Catch up!

Ok. I know. I get the "Bad Blogger" award for the last few months. (You, my dear few readers, are going to have help me stay on top of things!) It's not that we have been boring and lame or that I haven't taken a bunch of pictures of our adorable little girl. It's that I've been a little lazy and a little... well, blah. 


What is "blah" you might ask? Well, this time of year it always feels like I lose a little bit of myself. I don't realize it a whole lot until I reach about the end of April and then it usually hits me... When I say "I lose a little bit of myself", it's because my husband is definitely more than a little bit of who I am. In fact, he is quite a bit, and during this time of year, he is gone A LOT. And I miss him.  And right about now is when we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 


Baseball season is finally over! YAY! School is almost out, and things around the house should start to mellow out a little bit. This is the busy season for me at work, but nothing I can't handle with the help of my wonderful husband. We are looking forward to a relaxing summer and time spent with family and friends. 


Rayleigh is ADORABLE these days. It truly amazes me how smart and beautiful she is. She catches on so quickly and is one of those "critical thinkers". You can just see her brain making the connections and absorbing information. What a blessing she is! I see God working through her every day! 


My Rotary club started a mentoring project this year, and coincidentally, Kit's campus was picked. I have LOVED working with the 9th graders. It is such a fun age, and the kids are great. They have their moments, but who doesn't?  It has been a huge boost to my morale and spirit to be with these kids 2-4 days per week for a few hours at a time. I think know I am getting more out of it than they are, but I hope I am making a positive impression on them as well. 


This year for Easter, we had a "Langdon Easter" at the lake house, lovingly called Meanwhile. We had cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great grandmothers, and in-laws, total about 35-40 people. It was a great time! I even got to meet a few of the more distant Langdon family members. Rayleigh LOVED hunting eggs and jumping in the bouncy house. It was hard to keep her out of the bouncy house, and for pretty much the entire day, either Kit or I watched Rayleigh crawl in and out of that big house! 

She loved to stand at the netting and try to "get" us. 

It was a beautiful day to hunt eggs. A little overcast, but still warm. 

Langdon Easter 2011

Now it's time to start planning her 2nd birthday party. EEK! 

She quacks me up!

Rayleigh was an adorable duck this year for Halloween! We took her to the church's Trunk or Treat event, and she soon figured out that all she had to do was walk up, put her hand out, and say "please!"  It was pretty cute! She even had the "Quack Quack" down like a champ!

She had the cutest little duck butt that wiggled as she walked! 

A big thanks to Aunt KiKi for picking out Rayleigh's costume this year!

Three wonderful years!

Kit & I celebrated our 3rd anniversary this week on Wednesday. What an amazing three years it has been! We celebrated by getting a sitter and going to Texas de Brazil for dinner. Oh my goodness. It was amazing!! I love thinking of our wedding day and what a great ride it's been so far. 


I am so thankful and feel so blessed to be married to such an amazing man. Our daughter is definitely the BEST thing we've ever done. God is SO good! I thank Him every day for giving me such a wonderful family. 


When I think of our wedding day, I can't help but also think about how loved we are and what an amazing group of family & friends that we have. Thank you so much, especially to my Mom & Granny, for making our wedding day unforgettable! 


Enjoy a few pics from our special day! 

My Girl

Rayleigh has definitely transitioned from baby to toddler. She's developed such a funny personality. She loves to be the center of attention and isn't shy about trying to get you to play with her. Mornings are her best time and one particular morning, I had to get a few pictures of her because she was cracking me up.

She loves jewelry & necklaces, so one morning she found these and put them on. She insisted she wear them all the way to day care. 

Her walking & talking skills are improving rapidly everyday. I think she's up to about 30 words that she can say with definite distinction and another 10-15 that she's working on. It's pretty cool. She LOVES to read (wonder where she gets that from). We read about 5-10 books a day and most days we have to read them over and over and over... I am looking to expand her library soon because if I have to read about 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed one more time, I might go a little bananas myself. :) 


On a typical morning, she usually cries to get my attention that she is awake. Today she was in a particularly goofy mood I guess because while I was getting ready for work, all of a sudden I hear "Hey! Hey! Hey!" coming from her room. I tiptoed to her door and called her name, and all you could hear through the door was hysterical giggles. It was so adorable. I opened the door and she jumped up in her crib and yelled "Momma!" It was one of those mornings you want to call in sick just to stay home and play with her... 


One of the teachers at Kit's school sold him a Big-Wheels four wheeler for $50. Her kids are just outgrew it. Kit brought it home, got it cleaned & charged up, and we let Rayleigh play on it. 

Dad had to show her all of the bells and whistles.

Then she was taking off on her own. She's a little scared of it and wants you right beside her the whole time, but she really likes it too... 

We went out to the ranch for my family birthday dinner with the Langdon's. (By the way, I turned 25 again and will never be a year older.) It was such a beautiful day and the creek was flowing just right, so we stopped to take a few pics. She LOVED the water. 

Hello!

Happy birthday, Mommy!

RayRay is also my cuddle bug. She loves to cuddle with us, the dog, her babies, anything soft. She found my Cabbage Patch dolls from when I was little and not she carries them all over the house. She loves to give them hugs and kisses. 

This is the face she makes when she laughs or thinks something is funny. It's adorable. 

Being her mom is truly the greatest gift I've ever been blessed with. She is such an amazing little girl, so full of life and love! I couldn't be more proud to call her my daughter, and I treasure every moment I get to spend with her!! 

How time flies....

I can't believe how quickly the past couple of months have flown by. School has already been back in for a month now, but it seems like it just let out in May. Kit is full football mode with games &/or practice every night of the week. I know it's hard on him to be gone so much, but he is such a great teacher & coach. I know the kids benefit from having him involved in their lives. 
We did a lot of traveling this summer. Here are some pictures of our trip out to West Texas for my cousin's Jill's beautiful baby girl Abigail. It was great to meet her, see some family, and get some pics of the girls. 

The girls with their Great-Granny & Great-PoPo

RayRay hanging out with PoPo, Cam & Gringo

We also celebrated Kit's Grammy's birthday with a family birthday dinner at Joe T Garcia's. YUM!

We made another trip out west for a wedding and got to see a bunch more family then. 

RayRay loved her Doodles that night!

She loved the music & to dance. 

This is one of my all-time favorite pictures!! Such a great group!

Makemma was a great aunt. Rayleigh has started calling her "KeKe".

The whole crew came down for Labor Day weekend. The boys played golf and went fishing. Mom, KeKe & Rayleigh went shopping in Fort Worth. After much needed pedicures, Sallye & Brianne made sure that a friend's pool stayed in place all weekend and didn't blow away. We got in some much needed sister time.

Rayleigh & I also went to see my Dad, Piper, & Paige for the 4th of July. My camera battery was dead that weekend, so I don't have any pictures, but we had a blast!

Well, these are a few of the pics from our crazy summer. If you want to see all of the pictures, e-mail me and I will send you the link to view the entire Picasa album. 

The New Bathroom

I've had the same guest bathroom decor since I graduated college. I decided that while I loved my old stuff, it was just time for a change. So, I passed on my stuff to my cousin Sydney who is now in college and got myself a new bathroom look!!
I am really excited with how it turned out. I am not 100% done. I still need to add some bling to the shower curtain, hang a picture frame, and Sydney is working on some art to hang on the back wall. I came up with the overall idea, and Mom helped me with the shower curtain. It's going to look so good once all complete, but I thought I would share a quick sneak peek. Hope you like!

The red picture frame will hang above these candles. 

One Year Old photos

We had Rayleigh's one-year-old session done about 3 weeks ago, right before her ear tube surgery. While I wish we had waited until after the surgery so she would have been in a better mood, the pictures I've seen so far turned out really cute!!
http://ashleywilkinsphotography.com/  (She's the first one on the blog.)
Ashley did a great job, and I will definitely use her again!! Thank you Ashley!