Christmas Week

Christmas week started out pretty normal for us.  We took a trip to the mall with the kids to see the big tree.  We had hoped to get a good family picture in front of it but couldn't find someone to take it, so we went ahead and took a few of the kids and called it a day.

Christmas Eve we went to church and came home to have our traditional Danish dinner.

The kids opened their Christmas Eve PJ's and enjoyed showing them off.

We had a rough go of it for a while.  About a week before Christmas the kids came down with a bad cold.  It got worse and worse.  Both of them ended up using the nebulizer to help them get through the night without having coughing/breathing spasms.  

I spent much of early Christmas morning with food poisoning.  It was the worst timing.  The kids woke up and we went out to do presents and I only made it about 15 minutes before I had to leave and sleep off the sickness.  But, I hear they truly enjoyed everything they opened!  And I can attest to the fact that they really are playing with/wearing everything they opened.  

Sadly, these are the only documentation I have of them digging into their presents.  I have grabbed a few of them enjoying some of it since, though.

This little toy was my anniversary/christmas/birthday present from several people this year, so, as you'll see in the photos above, I'm able to catch a lot more play by play action with the kids.  I am LOVING the new flexibility I have to capture such great shots.  Look for many, many more pictures in the future.

Light 'Em Up

This year, we did things a little differently for Christmas.  Last year we did a big 25 day countdown where we did some kind of activity every day up until Christmas.  Logan enjoyed it, but there was definitely something missing.  When asking some other moms about ideas for our daily activities, someone suggested I check out www.lillightomine.com and consider doing the "Light Em Up" challenge this season.  It took all of 5 minutes of reading to realize that it's exactly what I was hoping to find to do with the kiddos.  It helped put the focus of the season on loving others the way that Jesus did when he came into the world.  This year we only did a couple of projects, next year I'd like to add a few more and eventually get to the point where we're serving others in some capacity at least once a day until Christmas.  What a fun way to share Jesus with others!

Our first mission was to tag a bunch of candy canes and keep them with us to give away.  We gave them to people who served us-- waiters/waitresses, cashiers, etc.  It was so fun to watch people light up in smiles as we encouraged them that, yes, it really was for them!

We also arranged to have a big cookie exchange as part of our service projects.  Everyone brought 4 dozen cookies and while we ate and enjoyed company, the kids loaded up 13 buckets, filled to the brim, with all kinds of cookies to take around town to local members of the community who serve. 

Here are the kiddos ready to head out!

We delivered the cookies over the course of three days.  The first day we hit the post office!  There is usually one postal worker who I always hope I don't end up with.  She's curt, never smiles and is generally unfriendly.  On this particular day, Logan and I prayed before we went in that we'd end up with her, and we did!  We waited in line just to give her cookies and the smile on her face and the amount of people she told about "the little girl with the cookies" was enough to make us want to go back over and over again.

Day two we headed out with friends and took cookies to the ladies at the library.  

And day three we tried to deliver some cookies to the firemen.  It was the place the kids were most excited to go and we even called early to confirm it was ok.  But, no one was there when we stopped by.  We did see them out doing a training exercise as we drove around trying to find somewhere else to deliver cookies!

We also bought $5 Starbucks gift cards to give out.  We gave one to our postman and had plans to give them to all of our Sunday School teachers, but we haven't seen them since before Christmas, so they'll get theirs on Sunday!  

This was such a great exercise for us and for our hearts.  It's especially hard for me because it does push me out of my comfort zone, but I felt like the Lord grew us through it.  We've decided to also be more intentional throughout the year about doing things like this.

Getting Ready For Christmas

The day after Thanksgiving, Logan and I pulled out all of our Christmas decorations.  She was thrilled to see it all happening this year!  She is especially attached to her princess ornament and I had to do a lot of convincing to get her to not sleep with it.

We put the tree up but waited for the kiddos to go to bed to decorate.  But I really wanted Logan in on the action this year, so I got her out of bed and had her come help.  I'm so glad I did!  It made some fabulous memories.

Brody woke up the next morning and wanted to lay under the tree.

A few days later I took the kids to a local park to try and get some Christmas card pictures.  It was FREEZING but they were such good sports.

End of the Year "Recital"

One of the reasons we chose Logan's ballet studio is because they don't have two major recital productions a year.  Most studios have a winter recital and a spring recital, but, thankfully, this one only has a spring recital.  BUT, they do have an end of the year in class recital for parents to attend.  It allows us to see up front what the kiddos have been learning and allows them to show off!  This is the first recital of any sort that Mike's been able to attend, so it was really special for Logan.  She had a great time watching her and I think she had a good time showing us what she's learned.  

Logan with her teacher, Miss Patty (who owns the studio):

All of the girls in the class:

Logan with Sandra, the older girl who helps in class:

And we're so thankful this year that Logan has a few of her MOPS friends in her class!  Here they are together at the barre:  (Clara, Eliza and Logan)

We were also excited to hear that this year's spring recital will be Disney themed!  We can't wait to find out what song the girls will be dancing to!

Big Celebration!

We  have cause for celebration in our house this week!!

Brody has gone the entire week in big boy boxer briefs and has had ZERO accidents.  We are a diaper free home, again!  (minus sleep times)  My laundry will go down by 3 loads a week because of this.  

I will most definitely take this post as an opportunity to post a bunch of pictures of this sweet big boy.

Here he is using his diapers as boxing gloves.  This was the last picture I have of him actually in a diaper.  So bittersweet.  Don't miss the dirty diaper changing but miss that little diaper tush.

We've even ventured out of the house a few times diaperless and have had no accidents.  He tells me when he needs to go and we brave the public toilets (bleh!).

It's hard to tell here, but he's actually in his little boxers in the next picture. Looking like SUCH a big boy to me!

I love watching them grow up, and this is certainly a "babyism" I'm HAPPY to give up, but I wish he'd just slow down a bit!

The ballerina phase

Logan is so enchanted with ballerinas right now.  She loves her ballet class and counts down the days to it every week.  She practices daily and at any given moment you'll hear her "instructing" her dolls to "arabesque," "bourree,"  "plie," "echappe" or "piqque."  Her ballet vocabulary amazes me and she knows each of the moves to go with her words.  It's so fun to watch her grow and learn!

She also has a fascination with always being a ballerina.  She always, always, always has to have a tutu/pettiskirt on.  Or her leotard.  Otherwise she's not a "real" ballerina and that's a huge problem in our home.  Here are a few pictures spanning a couple of weeks to prove my point:

Ballet attire for class.

Ballet tutus with her pj's (and jacket?) for bedtime.

She's ALWAYS on her toes!

Ballet dress when the tutus are all being washed.

More bedtime tutus.

Tutus for playtime.

Tutus when playing ballet class.

And if all of the pink ones are in the laundry, green works well, too!  Just need something to spin in.

We have quite the little dancer on our hands.  I wanted  to make sure to post about it because I know as quickly as phases enter, they leave.  And while I don't know that this one is going anywhere anytime soon (because it's really been going on for over a year), I want to document it so she can look back on it one day.  Who knows?  Maybe we have the next Julie Kent living with us.