AFTERNOON TEA AND A GOOD BOOK...

A few weeks ago, Grandaddy Gene came to help Ray with a little electrical work in our 'old new house.' While they were hard at work replacing switches and installing GFCI plugs, Taylor enjoyed some special time with her Great Grandmother.

Taylor served up a wonderful pot of tea. She and GayGay nibbled on tasty cakes while sipping their tea.

After tea time, they snuggled up to read a few good books.
What special moments for a girl and her great grandmother!

Grandaddy, we have a few more outlets to work on in the kitchen...Grandmother, Taylor will have a fresh pot of tea waiting!

EASTER WEEKEND...

Lets play catch up, and what better place to start than Easter! We had a wonderful Easter!

Sunday morning began with a basket full of goodies from the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny left Taylor some gardening tools (to help her daddy), lots of bracelets, and some other treats.

She had a blast digging through the basket, and wanted to wear and play with every bit of it.
Play time was cut short so that we could attend the Easter service at church.
Taylor was blessed to spend this Easter with all four of her grandparents, 3 great-grands, her aunt, uncle and two of her four cousins, and a few other special friends. We had quite the crowd over to our house for an Easter picnic....
and egg hunting!! The Easter egg hunt took a bit longer than expected.
The girls would hunt for an egg, give it a shake, then pause to open it, and pop the jelly bean in their mouth before dropping the egg in their basket. It took approximately 60 minutes to hunt two dozen eggs, but boy was it fun!
And exhausting. After the crowds left, Taylor passed out. What a day!!
Thanks Gackie, PopPop, Gramma, Big, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Jay, Braylin, Masyn, Gramp, GaGa, GayGay, LaLa, and DayDay for celebrating this special day with us!

Please notice the hot pink bow Taylor is sporting in her hair during the egg hunt. We FINALLY have just enough hair to wear a bow. But, don't you know it, that child refused to wear the custom purple satin bow I had made to match her Easter dress. We went BOW-LESS to church and then she insisted on wearing this pink polka-dotted thing in her hair during the egg hunt! And it begins, the age old tug of war of bows between mother and child.

BEST BUDS....

Taylor has had so much fun the past few weeks spending time with her cousin, Braylin. They have become great friends!! The wonderful weather has made their time together even better.

Tay and Bray have ridden bikes....

Played at the park...
Shared a picnic...
Cooled off with some popsicles...
And then soaked up some good 'ole A/C at the Elmo show. Which, by the way, the girls LOVED! They had so much fun!! Laughing and pointing at all of the Sesame Street characters. Although, I think Braylin was a little disappointed that Elmo wasn't in EVERY scene.
The have had a wonderful time in this beautiful weather. And I love it, because I have been able to spend some extra time with my super sister and beautiful baby niece, Masyn.

AN AFTERNOON WITH GAYGAY AND GAGA...

Last Thursday was a beautiful day, warm weather and plenty of sunshine. After a fun day at Mother's Day Out, Taylor and I went to play at GayGay and GaGa's house. It didn't take long for Taylor to decide that she wanted to enjoy the weather outside. So, GaGa took her out back where there was plenty to entertain her.

Taylor and GaGa enjoyed some shade on the porch swing...

The walked all the way to the back fence (you would have to see their back yard to understand what a feat this is for an 18 month old) to pick some wisteria.
And just had fun!
Last year, Taylor was too young to help in the harvesting of GayGay and GaGa's tomatoes. GaGa has started growing his garden for this year. Taylor was very interested in the tiny, baby plants in cups. I think she will prove to be a great little farmer's helper!!! I am looking forward to tons of great pics of that!!

Thanks, Grandaddy for sending me these pictures!!!

A WEEK OF BLESSINGS....

There are times in our lives that we are unable to see the work that God has been doing until days, months, maybe even years have passed. We are able to see events occurring and opportunities unfolding, but not make the connection with God's plan. For my family, this is not one of those times. God's presence and his plan has never been clearer than it has been the past few weeks, specifically, last week.

After a few weeks of bed rest, Sarah finally made it to March 16, delivery day for my little neice. Just as stubborn as her cousin, Taylor, Baby Langham was sitting in breech position. So, Sarah had a cesarean and Masyn Kristine Langham was delivered at 8:29am measuring in at 7 lbs 4 ozs and 19". She is perfect in every way and, in case you can't tell, looks identical to Braylin AND Jay as a baby. We didn't have quite the crowd in the waiting room this time....just Gammie, PopPop, Poppi, Pops, GaGa, GayGay, Gramp, Lala, DayDay, Pam...Ok, well, it was still a pretty big crowd.

On March 17, my grandmother was given permission by her doctor to be taken from LifeCare down two floors, where she was able to hold Masyn. It was an amazing moment, lots of tears, priceless pictures, and memories that Sarah and Jay will cherish forever, those of Gram brushing Masyn head accross her cheek and giving her kisses.
That evening, Ray stayed home from a dental meeting so I could spend the evening with my family at the hospital. Gram and Grandaddy on the 8th in LifeCare and Sarah and Masyn on the 6th in postpartum. About an hour holding my beautiful baby neice and a few special moments talking movies, wheel of fortune, Baby Masyn, Taylor's antics, and milkshakes with my Gram. Wrapping up both with an I love you and a hug.

On the morning of March 18th, my Gram peacefully went to be with the Lord. It had been a long battle, ten years since she was diagnosed with cancer, multiple treatments, countless procedures, so many medicines. She fought for her life for a decade. Gram was tired. She had been telling us for a week or so that she was ready for the Lord to take her. As hard as it hurts to let her go, we did not want her suffering anymore and are forever grateful for the Lord answering her prayers.

Gram and our family received so many blessings over the past 10 years in the form of the many doctors, nurses, therapists, aides, our church families and friends. My family has been lifting all of them up to the Lord in praise. Each person that came in contact with Gram helped to give us another laugh, another hug, another holiday, another birthday, and so many memories.

I am especially thankful for all the moments that Gram shared with Taylor. So many special memories and pictures. We look forward to many more memories with all of Taylor's grandparents and great-grandparents!!!


GiGi (Gram) had a 'tea party' for the girls at her coffee table. Braylin and Taylor would share cookies and juice. Don't worry Gramp, the girls still want to tea party with you!!
So, after a long week of emotions on high, it is a relief to know that God's hand was in every moment. What a blessing for our family to receive a new member and send a member to heaven all within one week. Masyn, I am sure, will be just a precious and sweet spirited as her sister, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. And Gram will forever be the strongest woman I ever was blessed to know and love.

SMORE PLEASE....

There are those moments, as a responsible member of society, an adult, and, of course, as a parent, that you may reminisce over the 'good ole days.' Those chilly nights in college when we would bundle up and sit around a fire pit (or bon fire) drinking a beer, listening to music, and just hanging out with our friends....enjoying the company....ahhhhh, memories.

Upon arriving home this evening, we decided to test out our new fire pit (inherited from Gammie and PopPop). Yes, of course, I know what you are thinking...it is not even that cold, only 45-50 degrees tonight. But that made it just right. Chilly enough to enjoy the warmth of the fire without breaking a sweat, but warm enough to forgo those layers of coats and scarves.

Taylor was enamored by the beautiful flickering flame. She added the music with her 'oooohhhh's', 'ahhh's' and 'wow's'. And then, it came to me, what better time to introduce Taylor to the scrumptious delight of a Smore!??! So, I rushed to the store, grabbed a box of graham crackers, plump white mallows and a hand full of Hershey bars.

She stood patiently while Daddy held the skewered mallow over the fire, nibbling on snippets of the other ingredients, until that perfect little crust formed around the warm, squishy, yummy-goodness of the marshmallow. Time to assembly and, alas, time for Taylor's first taste....

Ladies and gentleman, we have a Smore Lover!!!
Well, Taylor may have been a bigger fan of the 'deconstructed smore', but that's OK. Between the three of us, the smores were going...
going...
gone...
Surprisingly, after eating WAY to much chocolate and smearing marshmallow fluff all over her hands and face, Taylor went right to sleep.

At our little fire pit tonight, there was no Dave Matthew's playing in the background, no whispering/snickering/gossiping by groups of girls, no talks of what happened last night or when the next big party was. Just Taylor, her Mommy, and her Daddy enjoying each others company and some yummy late night snacks...ahhh memories.

(After putting Taylor to bed, Ray and I did enjoy a beer by the fire...)

LETS PLAY CATCH UP....

My sincerest apologies. I feel that I have let so many of you down! I can only imagine that you feel as though I have abandoned such a special project as documenting our life with Taylor. Almost four months!!! I am so sorry and, goodness, I HOPE I still have a few readers that hold on to what little hope is left and check back frequently for updates. So lets get started...

We had a wonderful Christmas. Santa was very good to Taylor....he left her a new art table and a wagon! And her stocking was full of goodies...pajamas, slippers, bathtub crayons, bubbles, hair bows (more on that later), mittens and a hat (available for show below), backpack, and the list goes on. After Christmas, we returned home to start a new year in our new house!!!!

That's right, we bought a house in South Highlands!! Interestingly enough, it is located directly behind on of Mary's childhood homes! What an amazing feeling, after renting for so many years and EIGHT moves over the past 10 years, to finally own a little piece of land. No kidding....WE HAVE A YARD!!!!With flower beds to keep, trees to trim, and grass to mow!!! Hooray! To be a homeowner!!!

Taylor took a flight in Pop Pop's new plane. He traded in the Cessna for a Lance. So, now we can all ride!!! Taylor wore her headset for all of 5 minutes and then was up and around. She colored, she ate snacks, enjoyed the sights and chatted with the pilot....

We had our first haircut!!! I know, I know, from the picture it looks like our baby girl got a buzz cut. Well, that's actually all the hair she has. What did we cut you ask?

THE MULLET!

That's right, folks. What started as a skullet, eventually grew into a full grown mullet. It was time for a trim. So, now, at 16 months, we still do not have enough hair for a bow. Maybe in a few more months.

A few weeks after moving in, Shreveport saw snow. Well, ok, sleet/snow. It was beautiful. We took Taylor out to play, but honestly, there wasn't enough to 'play' in.

Thankfully, two weeks later, we had REAL snow. So, again, we bundled up and played in the yard.

Then, we went over to Gammie and Pop Pop's to go sledding with Braylin. Taylor had an absolute blast! We ALL did! Everyone took a ride on the sled. We doubled up. We raced. We rode as couples, mommy's and babies, daddies and babies, gammie's and babies. Taylor's little cheeks were red from the wind, her nose was runny, lip quivering, but her smile stayed strong. It was the best day ever.

Now, I promise you, I will not fail you again. I will keep this blog updated. Taylor is changing with every day, so stay tuned!!!