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.