Aunt A and Uncle J were glad to see us arrive and I'm sure after 6 days of being stuck in the house with all of us, they were probably just as glad to see us load up the circus and head home. Their quiet, clean, serene house was definitely invaded by toys, noise and early mornings. After day one of being awoken at 6AM by his niece and nephew, Uncle J solved the increasing volume problem by digging out some industrial orange colored earplugs and sleeping blissfully until mid morning for the rest of the week.
We had a lot of fun though considering we really didn't leave the house much. It was either too cold, too icy or too snowy to get out most days, so we kept busy with a jigsaw puzzle that came close to driving Eli straight into the funny farm. He spent 4 nights awake into the wee hours of the morning working on it. We finally finished it, but opted for a smaller, easier one for the last two days we were there.
This job goes faster when the whole family grabs a shovel....
When we weren't working on the puzzle, eating, shopping or shoveling, we took the kids out in the backyard for some fun in the snow. They weren't used to the snow or the sledding, but they caught on pretty fast and had a great time sliding all over the place.
The kids thoroughly enjoyed Christmas this year. They spent countless hours building different forts out of the wrapped presents. This activity occupied about 80 percent of their first two days in Minnesota.
Luckily for the kids, we celebrated Christmas a few days early due to Aunt A's work schedule. We had a delicious Christmas dinner but the kids were just anxious to get it over with and onto passing out the presents.
E tried to hurry the process along so she could open her presents.
F really got into the gifts and was completely enthusiastic with each one he opened. E happily tore open her gifts too and was very excited to leave her note for Santa with a plate of cookies that she and Grandma baked.
E carefully arranging Santa's cookies and milk.
A and J enjoying the huge mess we've made in their living room.....
And of course, no Christmas is truly complete without Uncle Jim's traditional mystery present. This year's lucky winner was Grandma and she graciously donated her gift to our hosts who promptly hung it on the tree.
Santa brought the kids each a bike this year, so they wasted no time testing out their new wheels as soon as we arrived back home where they could actually see the sidewalk and go outside without eight layers of clothing on to block the stiff Minnesota winter chill.
And here we are - the first complete family picture in years! Thank goodness for Uncle J's good eye for the auto feature on his camera.
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