a tailgate thanksgiving.

 Ah.

Hello blog. How ya been? 

Let's get right into it, shall we?

This past Thanksgiving, we opted OUT of the traditional sit-down at home dinner in lieu of tailgating in Aggieland before the last tu game for Dodds God knows how long. Whatever. Don't get me started.

Of course we won't discuss the OUTCOME of the game...

{and by WE, I totally mean commenters, cha?}

So. We bought a fancy plastic table cloth and set up in the parking lot, in OUR spot, under the tent and enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal my mom miraculously cooked the day before/of and managed to get all the way to CS warm and tasty. 

 We all even looked cute and festive, so Dad decided to try and get a decent picture...

But of course, Liam had other ideas. 

Some of our absolute FAVORITE people in the whole world, the Williamsons, dropped by and that made us super happy. They live in our neighborhood, no more than 1 minute away by car. It's awesome. Christine and I have known each other since our brothers were kids in elementary school together, so probably since 1995 or so? That's a long damn time, yo.

They're too damn cute.

My dad, hubs and I headed into the stadium around 6:00 (to ensure we got to see the corps, and the senior day stuff) as the sun was headed down. I love being in Aggieland. OH SO MUCH.

Kinda awesome to know that XII will never be there again. 

In my mind, the picture below totally has a soundtrack. 

NOBLE MEN OF KYLE.

It rocks my face off.

Corps March-in.

Student section.

I can TOTALLY sit over there next year. As we welcome some of the BEST TEAMS in the country to Kyle. Oh yeah. 

The students again. 

Now. WE MAY NOT have had the larger number on the scoreboard when regulation time was over. 

BUT. BUT. BUT.

We ALWAYS win HALFTIME.

You may want to check out the band's performance, looking in particular for the Four-Way, which they do once a year, and is the signature big !!! move for them. It occurs at around 3:00 in -- they're setting it up at 3 minutes, it's amazing. I wish I could video so much better, wish I'd had an actual video camera instead of my little point and shoot. Apologies for the commentary by myself, my spouse, my dad and our neighbors.

my sahm syndrome

I'm in my last days as a StayAtHomeMom. I say this because come January, I'll be enrolled as a student at the most wonderful University on the planet. So my days are going to be busier, my Tuesdays and Thursdays (and possibly Mondays) are going to be spent in a city an hour and a half away from home.

Part of me is terrified. I know on Tuesdays Liam will have his daddy to take care of him, and on Thursdays he'll have my mom, but it still makes me nervous to be so far away from him with that much regularity. What if he's sick and needs me? What if something happens at school and I'm not able to be reached immediately? I've always had a hard time not being with Liam at all times. I was extremely possessive of him as a newborn and when anyone else would hold him and he'd cry I'd get agitated to the point where my heart would race, my palms would sweat and I could feel a panic attack coming on. It wasn't pretty, but I needed my baby and he needed me. Things have since gotten better, obviously, because Liam is becoming so much more independent, but it still makes me a little panicky to think that I'm going to be busy with something that'll take my attention away from him to such an extent.

Part of what troubles me is that I have friends who don't have children, who have jobs, and they can't see where I'm going to be busy, where going back to school is going to add any stress to my life. I had one friend ask me why it's taken me so long to get much accomplished with my current writing project since I "don't work and don't have anything to do all day." Not only does that attitude make me stabby, but I think it's a little... inconsiderate? I mean, sure with two incomes coming into a household, you can afford a new car, or a maid, or a yard service. With one income and an immense amount of student loans? I AM the maid. I AM the cook. I AM everything. And I don't mind. I don't need a maid, my mom never did, why should I (not going to lie, I'll probably be begging for a maid come February when I'm elbows deep in reading and writing assignments with housework also on my to-do list)? But contrary to what a lot of people seem to think about a SAHM, it isn't just sitting around all day.

I don't need to tell most of you that, and I'm sure a lot of you have faced similar attitudes, but I resent the attitude that SAHMs stay at home because they're lazy and don't want to work. It's an uninformed opinion, and anyone who's stayed home with a child knows that, but I don't like the judgement that comes from it. Part of what irritates me is when I tell people I'm going back to school, people immediately ask me what job I'm going to try and get with my degree when I'm done. To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Or what I want to do. I don't think, unless something amazing comes along, that I'll pursue anything until Liam is in school 5 days a week. I don't want him in daycare. I want him in preschool and at home. In the grand scheme of things, the time you have with your child where they're NOT busy all the time is very short, and to me, I think it's very precious, so I want to be with him.

I feel a little off topic. The change that's coming OH SO SHORTLY has me a little intimidated as well. I have really enjoyed my time with Liam. I enjoy picking him up from school. And I'm getting down to only a couple more days left of doing that. I mean, we've got this week of school, none next week, and a couple of weeks in December. Then? I'm done. I won't take him. I won't pick him up. I won't have anyone to talk to in the car. Maybe I'm hormonal, because on any given day when people ask me what I'm most looking forward to about going back to school, I quickly reply with "the drive, I can't wait to drive in my car, by myself, with my music as loud as I want it, playing whatever I want." I know. You're judging me. But At the same time, I'm pretty sure once April rolls around, I'll be way over that.

To cut a long story short, and I could go on if you wish, I'm sad to see my every-days at home with Liam coming to an end. I'm a mommy who drops everything if her child comes up and wants to be held, or climbs into my lap for a cuddle. But, I am also thinking that my Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at home with Liam will be all the more enjoyable.

I'm not only giving up days with my son to go back to school, I'm giving up my day with my spouse. His Tuesdays off are a treat. We go out to lunch as a family a lot, we grocery shop together... I won't be here. And that kind of sucks. But. The SOONER I'm done, the SOONER I'm back with my family 24/7. So bring it on, Department of English at  the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University. I'm ready.

And you better know, the epic pictures I'm going to post when I graduate will make you want to punch me in the face. You've been warned. Because Liam will be looking spiffy!

big news!

I have held off on sharing this on my blog, for fear that sharing before it was a sure thing would somehow doom my chances. 

HOWEVER.

Now that it's all said and done... 

I am SO happy to tell you all that I will be a student at Texas A&M University once again come this next semester!

I am very excited, as not only have I been readmitted and have received my letter, but I have been accepted into the College of Liberal Arts!! 

I am (so happy to be) leaving behind the College of Geoscience and I'm (finally) going to be majoring in my true passion: English. 

I haven't found out whether I'm going to be in the Literature or the Creative Writing tract yet, but that's something that I'll figure out with time. Um, that's something I'll know before to terribly long. ;)

I have a little bit of time to let it all soak in before things get rolling, but for now, I'm just about as happy as can be!

SO, if you see a sudden drop off in my blogging, or the subject matter changes drastically, then you know why!

I also am going to try REALLY hard NOT to blog about school all the time, but for now, I'm not making any promises.

{muster, campus}

wordless wednesday: the three amigos

BFFs. Stef, Cory, Zach.

(post-game @ Kyle Field vs. Idaho)


Not completely wordless: Cory had rotator cuff surgery on his shoulder about 5 weeks ago. 

toddler tuesday: tailgating tot.

Oh, hi Tuesday. 

There you are. 

So. Liam has discovered something wonderful in his little toddler life. 

TAILGATING.

Oh yes. Since football season started we've tailgated twice-- once this past Saturday, and once two weeks before. SADLY, he needs his own ticket to get into the game, so he's been hanging in the parking lot. We have 4 season tickets between the six adults and Liam, so there's always someone to hang out with him (the grandmas, thus far). 

To keep him occupied, we've brought a lot of fun things for Liam to play with- his bubble Mater, fans, bubbles, markers... 

He thinks tailgating in Aggieland is pretty much awesome. 

We're so glad Liam's Godfather, Uncle Cory, was able to come to town to go to the game with us this past weekend, SO MUCH FUN!!

college football: a season of hating thy neighbor('s school).

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Can you smell it?? 

FOOTBALL SEASON.

There's nothing like College Football, and surely, nobody does it better than the people below the Mason-Dixon Line. 

We do it right down here.

We're extremely passionate about our schools, about our rivalries, about our teams and about our coaches. But one thing that can get a little hairy around this time of year ARE the rivalries that abound in college football. 

I'm no great success at keeping my feelings on the subject under wraps. However, I'd like, if I may, to explain in part how I feel like this season works. 

To begin with, let me say:

I am an Aggie. 

I'm pretty sure if I'd have said this six months ago, some of my readers would have been familiar with our school, but after all the media coverage that's gone on lately, I'm pretty sure you'd have to be living under a rock not to know at least a little bit about us. Moving on. Not tooting a horn.

I love my school. I bleed Maroon. I know all the songs. I know all the yells. I get fired up when I see five boys in all white. I swoon when I see a collie. I scrutinize people's big gold rings on their right hand when in public. I think a band should do a four-way. I think your president should either wear a bow tie or be the Secretary of Defense. I think A-WHOOP!! is the sweetest sound you can hear. I cry a little bit when my son does the gig 'em. I love military marches. I think the WWII era army uniform is just awesome. I think you should mug down, hump it and pass it back. 

Y'all, I love my school. And my love for my school comes with a hatred for others. Namely for the University of Texas, which we refer to as t.u. and the longhorns, who we refer to as t-sips. I cannot even explain it, but those names (I will explain them, if you'd like, just on a more personal basis) are just a part of my vocabulary. I think them, I say them and I write them without thinking twice. I have a large number of longhorn friends and it has taken a lot of work and effort to remember not to use such terms around them. Because that would be mean. 

And. 

Because I don't hate YOU, I hate your school.

I know that it's hard to differentiate the two, but I'm pretty sure my longhorn/red raider/bear friends are nodding along. Yes, we hate your school, but that doesn't mean we hate you. One of my favorite people on the planet is a longhorn. She's one of the smartest, savviest, sweetest, most amazing girls you could ever hope to meet and I'm blessed to know her daily. She's going to make a big difference in children's lives, be a blessing to all she touches and I would trust her with anything. But, and I've been a little reserved in my praise of her, loving her as much as I do does not diminish my hatred for the school she attended. But, inversely, my hatred for her school does not hinder me in loving her. It's a part of her, like being an Aggie is a part of me, but she's my friend first. 

It's kind of special like that. 

However, make no mistake, this rivalry is anything but friendly. And to insist that any rivalry is "all in good fun," or "just a laugh" is completely asinine. Things are only "all in good fun" on ONE side of any rivalry: the winning side. Shit is SERIOUS to the loser. There is no hugging and smiling after a loss to t.u. It ruins our weekend. It ruins our entire Thanksgiving holiday. It is NOT all in good fun to a loser. And neither is it that meaningless to the winner. You get to lord that win over your friends and family from the opposition for the next year. Your statement "Oh, I'm sorry, who won last Thanksgiving?" is a trump card you gladly throw down during any argument. I know you all know what I mean. No wolverine is okay with a loss to the buckeyes. No gator shrugs off a loss to the seminoles like it's nothing. It's a rivalry. Embrace it. Love it. It's actually a big part of what makes football so darn much fun.

Beyond hating our big conference rival, I personally have mixed feelings about many other schools. I truly feel nothing but pure apathy when it comes to our rivalry-- our "rivalry" -- with Texas Tech. I know and love so many people who went there, and my favorite cousin is currently there and is doing well, being a great success and growing in wonderful ways. I'm so proud of him, I can hardly stand it. So when it comes down to it, I'd really like to NEVER lose to the Red Raiders, but I certainly don't care beyond that. Sorry, guys. Also, OU, Mizzou, K State, Iowa State, Baylor... whatever. I really don't care about you. Of course, I want the conference wins, but I bear you no ill will. Oklahoma State... eeeeeeh, we'll talk about that. 

In addition to t.u., I hate only a few other schools.

OSU: oh okie light, if it weren't for T. Boone Pickens, you'd be on that "who gives?" list above.

Auburn: LOATHE. I won't explain but if/when things happen, I don't care if all our other conference games are losses, as long as we win against them. 

Boise State: oh my GOD with your stupid blue field and your stupid blue uniforms and your stupid inflated sense of self.

Kansas: I hate the Jayhawks and their hammer pants. Ask me sometime. I'll tell ya. 

And while I hate some schools that seem to make no sense, I also have some that I love and root for, excepting for when they're playing us. These schools in particular? 

Purdue. 

Florida State (solely because of my sweet friend Betsy)

SMU (solely because of my sweet friend MM)

Funnily enough, we met the Seminoles a fair bit in past months and other sports, and our opening game this Sunday? Oh yeah, against SMU. But the nice thing about these teams, these girls and these games? If we were to lose, I could still greet both my friends with a smile and a hug after the game and bear them no grudge. 

And I'm totally not saying I wouldn't be able to do the same for MY longhorn friends. I'm just saying it might not be as sincere. And I say that with a wink and a nudge. Because when it comes down to it, I know they're feeling the same way. 

But that doesn't mean that they have to lessen their hatred of us, or I have to lessen my hatred of them. 

But we need to remember:

I don't hate you at all, I hate your school. 

Now. Just because we're rivals? Doesn't mean we can't have some fun. I mean, come on, Aggie jokes are a way of life in Texas, apparently. And so are longhorn jokes, to a lesser degree. However, I will say this:

There is one joke I cannot abide. 

Can. NOT. if you want to make these jokes, do it where I cannot see/hear/read it. It is quite unforgivable in my mind and it's this:

Aggies. Are. NOT. STUPID.

I don't know where this came from, or why it persists. We are no where NEAR the dumbest school in the Big XII. No, and far, far from it. We're nipping at the heels of the t-sips in this regard. A degree from our university means something, it's a battle hard fought and patiently won. It's as hard to get into A&M as it is to get into t.u.- we are not the back-up school. At all. And to make jokes where you insult the intelligence of any Aggie simply because they ARE an Aggie is ignorant. Because you are insulting MY intelligence. And my husband's intelligence. And the intelligence of my genius friend Trevor who WILL win a Nobel Prize if he doesn't blow himself up in a chemistry lab first. And the intelligence of my husband's uncle who teaches in the department of Industrial Distribution. To generalize about our intelligence is just not fair. 

So make your jokes about how we're all hicks who ride cows to school and f*ck sheep. Make your jokes about our Corps of Cadets and our band. Make your jokes about being a former military school with male cheerleaders. Make your jokes about the crazy conservative school who makes the people at West Point look like hippies in a commune. We know, those jokes can be funny. 

But the other?

Y'all, I'm a sensitive soul. I get my feelings hurt with relative ease. I had grown a massively thick skin when I was living in Australia, but it's since thinned out as I've not had to use it as often since returning to the US. Please, don't insult my intelligence. 

And don't even think about approaching me with jokes or insults to fling if you aren't ready for me to come right back on it. 

All that aside. I know most, rather some, of us are thrilled to see the pigskin make it's big debut this weekend. As your teams go forth onto the turf, remember what I said:

it's not about YOU, it's all about your school.

Happy football season friends!

welcome: meet the clarks

Howdy, readers!

It strikes me that we've got a LOT of new followers at PP&PB! Welcome!

Instead of making you wade back through years of posting (oh heavens!) to figure us out, I thought I'd give you all a brief overview. 

We met in 2001. It wasn't love at first sight.

We started dating February 2002. He was a senior in HS, I was a junior. He played tuba, I played flute. SO cliche. My mom spotted him at my very first football game at AHS and told me about the cute blonde, blue-eyed tuba player with the happy looking father. Little did she know... 

He went to Texas A&M fall of 2002, majored in Biology. Got into Texas A&M's College of Veterinary Medicine a year early. DVM c/o 2009.

I went to Texas A&M fall of 2003, majoring in Aerospace Engineering... which changed to ENGS. My passion is English, though.

We attended many a football game. Many a Silver Taps. Many a Midnight Yell. We watched George Bush Sr. ride a segway down the sidewalk while we were tailgating. It was awesome.

We got engaged on December 17, 2005.

We were engaged for a year and a half. 

We have two dogs. Jethro, the bloodhound, who will be 7 December 1. Shiner, the hound mix from the labs at A&M. We also have a teeny-weeny white long haired cat, Lily, a Mexican Red Knee tarantula, The Cuteness, and an albino Cornsnake, Snowflake. Yep. 

We got married at his home church on June 2, 2007. We had been "together" for over 5 years when we finally married.

June 2 also happens to be his parents' anniversary.

His mom's name happens to be Stephanie. So. We have the same name. And the same anniversary. We're making things easy, folks. 

We are kids at heart. We honeymooned at Disney World and did a Disney cruise. 

And we've done Disney twice since then.

We found out we were expecting a bundle of joy in November of 2008.

At Beutel. 

Yes, Ags, I found out I was preggo at Brutal. I'm a real-life Brutal Beutel joke.

He graduated with his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine in May 2009. He always wanted to be a Vet. He had NO back-up plans. He got into Vet School a year early, after only 3 years as an undergrad. 

He's a freaking genius, and a passionate, devoted doctor.

We moved back to the Houston/SL area and he started working at the clinic where he grew up taking his dogs. Oh so wonderful.

We welcomed LRLC on July 13, 2009.

2009 was a darn big year. 

And now we have this:

We're a pretty happy little family. I am so thankful for all of you who have started following along on our little family's journey. Thank you all for embracing us!

sweet home college station

In case you hadn't gathered, we left our home Friday afternoon (after much Royal Wedding viewing) for College Station, TX.

Zach was attending a Feline Medicine Symposium at A&M's Vet School, and Liam and I tagged along. I was much more relaxed going along on THIS CE, as opposed to Port A last year, because I'm super-duper comfortable running and gunning by myself in CS. I lived there for a long time. 

We arrived and checked in at our hotel (which was pretty nice!) and then headed straight to Northgate for lunch/dinner. We spent many, many, many an hour at La Bodega when we were residents of the CSTX, and we miss it so much! Despite the fact that it wasn't even 5 o'clock, we both ordered MexMarts, and enjoyed ourselves completely. 

We parted ways at Bodega, Zach headed to the school for the first 3 hours of the Symposium and Liam and I ran around. We went to Toys R Us (the CS TRU is still laid out like they were when we were kids- you know, the big long parallel aisles, and it's just a great store), where Liam spent the rest of a gift card he had on a Perry the Platypus eye-bugger. Then we headed over to Post Oak Mall for some shopping at Aggieland Outfitters, where I was shocked to have to purchase a YOUTH sized hat for my Toddler... he's got a big 'ole head.

We drove by our old house so Liam could see... sadly, the little yellow shack (yeah, it's not that nice) looked uninhabited, but the roses my FIL and I planted were still in the front yard!

Since I'd gotten up at 4:30 and was beyond exhausted, we headed back to the hotel, and got ready for bed early.

Liam decided NOT to sleep that night, finally passing out in the bed with us at 4:45 in the morning. It was horrendous. We were all so tired when morning rolled around.

Zach had to be back at the Vet School at 8, so Liam and I were lazy in the hotel. We finally left so the maids could clean. We ran by our credit union's main branch, strolled around Target and just meandered through CS. We headed back to Northgate to meet Zach for lunch at the "original" Freebirds. 

Details: The Santa Barbara location is technically the 'first' Freebirds, but they didn't start out selling burritos in the style Freebirds is now known for. When the location on NG opened, they started the burrito building, and Santa Barbara followed. So technically, the first Freebirds as Freebirds IS, is the location on NG. 

While we were waiting for Zach, Liam discovered Bottle Cap Alley, and fell in love. I really do think this was his favorite thing we did all weekend. We walked up and down that strip of alley more times on Saturday than I ever did when I was living in CS. That was hard work so we had to stop for a cookie and water break on the back patio before Zach was able to meet us. Liam was a happy little bugger.

After lunch, I thought about where to take Liam and what to do. I didn't really want to take him onto campus because finals are next week, and I didn't want him running around and screaming when the students are probably (hopefully) getting ready for finals insanity. 

So, we headed out to the George Bush Library. 

I'd never actually been before (except to take an exam at the School of Government building) and a very nice guy at the counter gave Liam and I free tickets to go through the museum. 

(people are nice like that in College Station.)

Liam wasn't thrilled I insisted on taking his picture in front of the Horse/Berlin Wall statue, but I couldn't resist. I just love it. 

After running around outside, we headed out to Maggie Moo's on Rock Prairie for some ice cream to take back to the hotel room. I was hoping for a nap for both mommy and babe, but instead we sat on the couch and watched TV greatness and enjoyed our ice cream:

Dinner was special and fun that night. We met Zach's Aunt and Uncle (Uncle Norm is a professor/Ph.D student at A&M in Industrial Distribution) at Fish Daddy's for dinner. Norm is my FIL's older brother and is an A&M graduate a few times over himself. Liam had too much fun with his Aunt Loueva afterwards, running around outside and having her chase him.

(it was also BHS prom night & Ring Dance night. SO many ladies in lovely/skanky dresses!)

We got back to the room around 9:45 and Liam and I were in bed by 10:15. Thank Lord he actually fell right asleep and slept all night, until 8:30!!

After a good night's sleep... 

Zach had ONE MORE morning of lectures, and after he got back at 11, we packed up and headed to lunch.

We decided to try Chuy's. Neither Zach nor I had ever been before, and we figured we'd give it a try in CS where the crowds weren't going to be OUTRAGEOUS so that we knew whether or not it'd be worth it to fight for a table in Katy when that location eventually opens. 

It was a big, big, big hit with all 3 of us. Liam actually ate ALL of his lunch. Not a speck of his burrito was left.

We had a wonderful time in College Station, and are really looking forward to spending a lot of time up there this football season (hellooooooo season tickets!!).