We had Christmas with Jeff's side of the family on Sunday. Bryant was thrilled with his new scooter, and he is doing amazingly well with it. He's starting to get the rhythm down.Bradley was equally thrilled with his chemistry set. This one scares me just a bit...
Barbie and the Diamond Princess was a big hit all around this year.
Hugs with Uncle Marc and Gigi.
We made Christmas pictures last night. The ones of all of us are on Gena's camera, but here's my crazy bunch.

It just doesn't get much more Christmasy than this.

Christmas Day

I've been having too much fun to take time to blog, so I'm going to try and catch up on a few pics. These are from Christmas Day. Even though the kids' main Christmas present was our trip to NYC, Santa still managed to bring a few goodies.

Bryant literally played with his train set for three hours without a break. I think he liked it. Bradley enjoyed "helping" him with it almost as much!
Bailey suddenly started begging for an American Girl doll about a week before Christmas. I told her I didn't know if Santa would be able to get the e-mail and shift gears that close, but he figured out a way. She has barely put her down since. Meet Ruby...
And she finally got the snow globe she'd been after. This one came as a belated gift from NYC. It's also a music box and depicts a scene from New York, including the Statue of Liberty. I love it as much as she does.
Fortunately, Mom and Dad were pretty sure that Santa was going to come through with the train set for Bry, and Daddy built him a train table to put it on. It is awesome! He couldn't wrap it, so we had to take Bryant out to the truck for the unveil. He was so excited. I am too, thinking of all of the hours of self-entertainment in our future!
We did Christmas with the Reids after lunch. I'm so blessed to have my folks and grandparents living so close. We had a wonderful afternoon together. This is Bailey after opening her ladybug habitat. When we get back, I've got to send off for ladybug larvae. How many of you have that on your post-Christmas shopping list? She couldn't have been more thrilled. Bizarre, I know, but the child is fascinated with bugs. Probably a sign of true genius.
Group hug with Granddaddy. Bryant had already crashed at this point.
We decided as a family to do Christmas a bit differently this year. Instead of giving each other traditional gifts, Mom and Dad, Karen and Bill and Jeff and I all made lists of things that we would like each other to contribute towards. It felt so good to open a gift and find a check towards my dear friends' international adoption or the orphange in India. This is definitely going to become a tradition for us. (Sorry for the spoiler, Jamie - I can't wait to give you the checks!)

Bradley and Bailey also went through the World Vision catalog and chose items that they wanted help in donating. Bailey really had a hard time choosing; she wanted to pick all of it. They were so excited to open their envelope telling them how many farm animals they were sending to needy families. I love that World Vision makes it so easy to do this. And I love having another opportunity for them to remember that Christmas isn't just about getting. I'm so proud of them and the people they are becoming.

It was also a special Christmas because my grandmother's health is in fairly rapid decline, and there's a good chance it will be the last one we get to spend with her. But she and Granddaddy were right there in the mix, and I think it did her heart better than any medicine to get to share Christmas with her great-grandkids. Any time you have four generations together like that is special.

We left for Florida about 4 a.m. on Friday, and we are thoroughly enjoying the incredible weather and time with family. More pics to come...

Last night, the greatest babysitter in the world, Abbey, surprised us by putting together a gingerbread house with my kids while we were out to celebrate Jeff's birthday. She's so awesome.

Tonight we had the thrill of attending the very first service of our new church. Sometime in 2009, we will be opening a new satellite campus of the church that we attend. It will be right here in our hometown, and we are so excited. We formally met tonight for a Christmas Eve candlelight service. There was a very real energy in the air, and I'm so thrilled to be a part of what God is about to do here.
The kids just did their annual notes to Santa to put with the cookies. This was the first year that Bailey did hers completely by herself. Since Bryant drew on hers, we cut his part out and she started over.

I love that Bradley thought about his best friends over himself. He never ceases to surprise me...
Bailey's says, "dear Santa Clause, I hope you'r Rander are doing well and I hope you,r elf's are macking lot's of toy's. I hope you will give us lot's of toy's for Christmas. love, Bailey. It looks like we may need to do a unit on punctuation come January. But it's so her to think about the reindeer first!
I think Bryant only stole a couple M&Ms, but I'm not sure.
Wishing you all the joy and magic of Christmas Day!

Ogle Christmas

We gave Granddaddy a book to memorialize the boys' trip to Washington D.C. this past April.

My kids have memorized Luke 2:1-14 this year. Brad learned it a few years ago, but this year it was a joint effort. They've had two opportunities so far this year to recite for a crowd. One was yesterday at the Ogle family Christmas. The other was last Wednesday at the Rescue Mission.

I've been so touched by the compassion that has developed in them lately for those less fortunate. I wanted to teach them this as much as possible, but I think a lot of it has to come from within. When we were in NYC, they both wanted to help every homeless person we passed. We did give money at several Salvation Army buckets, and Bailey dug in her pocket for spare change for a man outside our hotel one morning. She was really moved by their plight.

So when I told them last week that Daddy and I were going to sing at the mission, they both immediately asked to come. I asked if they would like to recite Luke 2 for the men, and they jumped at the chance. They began practicing right away with pencils for a microphone.

When we arrived at the mission, they suddenly became a bit intimidated by the 250 homeless guys crammed into the chapel. I could see the fear in their eyes as the nervous energy increased. So after we had sung a few songs and it was time for them to go up and do their thing, I introduced them to the men and told them that they were a little bit nervous. I asked them to say, "Hi Brad, Hi Bailey... it's O-KAY!" It was hilarious to hear all the men repeat that for me. The kids said the verses with almost no hesitation, and those guys jumped to their feet for a standing ovation. It was such a great moment!

But my favorite part of the whole story was Bradley's prayer that morning. I would have given anything for a recording device at that moment. Among other things, he said, "Lord, I pray that you will use Bailey and I telling the Christmas story to teach these men about Jesus. I know they've had a hard time, and maybe if they don't know you, this will help them want to know you, because you make all the difference." I couldn't agree more.

But the angel said, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ, the Lord."

Happy Birthday Bryant Style

Don't judge me. We're working on it.

I meant to put these up here last week. They are Brad and Bailey's drawings of one of their favorite moments in New York. Of course, Bradley chose to draw about picking the Statue of Liberty's nose. After all, he is a 9 1/2 year old boy. Bailey drew a scene from M&M World. I was quite impressed with the detail here.

But I have to post Bradley's essay. I gave him very little help with this, other than a few structural things. The last paragraph is my favorite. Enjoy!

New York City

Last week, me and my family went to New York City. We went there to see my mom's friend get baptized. Our hotel was seven blocks away from Times Square. We had the greatest time. My three favorite things were going ice skating, seeing the Statue of Liberty and going to M&M World.

The only thing that I didn't like about ice skating was the Mom couldn't do it because she broke her foot. I loved everything else about it. I was really good at it because I knew how to ride heelies. I still fell down sometimes, though. I loved ice skating at Central Park.

I really loved taking a ferry right up under the Statue of Liberty. There was a museum in the base that was really cool. We climbed 156 steps to the top. We ate at a restaurant nearby. It was so crowded, we had to eat outside with the birds.

M&M World was my favorite. They had three floors. Each floor's walls were lined with M&M's of every flavor. It was incredible. We loved it so much we went there twice.

There are many things to do in New York City. These were just some of my favorites. We got a lot of souveneirs there. I brought back the ultimate one. MEMORIES.

December Snow