Rimsky

As many of you know, the newest addition to the Tolleson apartment is a grey tabby kitten we've named Rimsky after the composer Rimsky-Korsakov. (If you haven't heard his "best of" in awhile, they are definitely worth another listen: Scheherazade, Flight of the Bumblebee, and Russian Easter Overture.) Truth be told - although Rimsky-Korsakov is a great composer - we just thought it was a cute kitty name.

Rimsky was originally named Arnold, so we decided to keep Arnold as his middle name; thus, the name used when he becomes mischievous is Rimsky Arnold Tolleson. He was in a foster home as part of the "no-kill" program in Austin called Austin Pets Alive. We found him on their website and set up a "meet and greet." Of course we fell in love and brought him home! He has won our hearts and continually makes us smile. He's an excellent pouncer, jumper, and fetcher of mice; he cuddles, purrs, meows, and follows us around the apartment. Here are a few of the millions of pictures we've taken so far :).

Meet Rimsky

He's content to lay in your arms like a baby.

He LOVES his bags!

Check out the markings on his face!

Our very own striped cuddle bug

Food seems to be the other big presence in our lives :-). Kinley gave Hannah an awesome cook book for Christmas, which has produced some yummy homemade foods like butternut squash soup, hummus, and toaster pastries! Next on the list is granola (thank you Kinley!)

James has been making lots of yummy foods too, mostly without recipes (Hannah is very impressed!) In addition to cooking, James keeps up with all of the local food blogs, which led us to find a food truck that serves amazing donuts! Oh, they're good :-).

In the midst of all this wintery weather, we have had two ice days! Crazy! We wish everyone warmth, health, and the chance to sit down with family and friends over a long delicious meal!

Love,
James and Hannah

Flexibility

With a new year well under way, I think it is safe to say that flexibility has become a key attitude at the Rutherford household.

We rang in the new year with friends and a day of laziness. Something that is rare at our house and was a great reminder of how much we enjoy spending time together. Then it was off to the races again!

Mary had a slower January after working her third year in a row with the Rockettes. She has been working with Jersey Boys for two and a half years and was delighted to be asked to join them for three of their eight shows a week permanently in the stage left women’s track. As of the 28^th, on both Tuesday and Wednesday Mary will be at home with the show on Broadway. There are many more possibilities lurking in the near future with a need for much patience in the wait to see how the puzzle will fall together.

Kurtis has had a significantly more exciting January with a preparation for an eight week tour, a fight with what we are fondling calling the plague, and a big shop move. Long story short, a few days before he was to go on tour, they informed him that he would be staying behind to move the shop and join the tour in a week. With an odd progression, he is still in town and it appears as though Mary’s small get away to meet Kurtis in Las Vegas and visit California has now become a small trip for both of s. If everything goes as it seems, Kurtis will stay in New York. This also seems to change daily.

The third interesting thing taking place at the Rutherford household is a long term guest, Liz. She has been staying with us for almost three weeks now. Our one bedroom apartment actually separates out well for a long term guest and Liz is a friend from K-State who has been living in Chicago, looking to move to NYC. It is nice to be able to pay back some of the kindness that friends showed us as we made this move.

Flexibility has become the word at our house. With jobs in flux, an extra person living in our space and a wait on the future, it is key to have the flexibility. That attitude has enabled us to enjoy hobbies on beer making, yoga, video games, music and so on. It has also made a couple of visits from dad simply delightful and very memorable.

No complaints, only hope for the future and flexibility for the present. Wishing you all the best! Much love!

Mary and Kurtis

You know it’s a bad day when:

You put laminating sheets into the laminator and then realize some time later that they have disappeared and not come out the other side.

Your printer gives you the “49” error and it doesn’t print.

You step in pet throwup first thing when you get up.

You let the dog off leash and when you say it is time to get in the car she runs the other direction.  (Tim and Mandalay on his last trip to Denver)  It takes 30 minutes to catch her.

Your boss was cleaning up files and deleted your manuals and checklists that you just tweek and resue every year.

You attempt to make whole wheat biscuits and realize how heavy whole wheat biscuits actually are.

You don’t want to waste the whole wheat flour so you make whole wheat chocolate chip cookies and they don’t taste like the “real” thing.

You know it’s a good day when:

You have new socks to wear.

Perfectly Screwy Socks

Wonder Woman Socks

You spend an afternoon at the park with Benny and Kate.

Your team is in the Super Bowl and your co workers team is not.

Your dog snuggles up to you on the couch. 

You discuss campaign pinwheels with your aspiring politician.

The sun is shining and it’s 50+ degrees in January.

The Obama administration makes a commercial that references West Wing.  (ok you have to be a West Wing fan to fully appreciate it)

 http://thehill.com/video/in-the-news/196403-wh-to-host-virtual-big-block-of-cheese-day

You get to crawl in to a warm bed, thanks to a hubby, dogs and an electric blanket.

You get to spend each Friday with extended family for family dinner.

Love

Auntie

Back to Work

We enjoyed a great holiday season with everyone.  Some of our favorite photos are featured below. 

Mary and Randy in New York Dec. 15, 2013

Ava and Kinley enjoying the Nativity.

Sibling Christmas exchange Dec. 29, 2013

Clara enjoying the Santa blanket.

The boys playing :) with Randy's new Amtrak train set.

I went back to school on January 6th with the usual happenings there.  My they do have a lot of paperwork for us to do this year!  In some cases,  the classroom teacher can hardly teach.  Hopefully this phase will pass as all new and old ideas have in the past.  :)  Randy also started traveling on the 6th.   He was gone the first two weeks of January and managed to get some type of flu.  He is really now just beginning to feel better.  However, if he would of stopped sooner......  He left today for another two week bout which hopefully will be the last for a couple of months.  My knee is slowly getting better although it still does not want to straighten all the way.  It will with help so that is encouraging.  I am still able to enjoy the four granddaughters which is the greatest highlight of my day when I get to play!!  I got some new make your own monster puppets from the David Johnston family for Christmas. We have had lots of fun remaking them into different monsters and having them dance and talk.  What wonderful memories and fun!  Last I am sorry this post is late but somehow I was not an author anymore.  However, Auntie was able to fix that.