a gender reveal party...

was something i had only read about on other people's blogs, heard about from friends, and only considered pinning those cute ideas on my pinterest boards, BUT last night i got to have one of these fun parties to announce the gender of our new little bundle of joy.

for my sake i am going to give the back story on how we got to the decision to find out the gender and do the party, but please feel free to skip all of my ramblings and check out the pictures from our fun affair.  :)
we (well, i) LOVE surprises!  and to me the best surprise ever is finding out you are pregnant and next to that is finding our the gender of your little one.  when we were pregnant with our first child, mark and i decided that we did not want to find out the gender.  there is nothing we could do to change it, and we were just thrilled to be expecting our little one.  it was such a FUN decision.  on our delivery day, it felt like the BEST christmas morning ever.  we would have been overjoyed to welcome either a boy or a girl, but on november 8, 2005, the doctor announced, "it's a girl!"  we were shocked!!  i will never forget that moment.   then we were blessed to become pregnant for a second time in 2007.  this time i had a little girl who was 2 years old and although excited to meet this new little baby, did not adjust easily to new situations.  i couldn't imagine how she was going to respond to a new sibling, PLUS i kinda wanted to know the gender this time, so when our 20 week sonogram rolled around we found out that we were expecting a boy.  that was a really great experience too!  for the next 18 weeks we were able to buy a few blue things, discuss names, and really prepare olivia for her new baby brother.  soooo, that brings us to this pregnancy.  i already have a girl and a boy, and mark and i had decided that we thought it would be fun to not find out again.  well, we told our kids about the pregnancy and they immediately wanted to know if they would be having a baby brother or sister.  we explained that we didn't know yet.  they REALLY wanted to know, so the more i thought about it, i came to the conclusion that a gender reveal party was the perfect way to go.  the kids would get there wish to know the gender early, and mark and i would get the element of surprise that we wanted.   well, in all my thinking about this party i could have never imaged the joy i felt last night.  it was wonderful!

after we left the doctor's office yesterday full of smiles and relief that our little one was healthy, i drove immediately to party city to pass off the envelope to the teenage girl working the balloon counter.  i explained to her that i wanted her to look in the envelope at what the doctor had written, fill the box with either pink or blue balloons, seal it up, and reminded her NOT to tell me what is in the box- it was going to be a surprise for everyone!

then i headed over to the bowlin's house a put up a few decorations...

everyone arrived dressed in their prediction.

there was team blue...

chrissie, nana, abby, and jack

and team pink...

pop, me, mark, b, rara, olivia, kk, and christman

** you might notice my dad and brother are missing from these pictures.  dad DOES NOT want to know what the gender is until "birth" day.  silly, but true.  and brother had to work since it was his first week back after taking 2 months off.  we missed them. **

and then the moment we were all waiting for...

our little family, so excited to open the box!!

PINK!!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!

i only wished that i would have had a camera in my hand to capture our families reaction.  imagine:  smiles, laughter, and cheering.  it was so much fun!!

i know this will be a memory that i will cherish for a lifetime.  i am so incredibly blessed to have shared this special moment standing right next to my little family and being surrounded by my BIG family.  now we are all praying for this sweet little girl to arrive safely in our arms in january 2013.  we already love her so much and can't wait!!

the evening ended with this beautiful rainbow...

a visible reminder of god's promises.  we are so undeserving, yet he loves us so much.

my heart is so full!  what a happy day! :)

the first day of first grade...

i honestly can't believe that i have an almost 7 year old who is in the FIRST GRADE!!  we had a great morning and she was all smiles and full of excitement starting a new school year.  i know she is going to have a fantastic year.

she looks so grown up and didn't even want a backpack.  check out the messenger bag.  :)  

sweet olivia.

this is how she felt about starting school.  so excited!!!

posing in front of her school.  if they would only trim that tree a bit.  :)

olivia and her teacher, mrs. graham.

her desk.

and her fun classroom.

i read this on a friend's blog and i think it speaks perfectly to how i feel and what i desire right now.  i have adopted it and prayed this everyday...

Dear Lord,

Thank you for the gift of motherhood and for entrusting us to raise these little girls in your name.  As they begin a new school year, we pray that their lives would be grounded in you.  May they live for you, reflect your love to others, and call on your name in times of joy and times of sadness.  May they grow in wisdom and make memories that will stay with them for a lifetime.  Jesus we pray patience for all teaching and joy in all friendships.  Help us as mothers to walk along them in this journey, pointing out their strengths and helping them grow.  In both good times and stressful moments, let our parenting words glorify You so that we may nurture their academic experience and enhance their faith.

Amen.

summer 2012...

was full of fun in the pool and time with our cousins...

we were able to spend lots of time with sweet friends.

we really loved our trip to the ranch with the herridges and the brischkes.  

and our time with the rogers and haynes was so much fun!!

and probably the best moment of the summer was finding out that we are expecting a baby in january 2013...

the next baby bowlin, around 8 weeks in this picture (6/20/12).  i know you can barely see it, but believe me there is a baby with a little beating heart there.  :)

it has been a great summer.  i am so thankful for the memories that we have made, the exciting news of a new baby,  and the time i have had to spend with my kids, friends, and family.  we are truly blessed.

school, routine, new friends, soccer, baylor football season, and more are just around the corner.  :)

fourth fun...

we spent the weekend and days leading up to the fourth of july at the lake with my family.  it was relaxing and low key, therefore, i did not take any pictures.  :(  we enjoyed time with nana and gramps, played in the pool, watched movies, a few visits to the farm, and celebrated mark's birthday.  it was great!!

on the fourth we headed back to dallas and were thinking we would have a low key fourth of july, but then we decided to call our friends, the blairs.  they had plans to go to las colinas  and watch the fireworks from jeff's office building.  that sounded fun AND we got an invitation, so we tagged along.  we had a wonderful time together, even if we did have to wait a LONG time for the actual fireworks to start. ;)

laura took some great pictures of the kids and our family.  i love fourth of july pictures because everyone is tan from the summer and red, white, and blue are great colors.

kate and jack.  sweet friends.

our little family

o and j

the girls.  olivia and kate.

waiting for the fireworks. 

thanks blairs for allowing us to tag along on your fourth of july fun.  we had a great time!!

pine cove base camp...

was SOOOO MUCH FUN!!!

kk and olivia the first morning.

mark and sarah (mark's sister) grew up going to pine cove christian camps.  then they both served as counselors while they were in college.  this camp holds lots of special memories and more importantly a place where they both grew closer to jesus.  all that to say, mark has been counting down the years until olivia could experience pine cove.  this year she was old enough to do base camp.  base camp is here in dallas at a local church, from 9-4 each day.  they get to do all the fun things that happen at overnight camp but they are close to home and still get to sleep in their own beds at night.

olivia and kingsley signed up and were thrilled to go to pine cove.  they had an amazing week!!  the highlights for olivia were being there with her cousin, her counselor- bedazzle!, the euro-bungee, and club (worship).

peri and olivia on the rec field.

olivia's cabin after getting their nails done.

kk and o during water inflatables.

bedazzle sharing with the group all the character traits she sees god developing in olivia.  very sweet and encouraging.

kk, olivia, liza, and peri.  soccer friends are now camp friends too!

kk, bedazzle, and o

such a great week!!  now she says she is ready to go to spend the night camp next year.  we shall see about that, but i am so grateful that she had such a fun week all centered around knowing christ more.  

o's piano recital...

was soooo much better than i was expecting, if i am being completely honest.  i knew olivia would be AWESOME and totally worth every moment, but i was fully expecting hours upon hours of piano playing. that was not the case at all!!!  ms. ware's students each played one piece and most of them were very short.  total recital time LESS THAN ONE HOUR!!!  if you have ever been to a piano recital you know what a big deal that is.  just another reason why we LOVE our fabulous teacher.  :) it was really fun to watch olivia play for a big audience and do such a wonderful job.  she was TERRIFIC!!

here is the horrible quality video that i took of her BIG performance, but at least you can hear her play...

she was the youngest student, as well as the student who had been taking lessons for the least amount of time (4 months), so she was first up AND got to play a duet with her teacher.

our beautiful, talented, outstanding pianist.  

o and her teacher, ms. ware.

truly, mark and i were so proud of her.  she doesn't LOVE to practice (what child really does), but she does LOVE piano and learning how to play.  she LOVES sitting down at the piano and playing with her daddy.  she LOVES her sweet and encouraging teacher, ms. ware.  she LOVES the feeling of accomplishment when she has to work hard to learn something new and something that does not come easily to her.  it has been such a joy to witness all of these LOVES over the last four months.  can't wait to see what she will accomplish and perform at the next recital.  way to go o!!!

kindergarten graduation...

was a special night.  we celebrated olivia's year of kindergarten by watching her march down the aisle of her school cafeteria, wearing her paper homemade graduation hat and yarn tassel, and snapping a ba-jillion photos of our little girl.  we are so proud of the young lady that she is growing into.  she is a diligent student, an expressive artist, a rule follower, a sweet friend to everyone, and has the best heart and smile.

as she walked passed me and i saw this...

i can't help but think about how fast she is maturing.  she is independent and so very capable of so many things.  these nine months have been full of growth and change, and also blessings and answered prayers.

her sweet class singing about the fun year they had together.

can this really be happening?  she is almost done with KINDER!!

this year she developed new friends all by herself.  no longer am i the one that sets up the playdate and is there to coach her in her social situations.  allison is her best friend at school.  olivia chose well.  allision is a precious little girl with a sweet heart and is faithful and loyal to olivia.  watching their friendship develop has been such a joy (with a few bumps along the way too!).

olivia and allison.  such sweet friends.

this year god was so gracious to answer my prayers by giving olivia a teacher that has a heart for christ. ms. pattillo was the best kindergarten teacher for olivia and really understood her spirit.  i love that when olivia come into school the day after she had asked jesus into her heart and shared her decision with her teacher, she truly understood what a BIG decision that was and celebrated with her.  then she wrote me the sweetest email and shared her joy with me.  it is moments like these that only god can orchestrate.

mrs. pattillo and olivia.

and this year has proven to me once again what an incredible family i am apart of.  olivia continues to have the biggest fan club in the audience anytime she is on the stage.  her family has loved, supported, encouraged, and been present throughout her year.  she doesn't even know how lucky she is, but i know that they are the reason she is becoming the incredible young lady that she is.  so blessed and grateful.

 (nana was behind the camera in most of these.  sad we don't have one of nana and o.)

chrissie and o.

her little brother is so proud of her and looks up to her for so many things. 

olivia and b.

our little family.

olivia, we are so proud of you!  may the lord continue to guide your paths and shape your heart in everything that you do.  can't wait to see what amazing things he will lead you to do next year as a FIRST GRADER!!  love you!