Vacation fun!

Hannah takes after her old ma and pa when she makes a tent out of half a dozen blankets. I did that when I was little and so, apparently, did John. And the hat pic? Well, that's ALL Hannah! ha!

New member of the family

I have a new appendage. My belly has declared its freedom. It is now, as the Brits say, “on holiday.” It has its own Independence Day. For 35 years, I have had the usual amount of limbs and have carried on quite successfully. Those days are passed. Pfffftt! Gone!

Now, I’ve never been the proud possessor of a six-pack. Never wanted it badly enough. Even in my trimmest days, my abs were, at best, a four- or five-pack. Alas, the stomach muscles have now congealed into one great lump and, as previously mentioned, are one entity. Think the UNIBROW, only the stomach version. The uni-ab. Any exercises I have done for the past few months or, years, have amounted to simply consolidating all that flab.

But the other night, while helping my fourth grader with her homework, I decided she was in dire need of a break. “Let’s get those wiggles out,” I exclaimed. We stretched and loosened, wiggled and giggled. I really got into it, man! Feeling great, I shouted, “Jumping jacks!” I bounced. My stomach bounced, about half a beat slower than the rest of me. And when I stopped, various parts of me kept moving. Whoa! “Stop, stop!” I cried to that rebellious flopping appendage.

Like the political candidate, Sarah Palin, my belly that has Gone Rogue.

Christmas decorations

The first picture shows Hannah with her markerboard--she was home sick from school a couple of weeks ago, had a fever and a sore throat. She spent most of the day speechless (gasp!), a difficult thing for her! ha! But she had her handy-dandy marker board upon which she could scribble her thoughts, ramblings and requests. I think John grew a little weary of the constant "squeaky, squeaky" sound of marker on board. But it wasn't TOO bad!

I thought I'd show a couple of pictures of decorations, with my ever-ready model, Hannah. Every year, I say I am "just not going to decorate much, really, I'm not!!" But then I can't help myself. I know Hannah enjoys the pretty colors and all the Christmas glitter and glow. We even hung up some pink lights in her room this year, plus some out on the balcony.

December Doings...

We enjoyed the Christmas program at Hannah's school a week-and-a-half ago, and these are pictures of me fixing her hair for the evening. The children wore their Burton shirts and pants for the performance, which made it less formal. Sometimes I miss more formal performances, with dresses and such, but I don't miss having one more thing (a choir outfit) to have to buy for it! She was excited for me to fix her hair--I placed two small ponytails on either side of her head.

It is absolutely the BEST watching Hannah sing, especially for a school program. She puts her all into each song, making sure to do each hand movement or bow or facial expression just right. Her eyes never leave the music teacher's form--she's very earnest about it all! She's just cute as a bug, if I do say so myself! ha!

Tonight we spent some time cleaning up her room, going through toys to see which ones she might give away (to make room for new Christmas gifts). At first she didn't want to do it, but didn't put up much of an argument (she knows that wouldn't help anyway). Besides, if I'm in the mood at ALL for that sort of thing, I kind of have to go with it and do it right then when the moment strikes--which doesn't happen very often! We made some good progress and I now have a bunch of items I can donate to Arlington mission after-school program, where I volunteer on Thursday afternoons.

I felt a little nostalgic regarding some of the items Hannah was willing to donate: she doesn't play with her baby dolls anymore, nor some of her princess toys, some of which we bought years ago. I keep a few items for sentimental reasons, but I know there are children out there who could be playing with this stuff now! Still, looking at these baby dolls... (sigh) I can't believe she's getting so big (sniff sniff). She still loves her stuffed animals and any dog-related toys, at least.

All for now,
Tricia

A Christmas Luau

So I come into the living room the other day and had to laugh--there's Hannah with a summer shirt on, a lei and a flower in her hair. What a bright spot she is in my day! And of course, she had to dress Jacky the guinea pig up in the same flower and lei. Lookin' good, piggie! ha!

That's Not Fair!

"That's not fair!" How many of us have heard someone, especially a kid, utter this phrase? (For that matter, how many adults have said it?!)

I knew from fairly early on that I only wanted one child, for a variety of reasons. John and I both agreed on this. It's worked out well for us. But most folks I know have two or more. And they deal with the "it's not fair" complaint (especially regarding sibling rivalry) on a regular basis.

We've all seen it: Child Number One receives a goody (or toys, prizes, etc.) and Child Number Two receives his own as well. Child Number One squawks because the second is given one more, or he has a different color, or the toy is bigger, and so on. Eventually mothers and fathers, to save the peace, are v-e-r-y careful in doling out the goodies. They KNOW that the children will bicker if not given treats of equal value.

How often are we adults like that? When I see Mr. So-and-so with a fancy new car, or she's oh-so-slim and I'm not? What happens when we aren't content with what God gave us? Yes, that green-eyed monster rears its ugly head, and suddenly the toy in our hand doesn't look half as good as our friend's. We compare and compare from personalities to cars to houses to spouses until it makes us sick. And we say, not so politely to God, "It's not fair!"

We especially do that with the bigger issues in life. Look at that person, he had a great childhood, why didn't I? Or: Why can't I get my finances in order, why didn't God give me more money? "Why didn't God give me ____?" we squawk. "It's not fair," we cry.

The thing is, we don't realize how much He has given us--which may be different for one person than another at any given time:

*** a lovely sunset
*** wildflowers that paint a meadow
*** clean drinking water
*** good health
*** caring friends
*** a loyal, fun-loving pet
*** snow-topped mountain peaks
*** the laughter of your own child
*** every breath we take

Maybe today, you and I will lift our voices and say to our loving God, "It's MORE than fair!"

"Missouri" loves company... in the form of a cousin!

My cousin drove down from Missouri last weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday and I was so excited. We hadn't seen each other since I was about 7 years old! Whew!

They were staying with her eldest daughter, recently married, and so we all had a lovely visit on Saturday evening. I'd always had a suspicion she was a terrific lady, kind nurse, loving wife and mother--and that evening just confirmed it. We had to "get to know each other all over again," since we were quite young the previous reunions. Where do the years go? I mean, you look up and wow!: another decade has passed.

John and Jeff hit it off too. They kind of reminded me of each other a little bit. Each, a solid, loving Christian, devoted fathers and husbands. I felt a tremendous blessing to be in such company as these people.

Even though life is indeed busy, I'm hoping we can keep up a few times a year via phone or email messages. We really hit it off and there was definitely a "tender-hearted girls" bond there! ha! Even Hannah and Jadon had a blast playing together. What fun! I felt bad we didn't leave until kinda late, I didn't realize how much time had passed, so we skeedaddled on out of there and headed home. All of us Williams were in a happy, chatty mood!

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Tomorrow evening Hannah's school will be presenting their Christmas program at the Arlington church. I'm looking forward to that for sure! Hannah's hummed a few of the tunes they'll be singing, so I know the audience is in for a musical treat!

Well, gotta get some rest. Love to all and more posts soon.

TW

Stitched old-fashioned dress

Although already included in my blog banner, here's a stitched card I created of an old-timey dress. I didn't even realize until after I finished it that it looks a little hoochie-coochie (trust Hubby to point that out! ha!), especially with the black, silver and red color combination. But I still say it turned out pretty good and I stand by it! ha! The silver threading is especially pretty in person!

Pattern credit for this card goes to D J Designs (2008), located in the UK.

Fun times with my Sister!

We had such a great time with my sister during her visit a couple of weeks ago. We got to do all sorts of fun things, like the Omni theater in Fort Worth, and more. We also had a "Game Night," on Wednesday night and even got mom to play Skip-Bo with us, which was a DELIGHT. I have very happy memories of Daddy, Pam and I playing games and mom playing the piano in the background when I was little.

But, if we were very lucky, mom would concede to playing one game. And we'd all dance around (well, maybe not daddy! ha!), very happy that mom was going to be a part of it all. Then mom, after thoroughly TROUNCING us, would promptly say she was finished and leave us all with mouths open of how the lady just easily won the game, hands down! Maybe that was her EVIL PLAN all along?? ha!

Anyway, so grateful for the time spent with my sis and parents. Sweet times indeed!