Christmas at the Binghams!

We had Christmas at home this year with no extended family and so I expected that the day would be nice and quiet. But not so!! Between cooking Christmas dinner and trying to respond to each child's requests for help with their new toys, Chris and I were kept on our toes and were exhausted at the end of the day. Some pictures from Christmas at our house this year...

Santa has been!!!

Ella and Sam did not wake up until 6:45am and then we had to wait another half an hour for Owen and Elliott to wake up. Then the present unwrapping chaos began!
Eating beignets (Louisiana donuts) for second breakfast at about 11am..

Ella in her ballet dress-ups reading one of her new books.

Sam and Owen ready for Nerf gun wars with their Dad!

We love building toys off all varieties in our home. Sam received a Connex set and here are Sam and Ella showing off the Ferris Wheel they made together with a bit of help from me.


And Christmas wouldn't be complete without a yummy Christmas dinner. Chris cooked an Asian spiced salted turkey this year and it was delicious! The Asian spices were subtle and just perfect.


Ella tucking into her turkey leg!

And Aussie Pavlova for desert - yum, yum!

Now Santa can rest until next year..... or at least until the baby comes!

Myrtle Beach

At the start of December I heard about a hotel / indoor water park at Myrtle beach that offers great deals at this time of year. So a week before my due date and a few days before Christmas that's where we headed! (I did not tell my Doctor!) The kids were just so excited about the trip, even more excited about it than Christmas. Every night for 3 weeks I had to sing the "hotel song" to Owen before he went to sleep which was about going on a Christmas holiday and all the things we were going to do there.

As you can see from the picture below, the weather was cold and overcast, but we had a great time. We had a really nice room with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and beds for everyone. There was a kitchen and living area and the best part of all was the water park. There were water slides, hot tubs, swimming pools, a lazy river, and kiddy water play areas. The water park was split into two parts and so half way through each session we would dry off a bit and make a mad dash across the car park in the freezing cold to the other section. I took a lot of video but not a lot of pictures and so the two below are pretty much all I have. One of the things I loved was coming home and only having two sleeps left until Christmas!


A few

Merry Christmas from the Binghams

A little Christmas spirit from our family to yours...



And for a laugh, check out these two versions of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Owen always keeps us entertained!

10 years in America

December 10th marked 10 years since I arrived in the US from Australia. When my job transferred me to Chicago from Melbourne in December 2000 I agreed to come for just 12 months, there was no way I wanted to stay longer!. I loved Melbourne and my friends there and living in America was never part of my life plans. There were some problems initially with my work visa and so the company offered to sponsor a green card (permanent residency) for me. I didn't even think for a second before responding, "No I don't want that, I'm not staying!"

Here I am 10 years later living in the south and life is good. I have a wonderful husband who I admire and love and four (very soon to be five) great children who keep me running all day. Heavenly Father certainly knows me better than I know myself because I am so happy with the path my life has taken.

Some random things I love about living in America:
- Amazon - I even have diapers delivered to my door! No tax, free shipping and no trip to the store with kids in tow!
- Yellow school buses, I really thought they were just in movies, but no, they are real and everywhere
- Great family and friends
- Endless roadtrip possibilities.
- Holidays. Once summer is over, there is a continual stream of holidays to keep the year moving. My favorite is Thanksgiving - it's all about good food, family and friends and there are no presents to buy!

Australia will always be home to me no matter how long I am away. Here are a few random things I miss about Australia:
- Being close to my family
- That my children don't have Australian accents
- Aussie slang. After 8 years with Chris I can still pop out a word every now and then that he does not understand, but generally I don't use any Aussie slang anymore. This was never intentional, just something that happened over time so that I could be understood.
- Bakeries

I am now eligible to become a US citizen. Funny to think about since there was no way I wanted to stay! We are still not sure where we will move to after our time here in Augusta is done and so I won't apply until I know if we are going to stay in the US or move to Canada.

Thanksgiving Break

Last week the kids had the week off for Thanksgiving and Chris had Thursday and Friday off. I can't tell you how much we all needed a break from our usual routine! The past few months have been busy and so it was nice for us all to slow down a bit for a few days We spent Thanksgiving day with some friends Jenny and Ian and their two children Malcolm and Myla. The kids LOVE going to their house and we love spending time with them. We all stuffed ourselves on too much turkey, stuffing, potatoes, beans, bread and pies for desert. Here a a few photos from the day...

Jenny reading a story while the kids wait for their food. We made sure that they were really hungry!


The day after Thanksgiving we went for a bike ride. It was the first time we have all been for a ride together. I must have looked pretty funny cruising around 8 months pregnant on my bike! It really wasn't too bad, I just wish that I had a bigger, softer seat! In the afternoon we went swimming. We hadn't been for a swim since September when our neighborhood pool closed and so it was fun to see everyone back in the water again. Elliott was very cautious, but it didn't take him long to find his swimming legs again.

On Saturday we took the kids to the science center in the morning. Here are a few pictures from out trip...

Happy 5th Birthday Ella!!

On November 15th Ella turned 5. I can't believe she is five already and turning into a big girl! She was counting down the number of sleeps until her birthday all last week and was so excited. The night before her birthday we told the kids that they could get up at 6:30am so that Ella would have time to open her presents before school. So here are a few pictures of us up bright and early for Ella's birthday opening ceremony. Owen and Sam even bought presents for her with their allowance. Sam gave her tiny lady bug clip earrings and Owen picked out a necklace. Ella loves everything pretty and girly and the boys are happy to help her with that!

Sam "helping" Ella open her present from Oma..

Ella with her loot...

Ella showing off one of her new birthday outfits. This one I made using one of my cousin Toni's awesome patterns..

Earlier this year Ella went to "Build-a-Bear" with school and made a bear. She named her Amy and she has been in need of some clothes and so I made Amy a matching dress...
Oma sent Ella pjs with a matching set for Amy. So cute!
Yesterday we had Ella's birthday party. Between church, school and neighborhood friends Ella had 12 girls ages 3-5 at her party. We managed to keep everyone busy for 90 minutes with cupcake decorating, beading, food and some games. Ella requested a pavlova for her party and the mums that stayed loved it so much that they all went home with the recipe!

Making a bead necklaces...


Playing pass-the-parcel....


10 things we love about Ella...
- How she loves everything girly, despite having 3 brothers (soon to be 4 brothers!)
- How considerate she is. For example, if she has been asked to say a prayer and Owen wants to, she will often let him have a turn instead because it makes him happy.
- How much she loves fruit of all kinds
- Her willingness to try new foods
- How she loves to dress-up and look pretty
- Her love of learning. She is starting to read and daily asks me how to spell different words so that she can make up sentences. She is so excited to start kindergarten next year.
- Her creativity. She loves to draw and color.
- Her smile
- Her hugs - she gives great hugs and can't go to sleep without one.
- Her singing. Ella loves to sing and has learned lots of songs from church and school that she likes to sing when she is in the car or playing.

School Carnival

On Saturday, November 13th Sam's school held a carnival / fundraiser. Chris was unable to come with us and so Mary, one of our friends from church, came with us to help me out. Chris has been very busy this year and so I often end up going places with the kids on my own. It was so nice to have Mary's company and help for the morning. Mary also helps me with the kids during Sacrament Meeting each Sunday because Chris has to sit up on the stand. She also watched them some of the time when I went home to Australia in May for Nan Triffitt's funeral. The kids love her and she has become like an adopted Grandma to them. Even Elliott went with her during church today for a while. He usually screams even if Chris tries to take him, but he didn't complain at all when Mary took him out during church today. I certainly appreciate her help! Anyway, here are some pictures from the carnival...


Listening to a story.

Sam made it all the way to the top of this climbing wall and was not scared one bit!

Ella showing her butterfly face paint..

Fall Fun

The weather has finally cooled off here in Georgia and it definitely feels like fall now. During September and October the weather was still warm to hot, but that didn't stop us having some fun going to a farm / pumpkin patch and starting to do more things outside. Here are few pictures from the past couple of months.

Our neighborhood held a fall festival in mid-October that included a petting zoo, face painting, cake walk (a game where kids win a cupcake or cake), jumping castle and other fun activities. The kids had a great time.

Ella with rainbow face paint.

Owen showing his sword face paint and the cupcake he won in the cake walk.

Ella and Sam filling bottles with colored sand.


In October I also went to Steed's Dairy. First with Sam and the 6 kindergarten classes at his school. And then a few days later with Ella and Owen and our playgroup from church. Unfortunately I forgot my camera the day I went with Sam.




A couple of random shots from around the house. With the weather cooling off the kids have been spending a lot of time in the backyard and for 2 or 3 weeks we started eating dinner outside. The kids loved it and less mess to clean up afterward!

Owen building the tallest Lego tower ever! It really doesn't reach to the ceiling, but Owen did put most of the blocks on himself by climbing onto the Lego box to add some height.

Halloween Festivities

We have made it through Halloween and have more candy than we know what to do with! Because Halloween was on Sunday this year, we decided to try and fit in as many opportunities as we could for the kids to get to dressed-up in their costumes and go trick-or-treating. By the time Halloween did come around we had fit in a special Halloween story time at the library, Halloween day at preschool for Ella and Owen, trick-or-treat at a local county fundraiser, a Ward trunk-or-treat and trick-or-treating at the local supermarket. We were officially over Halloween by Saturday night and the kids did not mind at all that we did not go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood on Sunday evening.

Below are some pictures of the kids in their costumes. Ella had to be Cinderella because in the version of Cinderella we have been reading this year Cinderella's real name is "Ella", but her friends call her Cinderella because of all the cinders she gets on her clothes from cleaning for her stepmother and stepsisters. Chris has been making up stories for the kids at bedtime over the past few months. In those stories Owen is either a Green or Silver Knight and so I made a costume for him that is the reversible so that he could choose to be either. So far the green Knight has been the more popular choice. Owen also decided to be Batman on a couple of occasions. Sam was an "army guy" and Elliott the cutest clown I've seen (not that I'm biased!) - costumes I picked up on sale after Halloween last year!

Ella and Owen's First Day of School

Ella and Owen started preschool yesterday. Sam started school a month ago and so they have anxiously been waiting for their turn. They are in the same class and this year it includes another five children from church (out of a class of 15!) and so they already know about half the class.

Ella was quick to take her younger brother under her wing and show him where to go and what to do. She gets to be one of the big kids in the class this year. The first day went really well. I was a bit worried that it would be too much for Owen, but with the first day over, we're off to a good start.

Sam's First Week at School

Sam started Kindergarten this week. Preschool for Sam and Ella finished at the end of April and so it has been a long summer! Sam has been so excited and practically skipped his way to school. What I wasn't prepared for was that I got a bit teary walking him to school on the first day thinking about how I wouldn't see him all day. Kindergarten here in Georgia is from 8:30am - 3:30pm, 5 days a week.

I asked Sam how school went the first day. He said he loved recess and hated rest time! We are now at the end of the first week and he doesn't even want me to take him to his classroom, just drop him off at the front of the school. I certainly hope his love of school continues for the many years ahead!

It has been quiet at home this week. Sam is my chatterbox and constantly wants to know what we are doing next. Ella and Owen have had a wonderful week playing pirates and fairy princesses together and are quite upset when they have to break away from playtime to go pick-up Sam or run an errand. I'm grateful they get on so well. Ella and Owen will start preschool 4 mornings a week next month. It's certainly going to strange just having Elliott at home in the mornings. Having just one at home is something I never had because I worked up until Ella was born and so since been a stay-at- home-mum I've always had two.

The part I've not enjoyed this week is picking Sam up from school. It has been almost 100oF / 37oC every afternoon. Although the school is a close 5 minute walk away, by the time we've walked up the hill we're all sweating like crazy, red faced and have to come home for an icypole/ popsicle!

Bingham Family Reunion

At the start of July we went to Texas for a week to catch-up with Chris's siblings and parents who live all across the US and Canada. We're trying to get together every 2-years and so it had been that long since we had seen some members of his family. The last reunion was just a few weeks before Chris and I moved to Georgia, his youngest brother Bry left on a mission, his sister Laurel-Lee moved to Portland for more school and his brother Tom moved to Texas... phew! 2-years on.... Bry is now back from his mission in Las Vegas, and the rest of us are more settled. And his sister Laurel-Lee not only got to go to school in Portland but also met someone wonderful - Robert and got married this time last year!

Chris is the oldest of 7. 6 out of the 7 siblings are married and between us we now have 15 children ages 6 and under! What a party! The youngest one is just a few weeks old and belongs to his sister Liz, who lives in Austin, which is where the family reunion was.

The cousins had a great time playing together. All the kids had one or more cousins around their own age. Activities included trips to the playground, a talent show, a birthday party and a photo shoot at the capital building in downtown Austin. And lots of good home cooked Mexican food from Rick Bayless's cook book Mexican Everyday which has been a family favorite for the last year or so.

We also got to spend time in Dallas with Chris's brother Tom and his wife Tonia. It was a really fun week and we look forward to doing it again 2-years from now!