Gender reveal for the kids

I completely forgot to add the photos of us telling the kids about Baby #4! We did it a few weeks ago when we initially found out and decided that they'd probably like the cupcake idea the best. (Seemed the other kid-friendly idea was popping blue or pink confetti from a balloon and that idea makes me twitch so cupcakes won!)

Unfortunately, I can't just make four cupcakes, so Monica and family had their own gender reveal party later that night. Ha!

So stinkin' delicious, but I almost keeled over from the sugar rush. Frosting inside of cake topped with frosting. Oof and yum.

I filmed them when they initially bit into the cupcake and can't upload it for some reason. Molly was extremely confused and thought the baby was inside the cupcake. Even though we explained in detail that blue frosting inside meant boy and pink meant girl. She wouldn't eat it because she truly thought she'd eat the baby. Ha! After we got that straightened out, we asked her what she thought about having another brother. She said, "well I wanted a sister." Then she farted. Loudly. Tell us what you really think, Molly!

I found these cute BOY balloons on Amazon and thought I'd do a cute gender reveal photo. The hardware store in town sells helium and with my prime membership, I could get this photo knocked out in a couple of days!

Well.

The balloons finally came in and the weather was supposed to be nice one day before dipping back into the 20s, so Steve took the balloons to the hardware store while Will napped. I was ready to get the kids dressed and ready to go as soon as Will woke up from his nap and we'd head out to Rick and Monica's land to do the photo. Steve called me five minutes later.

"Uh. I've got some bad news."
What? What happened?
"The first balloon she filled up- the O- it popped."
You are KIDDING ME. THIS IS NOT FUNNY.
"I wish I was kidding. But it popped."
*boiling* Okayyyyyyyyy I guess I will just reorder another set. *curse words*

Poor Steve. The girl blowing it up didn't seem to know what she was doing and didn't seem to really care that she just blew out a freaking $4 balloon. But the weather was turning and that just delayed everything even more and it made me so mad. (Stupid, I know, considering it's a freaking balloon.)

Anyways, the replacement balloons came in and Steve had an appointment in Fargo, so he took them down to Party City and got them filled there. Success! I had him take the extra "B" and "Y" just in case but all went well. It was supposed to get into the upper 40s one day so we waited two or three days to do the photo with these massive balloons hanging out around the house. About 12 hours after the balloons were filled though, the "B" was sagging significantly. I couldn't hear a leak, but it was really obvious that it was not holding air as well as the other two. GAHHHHHHH

LUCKILY! I had an extra "B" but no time to go all the way back to Party City. Monica and I went up to the hardware store together with the B. I needed moral support. She really prepped the guy with how important this balloon was and DO NOT POP IT and really just made him very nervous in general. Which I appreciated because the former gal seemed to feel zero remorse in popping my very special balloon. Anyway, TWO guys filled it up and we all held our breath and I almost screamed when I saw the sides pinching outwards as it was getting too full but *EXHALE* he didn't pop it!!!

With the filled balloons and 45* weather outside, we gathered the kids' clothes and headed out to Monica's house. The bus dropped all the boys off there and we did the photos. With the big kids holding Will, I know I have about five seconds to get a decent shot where Will is not screaming or looking like "someone please save me" so I did a few test shots to get my settings right. Once everything was ready to go, Steve plopped him in between Sam and Molly (we tied the O balloon to his back belt loop), and I snapped away while everyone stood behind me and made a huge commotion, while also screaming at Sam to hold the B towards us! Watch for the wind! Molly! Smile! With your lips! Will! Over here! Don't drop him in the snow! Frick! Everyone smile! SMILE FOR GOD'S SAKE PRETEND YOU'RE SUPER HAPPY AND NOT BEING FORCED INTO THIS.

Ultimately, it came down to picking between the photos of where the balloons cooperated most. There were honestly maybe three or four photos total where the wind was not blowing all the balloons sideways. And the rest of them looked like this.

I am honestly so happy that's over with and will never attempt another balloon picture like this with children. Especially children who cannot stand on their own. I'm glad we did it, but man was it stressful!!

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