Capital Trackers

On Saturday, we continued a Christmas tradition of visiting the College Park Aviation Museum.

We go there at Christmas time to see the National Capital Trackers' trains.  Josiah was excited to see Thomas.  

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Wesley was on his own adventure with Chris that involved riding on a train.

Josiah kept saying, "Another Thomas" and Lydia kept saying, "It's the same Thomas."  

I thought this manager scene was very pretty.

Lydia and Josiah loved playing in this airplane.

Later we saw the steam engine going around the track.  It is kind of funny to see these grown men playing with trains.

This Chick-fil-a was really cute.

Lydia and Josiah loved putting the beach balls over the blowing air.

I love the joy on Josiah's face.

Lydia liked the flight simulator.

Josiah had a turn also.

They weren't very good at flying this plane.  Lydia kept crashing into the buildings.  

We will probably continue this Christmas tradition for a couple more years since Josiah loves trains so much.

Visiting Santa

Yesterday was the start of Christmas break at our house. Lydia really wanted to go see Santa Claus so I loaded everyone up and headed to the mall. There were a lot of cars headed to the mall, but there was no one in line for Santa.

Santa spent a lot of time talking to the kids.

I took the kids to P.F. Changs for lunch.  They were all very hungry and very good at lunch.  It helped that we had the nicest waitress.  The kids ate Chinese chicken nuggets, aka sweet and sour chicken, rice, and friend calamari.

It was a great start to the Christmas break.  

Kindergarten Trees

Today, Josiah and I attended Lydia's Christmas party. She helped him do a craft.

The kids did a "candy walk" instead of a cake walk.

There was also a "throw Santa down chimney" game.

Here is the class' Jesse tree.

I was in charge of bringing a sweet treat.  The kids decorated their own Christmas trees.

This is Lydia's tree.

While the kids decorated their trees, I shared the legend of the Christmas tree with them.

Josiah ate all of his decorations and then took just one bite of his tree.

The party was during his nap time and he was very tired by the end of the party.  He may or may not have had a major meltdown right after this.  He fell asleep on the way home and then took a two hour nap at home.

I loved being in Lydia's class today.

Balancing

I hear people talking about a work/life balance, how to balance a demanding job and family life. Since I only work part-time, I don't really have to deal with that. I have friends who talk about balancing cleaning the house and other chores with playing with their kids; I can really relate to that. Or balancing what you do in your free time - internet/tv/exercise/reading/cleaning, etc.  I can relate to that too.  I feel like every time I get one thing accomplished, I see something that has fallen through the cracks. I helped host a neighborhood holiday party tonight, but you should see my messy kitchen!  No, I am glad you can't see it.  Will I clean it all tonight or wait until the morning?

My life is like how Josiah is riding his balance bike.  Sometimes, it looks all together but that is only a very brief time.  I might even pat myself on the back and think "You got this."

Then I realize that one area or multiple areas are slipping (the house is a mess, the kids are driving me crazy or wrecking the house, or I've forgot to do something that I was supposed to do or I'm speaking unkindly or thinking mean thoughts) and I have put my feet down and regroup.  I have to pray and ask God to help.

To help me make imperfect progress.

Or I could be like Wesley and live life for the very thrill of it.  I could power up the hill.

I could fly down and enjoy the ride.  Hoping each time I could go faster.  I could always look for the sunny side, the fun side, the thrilling side of life.

Ginger Bread Houses

Tonight, our neighborhood had a potluck holiday party. One of the moms made gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate.

Josiah played with some other boys.

After he ate dinner, he wanted a cupcake, of course.

Then he decorated a gingerbread house.

He wanted to make sure you could see the candy cane in his mouth in this picture.

Josiah also did a snowman craft.

After her weekly swim lesson, Lydia joined in the fun.

There is her gingerbread house.

After the party, one of the dads did "a taste test" with the four kids who were waiting for their moms to finish cleaning up (the kids also helped clean up).  They closed their eyes, tasted something placed on their tongues, and usually corrected identified it.  They loved it.

Piano Christmas Party

Lydia recently started taking piano lessons. She begged Wesley's teacher to give her lessons.

The teacher had a Christmas party for all of her students at a local restaurant.  The kids decorated four cupcakes to take home. The also received a goody bag.

One of Wesley's classmates is also a piano student.  I'm not really sure about Lydia's pose in this picture.

Wesley and Lydia sat a table with 10 other children and there was another table with ten children.  The teacher is so cute.  The invitation said, "The children's lunches are my treat.  Parents are welcome to attend and lunch will be your treat."  

It was a very nice party.  I am so thankful for our piano teacher.  The kids adore her and she does a great job teaching them.  Thank God Wesley and Lydia seem to have inherited some of Chris' musical skills.  All I can do is tell if they are practicing or not.  He can correct their timing and tell if they are playing the right notes or not.

Bike Riding

Poor third child. The two year old boy has to ride a hand-me-down pink bike from his sister.

He can't balance and glide on the balance bike yet, but he can ride it like a ride-on-toy.  I'm sure if I gave him more opportunities, he would be able to do it.  One of our two year old neighbors has mastered it.  Someone asked me about a y-bike today.  I recommend skipping the y-bike and just going with a balance bike.

After the child masters the balance bike, he or she should be able to easily transition to a pedal bike without training wheels.  This transition is much easier if the child is motivated to ride a bike.  We started out having to bribe Lydia with jelly beans to get her to ride the balance bike.  Several times when we have been out with her on the pedal bike, I used jelly beans to motivate her.  (We were so pleasantly surprised this summer when she did so well at swim team practice and improved her times in every meet.)

Wesley quickly mastered the regular bike, but it has taken Lydia longer, in part because she didn't really like it or care if she could ride a bike or not.  We also haven't tried it very frequently which probably would have helped (we spent all summer at the pool and I don't know what we did this fall but it wasn't a lot of bike riding).  Until today, she needed help to get started and she could only pedal in a straight smooth area, but she could pedal 100 yards or so.  Today, she mastered starting the bike on her own by pedaling, turning, and braking to stop most of the time.

She was so proud of herself.  She told me, "I like this now that I can do it."  She even make it safely around this turn several times and across the bridge.  She is also riding a hand-me-down bike.  This was Wesley's second pedal bike.  Lydia outgrew his first one before she mastered it.

Josiah saw Lydia standing on one foot on this little wooden post and he wanted to do it too.  I had to carry him part of the way home and his bike home all the way home.  

If every day in December was as warm as today (it was 70 degrees), I would be very happy!

"Robot"

Wesley recently built a robot.

Of course, he wants to keep it but it takes up a lot of room.  Maybe I can fold up the limbs and put it in his big accordion file folder where we keep his school work that we want to save.

Kids N Motion

Last Wednesday, Wesley and Lydia didn't have school so we headed down to Kids N Motion.

We had to go at the 12 and under time since Wesley is now too old for the 6 and under time slot.  It was not crowded at all since most schools had classes that morning.

Josiah is now able to climb up the "rock walls" by himself.  I was surprised how many time he did this.

All three kids had a great time.  I made Wesley wear his sports glasses because I didn't want his regular glasses to get broken and I was afraid he would get a headache if he went without his glasses.

Josiah loved the train.

He was even able to do the big obstacle course with Wesley helping him a little.  He climbed the large "rock wall" by himself several times.

He enjoyed the balance bean in the toddler room.

There goes Lydia down the big slide.

Josiah did the obstacle course with Lydia also.