Sights of the Season

We have enjoyed several holiday festivities this year.

To start off the season, we hosted part of the Martin Mob for Thanksgiving. Mom, Dad, Laura, Kevin, Cliff, Evie, Kirby, Jack and Tori came up for the long weekend. Matt was the chef for our turkey feast and outcooked himself!! We hung out inside most of the weekend due to frigid temps (per opinion of the Houstonians), but ventured out for Bass Pro Shop Christmas events and Snow Tubing at the Bricktown Ballpark. Of course, the big kids (Carrie included) loved the tubing, and our adventurous spirited Abigail even tubed all by herself!! George stayed in the cheering section with Matt, Kev & Laura drinking hot cocoa and eating cookies. The biggest success of the weekend was Jack (Morris' 100 lb. chocolate lab) did not eat our cats and managed to somewhat peacefully coexist indoors! We had a wonderful time with family!

bk row: Judie, Jerry, Laura, Cliff, Kevin, Matt, Carrie

frt row: Evie, Abigail, Kirby, George
Where's Boomer?
First gun shooting experience (he wants a gun sooooo bad!)
coloring with Evie
Our little drummer boy
Abs and Geo were excited about their happies from Aunt Go-Go & Uncle Kevin's trip to Hawaii...palm tree stir sticks, A's coconut bra & grass skirt, and G's hawaiian shirt & shorts!! Aloha!

Next came the McFarlin Annual Advent Festival, tons of fun. Mom & Dad were able to join us too. They had tons of crafts for kids and adults, which are hanging all over our house!! George loved the jazz band and Abigail loved decorating gingerbread cookies. We hope to support our church's tradition for many years to come.


Abigail and Ms. Fatima, one of her favorite workers at church

Becoming one with the Nativity...it's what we call "experiential learning".

Another fun tradition we have is the Holiday Happening at the Sam Noble Natural History Museum. The kiddos LOVED the huge dinosaurs and playing in the children's area. Caught a glimpse of Santa, but quickly escaped before the tears began!

The largest Pentaceratops skull in the world...even made it into Guiness Book.
Excavating in the Children's Section
A little man and his tools.

Matt's parents came up to go with us to the Christmas Train in Dry Gulch, OK (near Adair, OK--3 hours NE of Norman). We stayed the night in Tulsa in a hotel and the twins thought that was the coolest thing ever! They had a blast riding the train, eating the homemade cinnamon rolls (best I've ever had in my life), and riding the carousel and horse-drawn wagon. Late night, VERY VERY COLD (when we got out of the car @ 7pm, it was 34 degrees), but totally worth it! Hope to do it again!

Enjoying hot chocolate with the Nutcrackers at Utica Square in Tulsa
Our family Christmas Tree
Bundled up for fun at the Christmas Train
Steam Engine in the background.
Waiting to board the train after the wagon ride and lots of sugar!

Attended our favorite Norman event, the Kiwanis Annual Pancake Breakfast and Norman City Christmas Parade. George ate his weight in pancakes and Abigail put her share of bacon away!! Bundled up and walked across the lawn to watch the parade. Gotta love a parade with tractors, horses, homemade floats, animals, and lots of candy!!

Waving at Santa...that's as close as they will get this year.

Sitting on the curb waiting for more candy!

Last night George and Abigail had their Northhaven Dayschool Christmas Program and since Miss A recovered from her surgery like a rock star, she was ready to belt out her song on stage later that night! George was not a fan of being on stage and cried in Ms. Abby's arms the whole time: "I don't want to sing!!" Abigail, however, stood in between two of her favorite friends, Camden Lane and Hudson Brown, and sang "Away in a Manger". She was so adorable doing all of the hand motions with her 3 yo class!

"...asleep on the hay"....pick a good one, Hudson?
Love it!!

Another fun thing this year was putting up a small Christmas tree in G&A's room. They LOVE looking at it, redecorating it often, and reading scripture nightly to prepare for the birth of Jesus. Thank you, Ms. Amy, for the wonderful Advent Bible Verse chain that adorns their tree. They have also enjoyed reading our Christmas books given by Aunt Go-Go and other friends over the years.

Other noteworthy Christmas season stuff: they have developed a love for hot chocolate [especially Starbucks! ;)], they love looking at Christmas decorations and lights, and listening to Christmas music in the car.

Combine all this with working, navigating Abigail's gastrointestinal issues & facial lesion, and George's minor throat infection....I'd say we've been a bit busy!!!