Ohio Pictures

While we were in Ohio, I was able to catch a few pictures.  Most of them are from the kiddos playing in the snow.  They had a nice snowfall before we drove up and then had some more pour down while we were there.  

Here's Logan, ready to head out:

Excited to be making snowballs and snow angels!

Brody was ok, so long as he didn't have to touch the snow.

They both had fun being pulled around in the sled.

Sweet little girl in bed one night:

The kids with Papa before we left:

Logan and Benjamin:

All of the cousins:

Logan and I:

Nana

Christmas day also came with some sad news as Mike's mom (Nana) lost her battle to cancer (and other things) and passed away.  While the news came as no surprise, it was no less devastating for us.  Nana was a special lady who we all loved.  Mike's comment on it was that this was our worst Christmas ever, but her best Christmas ever as she got to celebrate with Jesus.  It was a huge reminder that life on earth doesn't go on forever and that we're so thankful for the blood of the lamb and the truth he brought when he came.  We're thankful that Nana is in heaven.  We're also so thankful for the memories she left behind and the different things she did for the kids before she passed so that we'd have fond reminders of her as they grow up.

For the last few years, she had been working on putting together a story time video for her grandkids.  She was a children's librarian, and with that position came an incredible love for books and storytelling--and she could tell stories!  This DVD was a compilation of some of her favorites and it's such a blessing to be able to turn it on and have Nana there for the kids to see.  They certainly miss her and light up as her face fills the screen and she happily tells them to "wiggle their fingers high, wiggle them low, fold them together and hold them just so" (see Logan's hands?) before beginning a series of stories.

She also left us with quite a library of books!  Another perk of having a Nana who was a children's librarian is having tons of wonderful book suggestions.  And we've loved every one of them!  She started the kids' library before Logan was even born, but continued to help build it as they grew.  Anytime she visited, she took us to the bookstore and helped us pick out books.  She'd read them books at her house and we'd eventually have to buy them because the kids wouldn't stop asking to hear them over and over.  And more recently, she sent 19 of her very favorite children's books wrapped up for the kids to open every day before Christmas.  It was such a treasure to open each one and read a personal note about the book from Nana.  The kids were just as excited to open a new one each day as they were the day before.  We've got so many books from Nana that they fill a whole nook in our little bookshelf!  Logan calls it her "Nana library."  Here the kids are with their (recent) favorite Nana books.  Logan is holding "Dance Tanya"  (would you expect anything less from our little ballerina?) and Brody is reading "Puff Puff Chugga Chugga" which Mike and I can both recite from memory now.....and that's no small feat, it's a long story!

We are so thankful for her 57 years on earth.  I'm thankful that I was able to get to know her over the last 8 years and I'm so glad that she was Mike's mom.  Mike and I especially thankful that she shocked the doctors and outlived their short life prediction, and was able to meet 4 of her grand babies.  She will be sorely missed, but fondly remembered.

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.