering with just our immediate family and it was so sweet. Ben and I had found out the sex of the new baby earlier in the day together and it was so hard to keep it in once the family started arriving. They were trying to read our faces and listen carefully to what we were saying to see if we gave it away. It was tough!

I had only a few decorations and they all came together VERY last minute...I mean, during that same day last minute. I really wanted to make a sonogram garland and decided to play off that color scheme and go with black, white and grey with a 'Boy or Girl?' Banner and our table linens.
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I also wanted to use the grass I had grown in the eggs and jars and, since it is also Easter weekend, I think it turned out really cute.
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I tried to set out some things that would build the anticipation like a list of my cravings, an Old Wives Tale Gender Prediction Quiz, and a chalkboard where everyone could vote whether they thought it was a boy or a girl.
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Kinley is voting 'Girl' today apparently.
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The final count was 6 Boy to 4 Girl Votes (including Kinley's)
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I had made a cake after the sonogram and dyed the inside to reveal the sex and I was the one that could not take the neutral, "don't read me" conversation...so, we decided to cut the cake first thing. The grandmas cut it together and their reactions are priceless...
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IT'S A BOY!!!
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This is mom stripping off her pink sweater (since she wore blue and pink).
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My results from the Gender Prediction Quiz were not even close...so I couldn't show that until after the reveal.
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Everyone loved eating the blue cake
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Picnik collage

This was such a fun way to tell our family the sex of the new baby. Ben thought it was a little over the top...which I am sure it is..but, the anticipation was so fun all week and it is just something special that we did for this baby that we didn't do with Kinley. Everyone had a blast and stayed late into the night to celebrate.
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I can't tell you how much Kinley LOVES Matt-Matt. She voluntarily just goes up and hugs him all the time and climbs into his lap. It is so cute.
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Kinley is opening a sweet present for the baby that Alex and Mendy sent since they had to be out of town in Abilene for Easter weekend.
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After we texted our sweet friends, Joe and Emily, they were so excited they wanted to stop by with sweet Baby Isaac and congratulate us. Ben and Joe were already talking about future fishing trips to take their boys on.
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Practicing my Boy-mom skills.
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Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us and everyone who called and texted in anticipation of the day. Overall, it was such a fun night and we are just overwhelmed with gratitude for our sweet baby boy to come.
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We think his name will be Ty Anson Harrison. We have loved the name Ty since before we had Kinley and it was really the only name in the running for Ben this time. Anson is my great-grandfather's name, Inie's dad, and my dad and my brother, Bart's, middle name and we are honored to use it as a middle name. It was so special to celebrate this wonderful miracle on Good Friday and what perspective it is to remember what Christ did for us on this weekend that we may have LIFE abundantly in Him. We pray for a happy, healthy baby boy who comes to know Christ at an early age and strives to be like Him.

19 comments:

  1. How exciting!! I love the cake idea! So fun!! Hope you are feeling good! Yay for little boys! (and girls too!!)

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  2. How fun....so creative!!! And a HUGE congrats on your sweet little BOY on the way. LOVE the name Ty too!

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  3. What a fun evening of celebration! You and Ben did a great job of keeping us guessing. You never gave a hint either way. We just feel so, so blessed.

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  4. I love the grandmothers' faces!
    Thanks so much for having us. You look great with a boy in your lap!

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  5. That is so exciting! Congratulations!

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  6. Congratulations! I love gender reveal parties... yours looks like so much fun.
    And I love the name!
    CONGRATS!

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  7. I was hoping to see you at church to tell you in person... but CONGRATULATIONS!! I am so happy for you, Ben, and Kinley! You are absolutely the cutest mommy- what a lucky little boy Ty is going to be :)

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  8. What a fantastic gender reveal party!!! I love everything you did! The details are perfect! I'm just SO excited about Ty Harrison I can't stand it! These pictures are priceless of everyones reaction. YAY!!!!

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  9. This whole thing is fantastic. The pics of your mom and Ben's mom had me laughing out loud. We are so excited for another BOY cousin! Baby Ty will have lots of boys to play with!!

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  10. YAY! So excited for you guys! That party looked like so much fun and was such a great idea. Loved the grandma's faces. :)

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  11. Love this awesome party!!! And can't wait for Ty!!! So so excited for yall! Can't wait for bens new best friend!!

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  12. I love it!! The cake is such a cute idea and I love Carol and Sheryls faces...can't wait for TY!!!

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  13. This is awesome! We are actually doing kind of the same thing on Friday! Great ideas!

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  14. Yea for boy cousins!! So excited! :D

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  15. SUCH A CUTE IDEA!!! So happy for you guys! A little boy :) Congrats!

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  16. Congratulations!! This party was so sweet and I seriously got a little teary-eyed looking at the pictures! (I know - We've only spoken in real life like twice but I just love babies!) Yay baby BOY!

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  17. Linds you know I have always wanted you to have a BOY!!! I am so excited for y'all!!!!!!!!! The party is ADORABLE! LOVE IT!

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  18. Looking forward to Ty loving his favorite Aunt Jan! Love all of you so much.

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