This Minivan Life

So Christmas... Mikey liked it much more this year than last year. Last year he didnt really understand that Christmas meant toys, but this year he did. I thought that it would be fun if we wrapped each item separately so he would have more to open, that was wrong. He liked opening presents but he did get a little bit bored after awhile (even though we stopped and ate breakfast) and he wanted to play with each  toy and read each book before we could move on, things took awhile. But I think it was fun, I think he had a good time, and when we have our little family christmas in a few days he will really understand what is happening.  These photos arent in order and I didnt want to mess around with them, so here goes.  We got Mikey a new magnadoodle, he loves to color and this makes less of a mess. He liked it, but not nearly as much as Auntie Em did.   Poppy wanted a huge box of gourmet popcorn for christmas, it was delicious, and perfect for a group.  Brian's grandm

My sister in law told me about a tradition they have (or thought about having, not sure which) called Christmas Adam, because Adam comes before Eve. Anyway we decided to celebrate Christmas Adam the past few years. I hear it is hilarious to eat ribs on that day, but we actually planned to eat those on Christmas day.  Anyway we decided to make tamales. Actually my brother went on his mission to mexico and loves to make mexican food so we decided that tamales would be awesome.  We had a giant tamale... pot? Anyway we made a few dozen and they were delicious.  Then everyone stuffed their faces... literally.  Michael took a few photos with his giant tamale pot. On Christmas Eve we decided to stick with out tradition of potstickers. Last year it seemed like Emily and I were in there forever but this year with the addition of Muggle (the expert tamale maker) things were quick. My dad made a delicious noodle stirfry to go with it, and yes the giant pile of potstickers wa

We were lucky enough to spend some time with our family these past few weeks. Mikey has been having a blast with his grandparents, aunt, and uncles. He is going to have a rough (really really rough) time when we go home... and he is stuck with just me.  My brothers pulled the hat off a stuffed snowman.... and it fit Mikey perfectly. So he spent a lot of time walking around with the hat on, oh and making other people wear the hat.   And then my brothers pulled the vest and gloves off the snowman and had him wear that too. Then I sewed them back on to avoid this dress up situation the rest of the trip.  He had a blast with Grammy and Poppy, and insisted they both watch him or be with him at every moment...  This is the only picture we got of all of us this whole trip. Sadly Brian wasnt in it. My brothers spent a bit of time photoshopping this photo... this is the original, the photoshopped version was... interesting.  Mikey and Michael, he LOVES his "O Muggle!"