A Balancing Act

2 stories about balance today.
First, and most important, EVE RODE ON 2 WHEELS TODAY!!!!!!!  I didn't have the camera out (It was a snow day, but most of the snow was gone by this point...will post about snow separately), and wouldn't have been able to get pictures anyway...bummer.  Anyway, we took the training wheels off at her request several months ago.  She's tried a few times (2 maybe?) but gets very easily frustrated and hasn't liked it.  Today she wanted to try.  I told her to walk around on her bike, sort of like Ellie's balance bike, for a bit and I'd help her in a minute.  She didn't want to, and was very clear about that.  She tried a bit, and ended up yelling, throwing her helmet, and sulking on the stairs for quite a while.  After 20 minutes or so, she called me over to the stairs and said she'd like to try.  I held onto her seat for a few tries, and her balance was pretty good as long as I said (rapid fire), "Pedal, pedal, pedal, faster, faster, faster, keep pedaling, faster, keep pedaling...", so I let her go, and she went!  She's now able to ride across the cul-de-sac alone with a push start, and stop on her feet.  What a big deal!!!  Yay Eve!!!

Now for the funny story about balancing.  We were in the car this evening and I don't remember how this came up, but here's how the conversation went...
John-I think Dr. Mahaffey (his teacher) has 9 kids.
Me - Yep.  That's right.
John - Can you imagine if you had 9 kids?  You can't even handle four!
Me - WHAT?!?!  What do you mean?
John - Well, what if you had to fix breakfast for all of us
Buck - Mama does that
Eve - What if you had to fix lunch for all of us?
Buck - She does do that
John - What if you had to fix supper for all of us?
Buck - She does that too
John - And what if you had to fold all of the clothes
Buck - Yep, she does that too
John - And what if you had to shower
Buck - Mama does that too...well, most of the time...well, sometimes.  She does that sometimes.
John - Well, I'm just saying that would be hard.

Nice save, John.  Yes, it's hard to balance.  Maybe that's why I only sometimes shower.

A Budding Author

One day recently I found this piece of paper.  I had no idea Eve was working on it.  It was her idea, she did it all on her own, and didn't even tell me about it.

(I will space between words to help) "WUNS PON IN tIMe thAr WUS A LItOL FOR that scAtID but tar WUS A VOLCANOW SO Shee RUND ISID Shee WUS COD SO Shee SHUGOD In A bLAcit"

In case you need a translation, "Once upon a time there was a little girl that skated, but there was a volcano so she runned inside.  She was cold so she snuggled in a blanket."

I was so surprised and proud to find this, especially since it was all her idea.

Christmas Goodies

I kind of like when there are several days of Christmas break before Christmas.  It gives more time to do all the Christmassy things.  On the other hand, with more days of break following Christmas, there's lots of time to enjoy all of the Christmas goodies.  This year the kids got lots of art and science projects, and some fun games.  We've really enjoyed all of them (only a few are pictured).

 Magnetic slime!

 John has almost finished knitting his hat (although with school starting, he hasn't worked on it in quite a while)

 Eve LOVES her ipod, and sings really loudly when she listens to it.  It's pretty fun.

 The weather got really cold.  UNO attack has been one of our new favorites.  We enjoyed a morning of cards and hot chocolate, and also a few game nights.  Everyone can play as long as we play cards up...well, not Jake.  One morning I noticed that Ellie was stating the numbers as she played them.  Maybe she knew them before and I just didn't realize it, but I'm pretty sure she learned to recognize 1-5 by playing UNO attack.

 

 More Christmas goodies...

 This is a dinosaur kit John got.  He really does love science, especially dinosaurs (and now he's on a shark kick).

 

Christmas Time Is Here

A few years ago we decided that for the next 18 years Christmas will be at home.  It's just too crazy and too expensive to travel.  While we miss our family that's out of town, it's a decision I've really been happy about.  Christmas Eve and Christmas have been "relaxed", as much as it can be with 4 young kids.  Christmas Eve we all work together to make food for our buffet dinner, a Buckingham tradition.

 The girls enjoyed the gooey sausage ball mix.

 You know, it's the customary Christmas Eve dogpile.

 Plenty of food to last us several days, although that huge bowl of fruit was gone before we blinked!  These kids can put away some fruit!

 This year we went to an outdoor Christmas service at the Simpsonville clock tower.  They had hot chocolate, which was a bonus since it was pretty darn cold and windy.  Lighting the candles during Silent Night was pretty comical in the wind.  It became a little more of a "who can keep your candle lit the longest" game, but still, it was a neat service.  We figure it'll be one that we laugh about around the table one year.  "Remember when Mom and Dad made us go to that service outside and we froze?"  Anyway, afterward we were ready to eat.  The kids were pretty excited to eat snacks for dinner.  Before we dove in, Buck read the Christmas story.  It was one of those moments that just breathed Norman Rockwell to me.  I absolutely cherish these years of Christmas with small children and the wonder they bring.

 After chowing down, we got Santa's plate ready.  This year they wanted to make sure there were some healthy options on the plate.

 These pictures cracked me up because Jake was after the cookies from the moment we set him down, and the others were intent on him not getting them.

 Here are Jingleheimer Schmidt and Pedro, our elves on the shelf.  The kids really had fun finding them each morning.  At first John tried to prove that they weren't real, then he just gave in and enjoyed the fun.  They were good little non-hypocritical elves that didn't cause any mischief.  Thank goodness!

 This is the card Eve made for Santa.  "Maree Christmas Santa! Frum Eve"  There is an ornament with Jesus in the manger on the tree, along with several others.  Santa has a gift in his hand, and I think maybe a cookie?

 Christmas morning started around 6 or 6:30.  I can't remember which we gave as a limit, but the kids were good to stick to it.  They all slept together Christmas Eve.  Grandma came bright and early, so she was there to see all of the excitement.  Ellie was still a little tired.

 Jake quickly found the candy Santa left and enjoyed it.

 Later in the day Amy, Bella, and Marco came over.  We had lots of fun playing.

Through the afternoon Buck fried turkeys with the neighbors while Grandma, the kids, and I played new games, did new crafts and science projects...you name it.  We also got to talk to Grandma and Grandpa Bucky on Skype.  Technology is wonderful.  We had a nice fried turkey dinner with Grandma.  I gave Jake the turkey leg for a fun picture.  Afterward I tried to trade it out for some turkey meat because I didn't want him to choke on a bone.  He would have nothing of it!
In all of the chaos and fun of Christmas, we really try to stress to the kids, and to remember ourselves, the humility and sacrifice of Christ, leaving his position at God's right hand to come live a lowly life and die on our behalf.  It is certainly a reason to celebrate.

Feet

This is how Jake holds his feet while he eats.  I just love it.

December Projects

We tend to do a lot of projects throughout December.  We did more than I pictured, but here were some of my favorites...

 Every year I make these birdseed wreaths as teacher gifts.  They're cheap and easy, and they love them.  I love them!

 This was a new one I saw online.  Everyone worked on them, but I only got pictures when Ellie and I were working on them.  I loved it because Ellie could do it by herself, as long as I was helping her one-on-one...mostly just coaching her through the process.

 I just love her cute little fingers and concentration.

 Buck loves luminaries.  A few days before Christmas, we surprised him with this gift from the kids and me.  They worked really hard.

 I was working on folding the tops of the bags and helping fill them with sand.  Eve and Ellie were working really hard.  When I finished, this is what I found.  I love how they lined them up so nicely.  I felt a little bad spreading them out, but after we got started I don't think they minded.  I think they were excited to be able to reach so far around the yard.

 We didn't get a good night picture, but it was so pretty.  The neighbors loved it.

 Of course we did gingerbread houses as well.  The girls worked on one, and the boys had one (i.e. John got to work on one himself)

 

 I'm pretty sure less than 50% of the candy made it onto the houses.

The girls' house

John's house

 

 It was funny to look at the houses over the next several days.  Some of the peppermints were missing color (because they had been licked...AFTER putting the houses on display, mind you), and decorations continued to dwindle.

 We also, of course, had to make cookies for Santa.  These are pretzels with Hershey kisses and Reece's cups on top.  It's a fun one the kids can do on their own.  This year they surprised me, though, by stacking a whole bunch to make a tower of reece's cups.  Funny.

 We also made sugar cookies.  John was very meticulous.

 Jake manned our Quality Control.

 I think they passed the test.