Life with the Crim's

Welcome to the Crim Family, Kennedy Belle!

2012-02-15T03:02:00.000-08:00

She made it on Valentine's Day, which for those of you who do not know is Valerie's Birthday also. Rayleigh was willing and ready to hold her little sister and mom is doing great. So far Kennedy has been a great sleeper and barely even makes a sound. She was 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 19.75 in. long. My brave and strong wife had yet another baby all natural, no epidural or meds of any kind! Please help me to remember how great she is and not to mess with her because I will cry uncle before she will. We love our new little bundle so much already and thank you to one and all for your congratulations and eagerness to hear the news. It makes us feel loved also. Here are a few more pics, because that is what everyone wants to see!

Take a look at that baby!

Momma loves that little bundle.

All my girls...

Now a few proud moments or something to embarrass later in life?

Overdue

2012-02-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

Library books, movie rentals, cookies in the oven. We put timelines on lots of things in life. But, is there such a thing as overdue when it comes to babies? Or, do they just come when they're ready? Either way....I was expecting to have a little one in my arms by now, and I'm a BIT disappointed. My due date was yesterday, and I woke up thinking we were going to have another baby ON the due date, which would be pretty funny since that rarely happens.

I woke up with contractions at 2:30 am yesterday with contractions that caused a lot of back pain and pelvic pressure (very different from the Braxton-Hicks contractions that I've been having for months that have only been in my abdomen). Although they weren't doubling me over in pain, they were painful and regular. They were 15ish minutes apart when I first woke up and getting closer together. After an hour and a half, they were about 10 min. apart and I had one or two zingers that made me think, "This IS the real thing." So, I woke J up. We started getting some things together, getting dressed, just waiting for them to get closer. I read, while he watched some TV. When the contractions were 5-7 min. apart, we headed to the hospital, since it's a good 30-45 min drive.

After arriving, they told me I was almost at 4 cm & the contractions were coming every 4-6 min. I was a little disappointed that I wasn't further along, since I was at 5 cm when I arrived at the hospital with Rayleigh, but oh well. After about an hour, the contractions started slowing down to 15-20 min. apart. They decided to watch me one more hour to see what would happen. But, alas, the contractions stayed far apart, and when they checked me they said I was still at 4 cm. So, they sent me home. Disappointment.

They told me to get plenty of water and food and then SLEEP. They were almost certain I would be back later that day because it looked like early labor, and they wanted me fueled and rested. But, I'm still at home. After a nice soak and shower, I took at Melatonin tablet (as they suggested, to help me sleep through the contractions), and fell fast asleep for 3 solid hours. I woke up refreshed and without any contractions for about an hour and half. The rest of the day, I had a lot of back pressure, major pelvic pressure, and fatigue, but other than that felt fine (9 months pregnant fine, that is). I decided that I was actually thankful to have gotten a break from the contractions, even if it meant waiting a little bit longer.

I woke up this morning thinking, "Humph. Still here." So, who knows how long I'll be at this stage.....this pregnancy has been SO different. I've decided to just go with the flow. She'll come when she comes and not a moment sooner. She can't stay in there forever. That's the only thing I AM sure about, and thank goodness for that!

"Become Like Little Children"

2012-02-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

"Jesus called a little child and had him stand among them. And Jesus said, 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 18:2-4

As most any parent would say, our children teach us so many things. First becoming a parent teaches you a lot about yourself (and your spouse). Through the daily sacrifices you have to make you realize how adaptable and giving you are....or how selfish you can be. For me, when I first became a parent I realized for the first time in my life what it means to sacrifice yourself daily for someone else. As a wife I had to make sacrifices here and there, but as a wife and a mother - that put a whole new spin on things. I soon began to truly understand what Jesus means by taking up your cross DAILY. As a parent of a newborn, you have no choice BUT to sacrifice your own wants (rest being one of the biggest things you have to give up) for your child's needs. I so appreciate the lesson God gave me on daily giving.

As a new parent, I also realized what a sacrifice God himself made by giving Jesus on the cross for OUR sins. Jesus was pure, spotless of any sin in his life, much like my precious baby was. Yet, God loved the whole world so much, that he gave his only son to die for OUR sins. I thought many times to myself that I could not have done that. I could not have given my child for someone else's mistakes (especially if they weren't going to appreciate my sacrifice). How could He have done it? THAT is how much He loves us, my friends. God IS love. Wow. I praise Him for that, and I am totally put in my place.

As a parent of a 3 year old, I continue to learn about myself, and most of the lessons are taught by Rayleigh, herself.

Patience - I've never been a real patient person. I confess that to you now. I like things done in a timely matter (quickly). Since marriage I've had to learn how to NOT cook everything on high (we've eaten lots of scorched meals when I've gotten distracted from the stove). R teaches me patience, not just through all the practice she gives me (and there's plenty of that).....but by the example of patience she sets. Now, she's not perfect, but she definitely puts me in my place without knowing it sometimes. Example: she asks me to come get a toy down out of her closet. I say, "Just a minute," and she patiently waits even though it's usually not just "1 minute" she'll have to wait. On the other hand, if I ask her to do something, like come brush her teeth, and she says, "Just a minute" to me, I respond with, "No. Now." Shame on me for not giving her the same grace she gives me.

No Stereotypes - In the eyes of a young child, everyone is equal. The only physical difference she notices in other people is boy or girl, not pretty/ugly, fat/skinny, rich/poor, dark/light. Everyone on the playground is a "friend." There are no judgments when another kid mistreats her. After they say sorry, she forgives them and moves on. Period. No grudges. She knows she messes up and makes mistakes just as much as the next person. Wouldn't the world be a little better if we adults actually lived by the same principle?

Humble, Honest Trust - I think what Jesus meant by the passage in Matthew that I started this post with is that we all need to become more trusting of Him, showing humility and a need for someone bigger to take care of you, and an eagerness to learn from that person. For a child, that person is their parents. Rayleigh trusts us with every inch of her being that we will provide for her needs, give her love and comfort, keep her safe.... God has promised the same to us and MORE. He's promised us a future in heaven, something parents can't give their children. We can, however, teach them the way; we can't enter the kingdom without Jesus.

So, my dear Rayleigh....thank you for your humble, innocent, pure example of life. You teach your Momma and Daddy so much. You help make us better people. We love you more than you'll ever know.

I'll leave you with this precious face.

After a long day, she just flat gave out while watching TV with Dad....

Are We There Yet?

2012-02-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

At 39 weeks, I feel anxious and READY to have this baby. Last week at my 38 week appointment, my doc checked me and said I was 2 cm, -1 station, and 75% effaced. That was very exciting news to me, and ever since I've been thinking that any day could be the day. I decided not to teach my gym class today, because I didn't want to push it too hard. Ever since contractions have started over the past week, I've had trouble exercising or doing anything remotely physically demanding because my abdomen will begin to contract. So, I've been taking it easy for several days, and I feel restless. My body and my mind are yearning to go out for a hard run or something, but my mind knows my body can't handle it right now. I feel stuck.

Last week my doc was suprised to hear I was still teaching, and I was suprised that she was surprised! She looked at me and said, "Wait, are you like - bouncing around and stuff out there?" I said, "Uh...yeah.....am I not supposed to be?" She kindof laughed and shook her head, then replied, "Doesn't that hurt?" I said, "No. Occasionally I'll get a little cramp in my abdomen, and when I do, I back off to low-impact options, but for the most part I feel great. I've just been listening to my body, like you told me to do." She said, "Well, if it's not hurting you, I guess it's still fine."

Here's a pic of me at 37 weeks before a launch class...

It's been nice staying at home so much. I've gotten lots of "spring cleaning" things done. I've reorganized some closets, set up the nursery, set up Rayleigh's new room, worked on some scrapbooking/photo albums, and I've gotten to spend lots of one-on-one time with RJ.

We've played Barbies, dress-up, baked cookies, snuggled up for movies, snuggled for books, played games, colored, cut, taken lots of naps together (one of my favorite things), and this morning we gave ourselves foot treatments and painted nails. I've really enjoyed soaking up these precious moments with Rayleigh. I know we'll make a lot more memories together after Kennedy comes, but right now is a special time. I hope she knows how much she is loved, and I hope we will all be patient with one another after the addition to the family.

Here are some pics of RJ playing on J.

Jumping...

Lovin'...

I'll try to post some pics of the girls' rooms soon, even though I don't have things up on the walls yet. (It takes me a while to decide where to hang things.)

Baby Bath for Kennedy

2012-01-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

In Rayleigh's own words....
"We're gonna have a party for the.......BABY! A Baby Bath!"

The Crim's hosted a baby shower for our #2 yesterday, and we came home with lots of diapers, wipes, new clothes and other fun things! Here are some pics from the afternoon:

Me with the hostesses:

Check out this spread! The food was amazing!

These girls were way too cute sharing a plate of food and drinking their CapriSun's...

(L-R: Rayleigh, cousin Kenzie, cousin Kiley)

I had MORE than enough help opening presents...

And, here are my little elves that helped open.

They decided to build a nest out of the tissue paper and play in it after it was all over.

Thank you everybody for all the gifts! Jason and I felt so loved and look forward to using everything on our baby girl very, very soon!!!

I Wanna Dance With Somebody

2012-01-30T10:36:00.000-08:00

Jason got me Just Dance 2 for Christmas this year. I love to dance....just not so much in public because I get a little shy. I love "Dancing With the Stars" and have always imagined myself being as good as they are at what they do. (I totally see it, even if nobody else does.) Rayleigh doesn't just let me sit and watch that show. She gets her princess dress on and gets prettied up, just like the girls do on the show. Of course, while Rayleigh and I are dancing during the show, I get the feeling (by the way Jason looks at us as he's walking by) that what we're doing looks nothing, and I mean - NOTHING - like what the people on the screen look like. He MUST be looking only at Rayleigh, right?

Well, I invited my mom and sisters over for a Just Dance Party one night while Jason was working, and we had a blast. I wanted to share some pics of our moves so you could see how much fun we have when we're together. I just love my mom and sisters. I don't know what I'd do without them. By the way....I swore not to post any videos. Sorry...

34 Weeks

2012-01-12T14:24:00.000-08:00

Other than the normal aches and pains that come with a stretching midsection and weird weight distribution, I feel pretty great. I'm so thankful I'm still able to be active, although I have been instructed to start slowing down a little more. For those that don't know, I teach group fitness, and my class is always telling me to take it easy. Last week a few of them said, "Valerie, you could modify more. We know what to do. What if you go into labor while you're up on the stage?! What in the world are we going to do?" Well....I AM listening to my body, and when my body is telling me to do a little less impact and jumping, I do. But, if I'm feeling good, I typically go for it....without overdoing it. Taking care of my baby and my body are pretty important to me.

I have finally hit an eating stage. I'm hungry almost ALL the time. So far, I think I've gained 22 lbs., but I wouldn't be suprised if that shoots up soon....especially with all the Christmas candy we still have lying around. Ugh!

We have pretty much decided on a name for our baby girl - Kennedy Belle. We wanted to name this child after my dad, Ken, who passed away in 2007. That's where "Kennedy" comes from. "Bell" is my Grandmother Hart's maiden name, and "Belle" also happens to be my favorite Disney princess. ;)

Sleeping has been rough for a while, as I will lie awake for 3 hours at a time during most nights (about 2-5am). I wake up because I have to go the restroom, and by the time I get back to bed I'm fully awake - and so is Kennedy. At first I was aggravated because I was tired, and I LOVE getting my sleep. Now, however, I've decided to enjoy it. Looking at the bright side...at least I can lie there peacefully in the quiet and getting to know my baby by feeling her movements. In just a few short weeks, I will be up listening to her cries, feeding her, walking her, rocking her, working for her....instead of laying peacefully in the dark. So, although I'm so excited to meet her I can hardly stand it, I'm enjoying the quiet while I still can.

Christmas 2011 - Part 2

2012-01-09T20:32:00.000-08:00

Between Christmas and New Year's we had our other family get-togethers...

Marcia & Shelby came down and brought Geneva over for brunch. It was so good catching up with them, as we don't see them as much as other family.

Proffitt Christmas:

We played one of R's new games with Granita & Aunt Diane. It's called Pretty, Pretty Princess, and the object of the game is to be the first one to collect all of your jewelry and the crown.

Granita won!

(and we obviously had a blast...)

More Christmas lights...

Christmas at the schoolhouse...

Jason played "teacher" and Rayleigh played "student."

Rayleigh with Uncle Randy...

Throwing rocks in the creek...

Christmas with Guy & Paula:

Yes, we coordinated our outfits....for family pics.

Rayleigh & Kylie love their Paw-Paw...

What a blessing it is to have so much family to love and be loved by. Thank you, God, for giving us so much in this life!

Christmas 2011 - Part 1

2012-01-09T20:20:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Ours was fantastic, as always. I just LOVE Christmas time because of all the family get-togethers, and it's a good thing I enjoy getting together with family because we have A LOT of them! Below is the abbreviated story of our Christmas...

Jason's station had a Christmas party for all the families. There were a ton of kids there, which was fun for all of us, especially Rayleigh. His station is great - he loves working there.

One of the fire fighters is teaching them how to play 4-square (6-square).

All the kids got to go for a ride on the fire truck. Obviously they LOVED it!

They got to try out the work-out equipment...

And, Santa showed up with presents for each little one!!

Christmas Eve Lunch at Mom's (Grandmomma's):

Rayleigh making cookies with Whit & Lacey being goofy in the background...

Playing...

One big happy family...

Christmas Eve Dinner at Grandma & Grandpa Crim's:

All the great-grandchildren with Grandma & Grandpa...

Christmas Morning at Home...

Jason preached at our church since our normal preacher was out of town. God really used him that morning; I was so proud of him. It was his best sermon so far.

Christmas Lunch at Grandmother's (My mom's mom):

The annual matching outfit picture with Aunt Lisa...

Grandmomma, Ray, and Aunt Lisa

One-half of the Hart's...

The other half of the Hart's

(...And 16 of us were missing this year!)

I love my girl cousins...

And, I love my boy cousins...

Not Until You're 30!

2011-12-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

The car is a great place for some good conversation. Here are a few snippits of conversations we've had recently.

Rayleigh - Girls are pretty and boys are handsome. Daddy's a prince.
Me - Daddy's my prince.
R - Hehehehe....Yeah....I don't have a boy.
Me - Nope, and that's okay.
R - I need a boy.
Jason - No, you don't.
R - Yes. I do. I need a boy for myself.
Me - When you're older you might could get a boy, but for now you have Daddy.
R - But, I need one for myself.
Jason - Not until you're 30!

On our way to Marble Falls...
Rayleigh - Marble Falls has a jack rabbit.
Jason - Just one?
Rayleigh - No, there's 3 I think..

Jason trying to pester Rayleigh and doing a good job at it (as usual).
R - My name's Rayleigh.
J - LayRee?
R - No, Ray-Lee.
J - LayRee?
R - No, Ray-LEE!
J - LayRee?
R - No, LARRY!
J - Hahaha....Your name is Larry?
R - Hahahaha.....No, it's Rayleigh Jo Crim.

For Jason's 30th birthday we took the week off and he went deer hunting. On the night of his bday we went out to eat at a seafood place and then went to the "Walkway of Lights." Rayleigh loved it, and I have to say I've never enjoyed the lights so much myself. Seeing her excitement and energy caused my cheeks to hurt by the end from all the smiling we did.

Out of the Mouthes of Babes

2011-12-15T20:20:00.000-08:00

Some words that made me smile...

Before reading this, remember I am 32 weeks pregnant....
Tonight Rayleigh looked at me and said, "Mom, you're soo skinny!"
Me - "Awww....(chuckle)...Thank you, Sweetheart." (Though far from skinny I was flattered by her compliment.)
Rayleigh - "Yeah, like a baby elephant."
HUMPH! Deflated....Though I'm sure she meant well.

One night after getting off the phone with Jason, she looked at me and said like a perfect grown up and nodding her head, "He's a good man."

One morning last week she woke up to rain and ran in our room exclaiming, "It's raining! It's raining!"
Me - "Oh yeah?" So I got up to go look out the front window with her, and sure enough it was!
Me - "It sure is, Rayleigh. You were right."
Rayleigh - "Yea rain! Yea God!"

After being caught out of bed playing during nap time...
Me - "Rayleigh Jo, what are you doing out of bed?"
R - "Sooooo....I wanted to play. Because I'm not sleepy, soooo I played and I couldn't sleep."
Me - "You're not supposed to be out of bed. You are supposed to be resting in bed or sleeping. Where are your clothes?"
R - "Soooo....I'm not sleepy. Soooo.....I wanted to play dress up with my princess dress? Because I wanted to play and dress-up and..... Sooo...."
I can already see where the adolescent years will be taking me. I've got a negotiator on my hands.

Rayleigh with another little girl from church at our youth holiday party. Yes, they are loading up on sugar, eating the cookies they decorated that had LOTS of icing and EVEN MORE sprinkles.

Did you know your layer of sprinkles can be as thick as the cookie itself? Rayleigh's sure was...

Visiting Grandparents

2011-12-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

We've been up to Marble Falls several times recently for deer hunting and holiday time. Among the fun times, Rayleigh has driven her little car (gator/dump truck) all over the country side, we've collected pine cones, gone on several hikes, fed cows, I cut my hand pretty badly on barbed wire feeding the mule, watched cows, you name it. Rayleigh (and I) have had a good country-life time.

Here Jason and Rayleigh are picking up pecans for Granita.

Sitting on the front porch with Granita...

Granita loves to read books...

Grandmother had her 83rd birthday last month! Rayleigh helped blow out the candles.

29 Weeks

2011-11-27T13:18:00.000-08:00

As Rayleigh calls it, I'm now 29 weeks "pregnick." Her world definitely has A LOT to do with babies now. She plays mommy all the time with her dolls. She talks about baby this and baby that, "Daddies don't have babies. Only Mommies. Not sisters, but you do cuz you're a mommy." Or, "The baby wants this grape I fink. The baby doesn't have teeth. It eats through the umbulcuh cord." Just this morning she was telling me that one of her barbies was "pregnick."

She has adjusted to not running and jumping on my lap like she's always done and other rough-housing that we've done in the past. She really is careful around my belly, and pats gently, tickles gently, kisses gently, you name it.

As you can see from the pic below, I've grown quite a bit since my last pregnancy post. Books say 19-25 lbs. is what most people have gained by this stage in the pregnancy. I've now gained 14-17 lbs. (not totally sure what I weighed at the beginning) and really feel pretty terrific most of the time. In the past week or two I've started getting to the uncomfortable stage, and daily tasks are beginning to be a little harder (like putting pants on, tying shoes, etc.). However, that being said....I'll gladly take it over being sick all the time like the I was in the 1st trimester.

29 weeks

I have been having strong Braxton-Hicks contractions the past few days, and they've been coming kind of regularly which makes me a little nervous. I may need to rest more because I may just be pushing my body too hard. I plan to talk to my doctor about it at my next appointment which is one week away.

Last, I thought I'd leave you with a pic of Rayleigh playing in her closet. She loves barbies, she loves all things princess, and she loves to play play play.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

Rayleigh made the sweetest Cinderella for Halloween this year.

This was R's first real trick-or treat experience, and we trick-or-treated in our neighborhood.

Kiley made the cutest Minnie Mouse.

Cousin Kiley joined us, along with her mommy (Ashley), Paw-Paw, Grandma (Gigi), Mimi, and Katie.

Having the time of her life...

Rayleigh hustled from house to house and ended up with one blister on her foot from the evening in princess shoes. Both the girls got free fides on the way home.

We ended the night at Grandma and Grandpa Crim's for dinner and family fun....

Hogeye Festival

2011-11-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

We went to our annual Hogeye Festival in October and had a great time walking down Main St. at all the vendors, catching up with old acquaintances, but more than anything we enjoyed the downtown carnival. Here are some pics from the day....

Getting to climb up in the old fire truck

What kid doesn't love the carousel?

Paula got to ride this one with RJ. J & I both get extreme motion sickness, and since I'm expecting the carousel is the only thing I could ride anyway. Paula looked a little green after this one; it spins in circles while the riders spins it also. Blahhhhh!

J & R....I loved watching this one. They had so much fun.

You like how the weight distribution is on this one?

My dare devil...hands in the air!

Her first rollercoaster! This was by far her favorite ride.

Riding the airplane with cousin Kiley.

Just not enough action for my child....she's been ruined by the heart pounding thrill of the rollercoaster. These "baby rides" won't ever be the same again.

No carnival is complete without a sugary treat - cotton candy and candy apples!

Halloween pics coming next!

October 2011

2011-11-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the highlights from October (minus Hogeye Festival & Halloweeen because there are so many pictures).

Eating breakfast with her baby doll. Rayleigh LOVES oatmeal for breakfast, so we have this just about every morning....healthy girl.

Our October launch for Body Attack. We team teach for launch, so my friend, Jenell came to help me teach my class. See my 5 month baby bump?

I thought some of you might enjoy seeing some pics of a class, so here you go.

Being a Mommy, my favorite thing in the whole world. Here's our sweet, happy girl all tucked in for bed with her horse, bear and polar bear.

I come in from vacuuming baseboards in another room to find this...

Imitation really is the sweetest form of flattery.

Me and my sisters at Whit's Bday party

Happy birthday, Aunt "Whinney!"

Rayleigh's a mighty blower...Whit got a little nervous R was going to blow them ALL out.

Precious cuddle moments with her aunts...

We went to see "The Sound of Music" musical play last week, and Rayleigh did surprisingly well throughout the 3 hour production.

Hogeye and Halloween pics coming soon!

Rayleigh'isms

2011-10-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

I wish I were better about writing down all the sweet or funny things R says right after she said them. I always seem to think I'll remember it, but alas when I finally get around the blogging I'm blank and can't remember a thing. A few things that I have managed to jot down...

Rayleigh loves to sing. I mean L-O-V-E-S to sing. She sings all day long everyday. She sings lots of Bible songs, but she also makes up her own tunes and words. Some of the fav's this week:

One of our CD's we listen to in the car has a song she loves to partner with me on. She makes me sing "my" part, and won't let me sing "her" part. The part of the song that she makes us split goes like this, and we'll sing it over and over and over.....
Val-God is sooooo big.
Ray- And, He's soooo small.
Val- He's big enough to rule the universe,
Ray-Small enough to live in my heart.

Another CD we have (thanks to Jason - it was actually a gift to me, funny as it sounds) is a Kids Pop CD. It has a green cover, so R will ask, "Mommy, can we listen to the green one?" when she wants to listen to it. She requested "the banana one" the other day, and I was thoroughly confused. "Banana one? I don't know what you're talking about," I answered, "How does it go?" She answered, "It goes 'Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Banana.'" I instantly knew she was talking about Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" which goes, "Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, na-na-na." I can totally see where she got 'banana.' So, we now sing Beyonce's song with, "Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, banana."

I'm going to make it my goal this week to write down at least one of the songs she makes up, and I'll try to share it another time.

The last thing I wanted to leave you with is a conversation she and I had this afternoon. I left her to take a nap in her room, and told her not to get out of her bed for any reason because she needed to take a nap. After 3-4 minutes I went to go check on her, and I found her playing with her stuffed animals on the floor of her room. She got in trouble and went back to bed crying. After a minute or so she started crying for me, so I went to check on her and comfort her. Here was our conversation:
V- Do you need something, Ray?
R- (Sniff. Sniff.) You.
V- (I went and sat on her bed to comfort her) You really need to go to sleep, Sweetie. I can tell you are tired.
R- But I can't.
V- Well, I need for you try.
R- (after thinking a minute) I don't know how.
V- (showing her how) Well, you start by getting real still.....Then, you close your eyes......And you listen to yourself breathe in and out, in and out......
R- Like you do?
V- Yes, like I do. That's how we let our bodies fall asleep.
R- I can't do it.
V- Sure you can. You just need to practice.
R- Can you practice with me? (and she pats the bed next to her)
V- (thinking she looks too adorable to say no to) Sure, I'll lay down with you.
She got me all cuddled up and shared her blanket with me and then stroked my face and hair for a while before she got still and fell asleep. Moments like these are so precious to me. They make me realize what a gift it is to be a mother and to have a daughter that loves you and wants to be with you. There won't always be a day when she'll want to cuddle and nap with me, so I'm taking advantage of it while I can.

I'll leave you with this dress-up picture. Don't you love her style?

Pumpkins 2011

2011-10-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to a pumpkin patch/christmas tree farm with my in-laws daycare, and Rayleigh had a blast. She loves being with them, but she of course got to be with her special cousin, Kiley, and have oodles of fun!

Here we are taking a hayride around the place....this was the favorite part of the ride - the haunted forest, (which really wasn't spooky at all, but it was decorated with lots of Halloween items) - perfect for little ones.

Aunt Ashley, Kiley, and Rayleigh

Kiley and Ray holding hands...so sweet.

Here they are going through a maze. The kids were supposed to stay in buddy pairs and hold hands. Kiley wasn't wanting to hold hands (she's still young), and Rayleigh was trying to be the rule-follower and kept telling Kiley, "No, Kiley. You have to hold my hand." It ended up making Kiley mad, and they had to get some older partners.

Pumpkin Picture Time!

So, tell me what you really think about all these pictures...

Rayleigh's 3, Kiley's 2.

We also took a "choo choo train" ride.

Paw-Paw got in this pic, and you can tell the girls are tired of pictures.

There is so much to do there - pumpkin decorating, play grounds, pumping water from an old hand pump, a corn field maze (which we didn't have time to do), watching the animals - lama, cow, donkey, pig, goats, chickens. I look forward to going back sometime with Jason. He missed out on this adventure because he was working.

We love the AGGIES FOR CHRIST

2011-10-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

The Aggies For Christ came to our church last weekend. There were 20 of them and they encouraged us in so many ways.

There was a lot of game playing while they were here - an AFC tradition - and RJ definitely got in on the action.

Jason took our youth and the AFCers to Bastrop to do wildfire relief, which Rayleigh and I couldn't help with. So, we met up with Paula, Ashley and Kiley to walk around town and play at a park.

Our youth kids haven't stopped talking about them all week. Wednesday they were still thanking us for having them come, and they're already talking about next year. I love those Ags.

We're Pregnant!

2011-10-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

I feel I'm a little late getting this out on the blog, but as they say "better late than never..."
Jason & I are SO excited to be expecting another little one. God has been so good to us to give our family another precious little life. I figured I would answer all the pregnancy questions for you to brief you on how the journey has been so far.

Have I been sick?
The 1st 3 1/2 months were terrible. I mean T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. I was so sick, so dizzy, so .... everything. I had every possible symptom. There. Don't you feel terrible for me? Ha!

How far along am I?
I am 21 weeks pregnant. Baby 2 is due February 12th.

Do we know if it's a boy or girl?
Yes, but we're keeping it a secret right now. Sorry..... ;)

Have I felt it move?
Yes. I began feeling flutters around 18 weeks and definite movements several days later.

Baby is right on schedule....actually last week at the sonogram it measured a day ahead of schedule. All fingers and toes are accounted for, and during the sono we got to see it playing with its toes which was so cute. I'm already taken with the baby, and I feel like I can sense a different personality to this one. I love just sitting or lying and feeling it move. I'm so excited to meet our new little one.

This is a picture of me now...

This is a picture of me 21 weeks pregnant with Rayleigh...I'm definitely showing a little more with this one, don't ya think?

Rayleigh is so excited to be a big sister. She pats and rubs my belly often during the day and will even run up to kiss the baby several times throughout the course of the day. She'll sing to it, talk to it.....she's going to be a great help to me. I'm so thankful for her, and I'm trying to soak up these last few months of twosome time before life changes for our family. More to come later!

Rayleigh's First Dentist Appointment

2011-09-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

RJ is self-proclaimed as "growd up" because she got to go to the dentist for the first time this week.

The day before her appointment, we went for a walk-through where they let her sit in the chair and go up and down. She met all the dentist tools: "Mr. Thirsty" who drinks the water/spit out of your mouth, the water gun, and the electric tooth brush that also makes your finger dance when you hold to your finger. They also took her to the x-ray room to show her the special chair she would sit in and the special camera that would take pictures of her mouth. Then, they took us back to watch a short video of a chimpanzee getting his teeth cleaned at the dentist office to make her laugh as well as to show her some things NOT to do. The next day she asked ALL morning, "Can we go to my 'poinment now?" and "Is it time for my poinment yet?"

She was a star patient, as I expected. (I know....that's a proud momma speaking.) The hygenists said they wished all their patients were as helpful as she was. She held her mouth open wide the whole time and would tilt her head this way and that just as instructed. She smiled, said thank you, and really was a cutie-patootie if I don't say so myself. I smiled and giggled to myself throughout the whole thing. She got 3 prizes from the prize box at the end of the visit.

Here are pictures from her big "first."

moving her up on the seat since she's so small...

They get to wear cool shades to keep the bright light out of their eyes.

She kept her hands right in her lap the entire time...

So proud of my big girl!

More Catching Up...

2011-09-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the past month.

Rayleigh enjoys dressing herself some days. This is how she wanted to go to the store.

She also enjoys doing her own hair....

Last month I went with some fellow group fitness instructors to a weekend event in Arlington at the convention center. It was class after class - all day long. We were all pretty exhausted after that many hours of exercise.

Here's our Austin Body Attack team pictured with the New Zealand BA director!!

I've started working with Rayleigh out of a pre-school book. Here she's working at her desk.

My family spent Labor Day at Marble Falls with my grandmother. Here Rayleigh's dancing with her Aunt Lacey and Aunt Whitney...

We went hiking...

Rayleigh's playing in Proffitt Springs...

My family...

We played lots of games. Here Rayleigh is playing Guess Who with Granita and Grandmomma (not in the picture).

Last Sunday we had camels at church, and RJ really enjoyed them...

Here Jason is doing a youth group activity. Youth group has also been keeping us pretty busy, but we love it. We love our kids so much.

This was a catch-up post, but I plan on doing a fun post later this week. See you soon!

Summer Evenings

2011-08-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

I love summer evenings....they're my favorite thing of the year.
I love the warm breeze that you feel as the sun is setting.
I love the soft green grass you can walk barefoot through and lay in.
I love the sound of birds, crickets, and all life settling down for the day.
I love the family time you can have as you're watering the lawn.
I love admiring the flowers you've planted (and kept alive) through the heat.
I love the color of the sky with and without a beautiful sunset, and I love being able to look at it without squinting.
I love peacefulness I feel while working in the yard at this time.
I just love to be outside - surrounded by and a part of God's creation. And summer evenings are the best time of the year for that in my opinion.

Some of the things we do on summer evenings...

Monkey bars and swings...

Someone else loves the feel of the soft grass and the view of the sky.

Uh-oh...here comes trouble. I recognize that look....

Tickle Time!

I LOVE this picture of my two loves.
This encompasses what life is like at our house - fun and loving - in large part due to my terrific hubbie.

Working on our art skills.

I love this cow she drew all by herself!

Impressive for a 2 y.o., don't you think?

She then wanted to draw a jelly fish, and she wanted me to draw an elephant.

School House Singing, Peter Pan, & Rayleigh's 1st Haircut!

2011-08-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

I'm behind on blogging....again. So, I'm going to try to do several blogs in a row to catch everyone up on life with the Crim's.

For Granita's birthday celebration a month or so back, we had an old-fashioned singing complete with homemade ice-cream, homemade pies, pound cakes, cookies.... We had it at the old school house on our family's place in Marble Falls where she lives. She invited folks from her church in Spicewood over after services one Sunday evening for the singing, and it was a great time!

My family loves to sing. I grew up singing at just about every family occasion we had. We'd pull out the old hymnals and Daddy would lead us in songs. We all got to holler out numbers for the song selection, which was fun for us as kids. I love my family.

While we were doing pre-party prep and cleaning, RJ entertained herself playing school in the old desks and by finding her little chair. "Look, Mommy! It's just my size!"

She also did quite a bit of dancing and twirling....normal around our house.

Here's the group, well minus Jason, Rayleigh, and Uncle Randy who were outside at the beginning....oh and me, of course, who's taking the picture.

My special Granita is the lady on the left.

No, she doesn't dye her hair, and I hope I inherit her good genes. :)

Whitney missed Rayleigh's birthday party last month due to being in California visiting friends and doing fun, exotic things like kayaking in caves. I'm not jealous at all (cough, cough). But, since she missed the party, she decided to take J, R, and I to see a live performance of Peter Pan. It took place at a children's theatre in Austin, and it was great! They kept the kids interacted the whole time, and Rayleigh never once got distracted. She had a ball - thanks Aunt Whitney. :)

Taking a picture before we go in...look at those smiles of anticipation!

After the show, we stood in line to get Tinkerbell's picture and autograph on the poster R colored.

Rayleigh received her very first haircut EVER last month. I had never ever ever cut a hair on her head since she was born. I loved her sweet curls at the end, and her hair had always grown evenly. It never needed a cut before now. The ends were starting to split (which you couldn't even really tell because of the curls), but I knew it was time.

Hoping she stays still long enough for me to cut it...

Here goes....deep breath, Val.

Now to get her to stay still so I can finish...

There is no end result because J & I were both wiped by the time we finished from trying to keep her still. Oh well.

Rayleigh's 3!

2011-08-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

Our girl went from little girl to big girl overnight....so she thinks. Last Monday, July 25th, was Rayleigh Jo's 3rd birthday. Here's how the day went:

She awoke to me singing "Happy Birthday" to her (when she wakes up and comes to our room and I'm too tired to walk her back to bed, she'll sometimes sleep the remainder of the night here next to our bed.)

At breakfast (Lucky Charms cereal was the request), she got to open a present and card from Grandmomma.

She had a swim party with her friends that morning at Papa and Grandma's house.

She loves babies and is so good with them.

Opened presents, with the help of her friends, of course.

Instead of cake, she had a tub of Blue Bell for......ice-cream cones! The kids got to put their own sprinkles on their ice-cream. *Before you judge, she was going to have a family party also, and I saved the cake-making for that. Ice-cream was much better for outside pool party with 2 and 3 year olds. She still got to blow out candles.

The rest of the day was spent playing and livin' it up as a now 3 year old.

Rayleigh's Family Party:

The Birthday Princess with her Aunt Lacey

She is one blessed little girl. She loves God. She loves Jesus. She has a sweet spirit. She adores her Mommy and Daddy. I couldn't be more proud of her after 3 years.

Favorite song: Jesus Loves Me - sings it a ton of times every day

Loves to help you do any chore, if I sing the special "Helper" song.

Loves kisses, children, running, jumping, climbing, singing - really loudly.

Loves gum - that's her reward for taking a nap. She'll do anything for a piece of gum.

Loves pretend play and loves us to play with her. Last thing she had me do was be a waitress. Before that, she played the Mommy and I played the Rayleigh, in her words.

Can identify her numbers.

Can identify a couple of letters, and can make an R and an A......when she feels like it.

She is so smart, so loving, and I look forward to what God has in store for her.

Rayleigh, Mommy and Daddy love you more than you'll ever know. Enjoy being 3! We're sure going to soak up every minute of it - it will be over before we know it. Happy birthday, angel girl.

Rayleigh is a Talker

2011-06-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

I wrote down some funny things Rayleigh has said over the past month or so hoping to get them on the blog. I hope you enjoy...

R to Me - Mommy, I have wrinkles like you!
Me, a little taken back dared to ask - Where are your wrinkles?
R - On my feet, see?
Me (phew!)

R to Me - .... and I'll grow up and be big and be a mommy. Just like you!
Me - Oh yeah?
R - Yep. And I'll have a big nose.

The mind of a 2-year-old may not be too far off track from the rest of us - as scarey as that might be...
R in the car - We're going to Sea Weld and see the dolphins and the whales and we don't touch them. We don't hurt hummingbirds, and we be nice to them. We eat cupcakes, and we don't pet sharks. They might eat us. We say prayers. We like to pray. We say prayers when we ... fish. We like to eat fish. We catch the fish and they eat the wormies!

She is a talker, is she not?

Lacey (my big sis) killed a rattle snake a while back, and R & I were out at the house later that day for a visit, so I showed her the snake so she could see what she needs to be on the look out for at their house. Since then, she tells everyone, "We saw a snake last night!" She now can make any conversation move toward snakes. One day R, while we're in the car...

If you see a bear, yell 'Mommy, it's a snake!'

If you see a snake, yell, 'Mommy, it's a rattle snake!'

If you see a rattle snake, yell, 'Mommy it's a rattle snake!'

She finally got it right that last time....third time's a charm.

New Jobs

2011-06-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

I've had a leave of absence from the blogging world due to a very busy spring. Spring is always busy for me because of the different things I volunteer with in our church and the community. However, this spring was especially busy because I started 2 new jobs. Yes, 2!

One of them I've been thinking about doing for a long time (ever since high school), but I've just been too chicken to go for it until now. I started working as a group fitness instructor at Gold's Gym. I teach a class called Body Attack, a sports-inspired cardio class. It's our highest calorie-burning class, full of high impact moves (with low impact options, of course), sports drills, agility work, speed training, etc. I just love it! This is just so me. I love fitness, I love sports, I love pushing my body, I love inspiring other people, teaching, leading. I'm in my comfort zone there.

A few days after I was offered that job, I was approached for another job opportunity. After meeting with my future boss and hearing about the hours require and what all I would be doing, I decided to accept. This job is also right down my alley. I'm working with Lifeline Chaplaincy, a ministry of the Churches of Christ, for the Central Texas division. What I do is assist the Director of Spiritual Care with whatever he needs, from computer stuff, to contacting people, to helping buy food for workshops. It's part-time, and I get to work from home (only going to the office once a week). I love ministry work, as well as administrative "stuff", so this job really fits me, as well. Isn't God good?

I hope to be getting back into the regular blogging mode again since I have more free time again. So, talk with you soon!

Sea World 2011 - Day 2

2011-06-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

We had great coupons that allowed us to pay kids' price and get the second day free, and Rayleigh is free, so we got our family in for 2 days for $100! SUCH a great deal and worth every penny. We went two weeks before school started letting out, so there was no crowd. There were no lines or short lines everywhere we went; it really was perfect.

Day 2 we decided to take advantage of the rides, and we caught the one show we missed on Day 1 (which was my favorite) with the dolphins and beluga whale/dolphin. On to the pictures....

The most boring ride - EVER = The kiddie farris wheel. It took longer to load everyone than it did to ride it, and it went sssssllllllloooooowwwwwww (I guess so it wouldn't freak out the little tots that it's designed for). I don't know that I saw one kid smile on the ride. This was taken as we first got on, and I was trying to keep up the excitement.

This next ride was terrific. I laughed the entire time because R had her mouth WIDE open screaming with joy the whole time. Her facial expression was priceless - one of sheer delight and thrill.

*If you want to watch the video, I'll warn you ahead of time that you may get motion sickness just watching it. Also, the first bit of the video is us getting seated, but it took a while for the ride to get started because a family was having a hard time understanding that they couldn't ALL sit together - only 4 to a row. They held up the ride forever and argued with the staff because they wanted to be together (but there were 7 or so of them). I wanted to say, "Really? Would you just sit down somewhere? It's not that big of a deal, folks."

J & R went to explore the "splash zone" from one of the water rides.

Pic 1 - Dry, not knowing what to expect.

Pic 2 - Getting soaked.

Pic 3 - Squealing & grinning from ear to ear, wet.

Ready for more!

(Notice her grip on the bars this time, and she already has her eyes squeezed shut.)

I love that her pig tails are getting blown back by the blast of water.

More smiles and laughter!

One other addition to Sea World since J & I last went (which was in 5th & 6th grade) was the water park. It's huge, y'all. It's like a "S. Padre Schlitterbahn" inside Sea World. We went there for the afternoon of Day 2, but we didn't even get to explore it all because there was so much to do. We did swim in the lazy river, do one ride, and play in two of the kiddie areas, but they had many more rides and a wave pool that we didn't get to.

Saying their goodbyes until next year...

I loved this vacation! And, now that I know it has so many great things for little ones, I have a feeling we'll be back in the next few years.

Sea World 2011 - Day 1

2011-06-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

We had a get-away weekend a few weeks ago with some of our besties, the Shaners. We went to SA and spent two days at Sea World, and one evening on the River Walk. Our littles were surprisingly the best little troopers I could have hoped for. Pictures speak louder than words for our trip, so I'll get straight to it.

Morgan & Rayleigh excited to enter the big gates!

First Stop - The Dolphins

Next Stop - The Sharks!

Next - Sesame Street
Rayleigh LOVED it, and clapped and giggled and jumped through the whole show.

Rayleigh with all the Sesame Friends (except Elmo, who you have to pay to take a picture with).

Our sweet girls held hands as we walked most of the day. Mel is on the left pushing Baby Ally.

Monkey see, monkey do...The girls watching the ski show.

You can't go to Sea World without getting a picture of this - Shamu!

We didn't get to the Shamu show early enough to get seats, because they chain the aisles after a certain point. So, we stood in the back, and R took turns sitting on our shoulders. By the lok on her face, you can tell she's starting to get tired. Both Mel & David's kids fell asleep during the show.

What better way to perk up a tot than to play in the water. Next stop, water time!

Sea World is SUCH a great place for taking little ones. There is SO much for them to do! I had no idea they catered to the little ones like this. They have a whole Sesame area that has the shows, the water area, rides for little ones, and this HUGE play scape.

So, while Jason & David went to ride rollercoasters (Mel & I had already had a turn earlier that day) and after cooling off, Rayleigh & I played on this enormous play thing. All I can say about this rope ladder is - OUCH!

All day in the sun and heat playing, running, going non-stop.....this was Rayleigh when we got to the motel. She probably would have stayed out for the night, but we had plans for dinner on the Riverwalk. So, after we got cleaned up, we woke her up, threw her in the tub real quick and headed back out.

R was whiney when we got in the car and saying she was thirsty. We told her we'd get her a drink as soon as we got to the restaurant (I forgot to bring one in the car). Then she complained that her tummy hurt, and I just figured she was really thirsty (maybe a little dehydrated) and sleepy. I moved to the back with her so she'd maybe get a little happier having me with her, and it wasn't 1 minute later that she started throwing up. The great mom that I am, I caught almost all of it in my hands (until it started overflowing, that is). J pulled over immediately, and we got her as cleaned up as best we could. She seemed much better after that, so we carried on with our plans, and I got her cleaned up in the bathroom a little more as soon as we got to the restaurant. She must have just had too much sun and not enough water, which made her system turn a little funky. That's all we can think. She was her normal self the rest of the night and the next day. All was well. :)

I'll do a second post of Day 2 at Sea World.

Easter 2011

2011-05-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

Rayleigh once again had her fair share of easter egg hunts, which started the Tuesday before Easter with the library egg hunt after story time ended. Here are a few pics from that fun time.

It's precious to see the kids passing eggs/candy up right and left because they see one waaaayyyy across the yard. They are so focused!

Check out Rayleigh's forced cheese. She's got her mind on candy, not pictures.

Mrs. Raby taught all three of me and my sisters, and now she volunteers at the library and reads to the children during story time each week. I've loved her being able to bond with RJ (who seems mighty distracted for the picture). R is trying to open a piece of candy in her hands - I don't know that she had any idea we were talking to her or taking a picture.

R spent Friday and Saturday with Grandmomma (my mom), because Jason and I went with our church kids to Houston for LTC (Leadership Training for Christ). I'll try to post a blog about that soon. R did an easter egg hunt while we were gone, so when Easter rolled around, she was a pro.

Easter at Grandpa & Grandma Crim's - lots of kids! R is in the blue swing on the right. J is behind her in the white shirt.

On your mark, get set.....

Rayleigh is in the front with the other two great-grands her age (Kenzie in the pink striped dress is in the left middle, R is the middle, and Ethan in the brown shirt is to the right of her).

Easter was complete with the EASTER BUNNY!!!

The whole Crim gang (only a few of us were missing).

Catching Up With the Crim's

2011-03-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

I thought I would do one big post of some of the fun activities we've had going on in the past few months. The first batch of pics back up to the end of January...

For Jason's birthday back in December I got him tickets to go see the Austin Torros basketball team, but the first game we could make was in January. We had a date night - just the two of us - and it was wonderful.

These pics are from a youth game night we had. We played the Wii "Just Dance" most of the night. Oh, yeah - I tore it up. ;) The kids had a great time making fun of my moves. The second picture below is of Rayleigh watching me.....she's not quite sure what to think. I don't blame her.

Some time in February, we had a "Tour de Park" around Elgin. Jason and I decided to load R up in the stroller and visit as many parks around town as we could. I think we all had fun.

She's off!

Ahoy there!

Our February snow was wonderful! This was the first time Rayleigh had ever gotten to play in it. Last year when it snowed she was sick, so we didn't take her out in it.

Our youth group got together with a couple of area churches and saw the "Jesus Painter." I've seen him a couple of other times. He paints in the dark with colors that show up with black light, and there is music playing in the background. He paints all sorts of random pictures during the course of his time, and right before he finishes, the whole picture comes together. He does a terrific job. This was the final piece of work.

Our youth group and another church had a lock-in, and both Jason and I went as chaperones. I made it the whole night! I still can't even believe it! Here's a pic of most of us before we left.

I had my 28th birthday and celebrated with family. It was a wonderful night. Rayleigh helped me blow out the candles.

We had a youth girls sleepover one Friday night in February. We have the sweetest girls. We have great parents, and God is doing great things with all of them. Here's a sweet and goofy picture of some of our gals.

We went camping over spring break with some families from church. I took my camera and Flip video, and forgot to take any pics/video after the first few hours. Ugh - that's the story of my life...These are the only pics I got.

That catches us up on pictures I've had on my camera. We've had lots going on that I don't get pics of - thus the lack of blogging. But in another few months, things will begin to slow down a little bit again, and I hope to be able to get around to blogging more often. Blessings to you all!

Rayleigh's First Circus

2011-02-11T14:59:00.000-08:00

Rayleigh went to her first circus here in our hometown a couple of months ago - maybe September/October, and I am just now getting around to blogging about it. First, I have to say that I thought it was the neatest thing ever. We live in a small town, so it was a small town act in a tent....just like the ones I read about and saw cartoons of when I was a kid. The only circus experience I have had is Barnum & Bailey in the Erwin Center in Austin - HUGE - with tons of people. This all took place under a large tent with us sitting in bleachers all around - so neat.

Anywho, after we found some seats, J & I thought we'd buy some cotton candy for our girl, as she had never had any before, and it's part of the circus experience. Rayleigh was SO excited and hugged it. We took off the wrapper and let her feel it, and then I took the first pinch and stuck it in my mouth. That's when all chaos broke loose. R went nuts! She was crying and trying to grab it from us and hoard it (so I thought). She was very upset. I thought she might have been upset because she didn't want to share, and I was beginning to get embarrassed because we were attracting all sorts of attention with looks of "get your bratty, spoiled child to quiet down!" Well, after a couple of minutes we figured out the problem. She thought it was a pink stuffed animal, and here we were trying to eat it! Poor baby. That's why she was crying and trying to hug it and rescue it from her ravenous parents. Once we knew that, it was easy to get her to settle down and explain it to her. And everything worked out fine. In fact, she wanted us to buy another one.

The rest of the time was great. We saw lions and tigers, a clown, and many different acrobats and tricksters. The talent was amazing!

Rayleigh having a cow because we're eating her "stuffed animal."

The lion..

The clown...

One of the amazing acrobats...

Lotsa Poops!

2011-02-11T14:32:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd share some things Rayleigh's said this week that have made me smile...

She is all princess when we're inside.

She wears her princess dress or this ballerina outfit (minus the hat) almost everyday we're home.

While on the pot, she looked up at me and said, "You're the best, Mom." -Totally out of nowhere.

Also, while on the pot, she looked down at my legs (I was wearing shorts) and commented on the many "polka dots" on my legs (a.k.a. freckles).

Yesterday I heard her walking down the hall to where Jason was, and she was saying, "I have question, Daddy. I have a question for you." I am pretty sure the conversation ended there. I don't know if she knows what that means, but she's heard other people say it. She is also known to say, "I have an idea!" when she really doesn't. She's just heard the expression. :)

The blog got its title from R's constant talk about "lotsa poops." A few weeks ago her cousin, Kiley, had a dirty diaper while we were together, and her mommy changed it. Rayleigh talked the rest of the day about K's "poops." And it continued the next day, and the next and the next..... Even today I heard her playing on her pretend phone talking to different people telling them, "She had lotsa poops!" Hopefully it will pass before she hits kindergarten. Hopefully.

Before I Forget

2011-02-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

If any of you moms are anything like me, you tend to forget the sweet little things your kiddo does and says if you don't repeat to other people or write it down. That is my main purpose for blogging - so I don't forget. Hopefully any of you reading can enjoy it in the process, as well.

Last night I went to pick up R from my mom's after I got done with a marriage study with the other young couples at our church, and she was there with Grandmomma, Aunt Lacey, Aunt Whitney, and Granita. When I came into the living room, I heard some quiet and quick rushing around. Rayleigh was hiding underneath the blanket between Lacey and Whit as Secretariat played on the TV screen. I pretended to not know where she was and "accidentally" sat on her when I went to join my sisters on the couch. She popped up ecstatic and squealed, "Hahahaha! Mommy, I was hide-n-seekin' under the banklet!" Yes, I know dear one.....

R's joined me in singing our favorite song right now. Her words....
"Dory to Dod. Dlory to Dod. Dlory to Dod ForEVER! Take my life and let it be awe for you and for. youh. dohney. Take my life and let it be YOURS!" For those that need the translation she's singing, "Glory to God....Take my life and let it be all for you and for your glory. Take my life and let it be yours." I've even seen her raise her hands to heaven as she sings it because she's seen me do it.
Yes, this is my prayer, and I get warm fuzzies in my heart when I hear my precious girl singing to the God of all creation. Thank you, Lord for her sweet love.

I'll leave you with some pics...

Rayleigh playing a Leap Frog game...

Daddy reading to R before bedtime...

I think she is the cutest thing in the world when she's wearing her shades...

Our Rayleigh-girl. We love you.

Hart Christmas

2011-02-02T16:18:00.000-08:00

We had our last Christmas New Year's Day with the Hart fam' (Mom's side).

Rayleigh & I made our first gingerbread man together. She helped me decorate. As I recall it went something like "Two candies for me, one candy for the cookie man..."

New Year's Eve only a few of us were together, and we stayed up late playing the Wii. Here Whit & Uncle Mike are having an intense game of boxing. We also had some pretty spirited rounds of Dance Dance Revolution.

Little R got to stay up late, too. Here, Grandmomma is reading to her to help her start winding down before I put her to bed.

The holiday would not be complete with out Aunt Lisa & Rayleigh's matching outfits. :)

Rayleigh thoroughly enjoyed playing with her newest 2nd cousin, Liam. He is SUCH a handsome boy! He's probably the cutest little baby boy I've ever seen.

My personal favorite...she did this to herself, by the way. Quite the ham.

More Rayleigh Fun

2011-01-20T14:20:00.000-08:00

I definitely think 2 is one of the best ages yet. At 2, Rayleigh is quite independent, but not, at the same time. She adores her parents, she wants us to play with her all the time, she makes for some really fun conversation, she can tell you what she wants when she wants, and she's as entertaining as ever. Rayleigh will officially be 2 1/2 in 5 days.

One thing I love about this age is their trust in your every word and action. As of yet, EVERYTHING Jason or I says is the factual truth in her mind, no questions asked, and she'll correct you if you say different. Last Sunday, however, I got a momentary glimpse into the future when I picked her up from Bible class. It was a taste of what I will experience in the future when "parents don't know what they're talking about" and their teachers do.

While in the classroom, she showed me her handwork, and I saw "Baby Moses" written across the top. So, (already knowing they studied about baby Moses) I asked, "So, who did you learn about in Bible class this morning?" She looked at the picture and said, "That's Baby Jesus." I corrected her with, "You mean Baby Moses?" And this is where it played out differently than I expected. She looked at me point blank and said, "No. That is Baby JESUS." Me, a little taken back replied, "No, Rayleigh, this is Moses. Remem-." R - "No! It's JESUS!" V - "Rayleigh, Baby Moses was put in the basket. Baby Jesus was in a manger, remember?" R - "No, it's JESUS!" All the while the teacher and her helper are watching, so I look up to them like...help? So, the teacher says kindly, "Rayleigh, that's Baby Moses." R calmly says to me, "It's Moses," and walks out of the room. Sigh.

Praise God! One of my friends gave their life to Christ last Sunday, and here is Rayleigh leading us in some songs before her baptism, which only a few people were at. She has such a pure and precious little voice. My personal favorite that she sang goes like this:

Jesus... let us... come to... know you...

Let us... see you... face to face...

Touch us... Hold us... Use us... Mold us...

Only... Let us... Live in you.

Future in dumpster diving or future hoarder??
Lately everything I throw away that holds any significance to my child gets pulled out of the trash by a pair of little hands. Anything that she has scribbled on or colored, even her used paper plate with lunch leftovers or throw away cup gets pulled back out. It was hers. Even when I'm sneaky about it, she somehow finds it. She sweetly looks into my eyes and says, "I need THIS." Now, I'm hiding her trash under other trash.

One of R's new comfy spots to watch TV...

The last conversation I'll leave you with today...

Out of the blue yesterday morning, R walked up to me and said,

R - Daddy has lots of tids.

V - (Thinking to myself, "He better not.") No, Daddy only has 1 kid.

R - No, Daddy has lots of tids.

V - Daddy has only 1 kid. He has 1 daughter; that's you.

R - Oh. Yes. That's right. I am his daughter, and he is my son.

I Love Talking with a Two Year Old

2011-01-03T15:22:00.000-08:00

Before I get on to the blog post, I thought I would share some pics...

This is what Rayleigh has asked to wear everyday since Christmas, and I don't mind dressing her up in it at all. She's too cute.

How I found her the other night after I had put her to bed. Yes, she had snuck out and known not to go any further, so she passed out right there in the hall.

When I went to take her to her bed, this is what I found. I guess she had had a hard time going to sleep this night, what do you think?

I thought I'd share some of the fun conversations we've had with our little tot over the holidays...

Setting - Driving through the country...
R - Ooooo....I like bunnies.
J - You like bunnies?
V - Bunnies go hop, hop, hop.
R - Yes, and bunnies go, (in a LOW voice) "It's nice to see you. I want to eat."
V - They do?
R - Yes. They like to eat oatmeal cereal. It's so exciting.
(About 3 minutes later.....) R - Cows like bunnies.

Setting - She is hugging her daddy goodbye before he heads to work.
She holds his face with both hands, looks him in the eyes and says,
R - Daddy, you be tareful at work. There's snakes, zebras, and camels, and they'll hurt you.

She's matter-of-fact -
After J, R, and I have just gotten out of bed one morning....
J to me - Nice hair.
V - Haha...thanks.
R to me - Mommy, you so pretty.
V - Thank you, baby.
R - You have eye booger.

She's super positive -
Setting - She's just taken a swig of juice I poured her.
R - Mmmmm....it's a berry juice!
V - Yes, it's cranberry juice.
R - Wow! (takes a deep breath) That's Awesome!

Setting - Playing in my room by herself while I clean the kitchen.
Using a deep, manly voice just like I do when we read "Hop On Pop" by Dr. Seuss...
R - STOP! You must not hop on Pop! (pause) STOP! You must not hop on Pop! (pause) STOP!....... (about 7-8 more times)
(quiet for about 30 seconds)

R - Yes, I'd like some chicken nuggets and milk please. And uh..... (pause) a slice of chicken please, and uh.... (pause) some salt and pepper. Thank you.

A Very Merry Christmas

2010-12-27T19:02:00.000-08:00

"It's the most wonderful time of the year....."
Christmas 2010 was absolutely wonderful - in every sense of the word. Thursday we had a working Christmas at Granita's (my dad's mom) house, and then we ended the day with chili, cornbread, lots of sides and desserts, and a gift exchange. I can't believe I forgot my camera....and so did everyone else. The only memories of Proffitt Christmas 2010 will be in our hearts and minds.

Thursday night Santa came to our house because Jason was going to be working Christmas Eve. So, Friday I woke up early to make our Christmas breakfast - homeade orange glaze rolls.

I would do anything in the world for these two...

I just love cuddling and kissing this little face...

R opening her stocking!

J went to work about an hour after all the presents were opened, and R & I had a nice relaxing day. We watched a Christmas movie, made some goodies, I made some foods that I would have to take to some of our family gatherings, and I took her running.

Later that evening, we headed to Grandma & Grandpa Crim's house for dinner and presents.

All 9 great-grandchildren...

Christmas morning R & I headed to Paw-paw & Gigi's for breakfast. J met up with us there when he got off work. Then, we had a family lunch and opened presents.

R & Kiley are best of friends and love being together...

Daddy & R opening presents...

After leaving Paw-Paw & Gigi's, we headed to our house to unload goodies and to let R get a little nap before going to my mom's for Christmas dinner and more presents.

Making Christmas cookies - Whit's doing the dirty job while we all do the decorating.

Grandmother helping R decorate...

When the night was almost over I realized I hadn't gotten in ANY Christmas 2010 pictures, so I asked Lacey to take a pic of me with my favorite girl...

Annual Christmas day pictures...

"Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters...."

I hope you had a VERY merry Christmas!

I wish many blessings to you as we start a fresh year in a few short days!

On the first day of Christmas...

2010-12-18T12:13:00.000-08:00

We had our first "Christmas" of 2010 this past weekend with Jason's mom, stepdad and sis in Aggieland. The intent of our visit was to see Shelby, who just underwent major back surgery due to scoliosis, and visit John & Marcia. However, we ended up doing our present exchange while we were all together, so Christmas 2010 has officially begun.

We had an awesome visit - lots of playing, catching up, and playing some more. Shelby gave R some of her old dance recital costumes to play dress up in. We got a whole bag of the best dress up clothes you could ever imagine, and here are a few pics.

R doing the Cha Cha - she's a good hip-shaker.

Our Oriental girl...

A panda bride princess ballerina....you've heard of those, right?

Shelby's sitting up! Woohoo!

It's hard to see, but there are definitely pillows in between S and R so our little R won't accidentally pounce on the aunt she so loves playing with...

Spending some quality time with Grandma Marcia....but what's that book about again??

Grandpa John & Grandma Marcia got R a pop-up Molly Monkey tent, which she L-O-V-E-S.

She's hanging out inside...

If you quietly sneak open the door, this is what you'll see...

hanging out in her new bear pillow/sleeping bag. This thing is awesome - it looks like a stuffed animal, but the bottom has a velcro hole that you can pull a sleeping bag out of, and then the bear remains the pillow. I think that's the neatest thing ever!

Oops! She caught us!

Making gingerbread men, and upon request from R....Christmas bunnies.

J flapping his wings while playing a game on the Wii...This game was hilarious, and I got a great video of him. However, I don't think he'd appreciate me sharing it with all of humanity to see.

R even got to play this game, and did pretty stinkin' good. She almost beat my score (which isn't saying a whole lot...but still!) This video I WILL share. :)

Our Christmas celebration picks up again on Thursday and will continue on through Sunday.
I hope you each have a very safe and very merry Christmas!
God is so good!

Se Habla Espanol?

2010-12-13T15:24:00.000-08:00

To my great surprise, Rayleigh has begun speaking Spanish. No, we do not speak Spanish to her, although we have started doing it some since she initiated it. She actually picked it up from TV - Dora & Diego to be exact. So, this is to all those moms who have given me the disapproving look when I told them my child may watch more than 30 minutes of TV on a given day. Gasp, I know. Some of the shows are educational!
Note: No, I don't sit her in front of the tube everyday....but we don't set timers either. I'm more of a go-with-the-flow mom. Anyway...this is beside the point.

R's first words were in the grocery store a week or so back. She was sitting in the grocery cart, and I realized I forgot to grab something on the shelf we had already passed. So I left her there (she was safe), and walked back a few steps. However, R likes to stay with me, so she cried out, "Help! Ayudame!" I, of course, turned around, laughed, and said, "Did you just speak Spanish?" And my 2-yr-old just looked at me and giggled. She was pleased that whatever she had just said had surprised and pleased her momma. ....which has kept the Spanish words rolling. The next day she was trying to open the garage door which was locked, and said, "Mommy open! Abre!"

How fun to hear my little tot speaking another language. Hopefully J & I can reinforce her new habit and learn a bit ourselves.

In other news:

R got her very own dump truck, thanks to some friends of ours from church that were looking for a home for the one their kids had outgrown. She loves it!

Thank you, Aunt Lisa & Uncle Mike for the Noah's Ark tea set you got Rayleigh for Christmas! She feels like such a lady when she uses it, and she tries to be careful when she's playing since Mommy is constantly reminding her it's breakable.

Jason turned 29 last week, which has been making my chest tight as I overreact with my thoughts of grey hair and wrinkles being right around the corner. We had a nice birthday dinner for him with family, and at his request I made a Butterfinger cake.

A bunch of potheads...

Me, Paula (Gigi), and Ashley, along with Rayleigh and Kiley

12 DAYS 'TIL CHRISTMAS!!!

How many Thanksgiving meals did YOU get to have?

2010-12-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

We had 5. We are fortunate to have most of our family here in the area around us, and with that comes a busy holiday season. I am worse than ever about taking pictures, so I actually have hardly any pictures from Turkey Day 2010. A few that I do have....

One of our stops was the Proffitt family meal at the school house. Here are Granita (the teacher) and Rayleigh (the student) playing school....this warms my heart.

Greyson and Rayleigh playing in an OLD boat...

Rayleigh riding our old stick horse - the legacy continues...

A Tgiving stop on Jason's side...This house had TONS of great activities for the grandkids; it's like going to a carnival. R had a blast on all the toys, swings, trampoline, etc. Here she and Kiley are swinging on an electric horse walker. You'll only find this in Texas, folks. ;)

R rode this horse (like the ones you find outside of H.E.B.) until I was blue in the face. They keep a cup of quarters next to it, and as soon as it would end R would get off, put another quarter in and ride some more. Putting the money in is half the fun!

She also drove this gator around and around and around. It was a fav' amongst all the kiddos there; however, when it got dark and cold, who was still game for driving?? ...my girl.

We did finally convince her to move indoors, in which she found all the inside toys and games including Twister. It's pretty cute to watch a 3 y.o. and a 2 y.o. play Twister.

Our sister picture at MF. This pic in taken in front of the BEST swimming hole ever.

Our family picture from Thanksgiving 2010 -

R is in a stage where she will NOT smile for the camera.

When you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

What Growing Up Means to a Two-Year-Old

2010-11-10T13:13:00.000-08:00

At dinner last night, I commended my tot for eating all of her dinner (which is a RARE thing) and told her that's how she will grow up big and strong. To that, came this...
V- Do you want to grow up?
R- Yes! I chew gum!
V- Yes, that's true. Mommy told you you can chew gum when you get bigger.
R- AND, I turn into butterfy (as she stretched her arms out wide)! A catapilar to tutoon and go tap-tap-tap and turn into BUTTERFY!

So, there you have it, friends, when my little girl (who compares herself to a caterpillar) grows up, she will not only enjoy chewing gum - finally - but she will morph into a beautiful butterfly.

Other conversations:

Last night, as she and I were pulling into the garage after my volleyball game, she said...
R- Mommy, you hit so hard at your bolley game!

V- Awww....you think so? Thanks, baby.

R- Yes, it went ree-ey fast ball at your bolley game.

Haaaaaaaaa....to some mothers, this wouldn't be anything special, but to this sport-loving/playing mommy, to have my young 2 y.o. notice how hard I swing and play, it's special. Melt my heart special, because she's watching me and cheering me on with, "Woooo Mommy! Go Mommy!" That, and her sprinting to hug my legs during time-outs and team huddles is a treasure.

This morning, as she and I were headed out the door,

V- Alright, chickadee, let's load up in the car.

R- (With arms spread and stating very emphatically) But, I promised my sister!

V- ?....You promised your sister?

R- (Laughing and shaking her head at me) No, Mommy, I promised Yssa.

V- ??.....Who's Yssa?

R- Yssa's my broder's sister. Yssa. (like, "Hello Mom, where have you been?")

Confused is how I decided to leave that conversation. The kid's got a great imagination.

Halloween Weekend

2010-11-03T14:32:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone has recovered from the sugary weekend. I know we're still battling the humongo bag of candy at our house. We had an exciting Halloween weekend, and I remembered my camera for most of it.

Friday afternoon Rayleigh had a VERY hard time going down for her nap because she was going to get to go to a Halloween party that afternoon. It probably took her more than an hour to go to sleep (something that usually takes 10 minutes). This was how we found her after she had finally dozed off. She must have gotten out of bed to get her Bible story book to read herself to sleep. Too sweet....

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to head to Marble Falls to clean up the old school house on our family's land to prepare for Thanksgiving. Growing up, we had almost all of our family get-togethers here (Christmas, birthdays, you name it) so there are lots of memories in this wonderful building. R got to play in the old desks while we were cleaning. Here Granita is giving her a lesson on what a dirt dobber nest looks like.

Playing student...

Sunday afternoon we headed to our church's Trunk-or-Treat. R was "Super Rayleigh" for Halloween.

Super Rayleigh doing the cake/cookie walk.

going fishing...

I panicked at one point because I had lost track of her, seeing as I had my trunk as part of the festivities and couldn't walk around with her the entire time. This is where I found her...my super girl was flying.

She got first dibs on the pinata...

After church Sunday night, we headed to our downtown park where there's a "Safe Trick-or-Treat" route all through the park. It was packed and dark so I was a tad nervous having her there by myself, afraid that she might get separated from me real easily. Poor J had to work Halloween night, so the pictures are all he's seen of our costumed girl. :(

Last night we had J's sister, Ashley, her hubbie, KC, and their girl Kiley over for dinner and a movie. The girls love playing with each other, and J was a great babysitter during the movie. He got to hear all the little girl giggles, as well as all the, "No! That's mine!" I had to go investigate when I heard the squeals of delight coming from our almost-finished bedroom. My heart melted when I walked in and saw this...

Random pics just for fun -

R prefers to sit at this 'table' for many of her snacks...

And, here she is helping Mommy put away the silverware. She loves to sort & match.

It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing

2010-10-28T18:16:00.000-07:00

Rayleigh is finally a swinger! She has been near petrified to swing since the day we brought her home from the hospital. I think it has to do with me swinging in pregnancy and being nervous, resulting in an elevated heart rate, which transfers to a baby in the womb, resulting in her having the same feeling when her body would be in a swinging motion. yada-yada-yada...

However - she is a swinging monster now....as long as she's in a "big girl" swing. None of this being trapped in a baby seat to swing. She wants to sit on the regular swing, and screams "HIGHER! HIGHER! High to the sky! WHEEEEEEE!!!!" I love it. Welcome to the joyous world of swinging, my dear.

One of the things I have prayed for Rayleigh to have since she was itty-bitty is a tender heart and a sweet spirit. Other moms have complimented her on her tender-heartedness, which of course makes my heart beam, but it mostly reminds me of what a faithful Father we have. "Ask and you will receive...." he says. He has answered all of my prayers as a parent and continues to mold our little joy into a sweet spirited little girl. She is a normal two-year-old - she still has troubles sharing, she can be mischievous, she may cry and throw a fit from time to time if she doesn't get her way, and she sometimes enjoys 'pushing buttons'. But, overall, she is a very thoughtful little girl.

Some of R's words to others today...

When I went to pick her up from Kid's Club at the gym, the worker told me a little boy had been crying for his mommy, and Rayleigh went up to him, put her hand on his shoulder and tried to comfort him with, "It's otay. Don't cry. She be back soon. In just a minute."

The lady also told me that a little boy R was playing with bit her on the hand, and R just pulled her hand back and said, "Hey!?" as if to say, 'Whatda do that for?' The lady was proud that R didn't cry or get revenge because R had teeth marks for a good while after it happened, so it must have hurt.

After the gym, we headed to Mc D's (which is a rare event in our house) to eat lunch and let her play on the play scape. While we were eating, a worker came by to mop by our table. R watched her and asked, "What she doonin', Mommy?" Remembering that R's asleep when I mop at home, I replied, "She's mopping the floor to make it nice and clean for us. Isn't that nice of her?" R thought a second and then looked up at the woman and said, "Tank you VERY much. Tank you whatyou doonin."

Hiding. Cute and Scary At the Same Time.

2010-10-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

Rayleigh, in large part due to playing with Daddy, has learned the art of hiding. She and Daddy like to creep up on Mommy and say, "Boo!" And, I'll admit, I enjoy doing it back to him on occasion myself. But, she's also learned how to hide and not come out. And, she's perfected it.

The only picture I've gotten of her hiding so far... It was easy to find her because all of my plastic bowls and what not were strewn out on the kitchen floor. I couldn't get a good shot of her hiding, but she was ALL the way back in there. By the time I got the camera out, she was making her exit.

The most recent time she hid, I couldn't find her ANYWHERE in the house for a good few minutes which, if you've never lost a child and couldn't find them, is heart-stopping scarey. I was in PANIC MODE.

I had been in another room working on something, and she went off to another part of the house to play which is nothing out of the ordinary. After she was gone for several minutes and it was silent, which is never good, I went looking for her to see what she was getting into that she probably wasn't supposed to be getting into. As I went from room to room calling her name and heard nothing, no "Mommy, right here," no movement, I began to get a little panicky. My thoughts were "Did she hurt herself? Fall off something and knock herself out? ...Or worse? WHERE IS SHE?" I went through the ENTIRE house calling her name and doing a quick look-search through each room and closet and found/heard nothing. ULTRA PANIC mode set in.

So I started over again, jogging now, through each room, doing a more solid search of each room and closet and thinking, "Could she have gone out the back door without me seeing her?" My heart was in my throat at this point. And, when I got to the last room, our guest room I stopped in the middle of the room and started scanning wall to wall, ceiling to floor, and ....there in between a tiny space between the bed and the night stand, blending right in with the comforter and wall, being as still as a stone and looking down at the ground as if she were in a trance, was my girl. No mischevious smile. Only a solid face of sheer concentration. That little booger!

She had no idea I had spotted her, so I took a few seconds to recover myself.
Me- "Rayleigh?"
R- Looks up, now with a mischevious smile.
M- "Haven't you heard me calling your name? I was scared because I couldn't find you.
R- "I was hinin' (hiding)."
M- "I know, but it's not always good to hide. If you hear Mommy calling your name over and over like that, you need to come out and let me know where you are. I thought you might be hurt. I was so scared. I couldn't find you."
R- "hahah...otay."
In one ear, out the other. She has no idea that I probably have a grey hair now. The only positive thing I can think of that came from this day is now I know what she is capable of. Duh-duh-duhn!

Language: Stepping it Up a Notch with Descriptive Words

2010-10-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Rayleigh's gotten really good at describing objects she talks about, especially if it has color to it.

As we're sitting at a stoplight, Rayleigh comments on the cars passing in front of us.
"'Ook, Mommy! It's a BIG chruck! A lallow (yellow) truck. And there's another chruck! It's white! Ooh, it's BIG! And, this one's red....."

While playing with a little girl at the park, she and the girl are sliding down slides, and R wants her to slide down the purple one.
In a sweet voice with her shoulders hunched over and gentle pats on the girl's shoulder, "Come on over here. Side down the poo-puh one." The other girl just looks at me with a blank stare. So, I responded to R, "I think she wants to go down the green slide again." R looks at me and confidently corrects me with this look of it's-okay-you-don't-understand-Mom look, and nods her head while telling me, "She wants the poo-puh one."

She also has begun to really enjoy counting out objects. For example, this afternoon at lunch time, I asked her to get a fork out of the drawer and take it to her seat for lunch. She, all on her own, counted out 3 spoons (her favorite utensil) and said "one for Daddy, Mommy, and one for Rayee." I was so impressed that she thought to get enough for all of us, even though Daddy was at work, so I praised her thoughtfulness and helpfulness. However, we didn't need spoons at all, we really needed forks for this meal. So, I said, "We don't actually need spoons for lunch, we need forks. Can you put the spoons back and get forks instead?" She replied, again with that look of it's-okay-you-don't-understand look on her face and gently shaking her head no, "No, we don't need 'em."

As for "NEEDING" things....she's gotten really into using the word "need" when it should be "want."
R - "Mommy, I have fruit snacks?" (the gummy snacks)
M - "No, we're about to eat dinner."
R - "But, I need them."

R - "Mommy, I have chocate?
M - "No, I don't have any chocolate."

R - "I need chocate. Peeeeeease?"

What I walked in the room to see the other night. Both my loves working away on their machines - J working on a sermon and R playing a game that teaches numbers and counting. I think her imitation of Daddy is so precious. She's a lucky girl to have such a special Daddy.

Eye Update

2010-10-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

Rayleigh's eye is all better. She had a follow-up appt on Thursday, and the doc said she couldn't see the scratch at all. Hooray! Thank you, God, for healing her eye so quickly! And, thank you to those of you who prayed for her little eye. She is still a little sensitive to it, but she is back to her normal self.

And, because it seems weird to post a blog without pictures...

A Couple of Random Pics:

Rayleigh & her cousin Kiley playing at our house...

They don't have any clothes on b/c we had just finished a messy craft outside.

The only pic I took at Ashley's (Jason's sister) wedding a week ago. R was a flower girl, and did a great job! She looked precious; I'm so disappointed that I didn't take any more pictures.

Hello Sunshine & The Latest Boo-Boo

2010-10-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning, as J & I were getting ready for church, we both hear a loud and enthusiastic, "GOOD MORN-IIINNNNNNGGGG!!!" coming from R's room. Smiling at each other, we knew our little one had finally woken up. Why she didn't come out of her room on her own, we didn't know, so we went to greet her. When we opened the door, we found her holding up this CD and smiling big saying, "I got the DBD! I got the DBD!" She must have been awake for a little while, because as you can see, she found her shorts from the day before, put them on (over her PJ's), and found her Bible story book that had CD's in it (that were unopened). But, she was soooo cute and soooo happy to be starting a new day, we couldn't help but laugh. What a treat early in the morning...

The other night while J was gone, I let R sleep with me (which I don't do often), and as expected, I slept on 8 inches of bed, while she got the rest. The sweet part of the story was morning time. While she continued to sleep, I got up and started getting dressed, then heard a precious little girl voice singing, "Good morning to you...." Days don't start off much sweeter than that, friends.

So, the latest:
R scratched her eye yesterday evening. On what, we don't know. We thought she might have had an allergic reaction to something because her right eye was red, watering, itching, and her right nostril was red & running like a water faucet. We gave her allergy medicine, but it did no good. So, after a long night of very little sleep and the poor girl being absolutely miserable, we took her to the doc first thing. There, they diagnosed her scratch with some dye they put in her eye. So for the next 5 days, we have to put ointment in her eye 3x/day. The first time I put it in today, she was fighting it, and it ended with she and I both crying. It hurts her to touch it, and it hurts me to hurt her. So, today was pretty miserable for her. I hope it heals quickly, and I hope there's no lasting damage. Please pray for our little lady. We go back to the doc Thursday.

Growing Up Quickly

2010-09-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this...

has grown into this...

in a matter of 26 months 2 days.

Time flies. I realize it more and more the older I get. More and more people are saying that Rayleigh is such

a little girl now. Some people even say they don't even think of her as a toddler, but more as a little girl. (Deep breaths, Val.......booooo-hooooooo....) Sometimes I want to cry at the thought of how quickly it all goes by, and I get ahead of myself thinking that for as quick as all of this is going she's going to be graduating and leaving home soon. (Sob, sob... I know).

So, today is going to be her "big girl" post since she IS getting to be such a big girl, and so I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T.

R is a pro at pottying now.

She's been trained since before her birthday, but I was too chicken to let her leave the house in anything but a diaper until a friend of mine told me it was time. She rarely had an accident, and my friend told me to just pack a plastic bag and an extra pair of clothes with me. So, the next day I let her go in panties while we ran errands. What do you know? She had not one, not two, but three accidents while we were out. "What??? She's been doing great for several weeks. What is going on?" I thought, but instead of caving back to the crutch of the diaper the next day while I was getting her dressed, I let her continue in panties, and she's done great. I can now say she's a pro. I can't even remember the last time she had an accident, although I'm sure now that I've said that one is sure to come our way.

Rayleigh graduated to a toddler bed a while back, and although she had a little bit of a rough start to it, she's doing great now.

She loves to take "pictures." Here she's taking of pic of me taking of pic of her using plastic pickle slices. She has a great imagination!

She enjoys swinging more now, especially since she learned she can do it like this.

She has friends....this is a girl we met at the library storytime. She and R have been a good match.

She cleans and helps, although she also has a mind of her own and loves to exercise her right to freedom of speech if she's asked to do something she doesn't want to. She's learning so much and soaks up everything. Routines are best for her; she definitely gets that from me. And, she really is a tender-hearted little girl. She's gentle and sweetly soft-spoken to children younger than her, and even when she's protesting to her parents about something she is not wanting to do, deep down she's really wanting to please us and is just testing the waters. I'm glad that I know that and understand it. I know that she does it with us because she knows no one else loves her like we do. Rayleigh, your mommy and daddy love you, and despite your growing up quickly, you will always be our baby girl.

Let Me Tell You a Story, Mommy

2010-09-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

R walked into my bathroom as I was getting ready this morning, her Bible in tow, and said, "Let me tell you story, Mommy." Once she had my attention, she began by opening her Bible and stating, "Jesus, love da lidduh chiljen. All da chiljen uv da wuld. Red, bown, back. Dee end." Then she proceeded to close the book, and move onto another task. I love my girl.

More Hiking & Kayaking

2010-09-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

My mom, sisters and I loved our kayaking trip to Colorado Bend State Park so much that we decided to go back. We had no idea there was so much to do there the last time we went so we ran out of time to do anything but kayak to the big waterfall. This time, we spent the entire day there and got to do all the fun stuff.

First, we hiked along the river.

After R got tired, she rode in a carrier on my back. Here we're "flying" down the trail together.

Soon, she was O-U-T. Poor baby, it was warm so given the combination of Mommy's sweat, her sweat, her "cayzy" hair (as she would say), and the fact that I forgot to pack a pony tail holder for the poor girl, she looked like a lion with ragged mane.

Next, we picniced. Then, we got the kayaks out and started down the river. We took a detour down a creek to a "pool" we had heard about. Here's where we parked our boats...

Mom, R, Peggy (a friend from church)

A sister picture...

We had to climb up this hill of springs, and I didn't take my camera with me since it's not water-proof. But, I wish I had. The "Spicewood Springs" as they're called make a beautiful, deep natural pool of water. It was gorgeous, crystal clear, and not as cold as I had expected. The swimming came just at the right time, given the warm day, and it allowed R a break from being in the kayak.

Back in the boats headed down to the big waterfall, which was barely trickling after the Texas summer...

Last stop - Garman or Gorman Falls

It's a hike down to a breathtaking waterfall. It's a hard hike, and it was dusk when we started so we had to practically jog the trail so we wouldn't get lost on the way back due to lack of sunlight. The falls make you feel like you're on an exotic island somewhere, definitely not like you're in the middle of Texas.

Poor J has had to miss both trips there, so I hope to be able to take him sometime soon.

He would love this place.

South Padre Island 2010

2010-09-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

We were in South Padre the last of August and had a blast. Taking vacations as our own little family unit is so much fun. It was wonderful to do whatever we wanted to do, when we wanted to do it. There was no schedule. We didn't have to worry about R's naptime interfering with any plans - it was a wonderfully relaxing and much needed vacation.

This was my first time to South Padre and Rayleigh's first time to the beach. Boy, did she LOVE it! And, I have to admit, I like the beach a lot more now that's she's a part of our family. There's so much more to do when you have a little one. We kept ourselves busy playing in the sand, digging for crabs, finding crabs, collecting oodles of shells, (J & I searched for shark teeth, but found a whopping 0 - boo!), playing in the waves, jumping over waves, and boogie boarding. We also swam in the hotel pool each day after rinsing the sand off and before heading inside. R, of course, loved this too because she could actually swim. The waves made it a bit difficult for her to swim in the ocean.

When we first checked into our room, R ran and jumped on the bed to check it out. She was SUPER excited about the room; this was her first hotel experience, too.

After unloading our things in the room, we changed clothes and headed to the BEACH!

J & R crossing the boardwalk over the sand dunes to get to the beach.

As R steps off the last step of the boardwalk, she looked down and slowly watched herself walk on the sand. It was too cute watching her take it in for the first time. After a few steps, she squatted down and had to play with it and touch it for a little while. Then.....

WATER! Off she went to check out the waves...I barely caught up to her before she went further.

That little tyke is fast!

Our first "Crim Castle"...

Day 2: Schlitterbahn!

This was an awesome day - I think this may be my favorite Schlitterbahn Park. She could ride on every ride, and they had great kid areas. The best one was a 3-stroy sand castle that has slides off of it and water sprinkling/pouring out all over the place. So much fun! The other thing I love about this park is that you don't have to get out of the water to get in a line for a ride. Most every ride is fed off the lazy river.

Back to the beach...Sand Castle #2

One of the MANY friends R made on our trip...

The happy and vacationed Crim Family...

I love my precious family and look forward to the many more trips like this we get to take with each other over the years.

Toddler Talk

2010-09-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

We've been out-of-pocket for a while, thus the lack of posts. I'll do a post soon showing some pics of the vacation we had to the beach and more. But, for now, I thought I'd share a quickie post of some of the cute things R has said in the last couple of days that made us laugh and some pics of her decorated house.

Remember the cardboard house?

Granita, my dad's mom, suggested I take R out to decorate her house.....and voila!

R ringing the doorbell. The camera caught her on the "Dong!"

She decorated more than just her house.

Toddler TalkAs we drive into the garage one evening...

R: Mommy, I want bicycle!
Me: Okay, we can ride for a little while before we need to go in.
R: Ha! Ha! Ha! Eeeee! Ellow bicycle!
I think to myself, "Her tricylce is red, but maybe she was talking about her little 4-wheeler that's red and yellow." I get her out of the car, and instead of running to where we keep her tricyle she bolts for the house door.
Me: ??
I don't say anything to remind her about her request because, truth be told, I'm ready to go inside and start dinner - not play outside after a long day. So, we go in, she sprints to the freezer and bounces up and down smiling.
Me: ???
R: Bicycle! Bicycle, Mommy!
Me: What? .... OH! Popsicle?
R: Uh-huh! (Smiles and laughs) Bicycle!
So, I pull out the homemade 100% fruit juice popsicles and hand her one.
R: Ellow Bicylce!
M: No, it's a purple popsicle.
R: Oh, a poo-poo bicycle!

One night when we were eating out this past week, our food arrived, and we all held hands and J started praying for our food. Then, out of nowhere, R yells REALLY loudly, "THANK! YOU! GOOOOOD!"

On another praying note, R has begun wanting to say the prayer at meal time. Last night's prayer...
"Deeuh Dod,
Tantoo fow pood, booful day, Desus, milk, nakin, Mommy, Daddy. ....Amen."
(In case you need translation...
Dear God, Thank you for food, beautiful day, Jesus, milk, napkin, M, D.)

I LOVE this age. I love young children that can get excited about anything and everything. Take yesterday as an example. We were headed to Hutto's Home Depot to pick up some things for the house:
R: Mom, we goin da run? We goin da gym?
M: No, we're not going to run this morning, and we're not going to the gym. We're going to Hutto.
R: (takes a big deeeeeep breath) OHHHHH!!! HUTTO!!! YEA!!!!
It's the little things in life, ya know?

I'll leave you with this...

One day, we gave R a lollipop and we went outside to work.

She disappeared for a few minutes, and this is how J found her.

A close-up.

Have a wonderful week! I hope to have more pics soon.

Rayleigh's First Memory Verse

2010-08-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. ~Galatians 5:22-23

So, Monday night I'm cooking dinner while Rayleigh's down on the kitchen floor drawing with her Aquadoodle - such a neat invention - and I hear, "love, jdoy, peace, pasunce, tindness, doodness, vayvulness, an' sef-tol. Dasha fye, two-ooo, tee." I thought to myself, "What?! ...She missed 'gentleness' but she got all of said all the others and got them in the right order! Oh, my goodness! My child just quoted scripture!" Of course I bragged on her and told her what she had just done, and we ran and told Jason (who was installing our new washer). Would the girl do it again for her daddy? ....No. But, after working with her several more times throughout the night, she got to where she would quote it on command, but only one word at a time.

I've been teaching our summer kids' class at church, and our theme has been "The Fruit of the Spirit." Each Sunday we go over the scripture together, and each kiddo has the opportunity to say it on their own for a prize. R is in that class, and I've never thought she really paid a whole lot of attention. I guess I was wrong! Way to go, lil' tot! Your daddy and I are so proud of you, and you have made our hearts beam with pride and joy!

This past weekend, we were at our church retreat at H.E.Butt Foundation on the Frio River. It's gorgeous there, and everyone has a ball....although all I do the whole time is chase her around, it's still fun. Her she is with some of her "fens" from church.

Fishing with Daddy...

Daddy made her a house, complete with windows and doors out of our new washing machine box.

Pictures

2010-08-10T21:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes pictures are more fun than reading posts, so I've posted a few pics that I've taken over the past couple of weeks. Hope you enjoy!

My child loves, and I mean LOVES fresh salad, spinach in particular. It is the first thing she will touch on her plate, and she'll eat it all before she touches anything else on her plate. As Whitney said, "That is SO your child." Yes, she is. She also takes after me in the fact that if you zoom in to the picture, you'll see she has spinach stuck in her teeth. Classic.

To stay cool, we've been doing some water time.

Aunt Lacey bought a fun pool, complete with sprinkler trunk for her favorite neice.

Grandmother bought a little pool for R to play in at her house.

R loves playing with the hose more than playing in the pool.

Playing with the hose definitely means drenching Grandmother! G has learned to wear her water clothes when she goes out to the pool with R.

This might just look like an ordinary storage cabinet....

But it happens to be one of R's fav places to play/hide.

Once again, a crazy sleeper picture. The thing that made me chuckle when I walked in and saw her like this was that I woke up in the EXACT same position that same morning. No wonder J wants a king-size bed.

R with her Daddy one evening when we went to visit him at the station.

Helping Daddy pick veggies out of the station garden.

My sweet college friend Tonya is married! We went to Witchita Falls a week or two ago to go to her luau shower. I hadn't seen her since my dad's funeral. It was SO good to see her and meet her sweet hubbie. Our friend Mel and her hubbie made it too, so we had an awesome reunion.

R & Morgan, Mel's daughter, playing at the shower. It warms my heart to see these girls having fun together. We hope they will grow up to be good friends.

"Wanuhmenun" is still one of R's most-asked-for foods. Seriously, the kid could put away an entire watermelon by herself in a day if we let her.

Yesterday, R came running in to tell me she had "guvs on!" She was playing kitchen and tea party in her room and decided she needed to be a little more dressed up for the occasion, so she had emptied her entire sock drawer, taken apart each pair of socks, until she found the perfect pair of gloves - white with lace on the ends.

My Baby's 2!

2010-08-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

"The animals they came in, they came in by TWOsies, TWOsies. The animals they came in, they came in by TWOsies, TWOsies. Elephants and kangaroosies, roosies....." That Noah's ark song was my inspiration for Rayleigh's bday party last week. Rayleigh turned 2 on July 25th. We had a party with family at our house, and we had such a great time. When I asked R if she wanted anything at her party, she said, "Happy take (cake) and banoons." Of course we delivered with those small, sweet requests, but I also did a little more. I went with a Noah's ark theme (since there were two of each animal) and had a total blast with it. Here was our spread, complete with animal crackers, gold fish, gummy bears, zoopals plates and cups:

Tell me you see a rainbow design with my fruit tray. I totally did; however, I was the creator, so that doesn't count. Lots of people didn't catch it until I said something. Oh well. I thought it was cute.

R loved her cake. Her Aunt Lacey had been watching her while I worked on it, and when she brought her home, R ran in the kitchen saying, "Mommy, doonin my take!"

For her cake, I cut out a 2 from a giant sheet cake. It was a yellow cake with fudge icing, and green buttercream icing for grass/plants. The animals were all plastic, and as you can see, I made the ark out of graham crackers.

I even made rainbow ice cubes for the lemonade.

The birthday girl blowing out her candle. The bird hat was her party hat that she wanted to wear the entire time in the store but wouldn't keep on her head for more than a minute at the party.

She is one lucky girl - she got a ton of new clothes and toys. She has had so much fun playing with all of her things, and everytime she puts on a new outfit she says, "Toot, Mommy!" (Cute, Mommy!)

THIS is where R wanted to be the entire time people were over....in her room, with whoever would come back there and play with her. We had to practically drag her out to start the cake and present festivities.

J and I were so proud of our sweet girl. She really was a good hostess. She was excited about every gift, which is wonderful about this age. She was good about saying, "Tantoo," to whomever the gift was from, and at the end, she went around to every person there (we had 34 family members there, by the way) and hugged them and told them, "Tantoo," again. She was sure to not miss anyone. She did that on her own, which gave me such pride as a parent and melted my heart at the same time. She has such a sweet spirit which I know is a gift from God, as I pray often specifically for her to have a sweet spirit, and Jason and I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

So Rayleigh, happy birthday Honey. You are so loved by your Mommy and Daddy and countless others. We hope and pray that you continue thinking of others as you grow up, and we look forward to sharing many more birthdays and memories with you. You are our angel girl.

Toddler Talk

2010-07-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of toddlerhood is the conversations we have and listening to the things that she says. Here are a few of the things from this week:

Monday night she came to tickle me while I was on the phone with J, and she went for my tummy saying, "Mommy, I get you tickuh button." And, she proceeded to "tickle" me by wiggling her finger in my belly button.

Several weeks ago, when we first started talking to her about her bday coming up, I asked her one day how old she was going to be, and she answered, "Ummmm......fowuhteen." ...Don't rush it, Honey. It's already going by too fast for Mommy.

For the past several months she's been developing a dislike for bugs of any kind, and would yell, "OH, Mommy! BUG! Ged it!" I would proceed to kill it by stepping on it, or if inside getting TP to grab it. I was afraid she would become a girly-girl about bugs; however, two nights ago I heard her in the living room holler, "Mommy! BUG! I till it! (STOMP!) (STOMP!) (STOMP!) Dere." Yes, she had shoes on.

Last night she pointed out a bug on the floor to J, then disappeared to the bathroom to come back with TP. Impressive. ....However, I guess as she squatted down to get it she played the situation out in her mind and decided it wasn't such a good idea, so she just left the TP on it for J to pick up. Baby steps.

Almost everytime I come to a stop at a red light or a stop sign, I hear "EEERRRRRRCCCCCCKKKKK!" from the back seat. I never realized how often I must make sound effects while I'm driving, but I obviously have done it enough that it's rubbed off on my almost 2 y.o.

Rayleigh loves to ride in her "soller" (stroller) when we go for runs. Instead of reclining back in the comfortably padded seat, she sits perched on the edge meeting life, the wind, the passerbys with a bright smile and squeals. When we hit a bump, we'll usually hear, "Yeehaw!" If we start to slow down any you'll hear, "Hurry up, Mommy! Hurry!....Hurry!" or "Run, Mommy!" Yes, drill sargent kid.

This evening as I was finishing up my run, I stopped at the park near our house, as we always do after our runs, to let R play. She anticipates it each time and begins pointing out the "da party, Mommy!" (the park...she has seen lots of people have parties there, so it's no longer "park" but "party"). Tonight we were the only ones there, and as I was getting her out of the jogger, she said "Wheuh da tids, Mommy?" I explained that they were all at home so we had the park to ourselves. After about 5 minutes, a car pulls up with two girls about 6 and 7 who get shyly step out. R, YELLS, "TIDS! .....TIDS! 'OOK, Mommy! TIDS! .......Tids, wanna pay w'me? Tids, wanna pay w'me? Wanna pay me?" all while motioning her arm for them to come over and join her. The girls of course shyly smiled and shook their heads yes, and play they did.

I'll end with one of her most recent bedtime prayers:

R- De-uh Dod,

Tantoo for Daddy, Mommy, Hacey, LalaHacey, Whinney, Maama (Grandmama).

V- And thank you for...

R- Modthers (Grandmother), Paw-paw, Gigis, whanuhmenie (watermelon).

V- And thank you for...

R- Moon, Jesuh (Jesus), banket, Be-uh (Bear).

Both- Amen.

R- OH! An' Rayee.

V- Oh, yes, God - thank you for Rayleigh.

Both- Amen.

I Am One Lucky Lady

2010-07-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

Blessed is a more appropriate word. Sometimes I feel like my life is so full of blessings I just might explode. :) I know I have God to thank for that. He is the Giver, the Provider of all good things, and He deserves all the praise for the blessings in my life.

One blessing I am particularly grateful for tonight as I reflect on how sweet my life is, is my husband. Jason is so good to me, even when I don't deserve it. Believe it or not, I'm not always easy to live with. ;) But, God gave me such a sweet man in Jason; he's so gentle and loving toward me even when I'm a stinker. He has been such an awesome daddy to our girl, too. I am so proud of the man God continues to mold him into. So, here's to Jason, the "#1 Dad" in my book.

My inspiration for this post:

This morning after I got ready to leave, I went looking for R to get her dressed to find her doing this...

Having a tea party with her daddy before he left for work.

Oops! Mommy caught us!

"Keep playing," I say, "so I can get a picture."

My precious pair...

So, thank you, God, for my Jason, our sweet girl, all of our wonderful family and friends, our home, and for every other "little" blessing in my life. You are truly an awesome God.

It Can't Get Any Worse....Or Can It?

2010-07-12T10:07:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had one of those days...you know, the kind where it seems like everything goes wrong. Well, Friday was one of those days for me. It started out with R getting into my make-up bag, disappearing and finally finding her in our dark closet.

And, I think it's safe to say my daughter would NOT look good with a uni-brow.

It took me not one, not two, but three times of her getting into my make-up bag for me to finally move it to a new holding area. .....I'm a slow learner.

Then, we headed up to the church to do the bulletin. It takes me 2-3 times as long to get it done with her there. Every few ~~minutes~~ seconds (at least it feels that way) I'm getting up to get something out of her mouth or go bring her back in the room I'm working in. Moral of the story, I'm ~~worn out~~ flat exhausted by the time I leave. So, we headed home to eat lunch and for R to take her nap.

When she woke up we headed over to the home of a couple we go to church with. He recently had bipass surgery and they enjoy our visits (probably more of Rayleigh's visits). While there, R gets into their "canny" (a.k.a. cough drops. And, later ..... their vitamins. Yes, you read it right. She had been out of my sight for no more than 1-2 minutes, and she came running back to me with orange powder all over her mouth and hands. As I'm trying to not freak out at their house because my almost 2-yr-old just ate something, and I don't know what it was, I ask her to show me what she just ate. So, she takes me back to a bedroom and on the chair there is an entire bottle of Centrum spilled out.

I was pretty sure she just ate one or two - maybe not even a full one, but I called poison control just to make sure. After giving them her age, weight, and the iron amount per tablet, they told me she would have had to have eaten 26 pills for it to be toxic, and I KNOW she didn't do that. Whew! Breathe, Val. Breathe.

That was enough excitement for one visit, so I left the sweet couple's house and headed to the gym where I was supposed to meet my mom. On the way I remembered I needed gas, so I stopped, started the pump, and called my mom. When I get off the phone with her, my gas is finished. So, I get back on the road.

As I pull into the gym parking, I realize the Kids' Club closed 30 minutes ago - it's 6:30pm on Friday night. Ugh! Are you kidding me? I drove to Austin just to turn around and come back?

I call my mom to tell her the news, and sweet Mom suggests we take turns watching her outside while we each go in and lift real quick. "I don't know, Mom. I'd feel bad making you do that. I should probably just go home," I say. "Don't be silly. Besides, we can go eat out afterward - my treat," she replies. "Well, okay," I love that woman.

After I get off the phone with Mom, I look down at my gas tank, and it's still on a quarter-tank. What? My gas gage isn't working. ......Oh, no, I bet I never started the pump earlier. Well, that's just great. I had too many things on my mind, I shouldn't have called my mom while pumping. Lesson learned.

At the restaraunt the waitress asks what we'd like to drink. Rayleigh speaks up first and says very matter-of-factly, "I want milk." Waitress looks at me very shocked and says, "Did she just ask me for milk?" Me, just as suprised as she is, I respond, "She sure did. Wow."

So, the waitress brings our drinks and I'm thinking, "Okay, our day is going to end on an up-note." Then R hollers out to me, "Mommy, I t-t!" So, I ask her if she t-t'ed in her diaper or if she needs to go to the potty. She said she already went, so I reach to feel if her diaper is warm, and it's not only warm......it's WET! Oh, no....you've got to be kidding me! I feel her high chair seat, and sure enough, she's sitting in a puddle of pee right in the middle of Chili's. That was a new diaper! How did that happen? Oh, well, the show must go on. In the bathroom I see that I didn't have a change of clothes, but her dress didn't get wet, just her bloomers...not so bad afterall.

So, thanks for letting me share my adventures from Friday. There were a few details I left off that I wouldn't post on the internet, but I think what I've said here is enough to get my point across. Some days are doosies; however, most days are sweet and sunshiney. And, I'm so glad it's not the other way around. :) Blessings to you all!

Summer Fun

2010-07-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Extremely long post!! :) But filled with lots of pictures!

Since getting back from the 10-day mission trip, we've had a whirlwind of activity.
The day after we got back we had Western Days (our town's annual festival and reunion time). This was J's high school reunioin year. So, we got up early went to watch the parade, strolled through the park and visited with old friends, headed home for a break from the heat (which I was NOT used to after being in NM), went for a swim, and then ended the evening at J's reunion.

J's 10 yr. Float - J's in the purple cut-off shirt waving at us

Whit's 5-yr. Float - Whit's standing at the front in the striped shirt

Lacey's 15 yr. Float...only 4 people on it :( ...They were a little last minute getting it together. Lacey's in the turquoise shirt holding up 4 fingers.

Paula's 25 yr. Float - Paula's in the white tank

The next day, after church, J went to work and I travelled up to the family place in Marble Falls to see our fam that was down from OK and celebrate Granita's bday (my grandmother). That afternoon we kayaked down to Proffitt springs (on the fam place) and hiked up to the get refreshing drinks straight from the earth, and then kayaked back. Whit got into poison ivey, which she's still suffering from. Sorry, Whit.

Playing at Granita's after lunch and cake...

(Caught a HUMONGO katydid).

Sunday afternoon, we left the house at 7:15 to find a good parking spot for our town's firework show. To kill time before the sun went down, we ate popsicles (at Jason's request), played with the box of toys we brought and sang VBS songs. Grandma Crim, Lori, Guy, and Paula joined us at the truck.

Kiley & R playing on the pallet in the back of the truck...

Grandma & R watching fireworks

Yesterday, since my mom, Lacey, and Whit all had off work, we took a kayaking trip to Colorado Bend State Park. We didn't get to do all we had planned on doing there because we got a late start, but what we did was totally worth the trip.

I was hesitant about taking R on such an extended kayaking trip because if she got tired of it, there wasn't really an alternative for her. But, she loved riding with Aunt Lacey. Her boat goes fast!

PS - If you look closely at her hat, you'll see that her bonnet is being kept on with surveyor's flagging....between Mom and Lacey, you'll always find a solution to your predicaments.

When she got tired, she napped...don't worry, we covered her so she wouldn't burn.

The gorgeous waterfall that we kayaked to...who knew central Texas had such things? My mom is in the first picture and Whitney is in the second pic. How tiny they look next to this beautiful creation...

Once again, to God be all the glory!

Teen Mission Trip 2010

2010-07-06T12:25:00.000-07:00

Everyone is busy during the summer doing fun things; that's one of the reasons I love summer so much. Four days after I returned from Sea Camp, I left for Espanola, NM with our church for the Teen Mission Trip. Jason was unable to go this year because of work. However, Rayleigh came with me, and we rode separately from the group in my mom's car in case she was a less-than-pleasant traveler. She suprised me on the trip by doing WONDERFULLY! I had everything to keep her busy - from puzzles, to books, to sing-a-long CDs, to movies, to snacks, to games, toys, you name it - I made sure it was in the car with us. She was also a good sport while we were up there. She participated in the VBS we put on for the church there. Two other lil' tots her age showed up unexpectedly, so we improvised and made a nursery class for them. It worked out perfectly. Not that I'm suprised - with God things tend to do that. :) The whole TMT was a success. Our teens grew so much in so many ways, and our adults did too for that matter. I praise God for the entire thing - from the very beginning when the church asked us to come, to all our hard preparation, and the safety and success of the time we spent with that church. God is awesome; that's all there is to it!

Several "Firsts" on the Trip:

First Happy Meal, which she loved - she ate almost her entire hamburger and was a major fan of the caramel dipping sauce for the apple slices, even almost finished her milk. For her, this is good, since leaving the baby stage behind where she ate all day, everyday. She's become a grazer when it comes to eating and usually doesn't eat very much. "Cheese!"

First bus ride, which she LOVED! She didn't have to ride in a "baby seat" and liked it much better when I didn't share a seat with her....So I stood while she got the entire seat to herself.

First New Mexican food, which she is NOT a fan of, except for the tortillas, of course.

And, to my great suprise, made great strides on potty training. Everytime we stopped for potty breaks, she went, too. She made it almost the whole day each day with a dry diaper!

We took several outings in the afternoons when VBS was over. One day we went to Bandelier National Monument and hiked all through the old cave dwellings and other ruins. This was my second time there, and I think I enjoyed it even more this time. R loved climbing the ladders up into the caves.

The final dwelling (that R did not join me on) is a 3-30 ft ladder climb. Super fun.

Another day we went to the Atomic Bomb Museum in Los Alamos...also my second time there.

One afternoon we drove into Santa Fe (an hour drive) and went shopping.

We arrived on a Friday afternoon. The next day we went to a mountain lake (it was icey cold - worse than the Frio River) with the church there and boated and cliff jumped. There was a 20' cliff and a 40' cliff. Of course I did both, but I was the only one that started with the big'un. It was so scarey, but SO fun. Below is a video of my jumping from the big one. You'll have to turn your head to see it, though...yes, I screamed the whole way down.

I wish J could have been there to do this. He would have had fun. It's such a rush; you have time to think about what you just did, you can feel your body accelerating, and then wham! you hit the water hard.

Here's a pic of my class decorating backpacks.

Rayleigh's first VBS class, plus one of the pre-schoolers that was sitting with them.

To God be all the glory!

I Love My Girl

2010-06-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

I have been eating up the time I've gotten to spend bonding with my girl since getting back home. She has been such a sweet girl, minding SO well, wanting to be extra helpful, and barely losing sight of me (unless Daddy's home). We have had so much fun playing ball, swinging, blowing bubbles, playing chase, dancing, swimming, eating "wahn-uh-menon" - watermelon, you name it the past few days. I have a renewed patience and love for my precious one. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

Rayleigh Updates:

1. If I read "Ticken" (aka "The Little Red Hen") one more time this week, I think I may throw up. I actually hid the book last night, and she still found it.

2. She counted to 10 last week! And, she's trying to sing her ABC's....still needs a backup singer, though, to help keep her on track.

3. She is a very convincing bargainer, "Mommy, one canny (candy)? (with a very serious look on her face and nodding her head up and down) ...One. Just one." A future in sales, perhaps?

4. It warms my heart when we announce it's bedtime, and she eagerly exclaims, "Bobby stowees!" (Bible stories) and runs off to her room.
5. Aunt Lacey has now gone from "Hacey" to "La-La-Hacey," thanks to Grandmother working with R on her L's. :)
6. After spending an entire week with Daddy, she is now an avid TV enthusiast. Common phrases we hear when she's wanting the tube turned on are "Dorey on?" (Dora, The Explorer), "Daygo on?" (Diego - Dora's cuz), "Tats aron?" (Big Cat Diary - Animal Planet).
7. If she burps or toots, she still says, "Stuse you."
8. One of our favorite words to hear her say is "Thu-thu-lope" (cantelope). She sticks her tongue way out there when she makes the "th" sound.
9. She is getting better each day with her manners. She says "peez" without being prompted, and she is VERY good at remembering to say "tantoo," followed by a "welcuhm" to herself.
10. (Warning - slightly sensitive material) Our sweet girl loves praying, and for that I am so grateful. Well, our RJ came with me to use the restroom this afternoon, and after we both sat down, she looked up at me, held her hand out, and said, "Pray?" My first thought was, "Right now? Are you serious?" But, being as I don't want to discourage praying, I said okay and we held hands, bowed our heads and prayed right there while we were both sitting on the pot. I must say that was a first for me!

Sea Camp - "Sharks & More!"

2010-06-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

I spent the past week as a counselor for Sea Camp at TAMU-Galveston. It's a kids' science camp, and they recruit teachers to come be the counselors because we teachers have a knack for keeping kids in line. ;) This was my second time to be a counselor here. The first time I worked with the "Adventures in Marine Biology" camp, which is the basic Sea Camp group. This time I worked with the "Sharks & More" camp. It was even more fun than the first one!

The wonderful thing for teachers is that we get PD hours for being there, we get to do TOTALLY awesome things, and .... it's FREE! My best bud from college and I applied to go to the same camp and even got to room together in the dorms! We had a blast. We even got to be co-counselors of the same group, so we were able to spend the entire week together, which made it even more fun for us. The only thing that would have made it better was to have my two loves there with me, and I know Mel would say the same.

Sunday was check-in, free-time, opening ceremonies...

Monday:

AM - Intro into sharks - Found out how smart the kids in our camp were. They knew ALMOST everything about sharks already. You could tell they came to shark camp because they LOVE sharks. Check out the shades one of our kids had. We also saw shark shoes, lots of shark shirts, shark hats, books........These kids were so cute, and like I said - smart!

FYI - Did you know a shark loses about 30,000 teeth over its lifetime? Most of our kids did.

Did you know there are about 375 species of sharks? Most of our kids did, and I bet between them all they could name just about everyone of them.

PM - Went to Beach to go shark teeth hunting. We found lots of them! I even found one! Played at the beach.

Our instructor saw a shark about 10-15 ft off the shore where we were searching for teeth. I was a little concerned, of course, but she said sharks are all along the coastline, and she said just about anytime you're in the water at the beach, there's a shark around you somewhere. Can you believe it?!

Evening - Swimming, free time

Tuesday:

Moody Gardens: 3D movie - "Wild Oceans," Log Ride movie (like a rollercoaster movie - lots of fun - I screamed more than my kids & was exhausted afterward from my grip on the handlebar, go figure), Shark exhibit & aquarium - AWESOME!

Evening - Pool party with team contests for kids, which we were judges for.

Wednesday:

AM - Boat trip - tested water visibility, took samples from ship channel floor & found the worms that live in the soil, collected plankton from water and looked at it under microscope, caught all sorts of fish while seining - fish galore, shrimp, squids, a giant blue crab, jelly fish, etc. I got pics of dolphins, which follow the boats around.

PM - Shark dissections, electricity lab (because sharks sense electricity), & group projects

Thursday -

AM - Kema Aquarium - got a private tour before it opened, went behind the scenes to see the quarantine tanks, filtration systems, shark eggs, etc. Got to pet & FEED giganto sting rays!!! My camera died right before this part, so I didn't get any pics. Boohoo.

(This is a pic of a ray at Moody Gardens - not near the size of the ones we fed.)

PM - Skate talk & dissections. Skates are similar to rays.

Evening - Beach party & cook-out

Friday was a play day. We started out the day at Palm Beach (at Moody Gardens) & swam, played on water slides, beach volleyball..., took a bus to Fish Tails on the sea wall, then headed to The Strand to shop. ....Tough day, huh.

Saturday was check-out by 11:00am.

For any of you teachers out there, you definitely should check this out. It is an awesome opportunity, and it's all totally free to you. For any of you parents out there with kids who like marine biology or animals in general, you should look into it. It's a well put together camp & so much fun!

Look Where We Found Her

2010-06-05T11:44:00.000-07:00

Jason and I were both working out in the yard this morning, and R had been out with us playing. I told J I was going to come back in the house because I needed to finish packing for Sea Camp, which I leave for in the morning, and he said R could stay outside with him. So, I came on in, and was in for about 20 minutes when J came in looking for the camera. As I followed him back outside with the camera to see what cute thing our girl was doing now, the following conversation took place:

J- Have you been inside packing since you left me?
V- Yes......why?
J- Well, I thought R was with you.
V- I told her I was leaving her out there with you.
J- I know, but 20 seconds after you went around back, she went after you. She never came back, so I assumed she caught up to you.
V- (momentary silence) Oh, man. I already know where you found her.

We walk around the side of the house where we see this...

If there's a puddle, Rayleigh will find it.

To explain the puddle....J discovered a leaky faucet this morning, and it's now fixed, but the puddle remains.

Note: She was safe the whole time. She would have either been in the house with me or in the backyard (which is safe). So, I hope no one reads this and thinks....she could have run out into the street because no one knew where she was! No, she couldn't have. Our gates are childproof. We love our girl, and we take good care of her. :)

Whitney's Graduation

2010-05-29T09:07:00.001-07:00

Way to go, Whit! We're all so proud of you! I know how sad you are to be leaving Aggieland, but I know you are looking forward to starting this new chapter in your life. And, we're so excited to have you close finally!

Future class of 2030...

Rayleigh entertained us with her "If You're Happy & You Know It" moves after graduation when we all got together for dinner at Whit's apartment.

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-22T12:13:00.001-07:00

Although I am late on this post, I had a wonderful 2nd mother's day. We spent the weekend with family having fun in all sorts of ways!

Here's me and my girl the morning of...

On Saturday, the day before M's day, we went to McDade to Paula's parents' place and played with bubbles, splashed in water (if R's around water, there's going to be some splashing and getting wet), fished, and watched Shrek out on their front porch. It was an awesome day with family.

Sunday morning started out with a wonderful pancake breakfast made by my sweetie-poo. He made me a special heart pancake and a "V" pancake, and Rayleigh got an "R" pancake. Then we headed off to Bible class. Both J and I teach, and Rayleigh gets to be taught by Grandmama (my mom).

After church, we made dinner for my mom and then headed to a nearby lake for kayaking (something my mom has recently gotten into).

After we were all exhausted, we headed home. It was a wonderful weekend filled with so much action and joy. Happy belated Mother's day to all you mom's out there!

Ready for Summer!

2010-05-22T11:37:00.001-07:00

This past week, J and I took RJ for her first swimming of the season. I was HOT after running and desperately wanted a cool-down. So we headed for J's parent's pool. It was a little chilly, but it didn't stop Rayleigh from having a ball. In fact, she put up quite the fuss when it was time to get out - even though her teeth were chattering.

She also loves wearing her "dasses" no matter the time of day or if we're in or out. Here you can see she's in her nightgown, ready for bed, yet sporting her dasses.
PS - She got this doll from some of our friends from church for her birthday, and she calls it mommy. ...Wonder why?

About Her...

2010-05-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

She can wear a full pony tail now because her hair is getting SO LONG!

She loves to pose for pictures.
Here she is modeling Ghana-wear. Whitney brought this dress back for R from Ghana when she went there over spring break for a school project. R loved the fact that she got to wear her black dress shoes - her fav' footwear.

She definitely knows how to chill...

She loved Granita's visit and the time they shared bonding in their rockers and reading books...

She loves her cousin, Kiley, and Kiley loves her...and I love them both.

And she loves picking flowers and bringing them to people.
Here we are in the wild flowers in the old peach orchard at the family's place in Marble Falls...

Relay For Life 2010

2010-05-05T15:20:00.001-07:00

This was my third year to be a part of Relay For Life, and it was my second year to be the team captain of my church's team. I love being a part of Relay. It's such a wonderful cause - raising money for American Cancer Society and bringing awareness to cancer and it's prevalance in our world. Our team was awesome this year, and we all had so much fun. Relay was moved indoors this year due to rain, so we had it in the high school. It was cramped and loud but still a blast.
Rayleigh was pretty weirded out by the HEBuddy and worked hard to keep her distance from him.

Our team's homebase, filled with food and bake sale items to sell...

Two of the luminaria that were bought in memory of my dad. The luminaria weren't in alphabetical order this year, so we found some others that were bought in his memory spread throughout the gymnasium. R fussed through the whole luminaria ceremony, so I missed all of it. :(

Most of my team the next Sunday after church...they were the best team ever!

Thanks to all of you who helped support me with Relay For Life!