A tiny little town called Hinton

Christmas has been so fun! Time with each family - Worthleys and Dauberts - has been great. We are currently sitting in our hotel room in Hinton, OK.  Nathan and Nikki just got married, we hung out with all our cousins and we are heading back to VA to then drive down to the beach. 

It was really really warm here, like 75 degrees, but then it dropped overnight with a huge thunderstorm to the 40s.  My family has some crazy, hysterical characters that provide much entertainment....including my Dad's older sisters and great aunts. 

Here are some pictures from today's sweet little wedding:

An early Christmas present

I finally had my last day at the preschool! I am so thankful that it came to a close. The little kids will be missed, they were not the bad part. And being a teacher totally has it's benefits, check out the Christmas time goodies:

     (The tall gold box is full of truffles and, yes, the pink and red box IS a Victoria's Secret gift card)

Before we left on Friday afternoon, I came home to quite a surprise! Michael had made me an early Christmas present! This gorgeous cubby shelf is modeled after one we saw at Pottery Barn a while back.  I loved the PB one but it was nearly $1000 and I totally believed Michael could build one for us whenever we got into a new house. I had no idea he would remember that I loved it and would make it for me now!?! Although we have no room for it yet, it is so, so cute and functional. You can't tell in the picture but Michael even picked out a decorative trim that is different from the PB shelf. I have so many plans to fill it with baskets and flowers and pictures and so on....

King Tut

Last night Michael hit a cat with our car. At 7:23pm we were headed to Outback Steakhouse which I had appropriately fasted for ALL day long. Literally, I was starving when not even .02 miles from our house, we struck a cat. I didn't notice at first because I was reading a Christmas card but Michael goes, "Oh No! What was that?!" and quickly slows down to a crawling speed.  My first couple thoughts and comments were 1)Michael what did you do?Tell me! Thinking he just ran over a person and now we will have arrestings and court dates and so on. 2) I am so stinking hungry don't you dare turn around to see what you hit. JUST DRIVE! 3) What happened to my car? 4) Stupid cat.

Michael and I battled like the little shoulder angel and devil about whether or not to turn back around. The angel, Michael, won and made a U-turn on Pen Park Rd. The first time we circled back to the crime scene, we could see that for sure the cat was dead. He was laying dead board straight with this tail, hind and front legs completely stretched out. "Don't stop. Don't stop. Don't stop. Ew. Now let's go eat," was my comment as we circled  back. So on we went. But come Pen Park Rd, the little angel convinced Michael to turn around to go investigate. At this point, all the circling made me dizzy. But to our joy/dismay/surprise the fat cat was sitting up in the spot we left him as if he was normal. Michael pulls over, gets out, and attempts to read the cat collar. "King Tut." King Tut the cat who bolted out in front of the Musta

ng appeared to have a broken leg. Michael tried calling the number on the tag but it wasn't operating. Two more cars pulled  over and got out. "Oh geez," I'm thinking,  "just our luck they are animal enthusiasts." They were. 

One guy is repeating, "Can someone please take him to the Vet???" - (I was like no way brother!) and the other woman was saying "oh I've seen him before." Then King Tut's neighbor drives by, gives us his owners correct number,  acts concerned, tells us there are 4 more cats where King Tut lives. Fantastic, the old lady with a bunch of cats. Then King Tut manages to stand up and successfully gallops away.  The man again impatiently urges for someone, probably us, to take him to the vet. I guess I could have been a little more compassionate, but I said, "That won't be happening. I am really allergic to cat fur. Michael, hun, we need to go!" Aussie cheese fries were calling me. 

After a few more minutes debating and searching for the cat with cell phone lighting (useless), the three drivers call it a night and we got on our way. Michael felt bad, but there was nothing he could have done. King Tut lived, maybe has a broken leg, but lived. Michael reached Tut's mom and let her know that everything was alright but she may want to check King Tut out when he returned home. She was alarmed but nice and Michael gave her his name, address and number - all the while I am whispering "Don't give your full name! Don't give her your address?! Don't give her your number?!?!?" 

So that was yesterday's drama. Hopefully King Tut is just fine. I am now convinced that cats have 9 lives.

Fun weekend

This past weekend was really fun and relaxing. Michael had a wrestling tournament in Sterling, VA so we made it home for part of the weekend. Friday my mom came down to Charlottesville and we went out Christmas shopping. Barracks and Fashion Square Mall in all their glory. We were very successful with our shopping and followed it up with a pit stop at Dunkin Donuts with warm coffee for the ride home.

In Manassas, Preston turned 15 and we went to dinner at the restaurant of his choice, Red Lobster. Cheddar Bay Biscuits anyone? I finally got my haircut with the best stylist in the world. You can tell she's talented because no one has noticed my new layers - which means it still looks good. Saturday was spent hanging out with the siblings and parents. This weekend was MAG's Christmas concert complete with 100 person choir, ballet, drum line, full orchestra and children's choir. Brianna was in the kid's choir so she made her Christmas concert debut in full style. 

No Christmas should be spent without at least one attendance of a Christmas Concert - they are so good and put you right in the spirit of worshiping God. I finished up making my Christmas Hot Cocoa today. I was frustrated because I was unable to find all the right decorations for them, but I think they turned out alright. Some of you just might be receiving it if you live in the area. No surprises here.  Merry Christmas! 

We need a little Christmas

Two weeks to go and we have finally settled on our Christmas plans. Thanks to my wonderful father and his airline miles, Michael and I now get to travel to the great state of Oklahoma for my cousin's wedding! The following is our itinerary:

Dec 19 : Head home for the Manass-side

Dec 19-21: Celebrate Christmas with our Worthley family

Dec 22-25: Celebrate Christmas with our Daubert family

Dec 26: Fly to Oklahoma!

Dec 26-29: Spend time with our Oklahoma family and Nathaniel gets married

Dec 29: Fly home, get in the car, drive to Sunset Beach, NC

Dec 29-Jan 2: Celebrate the New Year with our Daubert Family at the beach

Jan 2: Finally back in C'ville

Wow. I'm a bit overwhelmed with that schedule. But it will be fun and I am thankful that the Lord provided! 

Here are some snapshots of last weekends cookie bake:

Celebrations begin

Last Friday was our first Christmas party of the year. We had fun but the car ride home was miserable. Jenny and Pat rode with us and got to experience the frigid conditions. Michael's Jeep has NO HEAT and when we got back in the car by the end of the night, the drivers side window had broken. We couldn't roll the one window up - so clearly Michael and Pat decide that all the windows need to be open. Jenny and I are in our little dresses and sandals, it's 25 degrees outside, no functioning heat and all four windows are down. We were cold. We stopped at TGI Fridays for a half-way-home warm up, ordered some appetizers, then headed back home in the ice box. Thankfully, no one got sick! 

(Mom, here's my new dress. Thank You!)

This is how Jenny and I felt the whole way home:

Deck the home

Christmas is so wonderful. I honored Michael by waiting until after Thanksgiving to decorate our home. We do not have enough decorations to make our humble abode a Winter Wonderland but we do have a tree.  A fake one from pre-1986. Here is what we have done:

I love babies

We are overjoyed with the arrival of our friend's, The Andrews, new baby Parks. He was born November 28th and is just too precious. (Bek, remember when you asked me that Friday if he was born yet and I said no, well, he was actually in the middle of birth but my phone was dysfunctional so I didn't get their texts on time.) 

Michael and I drove home and got to see Parks on Sunday when he was not even a full two days old! He was such a handsome newborn. I could just hold him forever. Here's a sweet pic of His Preciousness:

Quotes from tots

Today I babysat these sweet little boys who are 4 and 3 years old.  I drove them around to different places in town and they talked their little hearts out. It was so cute.  The babysitting agenda looked like this: 

Lunch at Chic-fil-a, followed by play time in the kids area

Barnes and Noble to look at books and buy "Dog Heaven" (compliments of Jenny)

Take the 4 year old to Kung-Fu

Play with the 3 year old until mommy came to pick him up

Sweet phrases from the wee ones:

-To himself, "You get what you get and you don't pitch a fit"

-"Um, I tee-teed in my pants" (which then led to 30 minutes of sitting at Kung-Fu with the tot in his underpants because we didn't have clean clothes)

-"Dogs go to Heaven you know? Our dog died. We didn't kill him.  His bones turned to dust."

I am very thankful to have the opportunity to babysit since Ethan Allen closed.  I even gave my number out to three other moms while I was babysitting.  Am I too old to be doing this? I love children but I thought my babysitting days were long gone. 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day was a nice combo of fun, relaxation, and good food. Poor Michael got a cold the exact amount of days we were home, but he was a great sport! I put up a bunch of photos because we all know pictures say more than 1000 words... and I really don't have 1000 words to say about it.

Here's a pic of our short day trip to JMU to visit Heather
Mom's favorite H-burg joint
Family shot

Sister shot

Brother shot

Dessert time, I sampled it all

The Rents