The best laid plans...

I know these posts are late but they have been sitting as drafts and I really need to get them posted before I can move on to the present.

I had planned so many pre-Christmas activities I was really hoping the kids would enjoy them. But after our restaurant experience and our quick trip through Bethlehem, I was a little worried. Then we had our night where the kids were supposed to pick out gifts for each other. That was even worse. Orin couldn't focus on what to get Micaiah because all he could think about when he was looking was what he wanted for himself. I'm sitting in the store thinking, "Am I teaching these kids anything!?!?" We ended up leaving because Orin just couldn't decide. We had hoped to go back and try again but never had time. It turned out fine though because the kids got plenty of gifts and didn't need any more. We'll try again next year.

But after that slow start to our Advent celebrations we finally found our groove and the kids really enjoyed the activities I had planned each day. Every morning they couldn't wait to pick from the advent calendar.

One of their favorite things to do is make sugar cookies.









Here are the three pictures I got from Bethlehem Revisited. Unfortunately, we weren't there long enough to get many more. Here is Orin waiting while Damien took Caiah to the potty. He had so much fun playing on those steps.

I think Caiah's favorite part was petting the animals.

In the car on the way. They were so excited they had their hats and mittens on the entire 45 minute drive to Waxahachie.