The McDonalds: Advent Part One!

Epic Fail on the two posts per week, BUT we did pretty well on our Advent celebrations!

This is our advent calendar I made.

I could not find one with a nativity on it, so a friend suggested I just make one. I did... and it took a few Christmases inbetween pregnancy woes and newborn sleeplessness. The middle is my nativity I wanted, and all of the squares around it represent Christmas traditions either Aaron or I celebrated growing up. There are also two squares representing Caroline and Camden's first Christmas ornaments.

Decorating the Christmas Tree!

Little Man's first year to actually put the ornaments on... not take them off! Yay!

Camden showing Gracie her ornament. They love each other... most of the time.

Me having an emotional moment because my Little Man's hand is much bigger now.

As Camden puts on the ornaments... Caroline takes them off. Good team work, guys!

Little Miss finally got the hang of things.

My beautiful bottom- heavy tree. We're so proud!

Bethlehem in Bartlesville

Bartlesville's First Baptist Church puts on Bethlehem in Bartlesville every year. They clear out one of the parking lots and turn it into Bethlehem. They build these large sets, bring in lots of animals, and dump loads of sand on the ground to make it more realistic. The church members dress up and play the parts of various characters.

Standing in line to pay our 'taxes' to get into the town

In this picture...

Caroline: sweetly posing with the Angels above us.
Camden: desperately trying to find another fire or wild animal
Me: holding onto Camden because the weight of Caroline is making me fall backwards

Caroline LOVED the animals! Camden's favorite was the Roman soldier on horseback even though he was mean and told us peasants to 'keep moving'. He also loved petting the camel!

Letters to Santa
Camden told me what to write for each letter. He decided to sign his name on his own just to make sure Santa knew it was from him. As you will see, he has a slight obsession with snow monsters.

I want an eagle jet for Christmas. I like it because it shoots out the eagle mouth. I like the puller, and I like the wings stretch. I love the snow monster at the North Pole. Give him a hug! Thank you Santa for the eagle jet, and thanks for the Nice List. Love, Camden

I like a play kitchen. I like to play with the food. I want cookies and yogurt ice cream for play kitchen, please. I want to hug the snow monster too. Thank you, Santa! Love, Caroline.

Meeting Santa at the ConocoPhillips Christmas Party!

Camden totally plays it cool with Santa, asks for an Eagle Jet, and gives the guy a high five.

Caroline plays it cool for about two seconds. Then she turns to look at his face...

and she completely loses it. Poor Little Miss!

Woolaroc Wonderland of Lights
In the 1920s, Frank Phillips (as in Phillips Petroleum now ConocoPhillips) built a ranch several miles outside of town. It is now a museum, wildlife preserve, petting zoo, etc. At Christmas time, they have the Woolaroc Wonderland of Lights, and it is gorgeous! We met up with the Gregorys' and spent an evening walking around, riding a wagon, and enjoying cookies and cider in the Lodge.

View from the 'Lookout' at the top of one of the buildings. Camden could have spent the entire evening up there.

Caroline in her 'I can't put my arms down' snowsuit'. She rode in my Boba Carrier the whole time and was warm and cozy.

We went on a wagon ride to see all of the lights. It was so pretty, but the pics didn't really turn out. Moving wagon plus lights equals BLURRY .

For example,

This was even an actual person riding a horse, and they were both all in lights. We thought it was just a light display, but then the horse started moving. The kids loved it!