Look who Jeremy found in a park near his office! He saw her last week, and Monday she just really wanted to go home with him. Who can resist that face?? So he took her to Judith's vet clinic, and they said she's about 6 months old. She's a wire-haired daschund mixed with some sort of terrier. She's got the SWEETEST face ever, and she's got an awesome personality. She even has a little mohawk. I love, love, love her. She's staying on a "trial basis" (mmm hmmm) right now. She actually got out of the yard yesterday and was picked up by Jeremy's neighbor, who took her right to Judith's vet clinic, and they held on to her till we got there. Whew. It was very scary.
La Fiesta de Navidad a la Casa de Blue y Leah was a tremendous success! Personal highlight: the dirty Santa gift exchange. Lots and lots o' fun. Here's Blue with his score of the evening. I can't believe NO one stole it...!
Nari's going to be a happy girl! It makes me laugh that people are pointing at it like, "Dang! I want it!"
Matt's look of pure disappointment that he didn't get the shot glass set. Karl ended up with it, but he shared with all. What a guy!
Favorite parts of this picture: the Chia pet on Kristen's lap and the ten shades of red of JR's face from receiving this gift. 
4.5 days of school left! And today starts the week o' fun! We are going to watch the preschool-first grade Christmas program (like, in a minute here)- STARRING our very own Andrew! After that, the jr. high is going to the Rep to see "The King and I," one of my favorite musicals. Getting to know you... getting to know all about you...!
Last night I got to watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," which made me a very happy girl. I was wrapping some of my Christmas gifts (hey! I actually bought some the other night!), and I was watching this classic where everyone gangs up on Mr. Grinch, who clearly has a birth defect that causes a small heart. Is it his fault that he hates Christmas? Kat? Hee, hee. :)And remember: Welcome, Christmas, bring your cheer. Cheer to all Whos far and near. Christmas Day is in our grasp so long as we have hands to clasp. Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we. Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart and hand in hand.
:)
It struck me today that we are officially two weeks away from Christmas. Two weeks! 14 days. That's crazy. That means a couple of things:
Holt sent me a link to this website with lots of funny Star Wars Christmas pictures. I love it.
I just got this from Virginia (Matt's mama):
Thoughts and prayers go out to superwoman Lindsay (and of course, our Matt) tomorrow! They will be going in for a c-section. We will be thinking about you! Much, much love! :)
Too bad if it happens it will not be beautiful soft flakes with which to make snowpeople. It will be ice and sleet with which to cause panic across the state. 
Ummm, yes. This looks fun:
Now that Thanksgiving has passed, I have given myself permission to deck the halls. My parents gave me their old Christmas tree, which is beautiful and exciting because I've never had my own "grown up" tree. It was lots of fun. It also took a reallllllllllly long time, but it was well worth it!
As we decorated, we listened to Christy's awesome Christmas mix that she made me a couple of years ago (read: Mariah Carey!!). And we watched "A Christmas Story." One of the million times I'll watch it this season.
Thanksgiving was awesome. We went to Melissa's house (we= me, Greg's kiddies, mom, dad, Greg's parentals, and my aunt and uncle in from Minnesota. Jeremy came to play after his family festivities). Here's a turkey fryin' up. Mmmmm!
The lovely host and hostess. Thanks, guys! 
Mmmmmmmmm...! Casseroles! Me=happy.
My ma's sister (can you tell??) and her hubby
Awwwww...!
After all of the casseroles, it seemed there was nothing better to do than play with toys on wheels. Here's my dad lookin' pretty sweeeeeeet on Melissa's motorcylce. We all kind of took turns on it. I, however, did NOT drive. That thing is huge.
Yeah, I'm pretty rock-n-roll.
We also had a variety of non-motorized vehicles, i.e. a "green machine" and "scooch." I had never heard of them, but they're pretty niiiiice.
Here's Carleigh before hopping on the four wheeler. :)
It's that time of year again, people. I only have a day and a half of work this week, and then I'm out for T-giving vaca. Holla. Things I'm looking forward to:
Sorry I've been neglectful with the blogiture this week. I've been awfully busy planning this field trip for my g/t classes to the Parkin Archeological State Park. Here they are, taking a tour of the site. It was really awesome, actually. I learned a lot (see? Teachers learn too!). It's the only place that can claim for CERTAIN that Hernando DeSoto was there. The whole place is a Native American village/burial ground. Turns out this tribe buried their dead 6-8 inches under their houses so the spirits could watch over the living. So wherever there were houses, there were bodies. Pretty cool.
Here's one of the mounds... There are people in there! Wow. Also (another interesting fact), in the flood of 1912 in the area, this was the highest point out of the water. So people stood on top and waited to be rescued. Many ended up dying there and were ALSO buried (along with the Native American chief) in the mound. Cool, huh? See, now YOU'VE learned today. :)
... bonus points to the first person who knows what that's from (the post title). Reasons to be happy girl today:
Go vote today!!! Click here to learn more about your friendly (for the most part, right?) Arkansas candidates. 
I don't have too many pictures from this weekend (my bad! Geez!), but here's the weekend update... Friday a bunch of us went to dinner at the Oyster Bar (yummy) then sat out on Jeremy's deck by the soft glow of the firepit while it was very very chilly out. If you don't have a firepit, I highly recommend it- always a huge hit for boys and girls. Warms the girlies up and the boys get to poke at it and see who can make it bigger. Entertainment for all!
Hey! The timer on my camera works! Who knew? Gotta love that C-town. Good ol' days, folks. The good ol' days. :) 
