What we did today...

The kids all got something to ride from Santa.  Alona and Ashley got bicycles.  Natalie got a big wheel tricycle.  Drew got a little toy he can push or ride on (he can't quite get on and off of it himself yet but he loves to push it around).  So we took the pedals off the two bikes and went out to teach the girls to ride.  Now I know they might seem a little old to be learning to ride without training wheels, but we lived in Oregon- where it was almost always raining. 
I searched YouTube for videos on teaching kids to ride.  What I found- take the pedals off and let them learn to balance on the bike without them interfering.  So we did just that.  We made sure the seats were low enough that they could put their feet firmly on the ground with their knees slightly bent when sitting on the seat.  Then they started just scooting along with their feet on the ground.  They got used to the feel of the bike and then started lifting their feet to coast.  It started out with about a half second of their feet off the ground.  Eventually Alona got up to 24 seconds of coasting and Ashley got up to about 7 seconds.  Ashley got bored and went in while Alona kept at it- that's why Alona has progressed more than her.  Then we set up a little course (using old water bottles because we didn't have cones) for them to practice turning.  That is as far as we got today.  Once they are comfortable with turning and coasting we can put the pedals back on and get to really riding them!  It is very exciting for them.

Don't be fooled by the snow in the background, it wasn't very cold out (57) and the snow was imported (a Christmas surprise by some friends).

Cruising down our street.

I'm too cool for this. (not really, but it comes across as this)

Queen of the snow mountain.

Queen of the road.

Not sure how to do this. 

The snowman, and yes it is really tiny (maybe a foot and a half).