BIG brother!

Well, if you read my last post, you know that LOTS of sweet adoptions have been going on!  One just happened to be with my friend Bethany, and we had the joy of having their son spend a few days with us while they are out of state with their newest family member!  This blog is public, so I'm not going to post any pictures of their BEAUTIFUL daughter, but I'm sure she'll post some soon on her blog!  Landrie and Isaac had a BALL playing together.  Bethany, I know you REALLY miss him, so I took some sweet pictures for you. :)

I love how they look like an old married couple rocking on the front porch here.  I was putting Isaac's shoes on and Landrie hopped up next to him.  Although it's February, all week the highs were in the 70s!  They played and played outside.  Every night both of their pants were covered in grass stains. :)

"What did you say?  I have a new BABY SISTER?!?"

"Really?!?  You mean I'll have a baby at my house too?  And she'll be my sister forever and ever?"

(Well, our conversation went something like that!  Really Landrie and Isaac just ran in circles screaming "BABY SISTER!"  while I grinned ear to ear!)

These 2 year olds have LOTS of energy.  We ran races until they literally flopped on the ground with exhaustion.  Well, except for one time when Isaac stopped mid-race to pick me a flower!  What a sweet boy!

I love this one of Isaac hugging Landrie.  Every morning I'd bring him into Landrie's room to get her up.  They both went CRAZY with squeals and laughing.  Landrie hasn't napped in about a month.  The day Isaac left, she took her first one!  They were non-stop fun from sunup to sundown. :)  

Oh, this one is my favorite.  Now I'm ready for a play date with our 2 year olds and baby girls!

I LOVE ADOPTION!!

What a HUGE day for adoption!!!

1.  THIS MORNING our sweet friends drove cross-country to meet their precious, long-awaited baby GIRL!!!!  Dave and Bethany, we could not be MORE EXCITED!!!  They adopted Isaac just a few weeks after we adopted Landrie, and we had their Gotcha Day party together.  Read more about their story here!

Landrie and Isaac

Forever a Long and Forever a Rinn...at their combo Gotcha Day party to celebrate the finalizations of their adoptions!

2. EARLY THIS MORNING our other friends, Bill and Kelli met their 13 year old daughter in CHINA and adopted her just days before she "ages out" and is no longer able to be adopted.  The series of miracles that lead up to this is astounding!  Read their story here.  OR, go look at the AMAZING pictures from the Archibald project who traveled with them to photograph this amazing time!

Look at their precious faces as mother and daughter meet for the first time!!

(pictures by the Archibald Project)

3.  TODAY, a sweet family that I know through blogging is meeting their TWINS!!!  So exciting!!  Read their story here!

Ahhh!!!  These stories bring back such memories of the HUGE tidal wave of emotions from when Landrie was born.  

We were 

excited to finally be parents, 

anxious about what to expect as we met our daughter,

THRILLED to hold her for the first time,

 heart broken for her birth mother as she said good bye, 

and THANKFUL to our AMAZING God for this great gift.

minutes before we went into the hospital!

Please join us in praying for these families, especially over the next few days!  Thank you God, for creating beautiful families in so many ways!

I love you!

I love you

and I love you

and I love you and you

photo by Jenny Sawyer Photography

and I love YOU!

I hope you have a great Valentines Day with the ones you love!

Happy Birthday to my Honey!

We were laughing as we celebrated Mark's birthday with a family dinner at home.  Things sure change!  Tatem didn't feel well and slept in 5-15 minute increments most of the night during the night before Mark's birthday, so he surprised us by coming home at lunch!  I got to grocery shop alone.  What a sweetie to think of me on his day!  Guess who picked out Mark's wrapping paper??  She was SO EXCITED about Mark's birthday!!

After dinner, Landrie helped her daddy blow out his candles!  Mark requested Boston Creme Pie.  I had never had it before, but it was really good!  I used this recipe.  :)

Tatem had some gifts for her daddy too!  She started giving kisses!  They are the open- mouthed, full face plant variety, and they are so sweet!  (Tatem's helmet has been causing a few skin problems, so she's had some extra time out of it while her skin heals.)

Do you know what her really, really big gift was??  She learned to roll from her back to her belly!  We've been practicing this in PT for awhile, and we were so proud when she finally did it on Mark's birthday!

The next day someone got a tad bit jealous and quickly rolled all over the floor too (and of course got lots of praise for her beautiful rolling skills!) and then insisted I take a picture of her doing a trick!

A few days later Tatem was sitting in my lap and got a hold of my drink.  I thought it was so cute that she was chewing on the straw.  Then she started drinking!  This baby may need some extra help in some areas, but she sure doesn't mess around when it comes to eating and drinking!  She's a pro. :)

Happy Birthday, Baby!  We love you so much!!

Ride 'Em, Cowgirl!

We've lived in Fort Worth (nicknamed "Cowtown") for way too long without ever going to the FW rodeo.  This year we decided to change that!  Well, we didn't go to the actual rodeo, but we spent all day at the huge stock show!

Landrie was in LOVE with the cows and had to get a picture with this one on the wall!

We checked out the children's section.  I think Landrie would have stayed there all day!  These were very rare albino triplets!  They said they are half deer/ half goat.  I don't think I even knew that existed!

These chicks were too cute.  I love that they had a little ferris wheel for them to ride on. :)

Landrie loved the pigs and talked for days about the mess they made when they were drinking.  She loves to look through all the pictures we took while we were at the rodeo.  Every time she sees the pig ones I hear, "Pigs!!  Pigs cute, Mama.  Pigs MESS!"

Tatem was also enthralled with the animals. :)

Our little animal!

My girl :)

The cows were SO beautiful!

Every color of the rainbow!  There were ag kids all hanging around everywhere, making sure their animals were ready to show.  Did you know they spray paint their coat and hooves??  Landrie didn't care about that, but she's very into going potty right now, (I'll buckle down and potty train soon!) and she was enthralled with a certain aspect of the cows, and well, I'll let you figure what captivated her so much.  She talks about it allll the time.  Ewwww.

Melba, this picture is for you!  When we asked the teenager what his cow's name was, he said her name is Melba!  Of course we had to take a picture with her!  Landrie's so into asking people (and apparently animals!) what there name is. :)

We always asked before we got too close to the animals, since they weren't behind any type of fence.  This boy said, "Sure, you can pet him."  Mark was chatting and asked something like, "So, it's okay for her to be petting him?  He's pretty laid back?"  The boy replied, "Yeah, as long as he doesn't gore her."  What?!!  

Then we checked out a milking demonstration.  Mama cow, I know how you feel!  :)

Oh, our lunch was SO yummy!  Grilled steak, onions and cheese in a grilled tortilla.  Yup, you wish you were eating this tonight!

Sweet girls!

I wasn't sure how much we would use this HUGE double stroller.  We use it ALL THE TIME.  

I introduced my sweets-loving baby to funnel cakes.  I think she ate almost as much as I did!

This sweet baby still sleeps 2 hours out of every 3, so she slept most of the day.  When she was awake, she charmed everyone around with her big grin!  This was a week or two before she got her helmet.

We ended our day with a trip to the petting zoo.  I was amazed with how brave Landrie was with her little ice cream cone full of feed!

Of course she had to give the goat a hug.  If you get too close, my sweet Landrie Grace will hug you too!  

What a fun day with my family!  

Sister shirts

I saw some matching sister shirts with initials and knew I had to make them.  Please don't come over this week, because while I did manage to make these adorable shirts and feed my family, I did not manage to clean my house!  haha!

Oh I love how they turned out!  Yup, this is the best shot I could get!*  Tatem's eyes are closed because she scratched her cornea this week.  That was 2 trips to the doctor and one trip for PT this week for Tatem.  Oh, and there was a trip to urgent care this week for Landrie because she spiked a 104 fever and couldn't stop shaking.  The corneal abrasion and ear infection are all healed now, but Landrie's great at sharing, and she passed on her cold to Tatem and me!  

Oh, and because everyone's favorite part is the bloopers, here are the ones that did NOT make the cut. :)

Oh my!  I can't even think of a caption for this one!

"Come on, Mom!  Are you done yet??"

Who is she glaring at??  I'm just glad it's not me!!

A little TOO much sister love here!

I took a few of just Landrie while Tatem napped.

In case you want to attempt this for a little one you love, here's a little tutorial!  I got the iron-on adhesive at Walmart in the fabric department and directions on exactly how to use it are on the package.  That stuff is amazing!! I just cut the girls' initials out of the polka dot fabric and used the iron-on adhesive on the back.  After doing this with a few projects, I found that I can get a much fatter letter if I just free hand it!  I've tried printing out a letter from the computer, but they are always too skinny.  

I ironed the polka dot letters on to a square of brown fabric, then ironed some adhesive on to the back of the brown fabric too.  I cut around the letter so a tiny bit of brown shows.  Then I peeled the paper off the back of the brown, ironed the whole thing to a shirt, and stitched around the edges with my machine.  It'll fray a bit as I wash it.  

Then I just sewed a little ruffle on the bottom!  I've made them before for baby gifts using a onesie.  I just just a little skirt instead of a ruffle and put it at the waist of the onesie.  So fun!

Whew!  It's been a crazy week this week.  In addition to all the illness and injury, Tatem learned how to roll on to her back while swaddled!  Ahh!  Then she just lays in her crib like an overturned turtle screaming until we flip her back over.  As I flopped into bed last night, exhausted, I couldn't help but think back to a time not too long ago.  I used to sleep any time I wanted, and I hardly ever went to a doctor.  Back then, I used to lay down for bed and dream of having a crazy life with a bunch of babies.  You know what? I wouldn't trade this craziness for anything!!

*I went back and looked on Pinterest, and that clever girl took individual shots of her daughters and put them side by side.  Pretty sneaky!  I'll have to remember that one!