In Memory

Bolivar “The Bean” Howlong Williams

October 2006 – November 2011

We love you and miss you, sweet little Bean. 

In a Nutshell

watching the parade

time with great-grandma

quiet time

post-breakfast begging for cereal

tractor (!)

hayride

cousins and chickens

so much to be thankful for

Thanks and Giving. And Gig 'em.

Another wonderful Thanksgiving still in progress: I'm still stuffed with turkey and gravy and ever thankful for my wonderful husband, sons, family, God, home, health, and abundance of food and clean water.

I don't have any pictures uploaded yet, and my typing on the touchpad of my mother-in-law's iPad (you go, Gigi) is painfully slow, but there is one urgent issue to discuss:

Surely I'm not the only person in the world who realizes that the A&M/UT rivalry is bigger than one football game. It's about my best friend going to UT and me going to A&M and we're still friends. It's about that exact scenario taking place every year all over the state. It's the healthy, mutual respect between the two biggest universities in Texas. I was a freshman at A&M when when Bonfire collapsed; I understand what the rivalry really means. It's fighting with your siblings. The rivalry ends tonight? Shut your pumpkin pie hole announcers and reporters and people who keep bringing it up. You don't know what you're saying.

Regardless of who wins the football game tonight, I'm going to wake up tomorrow and call my t-sipper friend Kate (well, theoretically, because I'm really not great at making phone calls) and life will go on. Gig 'em Ags and saw 'em off. And Happy Thanksgiving. And to all a good night.

A Delicate Balance

Trent and I find that the tipping point in our lives, when one of us starts to feel totally put upon, is paying the bills.  We can each take care of all our own work and family responsibilities, but whoever is currently in charge of paying the bills always feels like he or she is doing everything.  Right now it’s Trent, so I have no reason to complain.  But I have reached a very delicate point- I’m just busy enough that I’m more productive than usual, but also precariously close to messing things up, say for example packing Tate’s diaper bag before church this morning and then forgetting it at home. 

If I can just hold it together, hopefully I can channel everything going on into more efficiency in my life.  Hopefully…

So, we went to Austin last weekend for my niece’s baptism and my brother-in-law’s 30th birthday party.  (11-7 CLUB FOREVER!)  As I’ve mentioned before, so many people we love are currently living in Austin, so the visits just get better and better.  We actually had all our children’s godparents together on Saturday night which made me feel both happy and awesome.  Awesome because as a woman who brought my son to the church nursery today without diapers, a pacifier, or a bottle, at least I know I have a team of spiritual, funny, creative, fantastic people who have my back in the raising of these kids.

That’s the godparent dream team.  You’re welcome, sons.

We also got a mighty fine picture of the entire Rush clan:  Holla y’all.

Post Austin trip, we’ve been home.  Trent smoked some chickens on Saturday, so it looks like I don’t have to worry about anything but vegetables for the rest of the week.  Actually, longer than that because I can stretch a chicken into a week of meals, so the other chicken is in the freezer.

We also made the best pork ever, which we ate at Kate’s a few months ago and have been longing for ever since.  It cooks for 3-4 hours in the oven so we waited all summer and finally decided it was cool enough to cook it – definitely worth the wait.

Rush, Tate and I all finished our gifts for the family handmade Christmas gift making thing we’re doing this year.  (Reminder- everyone drew a name and you make a gift for that person, two separate gift exchanges, one with Trent’s family and one with mine, kids only participating with Trent’s fam)  Anyway, let’s get on to the non-important issue:  Look closely at the bottom left corner of the picture…my shirt is bunched and folded halfway up my back.  I’m wondering why no one told me about that before he took my picture.  Come on, man.

I’m reading too much into it and imagining I’m going to live my life in a constant state of a stray curler left in my hair or my pants ripped or my shirt bunched up halfway up my back, walking around with people who love me but didn’t notice enough to tell me to fix it.  But am I really reading too much into it or am I just accurately predicting it?  Because is this guy going to tell me I have lipstick on my teeth?

Is this guy going to tell me my shirt still has a tag on it?

Is Trent going to tell me that my shirt is on backwards?  Nope.  So please, please, if you’re female and friends with me, help a sister out.

Stumbling

My apologies in advance for the fact that I obviously don’t know how to focus a camera.

I know the really hip thing right now is pinterest, and I tried to get into that, but I lost interest in the two days I had to wait while they approved my account.  Instead, I’ve been sucked into stumbleupon, where you select some of your interests (crafts!  books!  nutrition!), hit the stumble button, and it brings up a random webpage. 

So far I’ve learned to fold a strip of paper into a 3-D star

and make a bird’s nest out of beads and wire.

And who knows what will come up next.  With ten minutes until ten pm, the question stands:  Will I hit the stumble button a few times tonight or will I go upstairs and read? 

I’m choosing reading – come on will power, let’s go.