Baby Shower at Friendship

On Wednesday, May 27, the ladies at my school threw me a wonderful baby shower! Many of my friends at school have seen me through the highs & lows of our journey, so this was a special time of celebration as we wait for Baby Rinn!

The cake was so cute...and once the ladies started cutting & serving it, they discovered that the top half was white, while the bottom (diaper) part was chocolate! :) (Apparently the bakery didn't let them know it'd be made this way when it was ordered.)

It was also special for my mom to come to my shower! Since we still don't know if Baby Rinn is a boy or girl, she brought both boy & girl presents. The boy gift was all cowboy-themed, while the girl gift was all ballerina items....SO SO cute!

I was overwhelmed by all the wonderful presents that we received! We got a Bumbo, musical activity mat, many packs of Onesies, socks, hats, burp cloths, & a lot of the items we'll need for feeding. Plus, we got several Target gift cards that I'm sure we'll use for formula.

It was so much fun to take all the gifts home & show them to Dave! Our nursery is filling up very quickly! I am so thankful for everyone who made this shower so special...these are such precious memories!

Sweet Card

One of my 2nd grade girls wrote such a cute message in her end-of-the-year card to me!

I love you Mrs. Rinn. I hope it is a girl, but it is okay if it is a boy. All babies are great.

Funny Quotes

This week, I started telling my students at school that I wouldn't be coming back as their music teacher next year. I was surprised at how much many of my students knew about adoption, and it was neat to be able to share (at an elementary level) why Dave & I are adopting.

Of course, a lot of the kids had questions or comments about it...several of them were so funny that I had to share. It'd be even better if you knew the background of the students making these comments, but hopefully you'll still get a good laugh.

Mrs. Rinn: ....so, that is why I won't be your music teacher next year.

(tons of hands shoot up)...here's a sampling of what came next:


--If you won't be working, how will you keep your family out of debt?

--My baseball team won the championship.

--Ummm, I don't get it...is the baby inside of you or not?

--My family went to Padre Island, and I got some more rocks for my rock collection.

and, my favorite one of all:
--Will you miss us when you're gone?

Emily's Graduation Weekend!

We had a great weekend at Taylor celebrating Emily's graduation! We always love going back to visit Taylor, but this time was especially fun since my whole family was with us! I was able to have coffee with my dear friend Loralee, and Dave & I both had a great chat at Ivanhoe's with 2 of our music professors, Dr. Patty & Dr. Rediger.

The graduation was in the new Kesler Student Activities Center, and though it was long, we survived by eating the Ritz crackers Mom conveniently "found" in her purse.
We had a lot of fun laughing about other graduations...how my dad "ended up" meeting Dave at his graduation 8 years ago long before we were dating...how hot my outdoor graduation was (thank goodness Emily's was inside)...and, in addition to Mom's crackers, Emily kept us amused during the ceremony by texting updates from her seat across the arena. The Sounds (which is the vocal group Dave sang in & I accompanied for) performed during the ceremony, and we loved hearing them again!

After graduation, all of Emily's housemates & their families had a party at "the Mansion" (the house where Emily lived with her friends this past year). The weather was gorgeous, and we had a great time!!

Mom proudly kept referring to "her" three Taylor grads all weekend...'01, '04, and '09






Last meals at Cracker Barrel and Ivanhoes....what a great weekend full of lots of great memories!

Career Day

I have always admired my wife for being a teacher. It seems to me that attempting to educate 30 children for 45 min. in an enclosed space is like walking into a den of lions without a whip and chair (teachers are only given chairs and may only use them to sit on). So you may imagine the absolute terror I experienced when Bethany told me, "I signed you up for career day and it's already too late to back out." So with fate being handed to me, I replied the only way I knew how, "I'm backing out anyway!" Bethany informed me that this was not an option, so I started planning on how to survive this debacle.

I went in with my hard hat, safety vest and steel-toed boots and tried to convey the importance of bridges. My example: How is Mrs. Rinn going to get across the river to get to the sale at the mall? We discussed where funding came from, the cost factors involved in building a bridge, the bidding process, and my favorite part - equipment!

At the end, I took the kids outside to check out one of our mini-excavators and do a small demonstration. They really wanted me to dig up the yard or tear down part of the school, but we just stuck to picking up a ball and dumping it in a trash bin - just like scooping up dirt and loading a truck! All in all, I survived to tell the tale and even had a good time doing it... but not again for a while.

October 9...our new due date!

Baby Rinn is measuring a little ahead of his/her original due date of October 15....so the doctor moved the due date ahead to October 9! We can't wait to meet this little one! Thanks for all your continued prayers!

Murder Mystery

Our sweet friend Kimi had been talking about doing a Murder Mystery party for quite awhile...and, so after nearly a year of talking about it, we finally pulled it off last Friday night! It was so fun to see everyone in their costumes, and (of course!) we all had a great time together!

l - r: Socks the Golfer, Scoop the Reporter, Harrow the DA, Torchy the Lounge Singer, Silky the Lounge Owner (and murderer!), Billy the Baseball Player, Molly the Socialite, and Ernie the Gambler

Throughout the evening, every character would receive clues that he/she had to reveal to the others. You also received facts about places you'd been/things you'd done that you didn't want anyone else to figure out...the entire mystery lasted about 4 hours, which included all the different rounds of clues as well as trying to figure out "who dun it!" How convenient for Dave and me that our characters were not only partners in crime ...but also secret sweethearts! ;) It was such a fun night...and we can't wait to do another Murder Mystery again somtime!