Happy Gotcha Day Batman!

Oh Cooper...I mean Batman,

Where would we be without you? Or what if you had come to us easily? We certainly wouldn't be the same. Your life has taught me so much, in a different way than your siblings. You rocked my beliefs and understanding of God's deep love for His children. Mama Mandy and I were talking just the other day about how thankful we are for your story. Your story changed so many lives. In a million ways, you saved us from a life of being sideline believers. You forced us to get in the game and live out our faith.

I heard this song for the first time a couple months ago. My sister sang it, and I can't quit listening to it. It's called God Speaking by Mandisa....look at these words. It so makes me think about Cooper's story...

Who knows how He’ll get ahold of us?

Get our attention to prove He is enough.

He’ll do, and He’ll use whatever He wants to.

To tell us, I Love You.

Have you ever lost a loved one

Who you thought should still be here?

Do you know what it feels like to be tangled up in fear?

What if He’s somehow involved?

What if He’s speaking through it all?

Who knows how He’ll get ahold of us?

Get our attention to prove he is enough.

He’ll do and He’ll use whatever He wants to

To tell us, I love you.

His ways are higher

His ways are better

Though sometimes strange

What could be stranger than God in a manger?

So with deeply thankful hearts we celebrate you, Mama Mandy, and your Gotcha Day today!

I love everything about you. I love how you are so wild yet so sensitive and shy at times. I love that smile of yours. You give the sweetest kisses and hugs and you are so tender hearted. I'll never forget your sobs when you realized Charlotte dies on Charlotte's Web. I love how you never sit still, not even for food. I love how incredibly independent you are...you can do anything you set your heart to. I love watching you protect your sisters. You've taught them a lot of boyish things (that toots are funny) but you also kiss them constantly and you love watching them learn and master new things. I love how you live life with gusto and emotion! What a delight you are to watch. I love how you want to be a bone doctor just like your daddy. I cannot wait to see what God has planned for your life and I am honored to walk through life with you as your mommy!

Our usual Donuts for Gotcha Day morning! Our Aunt Stephanie started this tradition for us on Owen's first Gotcha Day!!!
Happy Gotcha Day sweet Cooper!

(And this is just because I couldn't NOT include this adorable pic!!!)

Wordless Wednesday...

It just doesn't get any better than this...

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Sadie washing daddy's hair with a wipe! Then she grabs him for kisses!

I asked her to wash his hair again, and this is what she does! She's a ham!

Just wrestling! Below she thinks she is something because she knows she is not supposed to be standing!

I cannot believe that Emery is one month old.

And yet, it seems like she's been a part of our family a lot longer than that. She is doing well and chunking up fast. I take her into the doctor tomorrow and can't wait to see how much she weighs. We started her on some reflux meds over the weekend and I can tell a difference in her already! Bless her little heart, she was wanting to eat constantly because her tummy wasn't feeling so hot.

**please note in the above picture the miracle that has taken place...all kids have their clothes on!!**

We've started planning Sadie and Owen's birthday party and I am so excited! Owen turns FIVE in a little over 2 weeks and Sadie is going to be TWO early September! I cannot believe it! Owen is so excited about starting pre-k, but more of the talk around here is about Aspen and Atlanta. Boy is this year going to be packed full of fun for our family!

I know I should be more nervous about all of the changes coming up, but I am just not. I realized when we went on this Aspen adventure last year, that God's got great purpose for us there. And...He has a ton of blessings waiting for us if we'll just trust Him with the details.

We love our Gigi! She has come up several days to just hang out with the kids so that I can get stuff done like grocery shopping! What would I do without my mom and MIL? I am SO blessed!

In case you're wondering...this is pretty much all we do. We sit and feed and cuddle lil miss. Sadie is still having a hard time sharing her, but she is getting better. It cracks me up. Tonight before bed Owen said, "When can I hold my sister? Just for a little biddy bit" as he held his fingers up in a pinch! We are all madly in love with her and I love seeing how quickly it happens with kids. She is the first thing they ask about when the get up and if she is not with me, they all ask where she is.

At the pool on Friday Cooper asked me what Emery's mom looked like. I giggled inside. I wanted to say, "Just like your mom, dude." Or "You're lookin at her kid." But I didn't want to correct him like I might anyone else. I love that he knows he has two moms and it's natural for him to talk about first mamas. And I love that he wanted to ask ME about her and knew it was safe and easy to talk about this stuff. I pray he always knows this. I also love how he wants to know her.

Dreams Do Come True

Today one of my dreams came true.

When we first adopted and experienced the joy and freedom in open adoption, I dreamed that one day all of our first families would have lunch together with our children.

Today we came as close as ever when Mama Mandy brought her family and we met her for lunch with C and her family. My mom came to town with my niece and they helped make this dream possible. After we wrapped up lunch we drove to see Mama G and hang out with her family.

We only needed Mama O for the day to be a true success, but we were worn out and the kids fell asleep in the car!

So today I feel like this is the icing on the cake, a little slice of heaven. And as you can imagine, we caused quite the scene at Chik-Fil-A! I will post what pics I can while still protecting C and her family.

See who Noonie is holding? She is 4 months old now! And note that Sadie is dipping her chicken in mayo.

Nothing could be sweeter than this picture!

Mama Mandy with Emery and Noonie!

Our daddy even got to join in on the fun!

I will tell you now, this picture will be on the boys wall in no time. They LOVE pics with Mama Mandy!

The kids were all excited to see how much K had grown! We couldn't believe how big she was! What a blessing to have a relationship with her family!

Girls Weekend

We've started a new tradition in our family that when a granddaughter turns 10, you make a trip to the American Girl store in Dallas!

Noonie with her grandgirls: Emery, Lauren (birthday girl), Ragon, Ann Marie and Sadie

So this past weekend 11 of the girls in our family (my sisters, nieces, mom, grandma, and MY DAUGHTERS-I love saying that) made our way to Dallas for some shopping and just fabulous girl time. My sissy Stephanie and her daughter Ann Marie (12). Emery travels well. Big sister, not so much. Anyone got any ideas on how to put a halt to ear-piercing screams? I told her if she couldn't talk to me, she had to put a wipey in her mouth. That worked for a while. Then Grandy told her she'd have to walk to Dallas if she couldn't quiet down. H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S!!!!We are not sure yet what the boys are going to do when one of them hits 10, but I can only imagine it won't involve outlet stores! Dang we snagged some good deals!

We couldn't have had more fun or made more memories. What an absolute blessing to be able to call these women my best friends. Grandy had us in stitches pretty much the entire time. And I wouldn't have been able to tote my two babes had everyone of them not helped me so much. Thank you girls for helping me!

Laura got to spend lots of time snuggling the girls since she has 3 boys and came solo this weekend! So glad you came Laura! It wouldn't have been the same without you (and my roots wouldn't be either-thanks for the color)!!

Grandy, Emery, Laura and I at dinner at the American Girl bistro.

We got stopped by SO many people that thought Emme was a baby doll.

I have to say that it was pretty fun watching Sadie enjoy herself here. She will be getting her doll for her second birthday, but got to pick it out (or, um...her mother picked it out!) and love on it!

She had a blast playing in that place! Thank goodness she didn't think she could take it all with her! Our next trip here will be in 7 years when Ragon hits 10!!! Crazy!
LOVE THIS ONE!!!
Isn't that a sweet baby we picked out?

Thank you Noonie and Papa for such a fun and memorable weekend!

Some of my besties from college live right outside of Dallas, so they came to the hotel to meet Emery and play with us for a bit! What a treat! Thanks Angela and Misty for making time for us!

Big thanks to Gigi and Papa for keeping the boys since daddy was on call this weekend! I think the boys didn't miss us one bit!