Hard to believe...our youngest is THREE!

Yes, he is...we celebrated Adam's 3rd birthday with family at home this past Saturday and for the first time in a long time, Adam went straight through the day (and night) without a nap.  He was excited and kept saying "I'm so happy" over and over and even oohed and ahhed over the decorations I'd put up with Yasmeen earlier that morning.  He patiently waited for his grandparents and Titi to arrive before asking (yet again) if he could open his gifts...THAT was the highlight of the day for him!  What 3 year old wouldn't be thrilled to open gift after gift of cars, trains, books, and more cars?!!!  He was so gracious and lovable (and affectionate) as always--doing his duty to pose with us and the rest of the guests so that we could always remember him on that day.  He even had another little boy there to share the excitement with--his cousin Gio!  Of course, Gio, being only 6 months old, didn't quite get what was going on, but he did seem to want to lunge for Adam while he was opening gifts :-).

Unfortunately, on the potty front, he had several accidents that day since his mind was on other things (rightfully so), so we'll have to cut him some slack.  But now that the festivities are over, it's back to the potty, pronto!!

ETA: the minivan reveal went off without a hitch...sort of.  Turns out that when Papa and Nana pulled up into the driveway Saturday, they peeked into the garage to make sure we were there, and saw the van.  Luckily, they didn't know it was ours, and only thought that Gido and Shoo Shoo were in town.  When they came in and realized that the "other Grands" weren't around, they started to get suspicious--so off to the garage we went and they were thrilled for us!

The Big Reveal...

Well, today is the big reveal day of the secret we've been keeping all week!  It also happens to be Adam's 3rd birthday, so I'll get this out of the way and be sure to post pics of the big birthday later today or tomorrow.  For those of you that know us, you know that I am a minivan Mom...and that I love my minivan.  I can't believe that it's been over 9 years since we first made the transition to a minivan from a car, but I've enjoyed every minute.  For those Moms out there who just can't fathom the idea of driving a minivan--YOU'RE MISSING OUT!  I also was very reluctant (and at times downright indignant) about every owning (let alone driving) a minivan--but for Moms with kids and "stuff" to tote around, there is nothing better.  These days, the technology alone in any of the more popular minivans, can rival the best technology found in any home or business today.  I kid you not...there are manuals out there JUST for the technology ALONE in today's minivan market.  I should know...we've been looking at minivans for the past several months (in preparation for the eventual death of the current Town & Country we own) and researching the options available for a large family (all with different wish lists) was quite the battle.  In the end (and yes, there is an end...)we wound up narrowing down our choices to the Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyssey.  When we looked at family friendliness of each vehicle, the Honda won hands down...so...the big secret (that we've been keeping from my family--sorry guys) is that we've moved up the purchase of the new minivan and it now sits in our garage!  We were aiming for the early Spring, but a great deal came up (on Black Friday, nevertheless) and we HAD TO make it work!  So here is a picture of us picking up the van this week...Wednesday night to be exact.  It's been a killer keeping the secret, but we wanted to surprise my family when they come over later today for Adam's birthday...let's hope they don't see the blog before arriving!!