Easter!

What a fabulous Easter!  Landrie was a pro this year at the eggs and candy thing.  I can't wait for Easters to come when she can start understanding why we celebrate!!

We went to my parents' house for the long weekend.  Early Saturday morning my mom had such a sweet treat for the girls!  They made Resurrection Rolls!  You fill the cinnamon/sugar "tomb" with a marshmallow inside (representing Jesus), then after they're baked, "Jesus" has left the tomb.  He is risen!  Here's the recipe and story.

Landrie was attached to her P-Pa like GLUE.  Wherever he went, she was by his side. :)  He read her at least a hundred books!

Landrie got to dye eggs for the first time!

Of course, I stripped her down to keep her clean!

The rest of the girls got craft smocks!  (Only a kindergarten teacher would have a huge stash ready!)  Bennett, Anna, Brooke, Abbie and Adelynn made some beautiful eggs!!

Saturday night the whole family had a big birthday dinner to celebrate Kevin and Braiden's birthdays!

Adelynn, Landrie, Abbie and Anna looking so sweet and ready to HUNT!  Growing up, we each got a room in the house, and my parents hid candy in our room.  It worked great since my brothers are so much older than me!  In keeping with tradition, each girl got a room in the house...

Landrie set to work in the kitchen.  We didn't even have to tell her what to do!

LOOK!!

The squeals from the girls and the hints from the parents were so fun!

It wasn't long before she tried to eat the candy through the wrapper!  Landrie learned to say lots of new words on Easter.  "Chocolate, candy, outside, squirrel (we were in Houston) and no"  It was quite a day!

Landrie's baby sister got her candy too! 

Everyone was ready for more festivities, so we hid the dyed eggs outside.  My sister-in-law Christy had also gotten some real confetti eggs to throw in the mix...  

Didn't Landrie do a great job decorating her eggs?  :)

And the confetti wars begin!

Anna was the sneaky one.  She told Kevin that she had to tell him something in his ear!  Christy found the confetti eggs at HEB, but you can make your own with these directions.  

Any eggs in here?

We all got together at my sister-in-law Melissa's parents for breakfast.  Happy Easter from the Beam Crew!!  This would make a great Christmas card picture for my parents...oh wait!  No it wouldn't- there'll be another grand baby by then!

We had Easter lunch and DESSERT back at my parents.  I think this may have been around the time she learned to ask for chocolate!  haha!

Our little family of four!  Do you see my hand so lovingly placed on her belly?  That's to cover up the huge chocolate stain! :)

Baby Girl already showed how much she loves her GranJan by kicking my  mom's hand when my mom was talking to her!  

I hope you had a great Easter too!  

22 week update!!

22 weeks

Belly update: I got to do some more maternity shopping with my mom this weekend, which was so fun!  I sure think it's grown, but it doesn't look like it changed much in this week's pictures.  

What's Baby Long up to?: I didn't realize it, but at 20 weeks, they change the way they measure length.  Instead of crown-to-rump for a tiny baby, now they measure head to toe!  That's why it looks like she grown so much this week. :)  Our little GIRL is about 11.5 inches long and a pound!  That's almost as long as Mark's running shoes :)  She's still moving like crazy all day every day.  My mom got to feel her move, but as much as my nieces tried, Baby Girl never kicked for them!  

Cravings:  I'm still loving the candy, but I think I've turned a corner.  Everything healthy sounds really good too!

Best part of these 2 weeks: Visiting my parents, brothers, and their families for Easter with a new baby along!  Oh yes, she had a little pink Easter basket and got some goodies. :)

I'm looking forward to: Strangers noticing that I'm pregnant!  

The belly at 22 weeks!

I looked everywhere this morning and couldn't find the blue striped tank!  Oh well. :)

Landrie seriously was kicked back reading while I made dinner tonight!  Too funny!  Anyways, I thought this picture pretty much sums up my pregnancy at this point.  I'm trying to relax, doing some reading (not about pregnancy), and I'm surprisingly laid back!  I am SO thankful that God's given me such peace.

Baby Girl posing with her Easter candy!  haha!

Great Granny!

Whew!  Things have been busy, and I've gotten way behind on my blogging.  We took a week to spend time with 2 of Landrie's great grandmas and had a fabulous time!  Our first stop was at Granny's house, in New Braunfels, TX.

 Granny volunteers at the McKenna Children's Museum every week, so we knew that would be a great place to check out.  OH MY!  What a fabulous children's museum!  It's only a few years old, and they spared no expense.  Landrie was in heaven. :)

Landrie and Daddy driving the ambulance with real flashing lights!  Granny said it originally had a siren too, but the staff disconnected that before too long. :)  Can you imagine??

Landrie's 1st and hopefully last ride in an ambulance!  

The outdoor area was HUGE!  There was a current running through this water feature and the ducks had slides and waterfalls to try out.  

Landrie had to stop at the train table and hang out with Granny. :)  Notice how empty it was?  We had the place to ourselves on a weekday afternoon.  Granny said mornings are busy with school groups from all over.  I mean really, if you are driving to south Texas down 35, you should make a stop here!  Say hi to Granny while you're there. :)

Another day, we headed back to the infamous Landa Park.  

Look!  It's a daddy/daughter slide!

Our little monkey on the monkey bars. :)

LOOK!  Ducks!  We brought bread to feed them, and Landrie couldn't have been happier when they came right up to us!

A pic with my 2 girls. :)

Thank you for the fun trip, Granny!

Landrie Puppy thought it was hilarious to bark and crawl around for Granny.  Landrie also loved to "sneak" up on her and tickle her!

And sometimes Granny got her back for all that tickling. :)

So sweet!!  Landrie will sit in your lap and read forever. :)

We also had a great time visiting with Uncle Steve and Aunt Judy, but we were too busy talking and never took any pictures. :)  We love you Granny, and can't wait for our next trip with TWO LITTLE GIRLS!!! :)

20 week update & a REAL belly!

20 weeks

Belly update: I think I officially have one!  I went maternity shopping this week, and have even worn the jeans and shorts this week.  I can't button my jeans anymore!  At church on Sunday, I even had people notice it.  

What's Baby Long up to?: Our little GIRL is about 6.5 inches long and 10.5 ounces.  So, crown to rump she's longer than your Subway sandwich!  On Tuesday night, I turned 19 weeks and she gave us a little gift. :)  We were laying in bed, when I got the strangest sensation in my belly.  It took me a minute to realize that it was her!  She was moving around so much I told Mark I thought she was trying to escape!!  She did flip after flip, then I could distinctly feel her feet kick like crazy on the right and her hands on the left.  He was able to feel every movement, and when she stopped moving, he told her "We love you!" and she kicked right away.  :)  Since that night, she's been moving every day!

Cravings:  FOOD.  All food is really, really good now!  I'm still loving the candy.

Best part of these 2 weeks: There's so many!  Seeing our precious HEALTHY baby, finding out that we have another little girl on the way, starting to feel her move, and seeing two of Baby's great grandmas!

I'm looking forward to: Planning a nursery and shopping!  I already bought Landrie and her baby sister two matching outfits. :)

Here's our BEAUTIFUL baby girl from our sonogram at 18.5 weeks.  She's so cute all curled up!  I hope that means she's a snuggler.

Here's the belly at 20 weeks!!

See!  I totally popped out in the last week!  

Here are the little outfits for our girls. :)

Gender Reveal Party!

On Friday, April 1st, we went to the doctor for our BIG sono!  We are so thrilled about this baby, and we did so many celebrations for Landrie and her adoption, so we decided to go all out.  We threw a little "What's it gonna BEE?" gender reveal party!  At our sono, we found out we had a healthy baby (thank you, God!!!) but asked the nurse to keep the gender a secret.  I gave her my phone, and she texted my friend Bethany "PINK" or "BLUE" and Bethany got to work!  I dropped of cupcakes and all the supplies before our appointment, and she filled them with the correct colored frosting.  SO FUN!!!!

The wreath on the front door started the theme.  I loved the black and yellow because there were no hints!!

Everyone wore pink or blue depending on what they thought the gender would be.  That morning, I explained the rules to Landrie, and she picked the blue outfit 3 times in a row!!  (Her outfit is different in the party pictures because Aunt Megan was babysitting, took her shopping and found her a blue outfit with a BEE on it!!)  We had a princess costume, grown men in pink shirts, two with blue shirts and pink undershirts (so they would be sure to win!) and one of my nieces even brought a baby doll dressed in pink.  We took pictures of each crew, and there were a LOT more blue votes than pink!

We had chocolate dipped marshmallows in bumble bee colors.

Yummy Junior Mints, springtime colored Oreos, and Butterfingers completed the yellow and black dessert table.  YUM.

I recovered Landrie's birthday party cupcake tower with coordinating scrapbook paper.  I used this blog post

 to learn how to make it.  Michaels had all kinds of cute cupcake wrappers!

After all the sweets I've craved, we had to have lots of desserts!  The cupcakes had yellow frosting and mini chocolate chips on them. 

In keeping with the color theme, we had lemonade and Sonic ice and this delicious Touchdown Dip that Noelle introduced us to. :)

Our family of 3 is growing!  Mark hadn't changed into his navy shirt yet...  He was thinking girl for months, but got swayed in the end. :)

We all bit into our cupcakes on the count of THREE.  We are so thrilled with the results!!!  There's a short video at the bottom of this post of this moment. 

WOO HOO for a baby sister for Landrie!!!  Bethany used this "cone method" to fill the cupcakes.  We had no idea how to do it, but were glad to find out it's not too hard!  

Okay, no one likes to see themselves on video, but a lot of our family couldn't make it to the party, and I wanted to share this with them.  I love the excitement of the moment!!!  Thank you, Jody, for thinking to take it for us!

I feel like I won the lottery and I keep having to go back to the lottery commission to tell them that there's been a mistake.  We only signed up for a 100 million dollar lottery, but we keep getting even more than we expected!!  

The JOY that is in our hearts is nearly overwhelming.  It's such a night and day difference from the deep sorrow that we felt during those years of waiting to be parents.  I love that our precious God was loving us the whole time, knowing what was to come.  I can just imagine Him turning to Jesus saying, "I cannot WAIT for a few years to pass. Mark and Corrie are going to hit the roof when they see our perfect plan unfold!!"  There were so many days when I felt like we were not just in the valley, but in some bunker way underground at the bottom of the lowest valley.  Today, we're at a rooftop party on top of the tallest building in the world!!!  As I type this, we have one precious baby asleep in her crib, and another wriggling in my belly.  God is so faithful!

So many of our friends are at that valley point right now, for many different reasons.  I can't wait to celebrate with you when your moment of joy comes!  We are praying for you, and can't wait to see what miracles God has in store for you!!

I got lots of ideas for my party from this family's gender reveal!